Wednesday, December 28, 2011

December 26, 2011

"Let me lay it on the line, probably one of the most epic Christmas eve's in the world! We started out like just another day, great lessons, hard work and progressed from there. We called our investigator and asked if we could come visit him. He said yeah, just meet me at the beach by my house. Sounds good! We pulled up and sat down on a bench spanning over the beach. We started talking about the gospel and he just started to bare a really powerful testimony of how much we have helped him and how far he has come. I think there are few that would have not been moved by that testimony. After the spirit poured over us for about 30 min. we went back to the car and there was some gospel rap playing in his car and he started dancing and we were all laughing. After that we went to his house and went Christmas Caroling! He, his, two brothers , Elder Trumpet and I got to our first house and they opened the door. We started singing and then we all just started laughing. It still touched them and they were stoked to see us. Then we moved through the rest of the night, it was Epic!  I am going caroling every year for the rest of my life. I think that this Christmas has had a profound impact on the rest of my life.
I love serving a mission! Life is great and I got one of the greatest Gifts this Christmas! What? Talking to my family. I Love them so much let me just try and put it in words. 1 L Life would have been nothing without them 2 O My parents are the Ones I chose and I am confident the only ones that could ever raise me. 3 V they gave me the Vision of what I can become. 4 E Ever one of them bring something great to the table. Dad taught me how to work and love unconditionally. Mom taught me how to live life and dream big. Jessica taught me what it means to really share. Ragu taught me that life dreams can be met. Elora taught that perfection can be closely met in this life. Taylor, gave me a big push in life's giant swing.  LOVE that is the easiest way to spell how much you mean to me!!!!
I want to tell you so much! I want to tell you everything and let you see how great this is here, but there is absolutely no way to do so. It would be an endless email. So to sum it up; I know that my Redeemer Lives. God is our Father and we are all brothers and sisters. The field is white already to harvest. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Conder"

December 20, 2011

"Last Christmas I was standing on top of an apartment with two of my favorite people, Elders Gardener and Tracy. I love and miss them both. We were looking over the scenic view of Ocho Rios Jamaica, what an experience. I will never forget that moment. I am so blessed to be here on Grand Bahamas this year. I am getting an early Christmas present this year, Elder Trumpet is coming for Christmas. I am going to finish my time on this island with him. I am super excited about this experience. It should be a really good time.
It's going to be a white Christmas this year. D&C 4:4, "the field is white already to harvest".
ITS a Christmas miracle, this Sunday was indeed a Christmas miracle! We had so many in attendance! It was great to see so many people out. This branch has really made some great progress, they are moving right along. The members are doing great. I would like to relate a story of one of our members, maybe two stories. The first story  is about one of our sisters who has sparked a forest fire in  hearts. We went on our way to see a new investigator who lived next door to a member. We invited our member to come teaching with us. She agreed so we went to her house and then walked to the neighbors. Well the neighbor wasn't home so our sister said, well there has got to be a reason why you are here. We sat down with her and began to teach her. She then related to us of how she had been thinking at length about her moral state when she was facing a challenge. She said this helped her to make the right choice. She then asked somewhat concerned, is it bad that I think about this all the time? No, we declared this is a great thing. This is a part of repenting. In the bible dictionary it defines repentance as a fresh view of ones self and the world. This is just what you have and a new view on life. I am so proud of her! She radiated the spirit as she bore her testimony. Then four days later at the Christmas party she came up to me and stated, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I was so enlightened by this testimony and moved with hope. This was an honest testimony of an honest sister.
I love you all I hope this will be a good gift to you this Christmas,
I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and redeemer of the world and that God loved his only begotten. I love you my brothers and sisters and pray for you often.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Conder"

December 12, 2011

"Merry Christmas,                                                                                              
We hold choir practice every Wednesday night at 7:00 P.M. it is always an awesome event. This week however was more than awesome. We started singing our Christmas hymn and then when we finished we started talking about our car and one thing lead to another and soon, everyone was just dying laughing. It was so fun Sis Cash had tears in her eyes she was laughing so hard. It was a great experience. I love serving a mission this is the most unique thing I have ever done in my whole life!
This week was chuck full of off the wall things Zone Leader Conference, fun times at mommies and spiritual lessons. For ZLC we headed over to the church and joined the Elders and Pres. over Skype.
F.H.E.,   ya, this week we had one of the funniest family home evenings ever. It all started out with two little girls running up and down and mom and dad trying to get them to sit still. We pulled out the hymn books and they started fighting over them. As we started to sing, something amazing happened. Singing Love at home, everyone settled down, the spirit was so strong, and seemed to come so fast. D&C 25: 12 For my soul adelighteth in the bsong of the cheart; yea, the dsong of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.  After we sang and got into the lesson we read a story on being nice to your brothers and sisters. We asked Julia (she is 8) if she would be nice to her sister Alia (4).  She said yes, "I will but Alia is not always nice to me."  Alia took this way serious and dramatized a facial expression and said " ohhh Okay, How About I climb up on the table and get you." We were instantly laughing and when we finally calmed down we started to finish the lessons and wrote notes to each other. After writing the notes everyone read theirs out loud and then Alia's dad said,  Alia will you read yours? She politely said ya. A moment later she excitedly said,  I want to read mine in the bathroom.
Love,
Elder Conder"

December 5, 2011

"Whoops!
I have almost forgot to write my mass email, sorry.  This week has been completed with one of the best Sundays on my mission. We have been teaching this awesome investigator. Our first lesson with him was filled by the spirit testifying. It was amazing, that was almost 2 months ago now. There have been many things in between, tons of trials, some will be detailed in his testimony that I will paraphrase.  He came into the Church on Sunday asked Elder Roberts if he could bare his testimony, it went as follows. I have been meeting with the missionaries for about 2 months now,  I have come to know that the priesthood authority has been restored to the earth. I wish to unite myself with this faith, but I am facing such big opposition. I am youth minister at my church now. I have been bombarded with this and that. About a week ago, I was allowed to watch a anti Mormon film. I wish that no one will ever watch this. I watched and was devastated. The Elders called me right after I watched it. I didn't know what to do. He then told us, I couldn't sleep. The Elders came by the next day, and prayed for me (gave him a blessing). I slept through the night. I know that was from God.
He finished his testimony, I was in tears, How could he get through all of this? How? One word, "Remember". He remembered that first lesson. The spirit he felt and has never let go. D&C 6:22. Please read this and "remember".
I love you
Love,
Elder Conder"