Hello friends and family.
A lot has happened in the past little-bit of time.
First off on monday we did normal P-day stuff, but then went to Jasper Beach. It is a beach accept instead of being rocky or sandy it is made entirely of small and very round stones. Pretty cool stuff. Also pretty cold.
The middle of the week was pretty normal. We did a good amount of driving around our large area looking for people and teaching a few less actives. This week we found 2 new people to teach! the most important thing that you can do when finding is to exercise some faith and talk to as many people as you can every day. Have faith that people wake up in your area every day seeking for the knowledge and the message that we share.
After that stuff we had an average district meeting. However, it is the last one of the transfer and the LeCheminants are going home back to Arizona on the 4th. Super sad stuff. They are amazing people and have contributed so much to the work and the love that is in this area.
The best day of this week, in my opinion, was Sunday. Sunday our investigator Clif was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. (The baptism was pretty cool too but the fact that there was a confirmation implied that the baptism already happened which is why Sunday was the best day, because he was baptized and was present for his own confirmation. Its an important ordinance.) Clif has been investigating the church for over 6 months and he finally made the decision to be baptized despite the fact that he didn't have that much support from his friends and family. He has amazing faith.
Saturday we got our transfer calls. Elder O'Rourke will be staying in Machias and I and will be returning to New Hampshire in the Canterberry area as a district leader! Pretty exciting stuff. I am really sad to leave Machias but I know that I am needed elsewhere. I have come to really know and love the people that we taught and that we served around here. I thank my Heavenly Father for the love that he has given me towards his children.
I am so grateful for this work and for the opportunity that I had to serve in this area with these people.
I know that this gospel is true and that Christ leads and guides his church today. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful conference weekend.
until next week,
-Elder (2) Starr
Monday, 25 September 2017
Sunday, 24 September 2017
Mission Picture
From Sister Adams:
We were privileged to be taught by an apostle of the Lord. Elder Bednar spoke to all our missionaries last Friday. We were able to take one picture with him -- in between rain showers! It was a challenge getting 203 people in one picture.
We were privileged to be taught by an apostle of the Lord. Elder Bednar spoke to all our missionaries last Friday. We were able to take one picture with him -- in between rain showers! It was a challenge getting 203 people in one picture.
Baptism!
From Brother McEwan:
Wonderful Baptism of Clif in the Machias Branch. Followed by Sushi dinner. Elders O'Rouke and Starr are excellent missionaries and examples.
Tuesday, 19 September 2017
Elder Bednar
Hello everyone,
This week has been a pretty normal week with a few exceptions that I will talk about later.
Early in the week was pretty average, p-day on Monday and a lot of walking and talking on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
This week went really well and I would attribute that to a few things.
First of all I would say that action was taken on my part so that Heavenly Father could do his part.
Meaning that I saw the things that I could improve on to make the days more successful and made a conscious effort to change and improve in those areas. We found some people, we saw some less actives that haven't been seen in a while and we are hoping to have another baptism soon. I know that success in this work is a gift from our Heavenly Father and that that is mostly attributed to our faith and our willingness to do difficult things.
I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be serving in this wonderful area with all of these amazing people.It has been such a blessing in my life and I hope that it has made a positive difference in the lives of others.
So this week was sort of normal with the exception of the weekend. On Friday Elder O'Rourke and I drove all the way down to Ellsworth to pick up those two Elders and then all the way down to Manchester to the mission office in NH. (about 5.5 hours total) This Friday was super amazing because our mission was holding an ALL mission conference (about 180 missionaries) This was because we were getting a special visit by Elder David Bednar of the 12, Elder Bennet of the area 70 and of course both of their wives. I think that it was the most reverent that I have ever seen the missionaries be. President Blair emphasized how important it was that we prepare ourselves and let the spirit reside within the meeting so that we could learn what we needed to.
Elder and Sister Bednar talked primarily about the spirit and agency and how they interact one with another.
They counseled us that the spirit resides in us when we use our agency to exercise faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and that through this spirit we are lead and guided to do things that we could never think or do on our own. Basically it was just a huge Q and A session where all the missionaries were to raise their hand, regardless of whether or not we had a question and you would be called on to ask him something.
The primary principle is that when we ask a question not knowing what it will be until we open our mouths, in faith, that the question that we ask will be the one that we really need answered. This is true with proclaiming the gospel, if we have the faith that the spirit will fill our mouths all we have to do is open them to those that we are serving.
Like it says in the book of Ether, we receive no witness [or miracle] until after the trial of our faith.
It was an amazing opportunity and even better, yesterday Elder Bednar spoke at stake conference to a huge congregation of all the local units, he spoke mostly on the enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, how it is critical that we realize that Jesus not only suffered for others but for a moment he suffered there for each of us.
