WEEK 26 ........  April 13th 2010 ........ Lindsay ,California

Hola como estas

 

Ok so I got your last two emails, sorry for the guilt trip,LOL!!  but I couldn't resist. I hope you didn't take it to heart. Before I get to my letter I need to ask something. Mom I need Jonathan's mission address so I can write him and the same for Patrick. Oh and I just thought randomly about Dwight and Sadie (the family that stayed with us) so if you could get me there address too, so I could write them that would be amazing. Thank you so much in advance for this. (Ha now you have to do it cuz I said thank you :P)

This week was amazing, we did alot of recent convert, less active work. Growth and retention is out #1 goal. So we were invited to this bible study thing and we thought why not. It was actually really good the people are really nice, we tried to talk about the Book of Mormon but got shot down. We were at a lose of what to do because we don't want to offend but we don't want to waste our time there is no progression is going to be made. We were just feeling down on ourselves for kinda putting ourselves in a corner. So we were of course talking to Beto and he said one of the most profound statements that I think has come from a person. He said " Your purpose isn't to study with them its to teach them what you know , which is about the book of Mormon and restoration." I know that seems kinda like a no brainier but it really hit me.

We have been asked that time and time again, why do you use the Book of Mormon so much to teach and not the bible. I finally know, its because they already know the bible. I am called to give them the truth, that we have everything back that was lost, that's there is no finding the closest truth but showing them the right one. I am so blessed to be here to meet all of these people. I am really understanding the meaning of love and what I need to do better. I am in pain, my heart hurts so much all the time. The people I see on the street, not wanting anything to do with me, my investigators not wanting to go on. It hurts and its happening because Satan knows that the best spot to attack a missionary, not in breaking commandments, but in hurting the people around him. He is a cruel personage, its hard to think that you can hate so much as to try and destroy everyone around you. It's ok though because I have friends, that's right friends and we all do.

He doesn't ,he has people that he commands, but no one is his friend. We all have the chance to be built up. We just need to have friends that will bring us were we need to be. I have seen alot of experiences in life and on the mission, friends are what influences the most, the family does help alot with that but they are not the ones you are around always. We need friends who will help us reach to where we need to be. We can all get higher, that is what is promised to us. I love this gospel because it gives us the chance to always get better, we can never think that we have done it all, that's when we have to start worrying. The Book of Mormon is specifically made to help us with that. That's why we must continue to read it because we will always find something new and amazing in there. The Book of Mormon was give to us, not to keep on our tables or shelves but in our hands and hearts. We must read it always because that is where we will find the way home. (sorry that was kind of a rant) This work is amazing, I feel different, not like I have changed but like I have grown. The spirit is amazing, it always leads and guides but we have to look for it. This week as been such a testimony to me that we must continue to do better and rely on our heavenly father, because he will give us strength. Thank you for all your prayers, I can really feel them. I love you all so much and thank you for your example.

 

Love Elder Jason Glowa

 

P.S.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! For your present this year ummmm I'll think of something awesome to send, like the pictures I have, ok sending them soon......sorry for the hold up mom. Oh and one more thing I have 6 months in the field tomorrow. :D Time flies when your teaching with the spirit.

WEEK 25 ..... April 6th , 2010 ...... Lindsay , California

Hola Mom and Dad

 ( DISCLAIMER : We had sent Jason an email but sent it to the wrong email address !! , and because we weren't home we only realized our mistakes that night. Even though we re-sent our email to him ,he only got it a week later ) 

Ok, so first off ,thank you for writing me this week hahaha, it's a funny joke because you didn't. I'm glad I heard from Ben or else no emails for Elder Glowa this week. I know that you're busy and all and that's find but even one line saying I love you son would and does mean the world to me.

I am whole heatedly dedicated to the work of the Lord but that doesn't mean that I don't want to hear updates or how life is. I miss you guys and it makes me so happy to read what is going on in your lives.

