Happy Birthday and 6 months

 6 months goes by so fast wow. Now I'm starting my sister mission. And that is so kind of all of you to go out to dinner on my birthday...my only request is that you go to McDonald's so when you get a gut ache will know how much you miss me. I think we are going to jacamba on my birthday, so we will see. 

  Raul did have a baptismal date he was working towards, but sadly this last week It fell through... it is a sad story but maybe one day, we are still working with him though. 

But we were at a baptism on Saturday and for some reason the hot water was not working, and we felt super bad because we told him the water would be warm since he had started being taught so we went to the kitchen and found these massive pots and filled them up with water and boiled these huge pots then carried them to the font and poured them in and his family was sitting there looking at us like we were fools (which we were). But we did a couple batches of boiling water but it didn't help at all. So he was baptized in freezing water, but we explained the situation to him and he was cool with it. But it was a fun story so I thought I'd tell it.

Also transfers are this up coming week but I'm a staying here 99.9% which I'm totally fine with because Alpine is so great. And Elder Grenier is a toss up as our mission president is very unpredictable with transfers.

Roman's 8:18

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Even though our lives have up and down the suffering and pains in this life do not compare to the glory that will be revealed I us. "We don't come to gain our divine potential we come with it" 

Love 

Elder Palmer 

Let it change yours

So this last week we went camping again out in Boulevard. We taught Raul the last part of the Plan of Salvation over the course of an hour and a half because the man loves to talk...a lot. Since he is blind, at night he can't read he listens to the book of mormon and conference talks for 3-4 hours every night so he is learning fast and has a ton of questions. When we do teach him he writes really big on a scrap book then when he is done writing he tears it off and throws it away because he says he can't read it anyway. but he actually has really good hand writing like better than mine which isn't saying much but for a virtually blind man...impressive. Anyways we had the privilege of hearing Raul bare his testimony to us, it was very powerful, from day 1 he has an extremely difficult life and now 65 years later he finally found what has been absent his whole life. The Gospel is true and it does give us hope and purpose in living, Raul is a huge example of that. 

This past Sunday he actually didn't have a ride to church (we tried to get him one but there is only so many options out there)  but he was determined. So he walked the few miles down his dirt road to the highway and hitch hiked to church. and he has no idea who the man was that gave him a ride.

We also had dinner with a latino family and some of their friends while we were out there, They made tamales for us and Elder Grenier was putting some Pace Salsa on his tamale (the salsa you can buy at costco) and the mother was so surprised she said "WOW that is a lot of salsa for a white guy! Are you sure you can handle that much spice?" Elder Grenier and I laughed our heads off when we got to the car. 

I just you all to know, the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives and you need to let it change yours

Alma31:5

5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them

Love Elder Palmer 

Worth It!

I know exactly how you felt when you taught that lesson. every single lesson we walk out of we have a whole list of things we could have done better, but when we change our focus to what we did well and understand that the holy spirit knows our strengths and weakness and that the holy ghost will draw upon our gifts and strengths 

So over the last few weeks is has been pretty rainy here (in southern California terms  so 1. everyone treats the roads like they are black ice and everyone we meet in the rain has pity on us and let's us in!  So I was on exchanges with Elder Gardner and we were out visiting some people in an apartment complex and it had been raining all day and we spot this family in the middle of this big field next to some basketball courts so we did what missionaries do best and B line it directly at them. And long story short we started playing basketball in the rain with this family for about half an hour and that half an hour was the hardest it rained all day...literally. I was wearing a coat and It soaked straight through so that my white shirt was see through. Anyway it was so much fun and we got the families information to come visit some time! It was worth it 

I was studying Elder Anderson's talk from this last general conference "wounded" it is a powerful talk about how our struggles and trials are real but they will not last forever, because Christ is risen. 

 

(2Corinthians 4:8-9)

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed

Because Christ lives we can live and must never lose sight of that. Because Christ is hope. 

Love Elder Palmer

Honestly believe Christ

I realized that I never said thank you mom and everyone that sent me gifts on Christmas... I am so sorry I was meaning to but I forgot in my Christmas letter and again in my new years letters So thank you.

