There is nothing better then going out and giving 110 %

                             WEEK 48 , REEDLEY , CALIFORNIA

Hola Everyone,

 

Ok so this week I have to keep it short because I don't have much time because we have a ton to get done.

 I pretty much said alot of what is going on in my last email. We finished up our training from president and boy is it amazing. I loved it, applying it has made me a way better teacher and more important a better listener. I'm glad we had training meetings but I am also glad they are over because now we can get out and work till we crash again! I"m so excited and happy!

There is nothing better then going out and giving 110 % and coming home super tired. That is such a great life, you meet and make alot of great friends and people out here. I can't believe some of the experiences that I have had. It's crazy, I know that the gospel is true and that all of the things we talk about bring us closer to God but I never imagined in my wildest dreams how many miracles and people who are ready to hear the gospel that I would meet.

 

There are no words to describe the great love and power that I am able to feel as a servant of the Lord.There are so many things I still need to do. I see around me so many people who are hurt or in need of comfort and it's amazing to know that I can help them. Serving others is such a great feeling and calling. I know that it is something that I will not only do on my mission but through out my life.

 

Blessings are pouring in and I know that I have my Heavenly Father watching over me to make sure that I'm alright and that nothing happens that I can't handle. Right now we are in the main stages of finding new investigators but we are being so blessed with the inspiration that we need to move the work forward. We are going to take this week and put the petal to the metal. I'm so excited for all the time we have to work this week. So here we go pushing forward for our mission goal of 1200 baptisms!

 

Thank you for all the prayers and love that you have for me, there are so many things I wish I could say to you guys face to face but I guess it will just have to wait, know that I'm safe and happy and most of all health.

 

Love Elder Jason A. Glowa

Dear blog readers: The last four weeks of Elder Glowa's letters were only posted now because I was away in Portugal !!!

                    WEEK 47 ....... REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA

Hola from California where the work is amazing and the summer is winding down.

Ok so first off I want to say wow the back yard looks completely different. It looks so cool, I wish I could have helped with that but it looks awesome. So is Thomas buried under the tiger fountain or just next to it? Anyway it's so nice and weird to think that things are changing back home. I knew they would but its funny to think of peoples lives moving forwards.

My companion if I haven't mentioned this before is leaving to go home in 4 weeks. It's crazy, he isn't thinking about home at all ,he is really focused but we have had talks about stuff like that at night, it's scary to think that I have been out on my mission for 11 months, I don't like to think about that at all, I really don't want to leave. There are alot of Elders I know that are leaving.  Basically in 2 transfers half the mission will be different.

It's a scary thing to think that I'm getting old in the mission. But I can take comfort that I am still a Jr companion. I think it would be super fun to be a leader but I'm completely content with what the Lord needs me to do. Alot of Elders especially at my state in the mission really want leadership positions and place such a focus on it that honestly their works suffers. It's sad and I do not want to be like that, so come what may I will bear what the Lord calls me to bear.

So this week we have had alot of meetings. We are getting trained on becoming better teachers and it is so amazing to see the blessings, and the way peoples attitude change as we focus on them and not just checking off a box for baptism. It is so amazing to feel the spirit, I have learned in this past week as well as my mission to feel it out and use it and work with it. I often remember back to when I was first in the MTC and the difference in who I am and how I talk, teach, act and am.

Apart from meetings and proslighting we got to go to the church's vineyard and pick grapes to lay them out to make raisins for the bishop's store house. It was amazing, I am able to say that I have worked in the Lord's vineyard and have plucked the fruit for the blessings of his children.

Life is so amazing, Dad thank you for always being a great priesthood bearer and mentor. You have really shown me how to be a righteous man of God. Mom what can I say, would I have been the same if it had not been for you. No I wouldn't be .Thank you both of you for raising me and for always staying true to the gospel, because of you I am here and am experiencing the most joy I could ever feel. Thank you so much for your shining example and the love I can feel from you.

