Monday, March 26, 2012

*HI FROM PHOENIX WITH A SPIRITUAL BAPTISM EXPERIENCE*

Aloha Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing?  Well I had a wonderful week in Phoenix.  Peter Gonzales got baptized on Saturday and I got the honor to baptize him.  It was such a spiritual baptism.  He was filled with happiness and joy at his baptism.  The spirit was so strong as I went into the baptism font followed by Peter.  Then I grabbed his wrist, held up my right arm and said the baptism Prayer.  I had to do it three times because his leg kept coming up but on the third time I stepped on his feet and he was fully emerged into the water.   It was such a wonderful feeling to baptize him and see him come out of the water as a follower of Jesus Christ.  Right after he came up from the water he said "I feel different like a new man".  I was so excited for him that he was filled with joy as he made his covenants with our Heavenly Father.  It was such an amazing baptism and 2 of our other investigators Robie and Rebecca came to his baptism and felt the spirit and cannot wait for their baptism next month.  Then on Sunday, he got confirmed a member and received the holy ghost by my companion Elder Bartleson.  He was so excited and smiling throughout sacrament.  It was so wonderful and we had a lesson in Gospel Essential Class on the Holy Ghost, which was perfect for him.  It was a wonderful spiritual weekend.  The rest of my week was great.  Tuesday, we had a lesson with Peter & watched about the restoration, had a lesson with Robie on Mosiah 4:7-12, and a lesson with John a less active on Hope and Humility.  Our night was pretty interesting we ran into a guy on the street that needed a place to live so we called our bishop for shelters he could stay at.  Then right after we were waiting for the bus to head home and this guy was yelling because he is going through some hard times so we calmed him down and talked to him about the Gospel and how we go through trials to strengthen us and gave him a Book of Mormon.  Then after we met a lady waiting for the bus and talked to her.  She said that Jesus Christ helped her overcome drinking problems in her life and how she was searching for a church.  We talked to her about the church and got her information so we can go over and teach her about the Gospel.  On Wednesday we had a lesson with Peter and watched - Finding Faith in Christ a great video on Jesus Christ's earthly ministry.  Every time we would go over and ask him what's on Saturday - he would say his baptism and was so excited.  On Thursday, we did weekly planning and had a district meeting.  Then we had a lesson with Robie on 1 Nephi 16.  Then we were heading to an appointment and talked to a man and a lady at a bus stop that seemed interested.  On Friday, we helped a member & their family move to another apartment but their still in our ward boundaries.  On Saturday before the baptism, we had a lesson with Rebecca on Alma 5 and committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon after our lesson and we testified to her that she would receive answers that the Gospel is true before or at Peter's baptism.  After Peter's baptism, she received her answer and felt the spirit testify to her.  That was my wonderful week.  Hope all is well.  I love being a missionary and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love, Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral

Monday, March 19, 2012

HELLO ALL the WAY from PHOENIX, ARIZONA!


