We have 4 outstanding young men in our small ward in Liberty, Texas that have been called to serve a mission. It will be fun to have our ward family follow their experiences through this blog. Elder Clegg left July 20,2011 for the Idaho, Pocatello mission, Elder Waddell left July 27, 2011 for the Alaska, Anchorage Spanish speaking mission, Elder Escobar left in August for the Massachusetts, Boston mission, and Elder Tellez left September 14, 2011 for the Mexico, Veracruz Spanish speaking mission. We are so very excited that these fine young men have chosen to serve the Lord.
Click on the dearelder link below for a great way to write our missionaries!
A great way to write!!
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Elder Tellez 6-24-13 email
How is everyone?
I'm good. Soooo, the tropical storm, haha, that was fun. We live on a hill so nothing happened. Most of our area was flooded. I figured out that it was a tropical storm while it had already started raining. We just worked and visited people. It was just a lot of rain and not too much wind. The same thing happened last year, we were working through the rain and after it all passed, they told us that it was a tropical storm. So, one of my old companions, Elder Carmona has been assistent to the president since February (he was my companion at the time). Now one of my other ex companions, Elder Lee is now his companion as the other assistant. A brother in our ward installed our AC unit, ahhhhhh, it is paradise!!!! Time for me to go. I love you all.....
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Elder Everett Escobar 03/24/2013
'The New England Missionary'
I stand here with a purpose.
I didn't used to be this confident and determined.
I have changed.
I have become selfless and devoted.
I have resided here for a time.
I've stood on vast areas of greenery, of lush foliage, and of stone.
I have seen the rising sun.
I have walked these many hills.
And have stopped at many doors.
I have trudged through knee deep snow.
I have withstood winter's blasts.
I have not done these things in vain,
I have done them with a purpose.
Pouring out my soul upon this land and tho this people,
I have overexerted myself.
I have given my all.
I am tired, but I move on.
I have consecrated my time and efforts to the One who basks in glory.
He is my Father and He is your Father.
It is this Father who gives us a true sense of belonging, a purpose.
And it is He that shows us the meaning of life through His pure and infinite love.
And through His love I am able to withstand persecution, pain, and sorrow.
Through His love, I can do all things.
Who am I?
I am a missionary, callled and set apart to do the will of the Father.
I am a child of the Father.
We are all children of God.
We are of a true, divine, royal heritage and we are striving to return back to Him.
This is the message that is in my heart and this is the message that I share.
I take part in showing others their true identity, their purpose.
I bring happiness to those that I come in contact with.
This is my purpose, this is the righteous cause that I will forever stand by.
This is my joy.
Others have gone before me and I have gone before others.
I have fought a good fight and I will continue on my journey back to the Father.
The foundation of which I stand upon is sacred to me.
I love my mission.
I am forever changed.
I stand here with a purpose.
I didn't used to be this confident and determined.
I have changed.
I have become selfless and devoted.
I have resided here for a time.
I've stood on vast areas of greenery, of lush foliage, and of stone.
I have seen the rising sun.
I have walked these many hills.
And have stopped at many doors.
I have trudged through knee deep snow.
I have withstood winter's blasts.
I have not done these things in vain,
I have done them with a purpose.
Pouring out my soul upon this land and tho this people,
I have overexerted myself.
I have given my all.
I am tired, but I move on.
I have consecrated my time and efforts to the One who basks in glory.
He is my Father and He is your Father.
It is this Father who gives us a true sense of belonging, a purpose.
And it is He that shows us the meaning of life through His pure and infinite love.
And through His love I am able to withstand persecution, pain, and sorrow.
Through His love, I can do all things.
Who am I?
I am a missionary, callled and set apart to do the will of the Father.
I am a child of the Father.
We are all children of God.
We are of a true, divine, royal heritage and we are striving to return back to Him.
This is the message that is in my heart and this is the message that I share.
I take part in showing others their true identity, their purpose.
I bring happiness to those that I come in contact with.
This is my purpose, this is the righteous cause that I will forever stand by.
This is my joy.
Others have gone before me and I have gone before others.
I have fought a good fight and I will continue on my journey back to the Father.
The foundation of which I stand upon is sacred to me.
I love my mission.
I am forever changed.
-Elder Everett Alan Escobar
Monday, June 24, 2013
Elder Everett Escobar 06/24/2013
Yes I do hope that this family does get baptized before I go, that
would be sweet. They still don't have a baptismal date yet but we will
be meeting with them this week.
