Dear Family,
It was no joke, the best Christmas present to be able to be with you guys for Christmas.   Even if it was only for a little bit over the computer haha it was seriously the best thing!  I love you guys!!   haha the work is continuing to pick up here!!  Just yesterday we went on an exchange and one of our zone leaders came and we now have 3 maybe 4 people set on date to be baptized here in January!!  It's so great!! The Lord is being so merciful and I'm just very grateful that he has trusted us to teach some of his most prepared children here at this time, especially towards the end of my mission. 

I don't have a lot of time!!!  Mom you wanted those song lyrics so I'm gonna use the rest of my time to type those up for you  I LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Sons & Daughters by Elder Sahagun Click to listen

Can I ask you a question about divine intervention?

and if I asked you right now would you shine some light down

and help me through this 

help me through this.

White shirt and slacks x5 a suitcase on either side 

Ignore the tear that's in my eye, do up my suit and swallow pride

Yeah this is what I've dreamed of, this is what I've lived for

This is what the pennies in my bank have all been saved for

A curbside goodbye my little sister starts to cry 

My family watch me walk away but no one thinks of asking "why?"

I can't believe my eyes so many people on this quest 

So many things that make us different, except for one name on our chest.

Sons and daughters of proud mothers and fathers 

You are chosen, you are called 

and you are not forsaken, He is with us all 

We are sons and daughters of God 

Now my breathings heavy, I'm pitted with survival

My pace is steady set for the extra mile

My heart is ready sights forward and focused

I'm dedicated and my foes all know this

My vision's clear, I know death is not the end for me 

I rep Christ the natural man is the enemy 

Yeah two years and I'm here to stand tall

Never trippin Never slippin, giving nothing but my all 

Chorus 

Now been gone a year is this where I'm suppose to be 

It's been awhile, I kinda miss my family 

Not sure it's worth it being away 

Try to talk to all the people they don't care what I say 

I got holes in my shoes and doubt in my heart 

I'm putting pieces back together just to watch 'em fall apart

Sit down and cry "Is there something I'm suppose to seee

I feel so lost and then I hear my Father speak to me 

"I know your run down and your soul feels broken 

but this is just a trial not a wrong path you've chosen 

It's rough, and I know you miss your family 

but your sacrifice helps others so they won't feel that for eternity 

Chorus 

Step off the plane so fast it could of been a dream 

The faces pass as I go through all the memories 

I'll never forget it that very first day 

I couldn't know it in the moment but know I wish I could've stayed 

I'll never be the same and I'll cherish every memory 

Those times I fell down never thought they'd mean the world to me

Got no shame became most of who I'm suppose to be

Forever changed with the bulk of life ahead of me 

Mom, look at me know can you tell me that you're proud?

Dad, can you tell this man is different than the boy that left your house?

Born of goodly parents and now I know my true identity 

These people all around are part of one eternal family 

Chorus

Lord, I just want to mention I think you answered my question

I wanna thank you right now for the love that I found

To help me through this, to help me through this 

You helped me through this

I love you all so very much, this gospel is soo true and I know it with all of my heart and I'm so very grateful to be a missionary right now, representing Jesus Christ and bringing His gospel to all of the sons and daughters of God.

I hope you all have a great week!!! 

Elder Sahagun

Dear Family, 

I'm so excited to be able to Skype you guys!!!  I feel like I have so much to tell you guys, but I'll probably end up forgetting by the time we get to Skype haha AHHHH it's crazy.. Dylan Lamb and Heather Jensen???  YEAH!! haha knew it.  that is crazy.  I can't believe Jared already got his release date.. .I guess I don't have one yet... maybe I'll extend?  I'll let you know when I find out.  SOO  for Skype, we'll be calling from our breakfast appointment at around 10 here so at around 8 your time be expecting a call :) we'll text to let you know when to be expecting it.  Can't wait to talk to you guys!!! See ya soon!! 

Dear Family,
Well it has been a great week of #sharing the gift with the people here in Virginia.  It is really really cold, but I bundle up and stay pretty comfortable so biking isn't too terribly awful!   Elder White and I are staying super busy with a pretty comfortable sized teaching pool of about 20 or so investigators!  It's really nice, but it can be stressful at times.  Weekly planning, which usually takes about 2 hours takes twice as long now which is really hard because no one wants to stay inside for 4 hours and plan when you could be sharing the gospel with people, but I do understand that it is a very important, if not the most important part of missionary work setting goals and planning is very crucial... but it's not always fun... and we all know that I do not do very good with things that are not fun.  but I've gotten a lot better since being on my mission at doing those un-fun really important things.  

The Ward is great!! We have been fed every single day this month and have meals planned though half of January as well,  It's a good thing that I'm on bike or it would really ruin my last 2 and a half months of my "6 months to sexy" hahaha mom, dad, and Heather.  Was that a thing in your missions as well? They are also really helping us a lot with exchanges, we have three nights a week where we have true splits (two people taking a missionary each) it really helps us to fellowship the people we are teaching!!  Currently we are looking at 4 or  people to be baptized here in the next two months!! 