Hello Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing?  Well I am doing great here in Phoenix sharing the gospels and helping our Heavenly Fathers children Come unto Christ.  The weather is starting to get hot.  It was in the high 80's for most of the week.  Sunday a storm came through that made it rain and pretty cold again.  Well my week started pretty good on Tuesday with a some great lessons with Robie.  She is doing really great and is making a great change in her life.  She is struggling a little with the Word of Wisdom but the past few days she has been doing good.  We continue to help her overcome it by praying to our Heavenly Father for strength to help her through it.  Then we had some great street contacts.  We met this lady Susan at a bus stop that was interested in hearing about the Gospel.  We went over the Restoration and she understood the importance of the Restored Gospel.  We got her address which was out of our area so we referred her to the Elders in her area.  Then when we were riding home we met another lady and shared a short message about the Gospel and gave her a Book of Mormon to read.  She said she needed some help around her home since she in a wheelchair so we gave her our number to call us so we can help her.  On Wednesday, we did some tracting where we tried our new approach where we offer to say a prayer and offer a blessing on their family.  We have not got to do it yet but we got 2 return appointments so we hope they work out. We had a great experience of helping a family that moved into our apartment complex from Texas.  We were heading out from lunch when we saw them unloading furniture so we offered to help and they said sure.  After we helped them move some furniture we talked to the husband and he said we can stop by anytime and share a message with them.  We will probably go by some time this week and check on how they are doing.  It was so great to finally do a service contact every time we offered to help someone they were almost done.  On Thursday, we had a great zone meeting where we did a skill training on our new approach.  It felt weird at first trying this approach but it seems better than the usual way missionaries would like to share a message about Jesus Christ.  Then we had a lesson with Peter Gonzales going over his Baptism interview questions.  We are so excited for him because he is getting baptized on Saturday, March 24.  Then we ended the night by visiting the Helser family - less active husband and non member wife and kids which we shared a message about the Gospel with them.  On Friday, we had a lesson with Robie and taught her about how important it is to be honest and have hope that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can help us through our trials in life.  She always likes when we come over and strengthen her faith.  Then we had Peters interview and he passed.  We are so excited for him.  Then we had a great Game night where there did board games with lots of desserts.  Robie and a recent convert Shelly came and had a fun time.  On Saturday, we went to a baptism for Andy (Elder Knobe and Burdens investigator) who is in our zone.  Peter came to the baptism and really liked it.  He cannot wait for his baptism this week.  Then we had a lesson with Rebecca our new investigator and taught her the Plan of Salvation.  She enjoyed learning about our Heavenly Fathers Plan and How our purpose in life is to be happy and prepare to return to live with him.  Sunday was a great Sabbath Day - we had 3 investigators come to church Peter, Robie, and Rebecca.  We had some great talks in sacrament that was really great for them.  Rebecca had a wonderful first time at church and a family in the ward did a great job in fellowshipping her.  Hope everything is going well with everyone.  My prayers are with you all.  I love being a missionary and sharing this wonderful Gospel. 

Love Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral

Monday, March 12, 2012

Sharing the Gospel from Phoenix, Arizona


Hello Family and Friends,

How are you all doing?   Well I am doing great here in Phoenix, Arizona.  The weather has been really nice here in the 80's during the day.  This week was great in doing missionary work and sharing the gospel.  We did a lot of tracting and street contacting to find new investigators to teach.  Tuesday was a great day filled with teaching appointments.  We had a great lesson with Peter on the Plan of Salvation.  Then we had a lesson with a new investigator Rebecca that another pair of missionaries contacted on the street.  We taught her the Restoration of the Gospel and committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know that it is true.  Right after we had another lesson with Robie on the Plan of Salvation and she really enjoyed this lesson on where did we come from before this earth and the creation.  We ended the day by visiting a less active member and his family.  On Wednesday we visited some potential investigators and did a lot of tracting.  We found a few potential investigators that we shared the gospel with and asked if we could come back.  Then we had coordination meeting where we visited some investigators and less active members and invited them to our game night which is on Friday.  On Thursday, I was with the Spanish speaking elders most of the day because my companion had to go to a meeting.  We had a great lesson with a new investigator Sophia.  I could feel the Spirit even though I could barely understand what they were talking about.  Then we did some visits to members and less actives.  On Friday, we had a district meeting where we learned a new way of finding or approaching that mission in doing that we offer to pray and bless the household as we tract.  We did not try it yet but it should be a great way to help others feel the Spirit.  After district meeting, we had a lesson with Peter on the commandments and how our Heavenly Father blesses us as we are obedient to them.  Then we had another lesson with Robbie on the Sabbath day and praying.  On Saturday, we did some street contacting and went to a Stake Priesthood Meeting and the Adult Session.  There were some great talks on Staying Strong in the Gospel and Raising a Family in this World with Many Adversary.  We need to always Strengthen our Faith by having Daily Personal and Family Prayers, Scripture Study, Family Home Evening, and Spending Time with the Family to overcome the many temptations around us.  On Sunday, we had Stake Conference.  There was some great talks on how we need to help the less active members in our ward come back to church and share the gospel with our family and friends.  After we had a lesson with Rebecca on the Book of Mormon and committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon.  We invited her to church this Sunday.  Then we had a lesson with Robie and she invited her neighbor Sandy that really enjoyed us teaching her the Gospel.  We were so excited when Robie invited her neighbor so we had a new investigator to teach.  Hope all is well back home.  My prayers are with you all.  I love being a missionary and sharing the gospel and helping Heavenly Fathers children return to live with him and their families for eternity.
 