This week I started re-reading
the Book of Mormon, I am currently in Enos. I want to finish the Book
of Mormon and possibly read it again before I go home. By the way, you
never answer my question; when I asked you if it would be alright if I
went with you to seminary.
By the way, I saved you
bukoos of dinero on my stuff that I sent home. I was going to send my
stuff in flat rate boxes but I found a better way. Since the majority of
my stuff that I was sending home was media, I was able to classify it
as media mail = discounted price. So instead of using the flat rate
boxes I grabbed my stuff and put it in a big box. All in all, the box
weighs 51lbs 4oz which at first would have cost $256.00 but with the
media mail discount the price became $26. So yes I saved you BUCKOOs of
dinero (: However, you might want Aaron or Dad to pick the box up
and bring it into the house, because it's a little heavy haha. So I
didn't procrastinate, I sent it on Friday. So for our flight back home
are we allowed to have 2 carry-ons? And the 2 other bags what is the
weight limit? Is it 50lbs? Let me know so that I can plan ahead. And you
still didn't tell me if you wanted to do anything while we are in New
England /:
By the way, for the Hartford temple the planned ground breaking is
set for August 18th, but that may change. They still have to demolish a
building that is currently on the land, President Monson will be here
for the ground breaking. That would be awesome if we could attend. Has
Bishop Thomas said anything about me speaking in church the following
Sundays that I'll be back?
You'll be happy to hear that I'm back to not playing sports.
However, I only came back to this conclusion because of another injure
(yes I am having the greatest luck at the end of my mission) haha (: I
didn't get hurt playing basketball. I was barefoot and I was taking one
of the bikes down to the basement to fix it up. On the way down the
stairs, I slipped and lost control of the bike. I got my big toe caught
in the chain and I fell down the remaining steps. I must say that some
words did slip out of my mouth as blood was profusely spewing out of my
toe. I was so angry, because I had been trying to be cautious. I stopped
the bleeding at looked at my wounds of war, I had a few gashes in my
toe (not deep enough for stitches though), part of my toe nail had been
sliced off, and about half of my foot was bruised. So I cleaned
everything up, made good use of the Neosporin, and put a ziploc bag on
my foot to set it in ice cold water. After that I went right back to
fixing up the bikes again.
Since then my toe isn't as swollen and my toe isn't infected, but
it's still very sensitive. So for the past few days I've walked with a
slight limp and as you'd guess members noticed and asked me about it. I
guess it didn't pull on their heart strings enough because only one
family signed up on our dinner calendar for this week. However, they
signed up for random days next month. Why couldn't anyone sign up for
this week? I don't know. That 2 or 3 weeks without that many meals, but
next month looks promising, the Ward Mission Leader realized how few
dinners we had and started getting on member's cases.
Well that Book of Mormon Quest Youth Conference sounded amazing. I
wish that I could have seen it. You didn't send any pics and I don't
see any changes on the Stripling Warriors blog, but I know you're busy.
Hopefully Drum Major Camp is fun for Aaron and that Sea Base Camp is fun
for him and Dad.
The world-wide training was cool, I wasn't surprised by anything
that was said because it has alrighty been initiated within our mission.
Previous to this world-wide training our mission was the only mission
that had developed a massive internet database that would make it easier
for people on the internet to be referred to mormon.org
and other blogs that could answer their questions and refer the user to
missionaries. Our mission released a pilot run of the database for a
space of time prior to the world-wide training, so that the general
authorities could determine whether it would be well-worth the change to
digital proselyting (such as facebook and other databases). And as
you'd guess it was indeed worth it, many baptisms have come from it
especially within the urban areas of our mission. We were the
fore-running mission in this development and similar programs to ours
will be given to missions throughout the world. There are currently 6-8
missionaries that have been called as 'digital missionaries' (computer
geniuses). They are in charge of running and making changes to this
database on a day to day basis. I didn't tell you this previous to the
world-wide training because it was semi-confidential at the time. By the
way, I haven't knocked on a single door for 1 year, other than trying
contact less active members and yes knocking on doors can be dangerous.
At one of the dinners that we had this past week I did a little
bit of networking with a member that was there, who is a healthcare
administrator at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and he said that he can
hook me up with another administrator who is lds and is in Houston. We
have a few more dinners with the family so I will be able to talk to him
a little bit more about the matter. Dad you would have been proud of me
haha.
Have you been in good contact with the Stones? You should send the
missionaries over there, maybe the Sisters. People seem to be more open
to them in first contact.
That stinks that Aunt Jean broke her foot, hopefully she gets better soon.