I heard this quote a couple of weeks ago and I really like it's "Remember to always stay true in the darkness and stay humble in the spotlight" (Ezra Taft Benson) Keep that close to your heart and all will be well. I Love you all very much with a love I'll only be able to show you in person so I'm sorry but your just going to have to wait and see it.

Love Elder Jason A. Glowa

P.S.

Tell Johnny I say hi and that I love him. And tell him to write me back as well as Pauline, and all thoughts people I wrote to like 5 months ago. I'm not really getting to much mail and I realize its because no on is writing me back. so if you could gentle remind then that would be awesome. Thank you so much!

Date sent AUGUST 30th 2010 ( the week Thomas the cat died)

                    WEEK 46 .....   REEDLEY , CALIFORNIA

          Life is really bitter sweet

Hello everyone,

So for thoughts of you who don't know that will read this email my cat, the Great Fat Thomas met his maker last week. Alright Elder Glowa may seem like a strong individual with a big heart and strong faith and testimony, but I'm sad. Most will read this and think that it's just some kid crying over spilled milk, but it really isn't . Alot of people don't know that great bond and fun that I was able to have with my cat. I have had him since i was 7 and we grew up together. The point of this experience and me telling it is not to vent or for people to feel sorry for me but it is to tell you that when we are doing the greatest of all good. The biggest trials in life will come.

Now think about this for a second, we are commanded and told to be righteous and be the best we can be and what do we see when that happens. Great joy but we also see extreme heartache. I guess that means I'm doing my job...........(wow that joke is really depressing)

Anyway in more fun and happy news we were able to have a baptism yesterday for Amanda and Adam Harris!

It was awesome, their dad got to baptize them. The family was pretty less active and so it was beautiful to see their father there and to have him be worthy to baptize them. I will forever remember them and that beautiful service, testimonies were given left right and centre. The spirit was really powerful. This miracle was amazing, I am so happy that the Lord saw fit to bless me with the opportunity to teach and know the Harris family, they really are amazing.

In some final wrap up new, we had mini missionaries with us this week and so I had a mini for 3 days his name was Elder Jolley and we had a blast tracking and contacting people and the two minis that were with us had a great time seeing the baptism. I'm so grateful for all the wonderful experiences I can have as a servant of the Lord. This is His work and glory and I am so grateful to be able to help Him in His purpose.

I want to leave my testimony that even though life can and will be hard at times it doesn't mean God isn't there. He is there I know that He is and I know that He loves everyone with a love that we cannot even begin to imagine. Think of the pain He feels letting things happen to us, but He loves us enough to step back and let us do our very best. I know Christ lives, He is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. We all have the opportunity to help Him as we go forth examples to the people of the world.

Thank you for everything you guys are amazing, don't ever forget that Elder Glowa Loves you all.

Love Elder Jason A. Glowa

Date sent AUGUST 23rd 2010

          WEEK 45 ...... REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA

Hello Everyone,

So this week we have been able to see an amazing miracle, we had a baptism last night! It was amazing I got to baptize a 10 year old named Jazzleen and it was so amazing, you can truly feel the spirit at baptisms. The ward has really wrapped there arms around the Aguilar family and has welcome them in with open hearts. I'm so grateful for all the things that I am able to see as a missionary.

So we got transfer call this past Saturday and something awesome has happened! Elder Christensen and I are staying together! And he is the new district leader! So this means that again I am a district leaders companion, it's funny because last transfer was the only transfer that I had as a normal missionary. It was really funny but at the sometime kinda weird, I don't know I guess I've been spoiled or something because I would go on alot of exchanges and talk to the zone leaders whenever I wanted, but last transfer is was kinda weird to basically just be normal. I guess being normal for me really isn't normal. Ha , that's awesome, normal isn't normal for Elder Glowa and when you think about it that's kinda always been true. With going to different schools, liking super heroes and cartoons till this very day. It's funny to think about it.