If I had time I would tell you about each of them and how awesome they are but I really have like zero time..  so would you please pray for: Jerry Davis, Isata (ice-eh-tah) Kamara and Amarah Kamara, Darryl Chalmers, and Chis Cuevas..  Pray that they will be able to prepare for either the 27th of dec.  or the 10t of Jan for baptism!! 

I love you all so much and can't wait to see all of your faces!!! I hope that you have a great week!!! 

My Dearest Family, 

   This week has been crazy.. and by crazy I mean really hard and cold and rainy..  but the work must go forward!!  We have a lot of good things happening in our area!  We've set a goal to baptize 4 people this month!!  pray for us!!  We have the 4 people in mind and it's a totally achievable goal.. we just need the Lord's help haha.

I am so excited for Christmas!!  If you haven't seen the new He is the gift video yet, then stop what you are doing right now and watch it...then #ShareTheGift because it is incredible.  We've got these special He is the gift cards and we've been handing them out to everyone and watching the video just with anyone and everybody who will take 2 minutes out of their life!  It's great I love it.  One of the houses we tracted into was pretty sketch.. they had a bunch of signs up in their window that said they would shoot us if we knocked on their door and had a giant skull in their lawn from dead grass.. it was pretty interesting to say the least I'll attach a pic 

All I want for Christmas is a Taylor Swift tie.. if they even have those.. but really I'm just excited to see all of your faces and get to talk to you!!! I feel like it's been forever since our last Skype!! It's going to be super weird not doing our usual 3 way skype!! but I'm still just way excited to see all of you

Mom- I think... not sure yet, that my departue date will be the 25th of Feb.  that's just a guess because missionaries in our mission usually go home the wednesday after transfers which will be the 24th.. but I'll let you know for sure when I get me trunky papers :\ 

Dad- your class sounds... challenging to say the very least, but I mean could it really be more challenging than years 14-18 with me? haha you got this 

Heather!!!  It looks like you are just having so much fun!!!!  I'm super happy for you!!!  I can't believe you've been home for as long as you have!! I mean you're almost done with your first semester back!!  Life is crazy.. I miss you

Tyler Yooo Bruhhh, I got your letter!! man you are gettin fast.. and still growin, cut it out haha just jokes but man I miss you for real keep the letters coming 

JB!!  it was so good to get your email! It sounds like there is a lot of exciting stuff coming up for you here this next year!!  You sound so grown up even in your emails!!  It's crazy!! Keep giggling and laughing, I miss you're silliness :) 

I love you all so much!! I hope that you all have a great week!!! 

Elder Sahagun

Family!!!!  

Well happy thanksgiving one and all, It was so great to think about all of the things that I'm grateful for!!  

Heather!!  I set a goal to finish the 500 things that I was grateful for before the end of my personal study on November 27th, and I finished at about 8:58 hahaha I was cutting it pretty close, but it was A LOT harder than I thought it would be I had to get pretty creative... the 500 things included a lot including 22 individual reasons why I am thankful for Taylor Swift.  Two of my favorite things from that were. #13 "I am thankful for Taylor Swift because she's got a Indie record that's much cooler than mine." and #18 "I am thankful for Taylor Swift because she wears short skirts and I wear T-shirts" ... so yeah I got pretty creative and had a lot of fun with it, but it really did help me realized so many little things that I am truly grateful for.

We had two meals on thanksgiving, one was a lunch with ribs and all this incredibly tasting non-thanksgiving type of food... which was great!  and then we had dinner at our ward mission leaders house with his family!  They do a way cool tradition, every thanksgiving they go around the table and say something that they are grateful for, alphabetically, so starting with A, B, C.... I think you get it... but it was really cool!  

Soooo transfers calls were last Saturday, I'm not leaving but there are some big changes in our area.  We used to have 4 missionaries in our ward and the house that we are living in.  But now the other two Elders are leaving and their area is being shut down.. which basically means that we are going to be taking over their area.. so we're getting all of their investigators, recent converts, less actives and potentials and are covering their half of the ward now.. which is crazy because we aren't getting a car.. sooo we are going to be doing some pretty long hilly bike rides..... it's great.  I'm pretty excited!

TAMBA AND AIAH WERE BAPTIZED!! It was such a great thing!!  and even better, both of their non-member parents, (very supportive of their decision)  came to the baptism!!  It was incredible.  I love em to death.. I'll attach some pics 

It was so nice to hear about your thanksgiving!!  It sounds like it was just a blast!!  I definitely missed grandma's orange rolls!!  I look forward to getting to see you all in like 23 days!!!  I love you all so much!!  have a great week!! 

Elder Sahagun

Chippenham

FAMILY!!!