I wonder when the Spanish Branch will be approved, hmmm.
Anyways, I love you all. Hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
PS
I need to get some new socks and garments sometime soon, so could I use
my debit card for that? No pics sorry. I will take some this week.
Hello,
In
like manner this week has just ridiculously zoomed on by. Everyday
reminds me that my days are short (and I don't know if I like that
idea.) Anyways, this week I spent a good part of our weekday mornings
fixing the two bikes that we have. We are currently out of miles, so we
need to use our bikes (: So the bikes are all set and in working
condition now. We have lots of biking to do!
Elder Everett Escobar 06/16/2013
This past week we aided and assisted the members in going into greater detail with their member missionary plans and setting specific goals. We drove the 'troublemaker' missionary to Providence, Rhode Island to be picked up by the APs to take him to the airport. Everything has been running more smoothly now. Not to dog on him but it's the truth. We had an awesome lesson with Gloria and Ian, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We committed them to baptism and praying about a specific date for baptism. We are trying to gain more investigators as well. I talked with a member from Worcester, Liz Needham on the phone this past week. She called me (I don't no how she got my number, I guess the missionaries gave it to her) and opened up her home to us for when we tour the mission in August, so we would have a place to stay. She told me to stay in touch with her and to let her know what our schedule will be like when we have a little vacation.
I also received my 'Gold Plates' in the mail this week. Gold Plates are gold-colored documents that are sent to missionaries who will soon be departing. In the documents you write certain things about your areas, companions, investigators, testimony, and you write a final letter to the mission president and his wife. It's about 5 or 6 pages long. I haven't started it yet, we haven't been home that much and haven't had time for me to start it. So I should probably get it done and out of the way because I will need to send it back to the mission office soon. Ugh, I have so much stuff to write and plan, plus my regular proselyting stuff. But it's all fun though (: So you didn't tell me what you guys wanted to do while we are up here? How do you expect me to plan? And this vacation isn't just about me.
I forgot to tell you that I played basketball this week. The temptation was too great! But I didn't feel any discomfort in my arm and I think that I played even better than I did before I hyper-extended my arm. I was surprised. This whole entire time I've been done a lot of good stretches in the mornings. By the way, all of the members are talking about the NBA Finals and how close the games are. You better be rootin' for the Spurs!
Well hey!
I
hope that you all had an awesome Father's Day celebration! I feel like I
just e-mailed you guys the other day and here I am again. But anyways,
this week has just gone by. This week, I've been viewed as the
handy-man. I've been fixing things left and right. I fixed our dryer
(The plug had apparently burnt out and stopped working, so I grabbed a
plug from a dryer that someone had thrown away and switched them out.
Now the dryer works.), a blow-up mattress (There was a hole in it. So I
came up with the idea of sealing the hole with plastic wrap and a
lighter. I folded the plastic wrap tightly, stuck it on the mattress and
took a lighter to it. After some time of heating the plastic it melted
and bonded with the fabric of the mattress, which became a perfect seal
for the hole.), and a pair of Reebok shoes (So we were doing service and
someone told us to throw away a pair of high-top Reebok Classics. So
like the frugal person that I am haha, I asked if I could have them
instead. The shoes weren't beat up or old, they were just really dirty.
And I was pretty sure that I could clean them up and make them look new
again. So I took that challenge and cleaned them up and they turned out
quite nicely.) I have pics of some of these things that will be attached
to an e-mail. This past week we aided and assisted the members in going into greater detail with their member missionary plans and setting specific goals. We drove the 'troublemaker' missionary to Providence, Rhode Island to be picked up by the APs to take him to the airport. Everything has been running more smoothly now. Not to dog on him but it's the truth. We had an awesome lesson with Gloria and Ian, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We committed them to baptism and praying about a specific date for baptism. We are trying to gain more investigators as well. I talked with a member from Worcester, Liz Needham on the phone this past week. She called me (I don't no how she got my number, I guess the missionaries gave it to her) and opened up her home to us for when we tour the mission in August, so we would have a place to stay. She told me to stay in touch with her and to let her know what our schedule will be like when we have a little vacation.
I also received my 'Gold Plates' in the mail this week. Gold Plates are gold-colored documents that are sent to missionaries who will soon be departing. In the documents you write certain things about your areas, companions, investigators, testimony, and you write a final letter to the mission president and his wife. It's about 5 or 6 pages long. I haven't started it yet, we haven't been home that much and haven't had time for me to start it. So I should probably get it done and out of the way because I will need to send it back to the mission office soon. Ugh, I have so much stuff to write and plan, plus my regular proselyting stuff. But it's all fun though (: So you didn't tell me what you guys wanted to do while we are up here? How do you expect me to plan? And this vacation isn't just about me.