To give you an update on my Easter activities they were really awesome we didn't do an egg hunt or anything but we got fed like crazy, we ate like 3 times in the space of like an hour and a half. We didn't have lunch because we were helping the other elders in our district with a baptismal service, so a member brought us burritos because we were starving so we scarfed down two before  conference and then ate the last one after conference's afternoon session. Then a member called and told us to come over, so we did and she had made us the greatest thing in the world. "Carne assada" (fried meat) with beans and rice and cactus (nopal) it's amazing. So we got stuffed there then we went over to an English member's house and got stuffed with a potato casserole thing, ham and lamb. So apart from getting fed like crazy we went and had and amazing time strengthening members.

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS AMAZING! I felt the spirit so strong and now feel sad for all that I missed while not paying attention before my mission or just not taking it seriously. So many amazing talks.My two favourites were President Uchtdorf's on Patience and also Elder Holland's on not having lust. Both so amazing and powerful I feel like I can go baptize all of Lindsay now! Elder Holland has amazing , it made me truly understand that we must love always as the Saviour did. In the beginning he was addressing pornography and I thought alright here it comes Elder Holland's personal smack down on Pornography. But nope he goes beyond that and simply states. "Pornography is bad but lets stop cutting the branches off and worry about the roots." Amazing just goes off on the evils of lust and wow man it was so inspiring. I want to teach with boldness like Elder Holland does. That's what I have found that is so good and effect, is being bold and knowing when to use your testimony.

Apart from those amazing things that came to pass this week, I had the single greatest compliment of my life. There is a member named Beto and he is an amazing man. He changed his life around and got reactivated and goes out with the missionaries all the time. We were driving a missionaries named Elder Gutierriez back to his area after our exchange and I have no idea what or how the subject came up but they started talk about missionaries specifically me. Beto smiles his amazingly big smile and says with all seriousness, Elder Glowa you have a spirit "tan fuerte" (so strong)about you, you just radiate love and have good heart. You are Alma the younger today. I smiled the biggest smile I have , and for all those of you who have seen me smile you know my eyes get really small. LOL !!!! So I said if I'm Alma then you're is Amulek. So that's how we say hi now. I feel so amazing and don't worry my head didn't get any bigger from that, It was just an awesome thing for someone to say about me .

Anyway the work is good and if all goes well we are going to have a baptism coming up soon. I love baptisms they are amazing! They are such a great blessing to witness. I want to thank you for all that you have given me and for helping me on my road down the teenage live. Who knows were I would be without you and your guidance. Thank you for all you do.

 

Hope all is well

All my love Elder Jason Glowa

 

P.s.

Please write me next week

WEEK 24 ...... March 30th ,2010   ...... Lindsey, California

Hola familia!

 Did anyone speak Spanish to you yet? I'm sorry that was a dumb question. First off please be nice to everyone because someone you meet I may end up teaching later on in my mission. So represent the church well. Ok first off I knew Ben and Court were going but I was really surprised to hear that Brooke is there, are you trying to replace me with another daughter.....cough.....cough.....mom. I know your having a blast because Mexico is awesome but I want you to know that if you need to drink something get the Jarritos (its the soda brand) And the best one is Tamarindo its like a brown soda it is amazing, I drink that so much here and it's best hot cause is called Tapatio, its got a Mexican guy with a sombrero on it. So have fun in Mexico for the next two weeks I think is how long your staying.

I had the best personal study of my whole mission today. First off I completely when I went through D&C 11:21 and looked at every cross reference and what's not that took about half and hour or so then I decided to read the rest of the section because it felt like what I should do. Anyway I got some amazing insight for my investigators and I have never marked the scriptures so much in my life. Not going to lie I think ever verse is marked in that sections because I just went to town on it.

I'm restarting the Book of Mormon and I am going to do that also, just go through everything. I am so excited to study and it is amazing what I can learn with just praying and having my Heavenly Father's help. The most amazing thing is that no matter what I read I always end up using it for something that day. The Lord leads and guides us through everything, anything and everything.What we do should reflect Him because at any moment He is going to need us to act, because we as members of the church have the witness and testimony. The Lord will use us to bring His gospel to the world. That's one of the great things that I have seen recently.

