October 27, 2014

Hola Hola!

Hopefully everyone is doing awesome and all had a great week! Mine was pretty LEGENDARY! Not to brag... but every single day is just incredible out here! 

Okay...Monday night was a little rough... the Hermana who does our laundry didn't have it ready so I had to sleep without sheets for a night.  .and I got EATEN ALIVE!!! But I am still alive...don't fret! :) 

Every Monday night we have family night with the family that lives right below us... I LOVE them! The family is made up of two teenagers, their widow mother, and her parents. All are members except the grandpa... and this family needs some Priesthood Power up in that business so we are working hard! And it just so happened that our lesson for him was on the Plan of Salvation... THE SAME DAY I FIND OUT MY GRANDPARENTS WENT THROUGH THE TEMPLE. Let's just say that was a tough one to choke out. I told them about my grandparents and their story and where they are now and how they solidified an ETERNAL FAMILY! Boy were the tears flowing but the Spirit was too and this Hermano committed to prepare for Baptism!! So a public congrats to my grandparents. Thank you for your constant example in my life and for all that you have done for me... thank you for your decision to be sealed in the Temple and make this Noll Family an Eternal one! And thank you for being missionaries! Your story is converting people thousands of miles away! :) Love you guys!

We continue to reign in the Bananas! Those are for sure eternal too... that I testify of! 

Oh! Coolest thing ever!

We were tracting the other day and I heard a faint sound from the distance... a sound that was more than just familiar... IT WAS MY BOYS! HARRY, LOUIS, LIAM, NIAL, AND ZAYN!! A chicka was blasting some 1D and singing along and YOU KNOW I went straight up to the window and started singing along with her! She and her family thought I was a bit strange at first but it helped get us an invite into the house and a follow up appointment! :) So another shout out goes to 1D! Thank you guys as well for being missionaries! Keep doing your thang!

We are still teaching Haidee and her family... I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! I feel like they are family of my own. It is unreal to see the change in their life. This gospel is unreal, Brothers and Sisters. Absolutely Unreal.

We met the most incredible and most sweetest man. He is a disabled man who sits in his wheelchair the whole day and simply waves and says hi to everyone who passes by. He gets SO excited when the Missionaries pass by... but I am not sure who is more excited to see one another... him or me! We talk to him everyday for a minute and it lights up my entire world! He is BEAMING with the light of our Savior. 

On Friday night we had an activity for Recent Converts and Less Actives... President Riggins gave us permission to watch THE AVENGERS!! So that was rad! And I guess the 410 cookies and 12 Liters of Soda made it a little better too! The outcome was really good... and it helped a lot with getting people to attend church yesterday!

We did a service project that kicked my butt! Again taking me back to the construction days! Shoveling dirt, moving rock, and shoveling dirt after moving some rock! ;) But it was so fun! Later that day I went on a split with another Elder. He came down with something and we ended up needing to go back to the casa. When we got there I got to put my MAMA apron on! I cooked him a full-course meal and administered the Medicine! Man was I raised right! ;) Haha! I felt so nurturing!

I had such a tender experience yesterday. We were gathering our Investigators for church and we were with one particular, Hermana Rosa, and her house was going nuts. The television was blasting, the toddlers were running around, her smallest infant baby girl was BALLING, and Rosa was tending her disabled boy (the boy we gave a blessing to. WHO IS NOW DOING GREAT:)). There was just so much stress in the house. I said a silent prayer in my heart that The Lord's spirit might be able to attend the house and INSTANTLY after I said Amen, the little boy scraping the burnt rice off of the bottom of the pan for his breakfast, gathered his siblings, held his infant baby sister in his arms, and all the children watched cartoons peacefully until their mom was ready. It really was the coolest thing to experience. The Lord answers prayers... THAT I KNOW!

We just finished up soccer with the biggest stud! He lost his father recently and is having a really hard time. Somehow this kid still manages to wake up every morning with a smile on his face. It is these little experiences that are changing my life forever.

This weeks spiritual message is out of the Book of Mormon! One of my favorite chapters actually! I absolutely love 1 Nephi 17! For so many reasons... the list could go on forever! But my favorite part starts in verse 8 when The Lord commands Nephi to build a boat. Nephi simply responds, "Father, whither shall I go?" Wow... the world needs some more Nephi's that's for sure! Nephi goes on to inquire of The Lord, build the tools, and eventually build the ship in the following chapters. But before... Nephi needs fire for food and the construction of the tools as well I suppose. However, The Lord says, not to make MUCH fire, "for I will make thy food sweet, that ye cook it not."

What a marvelous blessing! Nephi... don't make MUCH fire because I am going to make up for your slack with my own fire. I am going to save you and your family the trouble and worry of making MUCH fire... and take what little you give me (and I don't ask for much), and make your food sweet, that ye cook it not. I believe The Lord made this same promise to all of us as well before this life:

I feel he said "I promise to be your fire. Give me what you can...though it will only be a fraction of what you need... but give me what little you can. ALL that you can... and I will provide the rest. I am leaving all of this to set an example for you. I am leaving the presence of our Heavenly Father to die for you. To suffer for you. To bleed from every single pore of my body... for you. I am leaving all of this so that I can be your fire. I am leaving all of this so you have a way back to our Father. And all I ask is for you to give me a little. Show me your faith. Your love. Your obedience." "For ye know that it is by grace ye are saved, after all that ye can do." 

Back to Nephi! One of my favorite verses of scripture of all time!

"and I will be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the land of promise; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

Aren't we all in the wilderness? Lol... some of us more than others... but what a blessing it is to have a light in this wilderness! A fire! The ATONEMENT! Someone who has prepared the way before us because He Himself walked our exact path before us. And here he is walking it again... every second of every day our Savior is with you. And He will continue to walk with us, carry us actually, until we reach the "Promised Land." 

I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that He is the Light and Life of the world. He is the fire. He will light the way. Have faith. Hold on! This wilderness is brutal... but we can do hard things! Through the Atonement we can do all things! All we have to do is give Him our best... which is not much... but His everlasting sacrifice will make up for it. His everlasting and eternal sacrifice will light the way for you. 

Of this I testify of in His Sacred name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all so much! I know I say that every single week but I mean it! Keep holding on!

Elder Noll