I forgot to tell you that I played basketball this week. The temptation was too great! But I didn't feel any discomfort in my arm and I think that I played even better than I did before I hyper-extended my arm. I was surprised. This whole entire time I've been done a lot of good stretches in the mornings. By the way, all of the members are talking about the NBA Finals and how close the games are. You better be rootin' for the Spurs!
I don't think that I've
gotten 'trunky' quite yet. I'm still in the game. As a matter of fact, I
am trying to get everything done and out of the way just so that I can
solely proselyte and finish strong. I don't really want any of this
'trunky' monkey business.
On a side note, I'm
interested in being an attorney now. I know, I keep flipping back and
forth. This past month it seems like everybody has just brought up that
profession and put it in the spotlight and it's starting to peak my
interest.
Answering your question,
I do miss southern women. But do southern women miss me? That's my
responding question (: I've been getting my southern draw back a little
bit, because we work really closely with the Farmington Elders, Elder
Farr and Elder Boren. And Elder Boren is a devote country boy and he has
definitely been rubbin' off on me.
What Danny had a sleep
over?! Isn't he too young for that?...or maybe I'm just old. I hope Dad
passes that swim test. Does Aaron have to take the test too? Has Dad
been losing weight like the doc told him?
I will be sending my
boxes of stuff home this week. So expect 4 boxes to be at our house
sometime. Alright so I hope you guys have a great week.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
Elder Everett Escobar 06/09/2013
Things have calmed down a little bit, but there always seems to be something opposing each and every single one of us. As of right now there is one missionary in our district who is causing quite a bit of trouble and hindering the work, but he goes home in 4 days so that solves the problem. Only 4 more days... Then we can breathe and have peace. Anyways, this week we did service at a local food pantry, 'Gifts of Love' which was good. We serve there 3 times a week for 3 hours. We have been teaching our overwhelmingly solid investigators Gloria and Ian. They are so prepared and ready to get baptized it's ridiculous. The next lesson that we will be having with them we will be setting a baptismal date for both of them. They're amazing and they are pretty much already a part of our ward. It's amazing to see all of this happen just in 2 weeks! It's a privilege to just behold something like this happen. They are just soaking everything in. We have also been working with members in trying to help them develop a family missionary plan. So overall this week was good. I expect the work to pick up even more near the end of next week, we'll be able to accomplish a lot more.
Hi,
Six Flags was
awesome! We had a blast and we are planning another trip for later this
month, put that season pass to work and get the most out of it! Things have calmed down a little bit, but there always seems to be something opposing each and every single one of us. As of right now there is one missionary in our district who is causing quite a bit of trouble and hindering the work, but he goes home in 4 days so that solves the problem. Only 4 more days... Then we can breathe and have peace. Anyways, this week we did service at a local food pantry, 'Gifts of Love' which was good. We serve there 3 times a week for 3 hours. We have been teaching our overwhelmingly solid investigators Gloria and Ian. They are so prepared and ready to get baptized it's ridiculous. The next lesson that we will be having with them we will be setting a baptismal date for both of them. They're amazing and they are pretty much already a part of our ward. It's amazing to see all of this happen just in 2 weeks! It's a privilege to just behold something like this happen. They are just soaking everything in. We have also been working with members in trying to help them develop a family missionary plan. So overall this week was good. I expect the work to pick up even more near the end of next week, we'll be able to accomplish a lot more.
So why is Dad, Aaron,
and Danny breaking in the upstairs for me? And that's hilariously-gross
that all three of them pretty much had a gas bath up there. Well it's
good to hear that the Spanish Branch is back on track and as expected
there are a lot of changes that have and will be made because of that.
These next 2 months are going to be crazy for all of us, but it will
work out and we'll meet back up with each other for the first time in 2
years. And about the boxes, no I do not have the reimbursement money
anymore. I have 5 large flat-rate boxes packed and they each cost like
$17, however I'm going to try and see if I can get the boxes discounted
because all of it is literature and media. So I don't know what the
total cost will be in the end. But without the discount it will be like
$85 or somewhere around there. I came up with a 20-week exercise regimen
(I've been putting it together for almost 2 transfers now) but I'm done
now. I will show it to you in August and hopefully it will help Dad as
well in his journey through weight-loss. Actually I don't hope that it
will help, I know that it will help. I'm pretty sure that he could do
it. I'm going to start it when I get home as well. Hope you guys have a
great week and that you keep progressing like investigators to the
church should haha.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
PS
You better let Danny swim all summer! Plus, you never know, he might be
the next Michael Phelps. Probably not, but you never know.