Studies are so amazing and important. This week I realized that one of our baptismal dates Jaime is like the Mexican version of Ben. Its awesome, he is going to be baptized on the 10th of April and it is such a blessing to have someone amazing to teach. The scriptures say that if you labour all your days and only bring one soul to our Father in heaven, how great will be your joy with him in the kingdom of your father. (trying to write it from memory so may not be exact) But this to me is the greatest promise and blessing that Heavenly Father can give us. There is so much joy in doing the Lords work. I can't describe how much joy and love I feel. I really want and need to share this gospel with everyone. It's an amazing desire, all I truly want to do is bring about my Fathers will. Elder Larson and I are working our hardest to find new people and to be exactly obedient to bring about that blessings of heaven. This is serious work, the salvation of souls. I'm so excited all the time! I feel like a super hero. I know I have already explained how that is but I really do, I am in the business of saving souls and I am loving every minute of it. Life is amazing! Thank you for all you do. Have fun in Mexico, try not to miss me to much, and mom and dad even if they don't want to go to the ruins because they are AWSOME!

 

Love Elder Jason Glowa

 

p.s

After the mission we are going to were Lehi and Nephi landed and following the Book of Mormon. We are going to use it as a guide to find the land bountiful where Christ came. I know you may think I'm crazy but think how amazing and how much fun it would be to read the book of Mormon and follow its account of travelling. Think about that while your in Mexico.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL HAVE FUN IN THE SUN!

           WEEK 23 ..... From LINDSAY , CALIFORNIA

Hola evreyone!

Lindsay is amazing, I love it. The members are so amazing and always willing to lend a hand to the missionary work. Sometimes I feel like we burden them with asking for team ups and what not, but they will actually get mad at us if we don't "impose" on them. It is really funny to see how much the members truly love missionary work and understand the importance of it.

So this week we set two new baptismal dates so life is going great. We are having a real difficulty with one of our baptismal dates. Rey , he needs to stop smoking, so we are trying with our all to get that accomplished. I know it can be done because the Lord is on our side.

Being in a small town is great, it has the feelings of home for me. Its kinda like Chateaugauy, but it has a place called Mc Dermont which is the coolest place on earth. Its indoor basketball, and soccer and rock climbing and skateboarding and wave riding and a gym and there is even laser tag in then basement. We got to play laser tag last week with a member and I won out of the three of us. It was amazing. So much fun and even you can play it mom because there's no pain just guns and the impression of dying.

Ok on to your next question ,what would i like from Mexico? My companion and I have come to the conclusion that we need ponchos a green one for him and a red one for me. We need it because we are Spanish missionaries and we basically live in the Mexican parts of the mission  so it just goes with the whole look. So in a nutshell I'm saying we need them to be better missionaries!!!!  LOL !!!

Weather is amazing out here the sun is shining and I can feel the fat melt but I am starting to sweat from every pour, its great and horrible at the same time. And the degrees have no where to go but up. Yes mom I got the packages, thank you but now the Easter one is looking really tempting so I have to put in the closet. And yes you told me that Matt got married. Good I think that's all the questions, jeez this is hard, so many questions, can't you wait two years when I can just answer them face to face :P. LOL!!

This week has been going great we set baptismal dates, we have 3 new investigators and the Church tours are going amazing! I love the mission. Ok so in my studies this week I have begun to study Alma the younger and his story from the beginning were he is mentioned to the end where he is translated. He and Amulek were the greatest missionaries.  I want to learn all I can from him because his accounts and way of teaching are marvellous! So that's all for this week, I know its not much but its really all. So thank you for everything, tell everyone that I love them and am thinking about them and also, please tell Ben to write me because its been forever since I have heard heads or tails from him. Have fun holding down the fort and have fun in Mexico!

