April 14,2014

My Dear Family,

How is it April??  I really need someone to explain to me how it can be the middle of April right now.  Time is just blowing by and I'm surprised every day when I look back on the past year.  It's crazy.  I read a journal entry form April of last year and I guess I kind of forgot how terribly homesick I was. and It's crazy to see how much has changed in a year.  I'm so glad to be a missionary.  This week has been way awesome.  It's been one of the most productive weeks in the 4 months that I've been here in Massaponax.  We were able to teach a lot of people and do a lot of service.  I wish I had time to tell you all of the things that happened, but since I can't I'll just tell you one cool thing from this week.  We were at the Browns for dinner and we got a call.  I usually don't answer the phone at member dinners, but decided for some reason to take the call in the other room.  A really old lady was on the other end and she explained that we had knocked on her door about 2 months ago (when Elder Wood first got here) Apparently when we knocked on her door we told here that if she ever needed anything, no matter how small it was to give us a call.  So she explained how she had not been able to find anyone to rake her leaves.  So we told her we'd be there the next day.  We went over and raked her leaves and we were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon afterwards.  We set up a return appointment to go back the next day and brought our ward mission leader to help us out.  After we finished the front yard we were able to have another lesson with her with a member present this time.  It was a great lesson and the spirit was definitely there!! Sadly, she called us about 2 hours after we had left and asked me this question, "why do I need to be baptized because of some guy named Joseph Smith?"  I explained again how it wasn't because of Joseph Smith that we needed to be baptized, but she only got more and more defensive and contentious. The conversation ended with her telling me that we didn't have to come over and finish the back yard because she wasn't going to listen to us.  We kindly told her that we would come back and finish it regardless.  

Tracting with Elder Hansen (my Zone leader) got all this food from one guy plus two apples 

We are having a hard time finding people to teach right now.  All the people that we do find and teach are not willing to progress.  It has been very hard, but things are really starting to pick up.  We are seeing the fruits of praying for miracles in faith.  It is incredible to see how the Lord blesses us with miracles every day we ask for them. It has really been a testimony builder for me.

This week, we are inviting EVERYONE to watch the #BecauseofHim video oneaster.mormon.org.  It is an incredible video!!  and a great way to spread the wonderful spirit of this easter season!!  Share it with all of your friends!!!!!  It is a great way to be a member missionary!! :) 

Mother- that is way cool that you got a letter from Elder Tirrell!! I freakin love that kid and miss him like crazy!!!  You should definitely save that letter until I get home!! 

Dad- Sorry to hear that you didn't get that interview.  I am positive that the Lord has something else in mind for you at this time.  Keep the faith, I miss you so much!!! 

Heather- Elder Le sent you an email?  Did you get it?  if you did, I command you to email him back. haha jokes, I miss you so much and I love you!!! :) 

Tyler- You punk!!!  write me a letter!  I love you, miss you like crazy!! 

Jessica- Sounds like you are still way busy!!  Congrats on landing that piruet thing not really sure what that is.... but it sounds impressive.  Keep it up!! love you!!!! Miss you bunches!! :) 

I am so happy.... and tired.  Being a missionary is great!!!  I hope you all have a great week!!!!  Happy Easter!!! 

I am no longer homesick #becauseofHim

My fears are replaced with faith #becauseofHim

I am free of sin and guilt #becauseofHim

I will one day run into the loving embrace of my savior and be able to whisper "I did it" #becauseofHim 

Share this Easter Season all that you are now and will be Because of Him 

Love, Elder Nick Sahagun 

Found this guy crawling on our ceiling, pretty weird looking, think it's called a silverfish...

