A New Adventure and a Conference (October 3, 2016)

A New Adventure and a Conference

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I'm being transferred. Generally I shouldn't know yet, but...

I'm going to Palawan. To Taytay. That means I'm going to the far north of Palawan.

The members there have just recently formed into a ward.

It will mean that I have really been sent to one of the farthest reaches of the mission...

I'll admit, I'm a little nervous. I'm also disappointed, because that probably means I'll be watching General Conference in Tagalog, which, though I can speak it well enough, is far from fluent! Yes, just so you know, because of the time difference, General Conference for us in the Philippines is different from you guys. We see it the 2nd week of October. So, I have not actually seen any of it yet, but I'm really excited to. 

For those of you out there who haven't seen it, I invite you to. It is truly an amazing experience if you will open your heart and your mind to the messages. The speakers are not going to spend several hours trying to convert someone or bashing other religions. In fact, most of the time they will address their messages to the members of the church, since that is the general audience. But these are people who have undergone the trials that life has to give them and have come away without turning hard and cold, who keep an attitude of optimism and faith amidst the trials of our time, who think about Jesus Christ every day of their lives, and do everything they can to serve their God by serving their fellow men. If you listen, they will answer the great questions of the soul you have for this time. It is like having a constantly updated section of the epistles. Real, live apostles and prophets speaking to us on the trials of OUR time. I know they are servants of God, with authority from Him, who are listening to the spirit to know what they need to say to us all. You will find peace, but it is up to you. I will be going into conference with much expectation. It's going to be great. Here is a link to the set of messages:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng&_r=1 

I would like to express the greatest love to you all. But I do so humbly, knowing that no one has quite the love God does for his children. 

Have Faith.

Don't give up.

Sincerely,

Elder Streeter

A Bath for Tingle, the Stuffed Polar Bear (September 19, 2016)

A Bath for Tingle, the Stuffed Polar Bear

Welllllllllll... 

Thanks for your concern! I don't really know what danger I was in... But thanks anyway for caring so much...

I hope you guys are doing well. I think it's great that you all have striven to make Sunday a more special day. As Sunday becomes different, unique, and holy, I can make a promise to you, that the time till I come home will begin to fly. Something about having regular markers makes things go faster, but Sunday will only mark if you actually make it different, and special. 

I'm very glad to see the efforts Papa is putting forth for missionary work. Yes, I say missionary work, because it's probably difficult to share the gospel just anywhere in Italy for him, since he doesn't speak Italian, but he is seeking to do important work for our ancestors. I have a strong belief that this will help us return to Spain. As Heavenly Father sees his and all of your desires to accomplish genealogical work, he will give you more opportunities to do so. Such is the way with the Kingdom of Heaven. 

I really like that concept. It's similar to the idea of mind over matter: You can accomplish whatever you put your mind to, and when one door closes, three more open. As we strive to do the right thing, the Lord gives us more opportunities to do the right thing. So as we strive to share the Gospel, the Lord will give us more opportunities to do so. If we are really trying to glorify God with a specific talent, God will open doors and paths which will gives us greater opportunity to do so. 

Let me give an example:

One day on my mission, we had nearly ended the day, and we hadn't accomplished but 5 OYMs. It was pretty bad. As we began heading home, there was no one! I couldn't see a single person to talk to. It was pretty bad.

Well, as we were walking, I saw one person coming towards us. It's hard to OYM someone who is walking. Especially because they obviously have somewhere to be, and are trying to get there, and it's super awkward too. But I knew we needed to OYM. So I did so. 

Strangely, it was like magic. As I began talking to him 2 more people showed up, and then 3 came from the other direction, and suddenly it was as though the street that was nearly dead just 10 minutes ago was bustling with people we could talk to. They didn't come because I was talking to the man, they didn't see me and say "OOHH! I want to see what he's saying!" In fact, most of them tried to avoid us. But the fact that something so strange happened cannot be coincidence. 

Thank you for staying alert to the promptings of the spirit. I did actually lose my phone last week, and president probably wouldn't have learned about it for a while if we hadn't tried so hard to get a hold of me. 

In the mission, we like to talk about a set of three commandments that are super important. I thought this was funny, so I decided I'd let you know: we call it CPR Church Prayer Reading scriptures. These are the three most essential modes of receiving revelation. And we need revelation so badly. 

It's also CPR for a family, if they can all agree that what needs to be done is focus on God and then make a plan to do these things together as a family. 

I love you all...

I gave tingle a bath recently. It worked very well. He is extremely white and doesn't stink anymore. I'm very happy it worked. I was worried I might destroy him in the process, but there appears to be no negative effects. 

The one investigator, that I was hoping to see baptized before I leave the area, didn't come to church last week, so he's not yet ready for baptism. That's all right though, because I am sure he will be baptized. He just needs time. What it means is that from this point on all my work in the area will be completely unselfish. I will be planted seeds for the next missionaries to harvest. But Oh, how I hope those seeds will be harvested. 

I'm learning to love the people. I'm going to miss this when it's all over...

With love,

Elder Streeter

The One-Year-Mark Letter (September 12, 2016)

The One-Year-Mark Letter

This is an email for Nikolai. 

Please tell Mama and Papa sorry that I've got nothing for them this week. Hitting my one year mark in the mission has been kind of hard for me...

But hey, guess what? We're halfway there! You've basically made it. You've survived one year without me. You can survive one more. 

I've been telling my companions Elephant Jokes. They give the same savory groan everyone else gives. Do you still remember those jokes?

Why did the elephant paint his toenails red?

To hide in a cherry tree!
...................
Cricket. Cricket. 
Badum pshhhhh!

Have you ever seen an elephant in a cherry tree?

No.

They're good at hiding then!!!!!

Badum pshshhhhshshhhs!

Kris-Tyan bursts out in laughter. Nobody else does. 

Hehehe

And I'm officially out of time. 

I don't have mama's letter yet. Tell everyone I'm sorry. I'll devote more time next week. 

With love, and fond memories,

Kris-Tyan Streeter

Introducing a New Companion and Predicting a Move (August 29, 2016)

Introducing a New Companion and Predicting a Move

Well, I have received my new companion. He is a fun-loving Filipino named Elder Bernardo. He is good at English and Tagalog (of course), and he is about to hit his 1 and a half year mark. He only has six months left in the mission, or about that. Again, I'm with an old missionary! At least it means he'll make up for any mistakes I make. 

I did get better, pretty quickly, all things considered. The last few days in the area have been absolutely astounding. We had 26 lessons last week, and 8 new investigators. It blew me away! It's like my new companion has some sort of magic. We had tons of lessons with people that we had just met! Super cool. Hopefully that continues for the next 6 weeks. If it does, this'll be a short transfer.

Speaking of which, yes, by most standards, this will be my last transfer here. Now, anything can happen! I could stay here even longer! But I'm guessing that I'll probably go to a new area in 6 weeks. Just so you can be prepared if the Monday after October 5th I'm suddenly somewhere else. 

Speaking of countdowns, my year mark will be on the 11th of September. It's kind of hard to believe that I am almost at the halfway point. It doesn't feel like it!

But I won't be counting down. I'll be counting up. Counting as I help people enter the church and become active in it and prepare for the temple and enter the temple. That's what I'll count, because that is what counts. 

I'm sorry about the time, but I'm almost out of it. I emailed Audrey. I'm so happy she's been baptized. 
Do you hear that world? Audrey Bouwens has entered into a covenant with God, and that is the most beautiful thing to know of anyone! May she feel His love all her life. May we all! And may we rejoice in it.

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most important Doctrine in all of the history of the world.

With love,

Elder Streeter