2 months out!

EMAIL #9

August 26, 2013

2 MONTHS OUT!

This is a picture that was texted to us by Hayes's bishop. A little tender mercy for the week! :)

"Bro/Sis Rollins, I'm Bishop Staggs. We had the missionaries over tonight and thought you'd enjoy seeing how happy Elder Rollins is. Our boys love them. We also got a set of sister in our ward this week! Thanks for sending us your son! He is working very hard and we love him! He is very mature and our members have great trust in him and Elder Crowton. He even ate all his veggies. :) We had corn on the cob and salad. Pretty sure he cleaned his plate. He couldn't have his cake and ice cream if he didn't. The sister missionary in yellow sat next to Hayes on the plane ride to MO"

so this week was transfer week! i am not training!!! sadly and happily, i was kinda excited to have the opportunity to do missionary work the way i think it should be done and get to lead out in an area!! but i was scared to because im still pretty new at this! 

so monday was awesome because we got to have a zone bbq and play sand volley ball! it was also sad because it was Elder Stephens (Big steve) last one! so i received lots of birthday cards which was awesome! thanks everyone for sending them to me, it means A LOT!! love all of you! 

tuesday was a day that i honestly dont remember, we just did a lot of work at the apartment trying to figure out what is to be done with our area and waiting for transfer calls! neither of us were transfered thankfully!

so this week i learned that preparation and details mean a lot more to the sisters than to elders, i kinda already knew this because of my loving mom, so MOM, thank you so much for preparing me for this! i can deal with the sisters better than most elders because they remind me a lot of you in there desire to have details and have a set plan in what they are doing! 

i learned a lot this week and will continue to learn til the day i die! line upon line precept upon precept! i have a brand new mind set and just want to work harder than ever! put your shoulder to the wheel!

so Wednesday was Big Steves last day here and i had lots of money so i took the whole zone out for pizza, so if you were wondering what i spent my birthday money on it was pizza for my whole zone! it was a great day and we did some tie trading because the whole make up of our zone changed! i think it was for the best because i think we were just all a little to comfortable in the ways we have been set! things were a little lax and i think getting the sisters a new zone leader and a new district leader will really change the zones attitude and create a bigger desire to work and get some people in the water and brought into the fold!

we finally had a baptism go through (no photo) and i met my posterity there (not sure what this means). i met my grandpa, Elder Lee and my great grandpa Elder O he has a really long Samoan or Tongan name that i will send you later, i also have a brother who is a wrestler!! (don't know who these people are that he's talking about) he saw my watch with Jed Mellen at rocky mountain nationals and he says i should have won that match and we talked a lot about wrestling! it was a great day. the girl that got baptized was MaKasa who is Mimis grand daughter mimi is a recent convert and she is getting her whole family into the church one by one! shes amazing and i absolutely love her and her family!

we got to take sister marroner another one of mimis grand daughters to the visitors center and it was incredible! the sister missionaries that serve there have an incredible spirit about them and do an amazing job explaining things on their tours. every time we go through the family part i cry because i love Gods plan for us! i know that the Plan of salvation is a perfect plan and that we will all live together in the presence of our Heavenly Father! i know he loves us and cares for us and that Jesus Christ has suffered for us and he loves us more than we can comprehend!

i love you all so much!

Elder Rolllins

Every Member a Missionary

WEEK #8

EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!

August 19, 2013

keep taking care of the missionaries like this ward has taken care of me! i love this ward with all my heart!! its almost as good as home... almost lol i love this work and thats the best birthday present i could have gotten is for you to have some missionary opportunities! the best way to show the Lord your love for him is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with his Children!  

this week was an amazing week! starting with zone training. elders Parish and Stephens are two amazing missionaries. they are full of the spirit and desire to serve the lord and have been a huge example to me! sadly Elder Stephen is going home on thursday. i will miss him as i miss all my best friends back home! 

then stake conference was this weekend. it was the best one ive ever been to! President Keyes spoke and talked about how members need to help the missionaries. the missionaries are few and can only see so many of the Lords children. so if the members are sharing the gospel with people then its the most effective way to share the Gospel because there are 14 million or so members spreading the Lords word.

Members need to do there part to further the Kingdom of the Lord!

i know this church is true!  i know Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the word and i know the best way to show our love to our Heavenly father is to bring his children home to him! so everyone back home! if you love me and if you love the Lord share the Gospel with the people in this world that you love the most! your family and best friends need to hear Gods plan for them! so, share the Word of God then ask if they would like to meet with the missionaries!! 

a great way i heard about doing this is find a gospel topic to talk about, like God is our Loving Heavenly Father or The Gospel Blesses Families. then when youre done talking about it with your friend, just kinda ask would they like to hear a brief presentation on how the Gospel blesses families, or how God is our Loving Heavenly Father, then refer them to the missionaries. 

i know that as you do the Lords work he will bless every aspect of your lives! i love you all so much!

