Ojos Hermosos (Beautiful eyes)

On Monday, October 17, 2016 1:51 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

After our Tuesday email session last week, we had a fantastic dinner with the Savea family. When we got there, the 7 kids they have who are all under 8 years old were running wild talking about some black sheep. They were also singing the ba ba black sheep song. Elder Pooley and I thought this to be strange until the kids took us to the side of their house. Standing there motionless was a fairly large black sheep. I walked back inside and asked Brother Savea what the story was on the sheep. "Brother, that sheep there is Thanksgiving dinner. You better pray you stay in area- we roast whole thing!!!" There was a lot of joy when he said that. So, that being said, I really want to remain in the area for Thanksgiving!!!

Wednesday was really fun as well. We began in the morning by going to Squash for Friends in Apple Valley. This is the same place I went to about a year ago when I was in Hesperia. They have two farms and I have now visited both. Quick side note, it is really weird that I can talk about something on my mission and then say it was a year ago, yikes. Anyway, we had a great time there, and I got to see Elder Parry. We had a good time together, and then after the service was over we went over to Elder Parry's place to change and then we went to see Lance. We had a great lesson with him, and he now wants to go through the Book of Mormon reading the power filled chapters. He loved the reading and was super excited to have us back in his home. He has a lead on a new job that might allow him Sundays off from time to time, so pray he gets the position there. We finally had another lesson with Donique in North Adelanto. We talked about coming to church and baptism. She wants to be sure she is ready to commit, but she agreed to a date of November 12th for baptism. We now have three people on date for baptism, but we need them to come to church- that is the massive road block at this point.

Thursday was quite amazing. I spent the day on exchanges with Elder Gagnon, a Spanish speaking elder, in his area. We had interviews with our mission president in the morning which went amazing, I love our mission president, and I know he was called by God to preside over this mission. We then got to work. We saw this guy named Joe. He is literally crazy. He was big into the gangs, but got his head kicked in and now chills at home. He's got a mean scar on his head. We had to discuss some things with him concerning some literature he found on the church. I just wish people didn't believe every single thing they read online. We cleared it up with him and went on our way- side note, the lesson was in English!!! Then it was up to Barstow. The Spanish speaking elders go up there once a week, and we had a great time. Up there we had three lessons totally in Spanish. It was funny, I was directed to read things from time to time. The coolest part of the day was dinner. This family was converted three years ago by my trainer, Elder Jennings. They speak no English, the missionaries spoke no Spanish. The spirit was just so strong that they knew the church was true. They now go to an English speaking ward and still get a ton out of it. The older lady in the home commented about 300 times about how amazing my eyes are- ojos hermosos! It had the whole house laughing, and then she would sincerely say it again. She said I am welcome in her home any time- such an amazing family.

Friday and Saturday morning began with service. Friday we helped a guy out by moving some of his gravel around and beautifying his home. Not much else was done that day. Saturday's service was awesome. We went up to Phelan and helped out at a horse ranch up there. We did weeding, cleaning, and myself and two other elders made some chicken coops. They have a really cool program. They take in horses from animal control and break horses their owners can't handle anymore. They are non for profit and run therapy classes for youth and senior citizen programs. We will go again in two weeks to do it again. They cooked an awesome lunch of smoked chicken and veggies for lunch. This day also happened to be my exchange with my zone leader, Elder Jarvis. He is a really good missionary, and we had a great day. He serves in the Tongan ward, so I got so see a little bit from those islands. We had one lesson, and it really has made a change in me. We visited a lady named Cici. She is 27 and quite disabled, and she knows it. She gets frustrated from time to time, but she has the strongest testimony I have ever seen. She talks about how though she can't do a lot of the physical things in life, she can do all of the spiritual things and more. She has a great connection with heaven, and she is beyond excited for the resurrection so that she may obtain her perfect physical body. Amazing, and very humbling. Sunday was a great day at church and we had a great dinner and visits afterward.

Scripture of the week is from Alma, chapter 11, verses 43-44 concerning the resurrection, "The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil."

Love,

Elder Thelander

photos- the chicken coop and me with my bat