TRISTAN GOT BAPTIZED!!!  I got to go back down to Chippenham for it!!  Traffic is so ridiculous that I missed the actual ordinance but I still got to talk to Tristan and everyone else that I've been missing so much!!  So it was really great!!  I saw Taylor Conrad, I told you about her, she's the girl who biked to church.  Anyways I was talking to her and she's getting baptized on the 13th of December!!  Definitely going back for that!!  It as so good to go back to Richmond.. I miss it like crazy, but we are doing some good work here in this area!  The Twins are getting baptized this week, it's gonna be super crazy to get everything ready for that, but it's gonna be sweet. Right now we are looking to find a bunch more people.  We have found 2 pretty solid people so far that we are excited to teach and we're planning and have faith that there are so many more people out there.

We went to the National Marine Museum last P-Day, It is pretty sick.

                  Dad I feel like you would especially appreciate it.  Honestly I feel like you would appreciate a lot of Virginia, there is so much Historic crap here it's unreal!! but we got some pretty sweet pics there so I'll send you some of that!

It's great to be a missionary!!  I'm glad to be where I'm at!!  and I'm excited for the day when I'll get to see you all again!!  Christmas isn't to far around the corner!!  I love you all!! and hope that you have a great week. 

                                      This pic is my district..  Great missionaries, so blessed to be serving with them !

Hello Dear Family!!  

Sorry for such short e-mails, I feel like I was really good about giving you good updates when I was in Chippenham, and it was easy because there was a lot of exciting fun things happening that I could share and I had all the time in the world to share them. It's a lot different here.  There is a lot less exciting stuff going on but also I don't get a lot of time to read and write you back good responses and it's really frustrating.  So the 11 year Old twins Tamba & Aiah didn't get baptized this week, their original date was the 22nd, but we had to change it to the 29th so their parents could attend.  This week has been pretty average.  It is getting super cold, but my jackets and gloves are working out nicely.  We are just biking around to everyone that we know and teaching the people that will let us in.  We've taught a total of 14 lessons so far this transfer!!  That is so good for this area!!  things are really picking up!!  I'm excited to keep working diligently here.  It's been a lot harder, but that just means more growth, and I am never opposed to some good old growth through opposition.  Tyler is driving?  Holy freak that just gave me anxiety and I'm not even his mother.. good luck with that.  Sounds like Jessica is having some fun with dance and Talon fair stuff :) I can't wait to get all of the letters that are coming.  My new address is:  5486 Rector Dr. , Woodbridge, VA 22193.  That's a good Idea with the pants!  I'll see what I can do with them to make someones Christmas!  Can't believe it's coming up again! So crazy!  Sorry there are no pictures this week.  I'll make an effort to take some pictures, even if I have to take a picture with some random person that we know into! hahaha yeahh... the funny thing is that is the only kind of pictures I could take for you guys.  I love you all so much and miss you like crazy!  Being a missionary is the best.  I love the Gospel even when it's hard and that is something that I've learned to do on my mission for sure. To praise God and be thankful for all that he has given me even at times when those things aren't so apparent.   Church is true!!  Hope you all have a great week!!

Love, Elder Sahagun  

FAMILY!!! 

I have like no time at all!!! :\  BLEEHHH emailing is super stressful sometimes..  Those are some sweet pics!! You should definitely save those!!  My companion Elder White is the one with the yellow tie.  He is goofy dude I love him!  We're doing a lot of good work here!!  We have some baptisms coming up next saturday the 22nd, they are two little African kids named Tamba and Aiah Farmah they are 11 year old twins. They live in a big house with a lot of their extended family.  Two of their aunts are LDS semi active, but their parents are non members.  We started teaching them when I got here and now they want to be baptized!! Super Exciting I'll have to take a picture with them this week so you can see them, they are way tight.  

Yeah so it was suppose to be social media day, but no one in our ward volunteered to come out with us so we didn't get any of the blessing from that, which is really stressful.  It would of been a great opportunity for us!!  

I'll try my best to get them sent back..it's just super hard because we don't have any post office close by and the only way that we can get around to do anything on P-Day is with member rides which happen sometimes and if they do they are very limited to the amount of time that they can help us for!! 

AHHH I have to go!! I love you all so very much and hope that you have a great week!!

Love Elder Sahagun

FAMILY!!! I have like no time this week :\ super stressfull!!!!