Elder Rollins!

"We love our bike! hahaha JK JK 

Elder Crowtons over 200lbs! LOL"

Elder Lapray with Elder Rollins

"I'm small next to most people! hahaha"

"Birthday lunch! Mmmmmm...."

well when you see dad, tell him i love him and miss him! and that im thankful for how you raised me because im a lot better off than a lot of kids and thats because of the wonderful examples you set for me!

"EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY"
Cut and paste this link and see how miracles can happen in missionary work.

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/priesthood-leaders?lang=eng#media=32311188399189006900-eng

Happy 19th Birthday!

August 18, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER ROLLINS!!!

Today is Elder Rollins' 19th Birthday. On a day when he is supposed to get birthday surprises, I got one instead! 

The Larson family had dinner with Elder Rollins and Elder Crowton and they sent me these pictures. Brother Larson is the ward mission leader. The Naylor's are the people in this picture with the Elders. They are neighbors of the Larsens. 

Elder Rollins & Elder Crowton. 

I can't tell if Elder Crowton is really big 

or if Hayes is still just a runt! hahaha

Lessons Learned as a Missionary!

Becoming a Great Missionary!

August 14, 2013

This past week I had been thinking a lot about the missionary I wanted to be. I decided I wanted to be the greatest missionary of all times! Pretty ambitious, I know. LOL (Little did I know I had been looking at this the wrong way the whole time). 

So I started to look up the greatest missionaries in the scriptures. I could think of the three right off that popped into my mind which were Alma the Younger, Jesus Christ, and Ammon the son of King Mosiah. So I turned to Alma chapters 9-16. The story that stuck out to me was when Alma & Amulek contended with Zeezrom. I kept reading it and got to the part where they were cast into prison and while in prison they were beaten and harassed. The most terrible but amazing part I feel is verses 10-13. The people who had believed on their words were being burned. And Alma and Amulek had to witness this horrific sight! Amulek turns to Alma and asks him why he does not call upon the Lord to stop this from happening? These are good people. Innocent people that are being killed. How could he sit and not do anything? Alma turns back and I picture him looking at Amulek with tear-filled eyes and says, “The spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing... that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them.” Alma 14:12. Alma followed the spirit even though, I’m guessing, his heart was in terrible anguish over the people being martyred. So I learned that I must follow the spirit over the rash impulses of my natural man. Then the rest of their conversion goes that Amulek says, well perhaps they shall burn us as well, but Alma says, “No chance! The Lord has more work for us to do!”

Second thing I learned is that I am not done until the Lord says I’m done! So by this time it was Wednesday and we had interviews with the Pres. And President Keyes gave us all an ensign. This months just happened to be on opening the channels of revelation and I have really learned a lot from this months ensign, especially from the Move Foreword in Faith section. Basically it talks about the need for us to proceed in faith and after we take the first step, the Lord will show is the rest of the way. So what I got from it is as long as I keep working in faith, striving to do God’s will, He will bless me and direct me with what I need to do!

I wanted to know more about being this great missionary I had desired to become! So I started reading about our Savior Jesus Christ and what happened was it reaffirmed my earlier gained knowledge that I need to try to follow the Lord’s will. The best display of this is when Jesus said, “O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt.” Our Savior spent his whole life performing miracles and bringing to pass his father’s will, the will of our Heavenly Father. He came to the earth to fulfill his part of God’s plan of happiness. His whole life was subject to the will of our Heavenly Father! I need to follow the Lord’s will so I can be the missionary he wants me to be. (This is where my point of view on becoming the greatest missionary of all times comes from).

So I had been praying and seeking to know how to become the missionary that God wants me to be! Now this was revelation to me because I felt more peace and more of a desire to search out this desire of my heart than the previous desire to become the greatest missionary I could be. So the last place I turned to was Ammon and the conversion story of King Lamoni. Everyone knows this story about Ammon chopping off the arms of the Lamanites. I want to focus on why he was able to perform that miracle. When he arrived in the land of the Lamanites, he told King Lamoni that he wished to be his servant! When I read this part, it really stuck out to me this time because I have been called to SERVE. Ammon went and served in the land of the Lamanites under the king and this people ended up being some of the most faithful people in the entire Book of Mormon. This is because Ammon went and SERVED. I have this same calling, to go and SERVE. Then everything clicked! I shouldn’t aspire to be a great missionary but just  be His SERVANT. “But whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant...” which relates closely to Mosiah 2:17, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.” So I have changed my perspective and my desire to being the best servant I can be rather than being the best missionary I can be. The way to do this is through surrendering my will to His. If I can do this, I am showing that I am His faithful servant and He will make me into the missionary He wants me to be! 