So I will start out with a funny story, we are teaching this man, who is almost completely blind named Raul and he lives way out in a camper by himself so we get to see him when he is at church or every other week when we head out there. Anyways Elder Grenier and i felt like we should call him while we were driving down the road and he picks up and tells us he is in Alpine. He said he was just doing some shopping and then was going to catch a bus back to his road then walk 6 miles home on his road. Anyways we stop at a red light and we see this man on the side of the road begin crossing the busiest road in Alpine. Raul then tells us over the phone he is crossing the road. 

That is when we realized that we were watching Raul cross the road (keep in mind he virtually blind) we were 80% sure we were going to watch him get hit. But he didn't, (just some honks) and after we asked him why he crossed the road, even though he was blind he just said "I have faith boys"...

For the last week Elder Grenier and I have been praying for a guy we are teaching because we discovered that he lived with his girl friend and in order for him to be baptized he needs to be married or move out... so all week we prayed and on Sunday we fasted that he would take the news well. I just want you all to know that God answers prayers and works miracles. We talked to him about it and he completely understood and was moved out by Monday (we taught him on Sunday) 

I also was studying the "Come follow me" booklet and after I finished studying I realized that this new direction that the  church is heading is inspired. and I stubbled upon Doctrine and Covenants 98:39-48 (bit of a read)

 

but it reaffirmed that we are not to judge one another and that justice and mercy are God's. Mormon 8:20

I will leave you a quick example in my life. While I was in the MTC i met a missionary that at first I thought was a bit of a meany but later in the week I learned that he had passed up a Scholarship to play Basketball at Duke. I realized that in that moment I was the one that was guilty and in need of change. This Elder had given up his temporal pursuit to serve His Master. 

Oh and we had Elder Anderson come to our mission

It was awesome he talked to us about faith and how people have their agency but there is a power that gets things to happen. Because when you honestly believe Christ, you believe that this is His work and that He is going before your face preparing people. And when you have such faith people may not recognize you as a disciple but their spirit does and it will cause a stir within them. 

Love Elder Palmer

Elder Palmer and Sister Montague the only 2 Canadians in the mission and from neighbouring towns

Happy New Year and Last Day

Happy New Year! 

So a lot has happened in the last week so I don't know where to start or what to leave out. But first thing is diet that is the new years resolutions everyone makes, so Alpine is notoriously known thought out the mission for putting weight on missionaries. So eating healthy is still not one of my resolutions because my metabolism of a 12 year old takes care of that. And with all the elderly women in the area they always ask me how I manage to stay skinny and I will say something like "well have you heard of the Book of Mormon?"

So this last week we got to go out to go "camping" in Boulevard and we stayed with a member over night, it was so much fun aside from the fact that Elder Grenier was sick with a cold and was having to blow his nose literally every other second. He went through 3 Kleenex boxes in four days (poor guy). But anyways out in camp and the surrounding area people are out there for a reason which is one of the following 1. They are conspiracy theorists and want to live with no power then they can't be tracked   2.They don't like to be around people 3. They genuinely love living out there. 

Most are 2 and three but there is a good ratio. 

So we were out there walking around an abandoned military barracks that had been turned into low income housing and it was pretty spooky but once we started taking to some people more and more people came out to talk to us and we set up a few return appointments and started teaching a family that was super excited to have us over. And before we finished they asked if we could come back! Se we are pretty excited to keep meeting with them. 

But I will say this, we were in a trailer park and we went up to the office (which was literally a tiny shack with holes in the roof and we asked the manager where so and so lived and he laughed at us because the person we were looking for threatened to shoot him three days ago. So...we knocked on the door and there was no answer sadly Haha but maybe next time we are out there we will stop by.

But I do love Alpine! It does have it's challenges such as finding.  It can be difficult sometimes but we have really been working hard the last two weeks and things seem to unfolding.

As I was reading the other day I noticed how in this scripture where Jesus Christ is commanding the people of His church to take His name upon them it got me thinking about how President Nelson came forward with the name correct. And the thing that I thought was interesting is at the end of verse it says "last day"... not "last days" it really made think how we are not in the last days we are in the last day and now is the time for us to preform our labours before the night cometh. 

3 Nephi 27:5-6

    5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day

    6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day

Love Elder Palmer