This week was good!!!! A lot of biking around in the cold.. so it's great!! :) It's been really hard to talk to people lately, no one likes opening their door and having a freezing cold wind blow right in their face... it's weird.  We are still able to teach a few people but it's definitely been hard, but I'm doing good I'm not letting it get me down.  So no worries there!! Halloween was great, we weren't allowed to proselyte and we could only go to set appointments, so we set an appointment to be with a member who sets up a candy/hot cider/chili stand in her driveway with camping chairs and a fire to roast mallows on and talked to people as they came up and got food! fun stuff, then we went home and carved pumpkins and I carved one of the best pumpkins of my life.. pretty great!!  

here's my new address

5486 Rector Dr.

Woodbridge VA, 22193

I miss you all so much and hope that you have a great week 

Transfer to Woodbridge

Well transfers happened, and this first week has been really hard.  I have no regrets serving in Chippenham, It's just super sad to say goodbye to so many people I got close to!! No area ever will be, or ever could be like Chippenham I've accepted that and I'm over it.  Now I'm just trying to figure out why I am where I'm at and what I need to do for the Lord.  This will probably be my last area.. I'm up in Woodbridge again, this time I'm serving in the Prince William ward.  It's pretty good, it's such an adjustment coming back into a family ward.. but I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of it.  As far as the area goes..... well let me put is this way, this area hasn't had over 10 lessons total in one transfer for over 6 months.. VERY slow so much different from the fast pace  of VCU...teach 10 people a day type of lifestyle that I was a part of in Chippenham. That's one of the things I'm looking to change.   Probably a reason why I got moved.  Elder White is my new companion, he's from the Salt lake Valley, he's been out for like 3 months haha pretty fresh.. he's weird but funny and I love him to death!  I did get that package!!!  
Right before I left!!  I loved that quote in there about commitment, so much that I wrote it in red sharpie on my new planner haha :)  hahaha the clothes.. I love the windbreaker and it works out great!!  I liked them but the sizes were backwards, the sweaters were a little to small and the pants were way to big, but mom I'm very flattered that you think that I'm a 34 waist now haha :)  that's definitely what I needed!!  I'll just have to exchange them on a P-Day soon.  and YES I'm on a bike ... AGAIN!! if I stay in this area till i die then I will have been on bike for 20 out of the 24 months of my mission.. Also I haven't ridden my bike in a LONG time, even when I was biking in Massaponax I was borrowing a members cause my bike needs fixing, but I need money for that :( and I hate asking for money and I feel like I do it all the time blehhh  It's been great I hope that You all have a great week!! I miss you like crazy!!! 

Elder Sahagun 

Me and Elder Hathcock!!   

Best companion ever!! I'm gonna miss him like crazy!!!

Me and Elder Kay!!! Remember him? my TRAINER!!  I saw him at transfers!! this is his last one!! CRAZY!! 

Goodbye VCU

Well this week has been really interesting.  First of all, it was Fall Break for everyone on campus so everyone went home to be with family and friends.  Which made it near impossible to meet up with our investigators or find new ones, it was literally like a ghost town, but we still had Kristi's baptism!!

which was awesome!!! :)  She asked me to do a special musical number for her and that was fun.  But then transfer calls came... and I'm leaving..  and I'm REALLY REALLY bummed, borderline depressed.  I feel like I'm leaving home all over again!  This has by far been my favorite area.  I've felt like I could be an effective missionary in an area that fit my personality there are so many people here that I'm going to miss like crazy, Especially Elder Hathcock!!!!  Hands down my favorite missionary in the VRM!!  We had some of the most memorable experiences of my mission here and I'll never forget it!!  Soooo yeahhh,  I really hope that package gets here either Monday or Tuesday before I leave :(  This next area will probably be my last!!  Scary Stuff!! I love being a missionary, I'm going to miss being a YSA missionary but I know that I'm leaving for a reason... even thought I'm really curious to what that reason could be.  You all sound like you are doing so good!!  TYLER!!! HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY!!!!!  I can't believe that you're turning 15!  I'll be missing you this week!  I miss you all!! I hope you all have a great week, and I'll let you know where I get transferred to when I'm there next week.

Love, Elder Sahagun

FAMILY!!!

             It's been a great week!! Started off good with some interviews with President Wilson.  This was probably one of my favorite interviews!  It was really personal and we got to talk about a lot of things, not even like missionary things but like real talk, life and future things.  It was great!! I love President Wilson! We did get to see Meet the Mormons!! The first Presidency gave President Wilson permission to show it to missionaries early and they streamed it at one of the nearby stake centers.  It was sick!!!  It might just be becasue it's the only full length featured presentation that I've seen in like 19 months but I thought it was a great movie!!!   It made me cry, of course the very end segment about the missionary mom.  I don't want to spoil anything.... but you'll understand when you see it!!  I loved it. 

             KRISTI IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!  On Friday this week Kristi is going to be baptized!  It's so great, she had her baptismal interview and after she was done she was just telling us how excited she was to be getting baptized!  It was so good to see how happy she was.  She has come such a long way since I've met her and come even further from when the elders first found her in the compass 6 months ago!  Super excited for that, you'll definitely be getting some pictures for that. 