Elder Everett Escobar 06/02/2013
Hey!
I'm am doing
better. I have gotten more sleep. This week has been great! I forgot to
tell you last week that we were going to have the baptism. Well the
baptism was held this past Saturday for Julianne Good (10). And she and
her mother were both confirmed by Elder Watson and I on Sunday. It was a
great experience. We also gained 3 new solid-investigators. It's a
golden family, I don't think that they can get any golder than what they
are now. They are so prepared and they are just embracing the gospel.
We have only had 1 lesson with them, but they have attended every single
church meeting and activity throughout the week. We talked with them
yesterday and asked them how church was. They said that they had a great
time and that they learned more in 3 hours than they had at any other
particular church and that the doctrine is solid and understandable and
that everything makes sense. They said that they felt blessed to have
come across members of this church and to have just came across the
church in general. They also mentioned that they enjoyed the
confirmation of Mary and Julianne Good and that they would like to have
this ordinance done for them in their lives. So next time we meet with
them, should we setup a baptismal date? Yea, I think so.
This
past week we found out who would be transferred. Found out that neither
I or Elder Watson are being transferred, so he will most likely kill
me. President Packard called me before and after he organized transfers.
The first time he called, he asked me what I thought should happen in
the zone that I'm currently in (Which was interesting to me, since I'm
not in any leadership position.). And I just replied, "President
Packard, I don't have any problems with it. Then President
Packard called me up before he was going to send transfers out to the
mission and talked to me again. He told me that he knew that I had gone
through a lot in the short time that I had been here and he said that he
feels like I am beginning to realize why I am in this area (Which is
true, I realize why I'm here more and more with each passing day.) He
then told me that Elder Watson and I will stay together. He then mentioned that he would talk to me
more on the subject a little later and that he would speak with me in a
more in-depth manner in my last interview with him. Haha welcome to my
crazy missionary life! It's so funny, I love it. I actually have to talk
with him in a more in-depth manner as well sometime, it will probably
be in my last interview though. So yea, I have a lot to tell you as well
when I go home, but you probably already knew that.
Anyways,
you should know that things are going well. I have had peace all
through this week ((((: Yea. I'm still expecting something else to
happen though, things will only be in this mode for so long till
something happens. That's the way it always works. Oh, I forgot to tell
you this, this past Sunday our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Love, got up
and bore his testimony about missionary work. At the end he expressed
to the ward that we have some extraordinary missionaries and that they
are doing a mighty fine work. Then he said (I'll say that he
prophesied), "I expect all of those empty chairs in the over-flow to be
full by the end of this year." He then said the ward is doing well in
helping the missionaries, but that they still need to pick up some more
of the slack. I have to say say that I was impressed, we had at least 50
chairs in the overflow that were empty when he said that. But I know
that it can happen, this ward can probably have at least 1 baptism a
week if all of the members were to wrap their minds around missionary
work. When Brother Love said that in sacrament meeting, my eyes bugged
out and I imagine that the biggest smile just came across my face as
well. I know it can happen and I want it to happen. So with only 1 1/2
transfers left on my mission, it's all or nothing. As you probably
guessed I'm picking, 'all'. Haha
Just
let all of you know my summer fun is about to start, so don't get
jealous when I say this. Today we are going to take a tour of ESPN
Studios which is legit. However, on Wednesday we got permission to go to
Six Flags: New England, some members are taking us. How sweet is that?!
Yes, Aaron and Danny are probably complaining right now, I'm sorry. But
normally I don't get to do anything like this so it's cool.
Well
from you e-mail Mom, it sounds like you got some wise words of counsel
from Bishop. It's good to keep hearing that the boys are still not only
involved in extracurricular activities, but are also involved in
missionary work. Graduation 2013?! Geez I felt young till you brought
that up haha, it's crazy. It doesn't even feel like 3 years have gone
by. Hey this thought came to mind as I was reading your e-mail. Would it
be alright if I were to go to seminary with you, I think that would be
legit. And I would start off my day studying the scriptures and helping
you and the youth. That would be cool, I guess that I would kind of in a
sense be your 'assistant'. I don't know, you can do whatever you want
with me. What are your thoughts on that?
