Ware, Josh P

This week, we learned a new and effective way to find new people to teach: basketball. But before we get into that, let's get a little spiritual.  spiritual thought We've been teaching this super super elect family that came to church with us last week. They've been reading their scriptures, praying, and agreed to stop smoking, stop drinking coffee, and stop living together! We'll on Friday, after two days living separately, they were ready to just give up everything.  The dad has been smoking cigarettes non stop sense he was five, and this has bcome his "identity". He told us that he wasn't willing to lose his identity to follow "our" doctrine. This reminded me of a scripture in the Bible that I immediately read to him... Matthew 16: 24-25 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life f...

This was officially the craziest and most hectic week of my entire mission! To start it off, my companion broke his hand playing soccer last pday, I went through six companions, and now I'm reunited with Elder Bradford until my comp gets better. I still barely know my own area, because we're always traveling, and helping out other areas. But we had some crazy miracles and some fun stories to tell. So let's get into it.  So let's start off on Monday. We played soccer, my comp got kicked in the hand, him hand went limp, he went to the hospital, and I questioned the future of my area. I spent the rest of that night with Elder Heap, an american who got here last week, eager to study and learn the language. We didn't know anything about the area, so we grabbed a member and visited some of his friends.  On Tuesday, my comp came back home, with a surgery marked for Wednesday afternoon. He only stayed for a few hours before he went back to the hospital and Elder Freire came...

What is up everyone!? I hope you all had a fantastic week this week. For me, I feel like I just stepped through a time machine, and I'm reliving my mission over again. I know, complicated, but I'll explain everything.  Okay so we had transfers this week, and unfortunety, I left Costa e Silva. It was probably the sadest goodbye yet. Those were probably some of the best three months of my mission. My companions were beasts, the members were amazing, the ward was excited, the lunches (and sometimes dinners) were delicious, and work was moving. On my last night there, we had a family night with all of the people that I was able to help baptize here. I bore my final testimony to them, and it got super emotional. I'll truly never forget that area.  I then went to bed, and woke up like it was ground hog's day. I'm back in Bayeux! I don't know if you all remember, but Bayeux is a city and is broken up into two wards. I passed in one of those wards for five months and ab...

What is up everyone! I hope you all had the best week! This was another one of those difficult weeks with a whole lot of rejection. Through all of the rejection, we were able to see a couple of moments where God's hand was present and guiding the work. We were also able to experience a couple of "firsts" in my life, so that was fun. Be let's get into it.  spiritual experiences - one of the moments this week where I felt the spirit and God's love the strongest was when we were teaching an athiest. We got a reference from a member asking us to teach his brother who was "ready" to receive the gospel. We were able to testify of God's existence and of the living Christ, while having a conversation completely guided by the spirit. We were able to describe our experiences where we felt God's hand and presence in our lives, with the hope of planting a seed of faith in this brother's heart.  - another experience this week where I felt immense joy was ...

I am beyond blessed and happy right now! This week was difficult, exhausting, hilarious, and painful, but ended in the best way possible! I'll hit you guys with the day by day.  monday: we literally played soccer all day in the blazing hot sun. As a consequence, my ingrown toenail came back, worse than ever, and my face is really sunburt. It's still peeling! We ended the night having a spiritual family night and playing musical chairs at our recent converts' house with the whole ward! tuesday: went to the doctor's office bright and early to get my toenail removed. I'm honestly kinda used to the pain now, but I still wanted to cry. The lady put some cotton on my toe and wrapped it up. Luckily, I was cleared to walk. We had an exchange, and I went with Elder Reynard (american in my group) to his area. It was the funniest exchange ever and we almost got bit by like a million dogs. During the day, the wrapping on my toe completely fell off and my toe got super dirty. Wh...