             We found this super awesome girl this week named Taylor Conrad, she was raised Roman Catholic but her parents divorced and now she doesn't really practice so she is SUPER open to finding out the truth!!  We had our first lesson with her on Thursday and it went so great!!  She understood everything super well and has such great desire and this is how I know she has such great desire.  We invited her to church and she said she was going to come, she doesn't have a car but said she wouldn't need us to get her a ride so we didn't.  5 minutes after church starts no Taylor and we started to get a little bummed, we shot her a text.. no answer.  So we go outside to the foyer call her and no answer.  We are super sad.   Then like five minutes later we get a call from Taylor and she says sorry guys I'm almost there.  We are like yeah for sure just let us know when you're close so we can meet ya outside.  She calls us we go out side and see her walking up monument with a bike..  and we were in shock...  This girl had biked 5 miles, in the rain, in a skirt to come to church. It was crazy and surprisingly enough she loved it and wants to come to Kristi's baptism and then do the same thing next Sunday!!  It's awesome!! She is my hero, I don't even know of many life time members of this church who would be willing to do that!!  Such an awesome miracle!! 

 Mom!!!  It looks like you had a way fun week!!!  those are some awesome pics!!  the Brigham City Temple is beautiful!!  Soo my new address is  6737 Dartmouth  Richmond VA 23235,  but before you send it, if you could you should include some dress sweaters and maybe a black wind breaker rain jacket thing.. cause I have no idea where any of my winter stuff in and it's getting cold and rainy :(

Dad-  Thanks for those.... words of wisdom? hahaha :) jokes pops, I miss you. I miss our conversations and your counsel!! 

Tyler- Yooo BRUHH, did you say there was a letter coming?  Let me know what's up man, love 

ya!!

Jessica-  It sounds like you are having so much fun with dance!!!  You are looking so grown up it's scary!!!! 
Keep me updated!!  I really love hearing about your life!!!

I love you all so very much and hope you have a great week!!!!!

Love,
Elder Sahagun

REEEEDDUUUHHHHTHOON!

Dear Family,

An Epistle to the Sahagun Family form Elder Sahagun at the end of a week preaching amoungst his bretheran the Virginianites.  A record of his dealings from the past week.  Mainly a record of his feelings and revelations whilest reading the record of Jesus Christ's ministry among the people of the ancient Americas, also known as the Book of Mormon.. 

1. And it came to pass, that Elder Sahagun being sorely tired and ridden down with exhaustion, both of the body and of the mind and of the spirit, did speaketh many things unto his beloved family

2. Behold, these are the things which he did speak, (or rather the things that he did type out) unto his family, his family being: his father Ray, who was the son of Raymon Sahagun who was a decendent of the land Mexico, and also his Mother Linda, who was the daughter of Bob and Roma, who were decendents of the Knudsenites and the Johnsonites.  His Eldest Sister Heather who had recently returned form many moons of preaching to the people in the land of Thailand. His younger brother Tyler, who had gained much height in the space of a short time.  and his youngest sister Jessica, being full of energy and having a bright countenance most of the time.  

3.  and yea, These are the words which he did email unto them  

I wouldn't of thought that it was possible, but after 7 days of diligent, some what undistracted, Book of Mormon reading I have finished the Book of Mormon!! For the 2nd time in my life,  I'm gonna be straight with yall...  Reading the BOM in a week was probably the hardest thing I've done in about 5 months...  We were really behind when it came down to the wire, but one buzzer beating all nighter and a couple of sugary drinks later we had done it!!  What a week. In all honesty I truly feel like this experience really helped me to gain a greater appreciation and build a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon.  I can't deny the divinity or the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  It's truly the most correct book on the face of the earth, and " a man may come closer to God by abiding by it's precepts" and truly gain the fullest measure of peace and joy in this life by daily scripture study and by applying the principles learned.

I really didn't think that I would be able to stay awake during conference after a late night of reading, but I was able to get a lot out of the wonderful opportunity to hear form our Apostles and our beloved Prophet.  I'm pretty sure that Dieter gave one of my favorites but I really feel like there weren't any bad talks, just an all around good conference.  I'm really looking forward to re-reading a lot of those talks. 

Okay....... I'm feeling a bit out of the loop and have recieved many miscommunications on the matter of this guy...  Mom said that he was just a "friend" Jessica said that he was just some boy and Heather only said " I like him. His name is Keenan. Keenan Larsen." ...................... SOMEONE needs to use some good adjective and describing words with me!!! maybe a picture?  hahaha just jokes :) , but seriously...

I love you all so much!!! Here are some great pics from our read a thon!!!  Richmond is beautiful!!!!!! THE Church is true!!!! 

Elder Sahagun

Richmond is beautiful!

Richmond is beautiful!

FAMILY!!!!  