By
the way, I've heard of Elder Wetkisser (if that's how you spell it) but
I don't believe that I've actually met him, the name rings a bell
though. And also greenies training greenies isn't all that rare up here,
but it's always been interesting to me. That's a lot of faith and trust
to be putting in new missionaries. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed my
long letter of random excitement haha. I love and prayer for all of you
as well. Hope you have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escoba
Elder Everett Escobar 05/19/2013
Hey!!!
I understood it for the most
part. Connecticut is good. Elder Watson is doing well, as a matter of
fact, it's his birthday today. So to celebrate a member is taking us to
Cheesecake Factory for lunch (: We'll probably be playing b-ball today, I
going to take it a little easy though. I really don't want to get
injured before I go home, that would stink. We are getting fed dinner
pretty much everyday, but lunch has been hard because we seem to always
be on the run. So you've probably seen transactions for fast food. And
it stinks because we pretty much don't have anything in our apartment,
just oatmeal and condiments. Neither my companion or I have any money (I
have just a little bit but that's been set aside for the packages that I
will be sending home sometime) and to top it off our monthly msf is
going to coming late next month. Egh! It's so annoying not having a
steady income of some sort cause you feel somewhat stuck at times.
However, I have been enjoying my time here in Connecticut. Most of the
members here are just loaded, it's beyond ridiculous and there are quite
a few members here that are dentists. We had stake conference yesterday
in which we had a live broadcast meeting from Salt Lake City, where
President Packer, Elder L. Tom Perry, and a few other speakers spoke to
the congregation about temples, missionary work, and strengthening
families. It was nice, everyone is excited for the Hartford Temple. The
building process of the temple will most likely start in June or July.
Mom...come on, you know that I
forgive you about the blog. It's not like I'm going to get mad or upset
and hulk smash everything haha. Sounds like you had a pretty full week.
You can probably guess what our week was full of SERVICE, of course to the members.
It's good that the Elders
finally got a car. We heard that our car might be getting stripped from
us and will be given to the new Sisters coming in. I don't like the idea
because we have a fairly large area and it is going to take a blow to
the work here if we are on bikes, we won't be able to do anything
(comparably speaking). A lot of changes are about to happen yet again
this transfer, because 18 new Sisters and 1 Elder is coming into the
mission. So there is probably going to be 6 or 7 new areas being added
to the mission. There have been a lot of rumors going around the
mission. For some reason or another some missionaries, including our
Zone Leaders, seem convinced that I'm getting transferred this transfer
in which I will be made an Assistant to the President. I highly doubt it
though, come on, my last transfer getting made AP and leaving right
after that, it seems silly and ridiculous to me. I've had a lot of
people predict and tell me that I will or should be AP throughout my
mission but I'm completely fine and happy where I'm at. I find joy in
being a proselyting missionary and that's enough for me at the time
being. Plus I don't know how much more tired I can get before I might
snap, just kidding. But I am super tired.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
Elder Everett Escobar 05/06/2013
Good morning!
Good morning!
It is a beautiful
day in Worcester, Mass. It has been a beautiful week. Things are
starting to pick up quite a bit in the Worcester 1st Ward. This past
week Elder DeLong and I have been striving to reach out to those that
have been on the minds of the auxiliary leaders in the ward and trying
to get in contact with referrals that we had received from members in
the ward. We were successful in our endeavors and have gained some new
investigators. Yesterday was a blast! The whole ward was fasting for a
strengthening in the ward and when we got to church we saw a large
amount of members in attendance (a lot of the members that we had
contacted that week showed up to church, there were several non-members
at church also), fast & testimony meeting was amazing (almost
everyone talked about missionary work), and there seemed to be a sense
of unity throughout the entire 3 hour block of church and even
afterwards too. Things look bright and the work is picking up. After
church we had a break-the-fast linger longer, it was Cinco de Mayo
themed. It was so good, it seemed more like a ward activity than a
linger longer. There were decorations, pretty much the whole nine-yards.
Throughout this week we have been given many opportunities to serve
others. We helped in a American Red Cross Blood Drive, we help a lot of
people in the cleaning up of their yards, we assisted in a Stake-wide
Relief Society Conference (Sister Evans was there, but I didn't see her.
We took care of kids, we got permission of course, and we cook and
prepared food) and we were able to minister to some of the members who
were sick and to some that were in need of comfort. This week was long,
but short at the same time. One thing that I have noticed for sure is
that it just keeps getting harder and harder to wake up on time, I have
to literally force myself out of bed. I thought that I was already
exhausted but this past week has really pushed the limits, but the Lord
provides. I can clunk out for a good long while, when I get back home.