Love, Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral

Monday, March 5, 2012

Hi From North Mountain Area in ARIZONA


Aloha Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing back home? Well for me, I had a great week in the mission field.  The weather is really nice early in the week on Tuesday and Wednesday it was cold but on Thursday it was nice and warm.  Well to start of my week, I had exchanges with zone leaders in their area on Tuesday.  We had a lesson with Katie on Alma 34 and the purpose of our life on earth and how we can prepare to meet God?  She really liked it.  She got baptized in December and started to read the Book of Mormon and has lots of questions especially in Isaiah which we cannot understand.  Then we had a lesson with Lisa a less active that is struggling so we read Alma 36 and it was a perfect chapter that helped her.  Then we went to the mission office to pickup some supplies and letters.  It was great to see the couple missionaries in the office and from my old area.  To end the day, we had a Book of Mormon class where we studied Moroni 1-6 on the Priesthood, Baptism, and the Sacrament.  On Wednesday, we had a meeting with the Bishop who has a daughter that lives in Kona and talked about members we can visit and who can help fellowship investigators and come to appointments with us.   Then we did some visits and tracking.  Then we had coordination meeting and made some visit with potential investigators and less actives.  Thursday, we did our weekly planning and had district meeting where we focused on contacting people on the streets and sharing a message.  Then we had a great lesson with a new investigator Robie and taught her about our Heavenly Father and how our families are blessed to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then we had another great lesson with Peter on the apostasy and how the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith and we have the Book of Mormon.  He has a great desire to follow Jesus Christ and how he can get closer to God by being baptized.  On Friday in the morning, we did some visits to potential investigators and met a new member that moved to our area and needed the address to the church.  On our way home for lunch we were riding down a steep hill that had a yellow gate that blocked the road and Elder Bartleson's brakes did not work and he crashed in to the gate and flipped over.  The gate injured his knee and he is so blessed we were helmets because when he flipped over his helmet got damaged from the asphalt.  So we headed home and he rested most of the day.  We had a short lesson later that day with the Spiva's a less active couple that got married last November.  On Saturday, we were in our apartment the whole day to let Elder Bartleson's knee heal, so I did a lot of studying from on the Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, and the Ensign.  He is doing a lot better.  On Friday, he could not walk without crutches but on Saturday it got a lot better with a slight pain.  On Sunday, we had a great fast and testimony meeting.  We had Robie our new investigator come to church and she really liked the Gospel Essentials class where they taught the Creation of the World and how it is so important in our Heavenly Father's Plan for us.  Then after church we took the sacrament to some members that are not able to come to church.  It was a great privilege to do it and they were so happy to see us.  Then we had a lesson with Robie we finished the Restoration on how the Gospel was restored and how we can know that it is true by reading the Book of Mormon and Praying.  She is going to enjoy our next lesson on the Plan of Salvation because she was asking a lot of question about it in Sunday School.  Well today is my pday and we are just doing our email, shopping, and resting.  Hope that Elder Bartleson's knee heals so we can get back to our bikes and start sharing the Gospel to all we meet in the North Mountain area.  Hope everyone is doing great back home.  My prayers are with you all.

Love, Elder Lance Kuhi Cabral