April 7, 2014

Family!!! Holy cow... it's soo good to hear from all of you guys this week. There is so much I want to tell you about, and it's really hard to condense all that I want to tell/express to/ask you guys in just 20 or so minutes of typing.  It's so good to be a missionary.  It is super exhausting and I'm tired like all the time, but every morning at 6:30, (sometimes 5:40, so we can go play basketball with the zone leaders) It is super easy to get up.  I never thought that I would be able to jump right out of bed at the early hours of the morning and just get going.  I think back to a little over a year ago.. when I could hardly roll out of bed at 10:30 and get myself some cereal.  It is weird to look back and see how much I've changed.. If I were to go back in time and see past Nick laying down in bed at 11:30 am I probably would yell at him.  "Get up ya lazy!!" haha I feel like someone might have done that.. can't think who.. hahaha :)   General Conference is the greatest gathering of people that could ever be organized in the four corners of this earth!!!!!  I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!! Getting to hear the voice of the prophet.. hear revelation and testimony from the Lord's chosen apostles, and sing and praise to God as the restored church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is one of the greatest blessings that we have!!!! I loved it all!! We went to our church building in Massaponax.  I have about 10 favorite talks, but I'll just tell you the one that stuck out the most to me was the first talk, first session, by Jeffery R. Holland.  It stuck out to me because recently I've had to take a stand and boldly defend the beliefs of our church.  Hearing about that sister missionary who almost got decked in the face and had a baked potato chucked at her head made me realize that it could be a lot worse. We get a lot of people who want to bash on our beliefs when we knock on their door, and it pumped me up to hear Jeffery R. Holland tell me to defend my beliefs!! 

Thank you so much for the new shoes!!! I love them and they are super comfy!!! I was a little hesitant to wear them because they look so nice compared to the shoes I have now, but I took courage and just did it.   Don't worry you sent them to the right address!! The Spotsylvania address will be good for at least 5 more weeks. I'll let you know if I get transferred when that time comes

Big news!!! On May 3rd an apostle will be coming to the Virginia Richmond Mission!!! I'm so excited!! David A. Bednar is coming for my birthday!!!  granted that is probably not why he is coming, but still super excited!!  

Wait... so where did you find that video of me singing? on Youtube? Elder Sahagun sings I am a Child of God I have no idea where or when that could of been taken... my guess would be either Colonial Heights or Woodbridge.... no one told me that they were going to post a video of me.. that is kinda scary. but cool I guess.   

Mom- Elder Le ( an awesome Elder in my Zone) said he wrote you a letter? did you get it? read it? just wondering. also I am grateful for your advice to not give up on Michael.. our Investigator.  I will definitely not give up on him

Dad- Nice Trombone playing!! I haven't ever heard you play like that!  it was awesome!!  Keep sending those journal entries!!! send some more of those embarrassing ones!! haha 

Tyler- Man straight jamming out!! nice pipes bro, maybe practice your bar F a little more huh.. hahaha love ya buddy!! 

Jessica- You got some pipes too!!  It was way good to hear you sing. Your week sounds nuts!!!! I'll be praying for you!! 

Heather- I miss you like crazy!! It looks like you are doing awesome!!! I sent you a letter about a month ago.. let me know if it gets to you!!

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

Love, Elder Nick Sahagun 

Wow, Family... It's been a crazy tiring week, but for some reason I'm still fairly happy.  Doesn't add up, but then again.  The math of the Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't make sense.  Think about it following 10 commandments and other revelations= an eternity with your family and your Father in Heaven so 10+(a) = infinity w/family. Doesn't add up, but that is why I love this gospel so much,  It is just that simple!!!! It's not something that can be measured or calculated by scientists or mathematicians.  It's something that can bless and perfect the weak and the simple.  It's truly incredible and I'm so blessed to be able to share it with the people here in Virginia.  I wish everyone could feel the redeeming love of our Savior Jesus Christ.  

Frog!

We had a pretty hard thing this week.  Our one, and only solid investigator, Michael Geukgeuzian dropped us.  Over text it was the dumbest thing.  He is going through some rough things and his parents. They have been grilling him hard about coming to church and meeting with us.  He said he needed to get his life in order and that means he won't be coming to church or talking to us for a while..I didn't like that all of that was said over text so I decided to call him.  I talked to him for about 10 minutes and he reiterated what he had said in the text.I testified that the Gospel will only help us in our crazy and hectic lives, that we have to make it a priority, and trust that the Lord will take care of the rest.  He said he was pretty certain that he just needed a break and some time to sort things out. 

It was super hard to not think that him dropping us was our fault.  I kept on getting the feeling that we could of done more to help him, but I know that we did everything we needed to do to help him receive the Gospel.  It's been a hard thing for me on my mission to respect other people's agency, but I feel like I understand more now how my Heavenly Father feels with me a lot of the time. haha kinda funny how that all works out..