It's sooo good to hear form you every week!!!  This week has been really good!!  and this next week is going to be pretty crazy because this last Saturday we started "The Book of Mormon Read-A-Thon!!!"  So your probably wondering what the Book of Mormon Read-A-Thon is.  Well it is basically just reading the Book of Mormon in a week, to build our faith and our testimonies of the Book of Mormon right before General Conference.  The Rules:  You must read 75 pages a day (alone or with your companion), until you do, you cannot go out and proselyte.  You can go to appointments that have been set up in advanced, but if you fall behind you must catch up.  Me and Elder Hathcock have decided to read it as a companionship (to help us not zone out and keep each other focused) and we've had like 3 lessons so far with investigators and some recent converts, plus church meetings and church itself... so we are a little behind :\  We just finished Enos this morning, but we'll be able to  catch up.  I'm gonna be honest, going into this I was not to excited, but it has been one of the most enlightening and spiritual expiriences that I've had.  In the short 2 and a half days that we've been reading my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much.  I have realized just how much peace reading the Book of Mormon brings into our lives!!  Plus me and Elder Hathcock have gotten pretty creative with where we read so it's pretty great :) I'm so excited to renew my testimony of the Book of Mormon and to finish it for the second time in my life!!! 

Conference is coming!!! I'm super excited and a little bummed at the same time because it will be my last one on the mish :( but I'm not gonna let that bring me down!! We'll be watching it at our chapel on historic Monument Ave.  Dad if you're not familiar with what that is you should look it up, it's pretty sweet.  We're hoping to get all of the investigators we can to come!! but it's rough with people being so busy with school!!  But hopefully Kristi will be able to come and Katelynn and Tristan and one of our new investigators named Patrick.. he is sweet.   We met him on campus super briefly because he was headed to class, we gave him a pamphlet and told him to read it and pray to know if it's true.  He met up with us the other day again and we asked him if he read the pamphlet he was like "Yeah and it all makes sense, but now I need a Book of Mormon so I can read it and pray about it and stuff"  We must of looked really surprised cause he was like "Is that cool?" and we said "Yeah Yeah Yeah!!! We gotchu!!" it was tight.  We were pretty excited.  

Elder Sahagun & Elder Hathcock

It has been raining more down here too.  There were two days where it rained like non stop and I was completely soaked!!  It's really funny to see people's reaction when you approach them soaked to the skin asking them if you can share a message with them about Jesus Christ!  The 3 reactions I got most often were these:  #1 looked at me like I was insane and they said "ummm no" #2 looked at me like I was a abandoned puppy with three legs and said "ohhhh ohh I'm soooo sorry I really can't!! I'm sooo sorry have a good day tho!! Stay Dry!!"  and #3  Raised their eyebrows, stopped for a second to think and then said, "Man, you must be pretty dedicated!"  or  "Heck man you're standing in the rain, I can talk to you about Jesus" hahaha it was a great day.  People are great. 

  I bought like two pairs of pants, I could use a few more I'm still rockin some pretty awesome worn ones haha it's awesome.  You should just send them out, shopping is one of the last things I want to do on a P-day hahaha!

It is soo good to hear about everything going on!! I love being a missionary right now!! I love the Book of Mormon!!  I know with all the surety in my heart that it is the word of God and that we can come to gain the fullest measure of peace and comfort in this life by reading it and abiding by it's precepts!!  I'll be looking for you guys Saturday to see if I can see you up in the nose bleeds haha I love you all!!! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Sahagun  

Hiking to read The Book of Mormon @ Belle Isle 

My Dearest family!!! 

 

This week has been awesome!!  Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf and on behalf of our investigators I know and can testify that they are being answered!!!  This has been a really great week as far as Investigators go!! No we haven't found Tristan, we currently have our best facebook stalkers in the YSA working on the case, but have had no solid leads yet. We met with Kristi this week and we were planning on going in the lesson and just being like " okay Kristi, you're either gonna do this or your not..."  and we were super nervous about how she was going to react, and right after she said the prayer we asked her how she was doing and she was like, "well I've been thinking a lot about baptism and I want to set a date"  Elder Hathcock and I just stoped for a second looked at eachother and were like.... " wait, what?"  haha it was super unexpected but we are super excited for her!!  Pray that we will be able to work out a date with bishop.  We met this awesome girl named Katelynn Mayers this week and she is wayy awesome!!  We taught her the law of chastity and the word of wisdom first thing and she was just like, yeah I can do that, so we asked her if she wanted to prepare to be baptized on the 21st of October and she said yes!!  We are finding so many prepared people!!  Pray that we will be able to make contact with Rasheema Burgo we met with her one time and set her on date and she dissapeared!!  Same exact story with this kid named Jeff Hoffler.  Met with him, Set him on date and he's fallen off the face of the earth... seems to happen a lot here. 

 

     So yes we are ( as of 20 minutes ago) completely moved out of our old apartment and into our new apartment :\ I reallllyyy don't want to talk about what happend today.   You can send everything to 6737 Dartmouth Ave.  Richmond VA 23235. 