Something else that's crazy is that by the beginning of next transfer I will have been on my mission for a whole year. Dad, why didn't you tell me time would go this fast, it's hard because I want to keep going but I don't want time to move forward. It's a weird little paradox I'm in. Anyway that's all the basic stuff I have been dealing with on the side the past week. My companion and I have good and deep conversations about him leaving and how it's alright that it's a natural part of life. I'm glad he isn't turnkey, and that we can talk openly about anything.

Ok so my week has been lots of running around getting ready for the baptism we had and this week it will be the same. We are having a baptism this Sunday for Amanda Harris and it is so amazing. It's a great problem to have busy with baptisms! I love it. So this week we are having the interview and also getting the program ready and doing all we can to make sure all is well and taken care of. And on top of that we have something called special op's this week end. It's were the stake gets the priest age young men and the missionaries in the zone get mini missionaries for 3 days! I am so happy, its going to be really fun and exciting.

This week blew by really fast and all because we had meetings and team ups and appointments galore. It was awesome we blinked and its was Saturday and basically the two wards we cover have been praying for me and Elder Chrsitensen to stay together. So I have learned that Heavenly Father answers prayers, if you get enough people praying for the same thing. Ok that last line was a joke. I have learned on my mission that whatever happens it is alright. Elder Wood and I (my district leader from last transfer) came up with the simple phrase, "come what may". As we all understand that no matter what happens we are in God's hands, as long as we stay obedient  we can all say "come what may" because we know that it is His will.

To finish up I heard a really good quote yesterday in a talk that was the motto of one of the Ireland missions. " Until you can say I am my master, you cannot say I am thy servant". I'm trying to really apply that and I can't wait to get out and work at the end of the day to talk to everyone and see our investigators shining faces.

Thank you so much for your love and prayers, they give me alot of strength. Remember that in God we trust and come what may!

Love Elder Jason A. Glowa

Date sent AUGUST 16th 2010

WEEK 44 ...... REEDLEY ,CALIFORNIA

Hola from sunny Reedley california!

This week has been amazing and has gone by so fast its not even funny. At least for me it feels like last monday was yesturday. Well theres a week i wont get back, im glad it was a great one..... as always! We had our zone conference this week and were able to hear from our mission president and recieve the guidance and direction that we need. Also i was able to go on my exchange with our district leader Elder Wood. He and I get along really well, we are pretty much the same person. Its really weird how you meet people like that.

So to start from the begining this past week on Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with one of our new investigators Ethan, he is awsome. He is 17 and really loves sports so it was a perfect opertunity to bring in the football lesson. (Now for thoughs of you just tuneing into the Elder Glowa mission saga the football lesson is a lesson describing the restoration of the gospel to football.) He understood it completely and he really wants to know for himself that there is a prophet of God on the earth today. That night as if the day couldn't get better we contacted a Refferal we received from Salt lake and it was a family! Elder Chrsitensen and I have been praying to be able to find a family to share the gospel with, so its an amazing miracle. The daughter and mother listen to us and they were very interested we have an appointment with them tonight and we are so excited!

On Wendesday it was me and Elder Wood on our exchange for the day. The day pasted by as a normal missionary day until we got to that night when we went up to teach our investigator in the Sequoia area. As we talked with her we reviewed the restoration and were about to read Moroni 10 when she stopped us and said she had already read that. As we asked her how she felt when she did, she discribed that she felt the tingaling feeling of the spirit and she told us she knew she had to be baptized! So we set the date for her to be baptised on the 29th with her 8 year old brother she said she didn't want to take away from his day so she would talk with her father and see. So we prayed hard and hoped even harder and yeasturday as we talked to her at church she came up to us and told us she was going to be baptized in the 29th! She was so happy and excited, she was telling everyone and the whole ward wrapped there arms around her and has made her feel like one of there own.