Our ward has been stepping it up, which has been really good.  I feel like we've really built up this ward to be more missionary minded.  We had 3 nights of splits this week and have three nights set up for this next week already.  Compared to when I first got here when we had none for a month and a half.This ward has made some major improvements and it is really good to see the love for missionary work grow.

hahaha and yes Tyler being a "beast" is a very good thing in soccer.hahaha  Keep taking pics of him playing soccer and other stuff during the week!!!  I love getting pics from you guys!!  Hey! did you get my letter?  I sent it about a week ago so I hope you guys hav got it by now.  Let me Know :) 

Love  you so much,

Elder Nick Sahagun

My dearest family!!!! 
Elder Le is the best, just to remind you 

What a crazy week it's been... I think I say that every week.. but it's always true!!  Being a missionary is crazy!!!  I'm sure Heather agrees and would tell you the same thing!!  hahaha that's funny what that teacher said when you showed her my shoes.. turns out they're in even worse shape now.  We had a crazy shortcut go terribly insane last night, it looked so short and clear on the GPS but it turned out to be a really thick forest and a couple of rivers to jump/ balance across a log over while holding my bike, and a muddy swamp to trudge knee deep through.. .but hey it was an adventure, stories are made from mistakes right?  haha it was way fun!!  Before we took that shortcut we had biked 23 miles, and our legs were super shot from biking so much. That's why we decided to take the shortcut in the first place... sometimes it's not always best to take the (easy road).  

Lesson learned.  Move on and learn from it.  

We have done a lot of good work this transfer.  I don't think my legs have ever hurt so bad, but it's so worth it!! I love biking around and spreading the Lords truth!! It's hard when you don't see the success from working so hard, but I know that we are planting seeds for future missionaries to reap!! Crazy thing,  President Wilson announced this week that we are needing to double our baptisms so in our ward alone, we will need 48 baptisms!! which is crazy!! I have the faith!! We'll see the work hasten I know it :) :)  

I am so excited for this next transfer!! Me and Elder Wood are going to do a ton of good work!! I love you all so much!! I hope that you all have a great week!! 

Love, 

Elder Sahagun 

Me and Elder Wood after our adventure through the woods 

and Elder Le.... the awesome one 

Dear Family,  
It has been a pretty crazy week!! We have Done A lot of biking this week and  a lot of tracting!!! but I love it!! It's probably my favorite thing to do as a missionary, even when you get the mean people, when you talk to the people who are willing to listen it makes it all worth it.  One of the doors I knocked we ran into this guy and we had a little "discussion" he was trying to bash hard, I was super grateful and realized how much I have really learned out here as I answered and asked him questions to help him understand.  Even though he was pretty upset and trying to be contentious, I was very grateful for the experience.  Also had a pretty bad fail this week.  We were walking into this neighborhood that we were about to tract and we saw this Hispanic guy, his name is Oscar, out walking with his family.  We talked to him for a while and asked him if he had a church he was going to... he said, "actually no, I haven't" we invited him to come to church at 9:00 at our building and he said very excitedly, " Okay, yeah I will be there"  you might be thinking, how is that a fail? sounds pretty awesome right?  well that night when Elder Wood was saying our prayer for daily planning it hit me.  wait tomorrow is stake conference.. there is not going to be anyone there to meet Oscar... So we had a cool miracle but it turned out that we messed up a little bit... oh well.  Lesson learned.

          I am officially sick of the snow here..  we got another snow storm this past weekend, only about 6 or more inches..This is (I've been told) one of the worst winters that Virginia has had, I keep wondering how I was lucky enough to be here for it.  It's only frustrating because everyone over here treats 6 inches of snow as if it were a natural disaster.  A little non missionary part of me wants to tell Virginia to buck up because it's a little ridiculous!! Hopefully this will be the last one and we can move on to spring, maybe even skip to summer. 

          To answer your question dad.. The patterns I've noticed with the progressing investigators on my mission.  Is they are committed to make a change, and they desire to come to Christ.  All of the Investigators that I've had that haven't progress have had no desire or not enough, and are not completely committed to making a change in their lives, a lot of the time the thing they are not willing to change is there Habits with smoking or other substances not in line with the W.O.W.  That has been the thing that I have seen most often.  Right now we don't have any investigators that are progressing, and it is very frustrating.  We can do everything right to create a environment conducive to the spirit, but it comes down to weather they are willing to accept it and act on it with the agency that they have, but we don't give up because that's what Satan wants us to do... don't listen to Satan. 

My testimony shown by the condition of my shoes.
Don't worry Grandma my mom has new ones on their way.