 

Really cool story this week!  We ran into this girl named Virginia on campus and talked to her for a little bit, she seemed genuinly interested so we got her contact info and all of that good missionary stuff.   The next day we get a call from a Utah area code and some girl is like"  hey are you the missionaries in the YSA ward?  We were like yeah what's up?  She's like " did you talk to a girl named Virginia recently?  We said.  "yeah she's pretty awesome, why?"  She started going off she's like"OHHHHH MANNNNN she's like my best friend!!!  She said she talked to some mormons and I was so thankful!!  I live in Utah,  I just got back from my mission and I wrote her every week hoping that she would learn about the church, and have prayed every day since I got back that I could find a way to get her to talk to the missionaries and I guess you just talked to her!! It is such and answer to my prayers ahhhhhh you guys have no Idea!! When she texted me this morning and told me some missoinaries talked to her I literally started dancing around the room!! Blaahhhh this is so awesome"  That is a really watered down version of what she said.  This was like a 12 minute conversation. But it was way cool to hear that and to know that we have been doing what we are suppose to!!  I'm super Excited to Teach and Baptize Virginia, punn intended.

 

Heather!!  the weather is getting a little colder but not much haha  I'm so gald that you are getting into a good routine!!  It sounds like you are doig a lot of fun stuff!!  and yes I'm SUPER pumped for general conference!! sad to think that it's my last one as a missionary!! :(

 

 

Tyler, you stud!!  Those pics dad sent are nice!  Keep it up bro, I miss you.  What's going on in your life??  Get me in the loop yo.  

 

Jessica!! I MISS YOU!! Are you still doing your dancing stuff?  I miss playing guitar with you and hearing you cute laugh!!

 

I love serving here with Elder Hathcock!!  He is definitely my favorite companion so far!!  This is the most fun and the most fulfilled I've felt on my whole mission and I love it!! This is such a great work that we get to be a part of!!  I hope that you are finding your own missoinary opportunities because I know they bring so much happiness and peace for everyone involved!! I love you all!!  This church is true!!!

 

Love, Elder Sahagun

Chicken Fingers and Waffles! It's a thing here and they're delicious!

Beautiful RIchmond

Family!!! This week has been pretty great!! Sorry this is going to be really brief!!  We got rained on a little this week. Talked to a ton of people (as per us) but we talked to this one kid named Jeff Hoffler and he is awesome!! He's like this 6' 7" 18 year old who plays soccer. He told us that he didn't really believe in God but that he had been looking to get back into church and figure out if God is real!!  He is super tight and super willing!! He is set to be baptized for Oct. 11th please pray for him!! We're meeting with him tomorrow at 4:30.  He was the only super solid new guy we found, we talked to and got like 15 kinda flakyish new people and their numbers so that's pretty cool.  I just can't tell you guys how much I love talking to students at VCU.  It is the best!!  I feel so fulfilled!!  

Tim Bruch a recent convert 

Story of the week, 

So these born again christian people come on campus and talk (bash) with us all the time, and hate is a strong word.. but we really really really don't like them.  We've talked to one in particular a couple times and he is super antagonistic and unpleasant.  We've told him (as nicely as we possibly could) that we don't want to talk to him anymore, so he leaves us alone.. BUT we were walking through the compass ( the student commons area) one night and we saw him talking to Sister Fowers, one of the sisters in my district who has been out for a grand total of about 6 weeks.  So me and Elder Hathcock were like "nope, not today sir"  and we went up to them and just stood there and waited for him to acknowledge us he said "do you want to join us?" and Elder Hathcock spoke up and said, "no we've already had this pointless conversation before, so we're here to rescue her." haha and then he just starts ripping on Joseph Smith about how he was an sinner and was going off about all of these things Joseph Smith supposedly did and I progressively was getting less and less patient, whenever we tried to speak he'd cut us off.. finally I spoke up and said ' SIR, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE JUST LISTEN.  He stopped and nodded his head.. I looked at him and said, " When you are without sin, you can cast a stone at whoever you'd like." He stood there silent looking really angry and I said, " Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and you will never know that until you pray,  we're not going to have this conversation again."  He stopped looked at all of us and without saying a word he shook all of our hands and walked away.   so yeah stuff like that happens here to and it's annoying but there must be opposition in all things!!  and we definitely have some awesome miracles going on right now!!!  I love being a missionary!! I love being (as President Perry my first mission prez used to say"  a conservator of truth! We all are, I loved Elder Hollands talk last conference about defending the faith!! and these days more than ever there need to be more saints who are willing to defend the faith!!!  I love you all so very much and hope you have a great week!! 

Love, Elder Sahagun 

September 8th

 My Wonderful Family!!!!  

This week has been a little crazy... and slow BUT STILL AWESOME!!!!  Mainly this week was slow because we had to move.. so yeah let me explain a little better...  so you said "So I'm confused about your you're moving,you're not moving.  So the couple missionary sister found you a place but it's just as far as the place you're already in, so you're staying where you are until you can find a closer place?  Is that right?"  and that would make sense right??  and that is exactly my frustration..  So we did move into that place that is just as far out of our area as our last apartment, even though it doesn't solve any problems.. because the whole reason we needed to move was that we could live in downtown right close to VCU.. but it's all good we're moved (partially) now and it super crappier than our old apartment, but what are ya going to do?