Mi llama mucho mi familia y tambien todos de mi familia del barro Lasalle. (Translate that, have fun)

Love Elder Jason Glowa

WEEK 22 ..... March 16th ,2010 ..... LINDSAY , CALIFORNIA
 ........... First week in Lindsay.........

Hola everyone

I'm writing to you from Lindsay and well its amazing! I love it here, I still miss Madera a little but I guess it comes with the work. My new companion Elder Larson is awesome!!! He is a great missionary and very obedient, we are striving everyday for 100% obedience, its amazing to see the blessings that come from doing it.

Lindsay is a really, really small town, I love it, because we bike all the time it takes about 15 mins at an easy pace to get from one end of the city to the other. It is small and powerful, the ward has an amazing retention so the converts are getting the higher priesthood. It is such a blessing to witness the truthfulness of the gospel. The church tours are an amazing tool here, the members are always willing and on call and we have already goten 2 baptismal dates from it.

Lets see, ummm ok so some of the miracles that I have seen being here was on the first day here we were driving down the street and a man waves us down and says he is less active and needs to repent so we give him the number of the bishop and he meets with us a couple of days later in the church and we watched Finding Faith in Christ. Honestly it was one of the most spiritual lessons that I have ever taught, here was a man completely moved to tears by the spirit and it was reinforced by our testimonies and the spirit of the building. It is amazing to see the tender mercies of the Lord.

We are  also teaching a seventh day adventist and he is one of the coolest guys ever, very passionate about the scriptures and down to earth, he and is girl friend are amazing people, the people here in Lindsay are so ready for the gospel it's not funny, this town is small but powerful.

We are not doing super good with finding new investigators though, that's something that we have to work on. This week we are going to do everything, and sacrifice what ever the Lord needs us to do so that we can find the people in Lindsay to hear this amazing message which we have. Honestly I cannot picture myself doing anything else right now, this is the greatest experience in the world. I'm so happy I could pop , it's weird. I'm just excited all the time to talk to everyone and to teach and go out and work, this is the Lords work and he has trusted me with a apart of the world to work and bear fruit. I have officially been on my mission for over 5 months know which is super crazy! I can't believe it. I only have 19 months left ,it's a horrible thought but time is running out. That's all for this week, sorry to write you late but in Lindsay the library is closed on Mondays so we write on Tuesday so for the next five weeks you'll be hearing from me every Tuesday. I love you all!

 

Love Elder Jason Glowa

 

p.s. I hate daylights savings time!

                    p.s.s. Congratulate Mat and Genn on their sealing !!!!! That's awesome !!!

                    

                    p.s.s.s. Congratulate Patricia and Kyle on the birth of their baby !!!!

                                              

WEEK 21 ..... MARCH 8TH , 2010 

                                       

  .... Jason is Transfer to LINDSEY ,CALIFORNIA

Hola everyone

Habla Elder Glowa, todo el trabajo en Madera es awsomebroso. (English translation: Hi everyone this is Elder Glowa talking, all the work in Madera is awesome!)

Ok so we got transfer calls yesterday :D I am going to Lindsey! Its south so I am going to be no where near Madera. I'm not going to lie this is really hard, I thought that people telling you to stop coming by was painful, leaving an area is so hard. The ward is my family, I have grown to love them and they all tell me that they love me also. I have had at least 3 members say that they are going to call the mission president and tell him that I'm staying put in Madera. I know that its hard to leave but the Lord needs me in Lindsey now, I have done my part and sowing and reaping in Madera, now I have to move on to were the field is whitest for me personally.

I will never forget the great times and people I have taught and met here in Madera. Honestly I feel like a super hero, we go were we are needed, have special power, and most importantly we serve without even expecting a thank you or anything, and of course I have a secret identity.... (no one knows my first name!!!!) I'm not going to lie being a missionary is even cooler then if I was spider-man, and you remember how much I love spider-man, lol.