The things I learn as a missionary!

Love,

Elder Rollins

Prayers are Answered

WEEK 7

ANSWERED PRAYERS

August 12, 2013

so monday was a super fun day! we didnt do any real missionary work but we had been working super hard all week and were drained. so after pday we had the zone leaders and hick hillz over for some pizza and some talking and relaxation. i talked mainly with Elder Stephens because he goes home in a week!! his last transfer was my first transfer! its insane hes going home! he's an amazing guy and i wish i had more time to spend with him and learn from him. so monday was an awesome day to unwind and let us relax and then this week we worked hard because we were reinvigorated!

Tuesday we were riding around and seeing some people and no one was answering there doors and then we were going to go to bill's, hes this old guy that we try and stop by every week but we never see him so we decided to go see the Brazzels instead and they were home! it was my first time meeting them but apparently they were really excited to see us and i already love brother Brazzel! we stayed there for about an hour till lunch then went to dinner with the Mitchell's, who live in Mormon Village! then brother manning took us to see the langleys who we had never been able to get into but she let us in and she said shed try to get to stake conference next sunday! then we went and saw the eshnaurs and they said their daughter could be baptized at 9 if she so desired! which is in just a few months!! and then we stopped in to see the haughts to set up an appointment with the kasa because she is going to be baptized this saturday!

wednesday was a good day as well! except we got our day messed up by our dinner and an appointment fell through but we saw leashia and she said her only concern with our church is that she doesnt want to get into something shes not ready for which is awesome because she will be ready soon, we can already see her progressing!

thursday our dinner and night appointment got cancelled which sucked so while we were weekly planning (which i was in charge of!) we got a call from an investigator asking us to come by for dinner and a lesson and it was a bomb lesson where we found out the last thing he needs is a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith and then he and his family will be baptized!

friday we had district meeting and then we had dinner and saw scott! he said hed come to stake conference next saturday! then we saw the haughts again!

saturday we had to work a 5k in the morning then i made breakfast for us and hick hillz! they were so good!! then crowton took a nap and i wrote some letters and worked out then we then we saw the brazzels and he told us this story. 

my brother in law has been going through a divorce and so he asked me if id go to church with him to help him through it and so i did, but something didnt feel right and i decided that i didnt want to go back! but then my brother persuaded me to go with him again then about 20 minutes into it i just got a feeling that this is not the church for me or my family so i went into my back yard and prayed about what church to go to and then you missionaries showed up so i figure thats a sign from God telling me to go check out your church. so i plan on going sunday then he told us he has only one problem in the church! and thats Joseph Smith because of the way he was raised.

he showed up to church on sunday and said hed be back the following week which is great!

i know the Lord has his hand in our work this week! because we didnt even plan on seeing them this week but something told us we should go see them and because of that, they are coming to church now and i feel like they will get baptized pretty soon! i know the Lord answers prayers and this is just one example of it. he has answered my prayers countless times so if you ever need anything, go to the Lord, he is always there!

Our teaching pool has like 24 people in it and we have 5 people on date to be baptized again, i just hope these ones don’t fall through. i think by the end of this week ill be done with the 12 week training program... its only been 4 weeks! im ready to serve with everything i got! My mission president kinda hinted towards me possibly training next transfer... I don’t know if i’m ready for that!

i love you all and you are in my prayers!

-Elder Rollins

A New Perspective

EMAIL #6

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

August 5, 2013

This months ensign, a talk called the 4th kind of missionary and the scriptures have changed my out look on my mission! i have been looking at my mission the wrong way! i had been focused on being a great missionary and learning all i could, but the ensign and the scriptures and the talk i read have truly inspired me to stop worrying so much about being a great missionary but being a servant of the lord!  the way to be a servant of the lord is through being worthy and able to receive and recognize promptings of the Holy Ghost! reading about our Savior, Jesus Christ, allowed me to realize that i need to willingly submit my will to that of my Heavenly Father and become his humble servant.  

so now i am focusing more on being His servant than just being a great missionary! 

if i can find the talk ill send it home!

also i have a letter written to you because i was just writing down all my thoughts about this. if you could type it up and post it that would be great! lol 

love you lots! 

Elder Rollins!