As a result of my tiredness, I haven't been exercising twice a day, you
can probably imagine why. I guess that I will get back up in the
'fitness' bandwagon when I get back home as well.
Sounds like the
Liberty Ward is just booming! Pretty soon you might be bursting at the
seams, haha. It's good that Aaron will be getting more involved in the
missionary work of the ward. That's what all of the youth need,
especially now since the young men can go on their missions pretty much
right out of high school. Going out with the missionaries and serving
with them will give them a good perspective of what their mission might
be like and hopefully their experiences with the missionaries will
continue to kindle or spark a desire to serve. Oh, by the way who is
this "friend" that Aaron will be escorting to this Choir Concert? Come
on, we need details (: Anyways, Danny sounds like he is doing some
rather academic things, such as the Science Fair.
By the way, it's
funny that you mentioned the topic of 'dusting our feet', I have been
intrigued by that as well and have been tempted to do it several times.
However, just as you said it is something that you should take into deep
consideration. You wouldn't want a guilty conscious, especially if you
did it just out of anger and frustration. It's definitely something that
is not done often at all.
It's good to hear
that the Smesnys' are now sealed together as a family, that truly is
something beautiful. So Dad is now one of the 'Men In Black'. Is he
going to be in the next movie with Will Smith? That would be awesome. It
was 40 degrees this morning, wow, it's the same for us too. Except I
don't think that is all that 'rediculous' right now but I imagine if I
were back home, I would think that it was. Hopefully it doesn't get that
much colder, because Mom I know that you JUST CAN'T STAND IT at all.
Also I just wanted to let you know that I will probably need one more
bottle of contact solution and one more stick of deodorant and I guess
that will last me till August, that's my guess, maybe I will need two
sticks, who knows. I am looking forward to the Mother's Day call, I
don't have all the specifics as for the exact time yet, but we will be
working that out today and I guess that I will text you the time (:
Alrighty well, I love all of you and I hope that you have an awesome week no matter how chaotic it might be.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
Elder Everett Escobar 04/22/2013
Good morning,
Good morning,
It was a little
hard for me saying goodbye to Elder Metcalf and Sister Crane, who left
the district this transfer (Mom, I want you to meet Sister Crane when we
tour the mission). I must say that I did get a little emotional during
transfer meeting, it was hard trying to hold back the tears that were
about to spew out of my eyes. I held it in well though. However, it
didn't help that the meeting was super spiritual. It made it harder for
me to hold my ground, haha. .I was getting so good at not getting
emotional throughout my mission, but this past transfer really put me
through the ringer and I've become a crier again. Some people have
started calling me, Elder Eyring (because he cries in pretty much every
talk) I have 2 more transfers and it is ridiculous how fast time has
gone by, I don't even believe it myself. In the meeting President
Packard expressed that the Priesthood Brethern (Prophet, the Apostles,
and the Seventy) have had and still have their eye on this mission,
because we are exceeding our goals and are growing tremendously. Some of
the practices that we've initiated in this mission are now being used
in other missions around the world, because of it's much success.
Through these past months we have also broken records number-wise and it
is consistent. The work is growing tremendously as we strive to have
everyone visualize and help in the building of Zion. My new companion is
Elder DeLong. I served around him when I was in Nashua, we were in the
same Zone. He has been out for 17 months, he's a hard-worker. I like him
a lot, we get along really well. To tell you the truth, as of right now
I don't think that this is going to be my last area. I have this
feeling that I'm going to get transferred for the last transfer that I'm
here. That thought has and is pressing in my mind right now. I feel
like I have grown a lot this past transfer. A lot was made known unto me
and I feel like I have a better grasp or knowledge as to who I am and
who I can become. The Lord has revealed many things unto me. I feel like
I have talked with him face to face as I have expressed my struggles,
my feelings, and the concerns that are existent within the ward which we
are striving to resolve. He has spoken to me through my thoughts,
through people that I have come in contact with, and through my dreams.
All of these ways of revelation which I have experienced have
complimented each other and have helped me in doing the will of the
Lord. As a result, I have gained a greater sense of happiness, joy, and
peace of mind.
So Mom, as of right now I
don't have any plans in the near future of attending any sporting events
with huge crowds (: Hope your happy about that. I will try to schedule
an actual time this week, as to when we can communicate on Mother's Day.
By the way, I found a shnazy
wool suit that looks nice. And the best part about it is that it was
free. I just have to find someone in the ward who can tailor the slacks
for me (I have a pic of me in the suit coat, but with a different pair
of slacks).