Elder Bednar pointed out that the first words spoken by Heavenly Father in this dispensation after nearly 2000 years of apostasy was the name of an individual that he knew and loved. God Knows us and wants to help us, but we have to live the gospel for him to do so. An apostle of the lord got to teach one of our investigators the restoration and it was a fantastic experience. I wish I had the time to just dictate all my notes to you but that would unnecessarily long, as this email is already quickly becoming.
I know that the Lord qualifies and magnifies those that serve him and act in faith.
I had an amazing week and I thank the Lord so much for all the blessings that we have seen and the spirit that we have felt.
I hope that you all know that I love you and I hope that you have an amazing week.
p.s. We went to a cool beach today, here are some photos,
till next week,
-Elder Starr
Hello Again!
Hello All!
It hasn't been a super eventful week, but it was an interesting one.
The week was pretty normal with a few exceptions. We did a good amount of driving across
the long and windy roads of our rural area. Looking for those that had had contact with the Elders of the the past.
People tend to stick around up here so they are usually fairly easy to find. That, or the records were poorly kept by the previous missionaries so they are nearly impossible to find.
Throughout the Book of Mormon we read the importance of keeping good and accurate records.
If the Nephites had not given the records from one generation to another, with command to write the happenings of their people in them, we would not have the truths and power that are in them today.
It is because this record was so diligently kept that we have a full and additional testament to the Lord Jesus Christ that contains the fullness of the gospel. Bit of a tangent...
Later in the week I went on exchange with Rockland again, again with 2 other Elders.
It was pretty fun, being in a trio is great. we talked to a bunch of people and just had a generally good time.
Thursday evening we went and saw the recent convert Brother Hawkins with one of his home teachers.
We had asked him if he was interested in receiving the Aaronic priesthood. We were concerned that he hadn't had interest at this point. He said:"sure once I can get down there." we said:"to church?....you come to church pretty regularly. why is this an issue?" Both parties exchanged funny and confused faces for a few seconds... we said:"do you mean the temple?" (nearest is Boston, about 7 hours away.) he said:"yeah" we than laughed in humility as we realized that he thought he had to travel to the temple to receive the Aaronic priesthood. We clarified that issue and he is to receive the priesthood in a couple weeks.
The moral of the story is that it is so important to make sure that everything is explained clearly and concisely to avoid confusion. The gospel can be confusing and it is our job to make it more simple to understand. We clearly failed the first time but you live and learn.
I am grateful that I have been called to spread this message of great hope to those that are prepared to receive it. I know of it's great importance and I know that I am building a temple under the direction of the Lord's guided servants. My small contribution will reduce Brother Hawkins travel time significantly.
The leaves are beginning to change color. I have never been in New England for an autumn but I am pretty excited to see what it looks like. I like the cool weather, maybe not the cold weather and the snowstorms but its not that bad. We have been given a beautiful place to live and I am grateful to be here.
You'll have to pardon the snoozefest this week, everything is going well.
I love you all, have a great rest of your week!
until next time
-Elder Starr
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
Hello all
Hello all
We had a pretty good week this week. Our Monday was normal with the exception that we had to drive 2 hours to Belfast to stay with them for zone conference.
Zone Conference was awesome! President Blair began by talking about how we are the fulfillment of the literal gathering of Israel in these last days. We are doing that great work. That was restored from Moses, the actual Moses, to the Prophet Joseph Smith. We have to have faith that that is true and like it says in James chapter 2, bring that faith to action, because faith without work(s) is dead.
He also talked about how we can't go about doing this our own way. We cannot baptize converts if they have no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we invite people to repent and come unto Him. To live the gospel that He has given us. Not ourselves or our works or our character, but His alone.
After zone conference our days were pretty normal. We met with Branch President Kudrick to see what we could do to help strengthen the branch and get them to be more involved in the missionary work. President Kudrick gave us some advice and two less-actives to focus on and one of them we knew fairly well so I was less than excited at the prospect of the new task given our effectiveness in the past with him. Anyways, we go over to this person's house and asked if he was coming to church on Sunday. He says "sure, I can do that" and I am thinking "yeah we have heard this about a billion times before." but we left with a little hope and followed up on Sunday morning. We walked to his house and woke him up. We left as he got ready for church, shower and stuff. Yaknow. After about 5 minutes of sacrament meeting passed by and no sign of him. I thought "great, we gave him 45 minutes to think of a lame excuse while he was in the shower." well this week he came strolling into the chapel for the first time in almost 20 weeks. It was a really cool experience to see how hard work and prayer can get awesome things done and working with people through the spirit can soften hearts.