SOOOO Tristan James, hahaha so Tristan was suppose to be baptized this last week, but he fell of the edge of the earth so that didn't happen.  Tristan lives downtown on VCU campus, but he doesn't have a phone or any way of getting in contact with us, so the way we set up appointments was just by setting them when we met with him and then just hoping he'd show.  and this week he just didn't show.. and we have absolutely no idea where he went, so that could be something you pray for!! Pray that we'll be able to find Tristan and that he'll be able to be baptized on the 13 of September!! Miracles will happen!! So besides Tristan we are teaching a lot of people, but the most solid ones (ones that have a date) are these people Kristi Deguel- Kristi is super awesome and cute haha cute just because of the fact that she's literally like 4 foot nothing haha She has been way busy with work (she's a nurse) and it's making it hard for her to feel ready to be baptized so that is her struggle right now.. Rasheema Burgo-  Rasheema is awesome!!!  She is really awesome, we had a lesson with her like last week and set her on date for 0ctober 11th but she also works on MCV campus (medical campus) and is super busy so it's really hard to set up with her, but she's super solid and has such a great desire to learn.  Justin and Braden are roommates and we talk to them a lot, they are with an on campus ministry meaning they kinda do what we do on campus but it's more like a non-denominational club, but they said they could be any religion and still be in the club so they are willing to learn!! and Diamyn is a freshman, we took her on a church tour two days ago and we are meeting again with her tonight!! She is super crazy and funny and is kinda tip toeing her way back into religion, because she has had bad experiences in the past will this kinda thing but she could definitely be baptized!! ALL of these people could be and it's really exciting!! Pray that these people will continue to feel the spirit and feel that desire to be baptized!! because they are all ready!! :) 

I hear from Elder Crankshaw and Elder DeLaigle a lot!! It's really great to talk to them, I can tell that we've all changed a lot, but at the same time we're pretty much the same... if that makes any sense.. haha probably not. oh well. 

You have no idea how great it is to hear everything going on back home and don't even think for a second that it's boring or that I don't want to hear it!!  because it's great and I love it!! :) I love hearing all of the great things that are going on!!  So don't worry about that! haha and don't worry about me being unsafe on a bike anymore because.. I'm not on bike!! :)  I love being a missionary!!  I've talked to so many people this week who have said that they used to believe in God and now they either don't know or don't care what they believe anymore.. and it's really sad, I just want them to understand how much God truly loves them and desires them to have a relationship with Him!! I love being able to promise people blessings and testify of all of these things I've been able to learn for myself.  This Gospel is the greatest!!  YOU ARE ALL THE GREATEST!!! I miss you guys like crazy, but I'm super glad to be a missionary at this time in this awesome area with my awesome and probably favorite companion! I hope you all have a great week!! Testify to a stranger this week!!  and you will feel incredible!! I love you all!! sorry there are no pics this week I forgot my camera at home.... my bad

Love,  Elder Sahagun 

Laboring in the Lord's Vineyard

My awesome family!! 

 

So P-Day was changed to today because of Labor day, so my labor day was exactly that.. a day of Labor!!  which is really effective for family wards because everyone goes home to be with their families for the holidays and it's a great time to catch people home and teach them the gospel for most missionaries... for YSA missionaries on VCU campus, it's pretty much the opposite.  Campus was like a ghost town yesterday!  and it was very very hot, but we were still able to talk to some cool people so it wasn't all bad!  and the rest of the week has been awesome as usual so I really have nothing to complain about!

 

So Mom to answer your question the whole reason for us moving was because we live 20 minutes from downtown Richmond (where we do all of our work) so we were looking for a place to live in downtown Richmond close to VCU campus to help us save some miles and money so we can go home to eat instead of eating out all the time. So the office manager told us to go find a place, so we looked and found some that would of worked very well, then one of the Senior missionaries told us for some reason that she was going to take care of the situation for us... and she did she got us a nice little apartment 20 minutes away from VCU in the opposite direction... so there is really no point for us to be moving anymore but we are :) so as far as address stuff, we'll be staying here for a little longer and checking the mail here so just send everything to 2028 Timbershill for now, and for pants... just like tan, dark grey, black, maybe some other color I'm forgetting is cool, I trust a mother's judgement :) or you can just put the money for it on my card and I can get them out here, whatever is easiest.

 

So with our investigator Tristan, we're looking to get him baptized sooner than the 13th... probably some time this week or next,  which is tricky with our bishop, (please don't get me started)  our bishop has made up this ridiculous rule that we can only have two baptismal dates a month which seems like a great way to hasten the work.... NOT!!! I'm sorry it gets me really upset so I'm not going to talk about it.  I've talked to President Wilson about it and he has told me to not try and understand it because it is completely wrong. Tristan will be baptized, and that's all that matters :)

 

 I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!