Tell Aaron and Danny that I am
proud of them for their academic and extracurricular success. Keep
doing what you are doing and you will have many accomplishments in life.
Elder
DeLong and I are pretty much wiping everything that was being done in
our ward and start everything over again. Were starting from the ground
and working our way up. And we are hounding down on strengthening the
ward itself rather than pin-pointing new investigators to teach. For the
past three days, we have been coming up with more and more ways that we
can interact with individuals and families in the ward. I feel like we
are doing the right thing and that what we are doing is the will of God.
This Sunday, the bishop made a push for the same thing. He called for a
strengthening in the ward and pleaded with the members to have us, the
missionaries, in there home so that we can help and strengthen them. So
that they may be better prepared for trials to come and for missionary
opportunities. We did not have our expected baptism it got pushed back
due to family issues, but it should happen sometime this coming month.
Anyways, hope you all have a great day and an amazing week.
Love,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
Elder Everett Everett 04/24/2013
Hello,
Hello,
Hey $76.00 in tuition
sounds perfect! Why are you calling in about that? Just kidding, yea
something's not right about that. Well believe it or not we were shut
down when the manhunt was going on, we're not to far from Boston, we're
actually in the Boston Zone. Yea pretty much everything is back to
normal in Boston. I should know because I was there yesterday when we
went to the Boston Red Sox vs Oakland A's game, we got permission to go.
Everyone is still mourning the losses that happened at the Boston
Marathon and they are supporting the officials that came to their aid.
Security is still a little tight but that is expected. I got the
opportunity to go to the baseball game because their is a missionary in
our district received tickets from a member and got permission to go but
his companion didn't like baseball, so he asked me if I wanted to go.
And I didn't have to think twice about it, it's on my bucket list. We
had a good time and we had really good seats ($200 seats as a matter of
fact). The only down side of it all was that it was misty and chilly.
Other than that we had a blast. I put pics on this e-mail, for some of
the pics I didn't even have to zoom in at all. It was a good baseball
game, the Red Sox got smoked 0-12, the Oakland A's wiped their bottoms.
As you can probably
guess, this week is transfer week and that's why I am e-mailing you
today. We found out on Saturday that Elder Metcalf is getting
transferred to Lowell, Massachusetts and Sister Crane (she's blonde,
you'll see her in the pics that I sent) is getting transferred to
Ellington, Connecticut. They will both be missed, both of them have had a
great impact on me. This has been the best district that I have been in
on my mission by far. It's going to be hard watching them go and having
to deal with change, but we will see each other from time to time I'm
sure. My new companion will be Elder DeLong, he's a English/Cambodian
speaking missionary. We were in the same Zone when I served in Nashua,
he seems like a cool cat, a hard worker. We will see what happens.
So
Aaron got to go to Mormon Prom, that's pretty cool. Oh and he fell for a
cute Colombian, so he likes the Latina flavor huh? Haha, I guess we
might have different tastes in women. However, I expect that we both
have the same overlavish, corny charm that we inherited from our dear
father. All Hail KING CORNY: Felix David Escobar! He started it all.
"Hey, give me a piece of that corn!" Yet again, Aaron good luck on your
Eagle Project since your not totally done yet. Get it done, get it out
of the way as soon as possible.
And
as for Danny, I can totally see him being a lawyer. Many people that
don't know me mistake me for being an attorney or physician of some
sort. Apparently, I just have the look, apparently. Mom! Pretty soon
you're not going to have any little boys anymore... How do you feel
about that?
As
for the doctor and dentist appointments, I'm fine with doing it then.
And for Mother's Day, we don't have anyone set in stone quite yet but a
few families have offered to have us over when we make our calls home.
So I will keep you up to date on that. Now for my clothes, at the end of
my mission I'm just going to burn the majority of my dress clothes,
because they are just down-right filthy and nobody is probably going to
take them (if they are smart and have anything in their bucket, they
won't take them). So I will probably end up buying new garments, a white
shirt, and a suit at the end of my mission. Yea I don't know if my
dress clothes can last too much longer. I'm pretty sure that I do have
plenty of casual clothes between what I have here and back home. If I
need to get anything, it will probably be a few pairs of jeans and
shorts which I can probably get at Pac Sun when they have their Blue Dot
Sale for dirt cheap. Other than that yea I think that I will be all
set. So we are both looking forward to the call home on Mother's Day, I
will probably Skype. I don't really enjoy talking on the phone.
I love all of you,
Elder Everett Alan Escobar
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