The week we had Zone conference as I mentioned before and we got some amazing instrution from President about teaching skills and how the missions of the world are changing and getting better so the missions are stepping up so that when the missionaries with perfect teaching skills come out of the MTC in May of 2011 we will all be ready. Im so excited, we have the chance to get better and be better, i have come to truly love correction and very blunt correction at that. It helps me change and become so much more then i could on my own if people didn't care. I honestly think that is that greatest sign of love a missionary can give another is correction so we can all be better and bring more of our brothers and sisters home.

The final amazing experence happened on saturday, on saturday we had a lesson with our 10 year old friend Jazzleen and as we talked we mother said we would have to move the date because her date couldn't get the day off. Honestly my heart just dropped and then Sis. Aguilar finshed her sentance. She said that we had to move the date to the 22 instead of the 28th! So we get to have it a whole week sooner. Everything is going so amazing! We have been seeing Miracles left right and center. I know that our goal for 2 baptisms this month is completely possible and will happen we just have to stay obdeint, not get prideful, trust in the lord and work till we drop. The Lord provides a way all the time just like Nephi declares in 1 Nephi 3:7. I know the Lord will provide a way becuase this is what he needs us to do.

Thank you for all your love and for who you are, you guys are everything to me!

With much love Elder Jason A. Glowa

Date Sent AUGUST 9th 2010

          WEEK 43 ..... REEDLEY, CALIFORNIA

Hola my amigos  y familia!

Ok so this week has been a week of well, Miracles. I know that I keep saying it but it's true. Miracles are happening left right and centre. During the week we were having a hard time finding and teaching people, but we pressed forward and as we were diligent and doing all we needed to the Lord was able to bless us. We have seen so many great things happen this week.

For instance on Saturday we were able to finally teach one of the referrals we received from the bishop. it's a 10 year old that has not been baptized and so we were able to go over and talk with the parents and they said that they weren't sure when we could have the baptism maybe some time in September or something like that. Needless to say I was happy that we got an amazingly solid investigator but sad that we weren't going to be able to do it for August. Oh right I should give some back ground to that. So we have the goal this month to baptize 2 in August because the mission has the goal to have 200 this month as a mission! We are all stepping up for this challenge and we had to amazing people with this potential, the 10 year old and another investigator Lupita who will be baptized on the 21st. So we were sad but we keep praying for miracles and so it comes to Sunday night and we did a spilt to divide and conquer our area.

Ok so this is Sunday now , we had an amazing miracle in getting 2 new investigators the day before and it brought us over to the D-day of miracles! We were able to teach up in the Sequoias that day and were able to get a new investigator with amazing potential and that will most likely be baptized by the end of the month if not the beginning of September. Then as we came home we spilt and I went to work with Brother Ayers and Elder Christensen went to work with Brother Phillips. He went to our set appointments and I went to see recent converts and less actives. Basically an awesome Spanish filled night. When we got home and compared what we had done my mind was blown as he said that the Aguilars (the 10 years parents) had talked it over and want her to be baptized on the 28th of august!

As we were able to pray in faith to the Lord ,He delivered to us an amazing gift and we are now on track to reach our goal and to help the mission reach it's goal. Were all pulling for 200! We can do it, this month will be an amazing month of miracles and we will take this momentum for August and push forward to the end of the year and reach our gaols for 1200! I know that we can do this. We just have to be humble and diligent and just keep fighting.

I realize alot of the time we are fighting a seemingly un-winnable battle but the Savour gives us words of council by saying. "come unto my all ye that labour and that are heavy laden and I will give you rest." When we give our troubles to him we have the strength to press forward. I know that it's only through him that we can do all things, we will win. There is no question about it. We are going to win the only thing that is up to us is to choose which side we are going to follow.

Obedience is the key. Thanks mom and dad so much for teaching me all of this in my youth, you have always been the greatest examples for good in my mortal life. I am so blessed and grateful for you righteous service to the Lord. I know that we will all live together as a forever family. And I promise on my honour as a servant of the Lord that Vovo's coming with us mom, he's coming all the way home.

Thank you for all you love and prayers!

Love Elder Jason A. Glowa