So in other new, the families that I have been working with for about 3 months the Suarez and Orea families, we have goten them with baptismal dates!!!!!! That's nine baptismal dates in one week. I am so sad that I won't see them get baptized but I know that the work and effect I could have on them is done, they are in the hands of Elder Price and his new companion Elder Sanches. We went by the Orea's and Suarez last night to take pictures (Yes mom believe it or not I do take some pictures, just I'm not done labelling them so you'll get them as soon as I'm done that, which can be anywhere between today and in 19 months.)

Oh next Sunday I will have been on a mission for 5 months! its crazy, time flies so fast it is unbelievable. ok so back to yesterday. We went by and taught the Orea's and took pictures and Louis the younger one was really sad, he always says "Glowa your my favourite, Glowa I'm glad your teaching us, Glowa when are you going to come back and visit." They even asked where I was moving to and said to keep an eye out for houses there for them. When they prayed in the lesson the sincere love and relationship between us was felt. They ask Heavenly Father to bless me were ever I go and in whatever I do. I wanted to cry, the spirit was amazing and the bond we have is amazing. I get attached to easy, its good and horrible, if this keeps up with people I really don't think my heart can last two years of leaving the people I love behind.

On are way out they surprised me and remembered my two favourite things (Flan, the cheap kind they buy at a store we have here called the Esparanza (means hope in English) and A drink called Jarradito Tamarindo flavoured. Its made in Mexico so you know its good. So they remembered and surprised me with that, I think we are going to stop by there house again before I leave so that I can get their zip and write them. So then we went to the Suarez's to teach a lesson and take pictures, not as emotional or anything because relatives were over, so we are going to see them again. But its hard to leave the people you love behind, it feels like the day Ben and I said good-bye all over again. I know that this is what needs to happen and as the Lords servant I must go forth and do His will, He needs me to be in Lindsey, so that I were I must go. I have to get packing so I don't have to much time this week. I'll write more next week. I love you all and thank you for all you do. I can really feel your prayers, and your love.

Thanks for everything

Love Elder Jason Glowa

          WEEK 20 ....... March 1st 2010 ........ MADERA ,CALIFORNIA 

Hello everyone back home.

 

Madera is amazing, we are seeing so many miracles and I am so blessed to be here.

So to answer dad's question about the food we get alot of rice and beans and meat( I say meat because I honestly don't know were it comes from). When the Lord sent me to California I didn't think I would be serving in Mexico. That's what Madera is, honestly its Mexico number 2. It's amazing.  We get mostly Mexican food but sometimes they try and cook us american food and well lets just say they cook Mexican food for a reason. We had stew from one sister and it was literally like corn syrup or starch it was just this thick gelatine thing with meat and potatoes, it was way weird but what made my day ,she tried so hard to please us .I had to laugh when Elder Price looks at me and with all the sincerity in his heart said, elder....... "I can't eat this",poor Elder some of us have weaker stomachs than others !!!!

 So life is going amazing we had some of the Orea family come to church today, and it was stake conference so it wasn't the greatest Sunday for them to come but for some reason or another they liked it and are going to come next Sunday.

Its amazing to see the complete love that people can have for the gospel. The people I serve here in Madera are so nice and humble they truly are amazing and I can honestly I love them, and for some reason they love me back and some even want me to live here forever. I told one of the members I'm coming back after my mission to live in his new house (we helped him move so I'm reserving it as pay :P.......not)

Anyway he says to me  "Glowa your gonna come back and live here for a couple of months when you finish your mission ?.... right".  Its amazing the love and connection that can come between people. I LOVE MADERA! This is the greatest thing I have ever done and I am so happy that I am here and working.

I have had some experiences that are really to sacred to say, the Lord blesses the obedient. I love this gospel, I am just in awe of how much work it takes to be a good and effective missionary. But its so worth it and I know that Heavenly Father helps me along, alot. I have His help and that is the only way that the work can get done. Thank you for all your prayers and help, I can really feel your love and prayers they push me forward when I don't think I can can go on. Thank you for everything, you have no idea how much you all mean to me.

 

I'll write you next week

Love Elder Jason Glowa