Come Follow Me

        I am so glad to be a missionary at this time.  It is a little bit scary to think that the best two years for my life are half way done.  We are so blessed to have this Gospel in our lives and it is up to us to raise our voices to those who cannot find the peace the Gospel brings only because they know not where to find it.  I love you all to very much and hope that you have a great week filled with missionary experiences, because they are the best!!! Love you !!! 

Elder Nick Sahagun 

Dear Family,

        It has been a pretty crazy week, filled with biking and contacting people that are no longer in our ward.  Our ward mission leader gave us some names that he said would be good to visit, but all of them have moved, not even recently like 2 sometimes even 3 years ago.  It's pretty frustrating I feel like the ward should have more updated records than that.  Mom it's so good to hear that you were willing and ready to help out the missionaries in a moments notice. That is one of the greatest blessings!! Having missionary minded members who are willing to help in the hastening of the work of salvation.  That is something that I have learned the hard way this transfer.  Elder Wood and I have been working very hard, trying to pump up the ward to do missionary work, but it doesn't seem like anyone in our ward cares and it is very frustrating to try to improve an area by just tracting and visiting former investigators and potentials all the time.  The it is not a waste of time by any means, but there are more productive ways of building up a teaching pool.  All of the Baptisms and progressing investigators, and people that have truly had a desire to come closer to Christ I've had on my mission so far have been referrals from members.  So we are trying very hard to help the ward, and we are working very hard and it's hard to see the success that we are having, but I know that if we just keep on doing the things that we are suppose to we will begin to see the fruits of our labors.  

     

Is that a frog angel sitting on my shoulder? 

Entertaining the seniors at a senior center

Which way should I go?

My companion pondering! :)

That is way weird.. so many people getting married!!! You never answered my question. Did they get married in the temple?  The car looks pretty cool.  Is the Saturn pretty much dead then?  Well I figured, it's all good. 

     It is so good to hear about everything going on back home!! Tyler with soccer, Jessica getting ready for Talons and her Piano stuff!!  and Mom with your new calling!! Dad making little kids cry! hahaha :) I kid.. but seriously it is comforting to know that Heavenly father is watching over my family that I love so much while I'm away.  I pray for you guys every time I get the opportunity, and it's good to know that my prayers are being heard and answered.  Keep the pics coming!!!  Tyler, man those cleats are tight... super jealous!! I wanna see some pics of you playing soccer, ask mom and dad to take some I know for a fact that they love to take pictures :)  I don't know when Jessica's play is, but take some pics maybe some videos of that as well!! I love seeing you guys enjoying life back home!!! I love you all so very much!! I hope that life continues to treat you well, I'll try and take a picture every day this week of something cool, I invite you to do the same :) 

Love,

          Elder Nick                     

Family!!!!! 

 It is so ridiculously great to be a missionary right now!!!

 

Sorry I didn't get an email sent out on Monday, It snowed.... again.. and you know how Virginia handles that by now, yeah everything was shut down.  Luckily everything melted so we were able to come today.  This week has been super crazy.  On Saturday

night from 6 p.m.to 9 p.m. we biked 24 miles and saw 7 people. I've only ever biked 24 miles once in my life...hahaha if you remember when that was.  It was great though. My legs are still sore from my first transfer a year ago on bike and I don't think that they will recover till I've been home for at least 2 months..

P-day Fun!

 We've been doing so much biking and tracting and finding and it's really great!! The only thing we need right now is more ward support!!!  That makes soo much difference and it's the only thing that really makes a difference in how effective work gets done in your area!!  We are trying everything we can to pump up the ward.  Please pray that they'll rise to their callings as members of this church.The missionaries need help!!!  The work is hastening and the way that is going to happen is by members and missionaries working together in unity!!  I hope that we can help this ward realize that.

 

So the picture didn't come up for the car but that's alright. I guess I'll see it in about a year. :) It is so crazy how time flies and how we can change. I remember how incredibly homesick I was around this time last year. It's incredible to realize how much has changed since then.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve!! I love being a missionary, and bringing God's Children back to the fold!!! Heather, how great is our calling?! We are spreading the news that some people have been waiting their whole life to hear!!  We are so blessed to be conduits of the spirit.  There is nothing better than being able to feel the spirit testify through you and see it change of the countenance of people who were once in the dark!! It's incredible, we are so incredibly blessed.  I love you all so much and hope that you have a fantastic week!!!

 

Love,  Elder Nick Sahagun