The week prior, President Kudrick invited the branch to use this fast Sunday to fast and pray that the Lord would help our little branch to grow. I think it worked because yesterday we had about 57 people in the chapel! just 18 months ago there were times when 20 was high. We had to get more chairs from the relief society room to fit everyone in our small chapel.
I am so grateful for this work despite it's difficulty. I have a testimony that this is the beginning of the literal gathering of Israel. That the keys to do so have been restored to this earth and that the Lord has prepared the hearts of his children for the glad tidings that I have been commissioned to deliver.
I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you know that I love you.
have a great rest of your labor day.
Until Next week:
-Elder Starr (2)
We had a pretty good week this week. Our Monday was normal with the exception that we had to drive 2 hours to Belfast to stay with them for zone conference.
Zone Conference was awesome! President Blair began by talking about how we are the fulfillment of the literal gathering of Israel in these last days. We are doing that great work. That was restored from Moses, the actual Moses, to the Prophet Joseph Smith. We have to have faith that that is true and like it says in James chapter 2, bring that faith to action, because faith without work(s) is dead.
He also talked about how we can't go about doing this our own way. We cannot baptize converts if they have no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we invite people to repent and come unto Him. To live the gospel that He has given us. Not ourselves or our works or our character, but His alone.
After zone conference our days were pretty normal. We met with Branch President Kudrick to see what we could do to help strengthen the branch and get them to be more involved in the missionary work. President Kudrick gave us some advice and two less-actives to focus on and one of them we knew fairly well so I was less than excited at the prospect of the new task given our effectiveness in the past with him. Anyways, we go over to this person's house and asked if he was coming to church on Sunday. He says "sure, I can do that" and I am thinking "yeah we have heard this about a billion times before." but we left with a little hope and followed up on Sunday morning. We walked to his house and woke him up. We left as he got ready for church, shower and stuff. Yaknow. After about 5 minutes of sacrament meeting passed by and no sign of him. I thought "great, we gave him 45 minutes to think of a lame excuse while he was in the shower." well this week he came strolling into the chapel for the first time in almost 20 weeks. It was a really cool experience to see how hard work and prayer can get awesome things done and working with people through the spirit can soften hearts.
The week prior, President Kudrick invited the branch to use this fast Sunday to fast and pray that the Lord would help our little branch to grow. I think it worked because yesterday we had about 57 people in the chapel! just 18 months ago there were times when 20 was high. We had to get more chairs from the relief society room to fit everyone in our small chapel.
I am so grateful for this work despite it's difficulty. I have a testimony that this is the beginning of the literal gathering of Israel. That the keys to do so have been restored to this earth and that the Lord has prepared the hearts of his children for the glad tidings that I have been commissioned to deliver.
I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you know that I love you.
have a great rest of your labor day.
Until Next week:
-Elder Starr (2)
Friday, 1 September 2017
Hello again
Hello everybody.
This week was really fun and we got to do a lot of interesting stuff. Starting off Monday was the day of the Eclipse, I think that I touched on this briefly last week but it was a lot of fun and we got to go to a big gathering of amateur astronomers and hobbyists that had some really cool equipment set up to see the sun!
The cool part is that Elder O'Rourke and I made it into the 2nd page of the local newspaper. (in the background) we are pretty high profile!
After that P-day we went on exchange with the Rockland Elders for the rest of Tuesday until Monday morning. Funny thing is that the district leader: Elder Wendell, is actually training 2 missionaries at the same time right now so I was able to work with them for most of the day. To start the exchange, all of us put on our service clothes and drove out to the local blueberry farm in Roque Bluffs where we raked blueberries to be processed for the local food-pantries. It was lots of fun and hard sweltering work. At the end of the morning we had all raked about 50 lbs of wild Maine blueberries. (photos to follow)
The rest of the week went pretty normal. On Friday the Looks gave us an awesome lobster meal and some great blueberry pie. The Look family has been feeding missionaries on Friday evening for the past 45 years of their 50ish years of membership within the church. They are such an example of unconditional service and they are a wonderful addition to our small branch here in Machias.
I think that if everybody was just willing to put themselves out there to help others more often that the world would be a better place. I have seen how striving for charity, unconditionally to my
fellow men has blessed me and made me a more happy person as I cherish and love my Heavenly Father's children regardless of what they may think of me.
The recent convert James came to church again yesterday! it was so awesome because James had gone back to school at the age of 62 to get a welding certificate so that he could better support his family and provide for them. He is one of the most self-reliant people that I have ever met. It was awesome to see him at church because he had missed several weeks due to his extremely demanding schooling schedule. I am glad to see that the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed him and even though he couldn't make it to church his heart was still there and he found a way to make it work.
Like Nephi said: for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. God prepares a way for us to do the difficult things that he asks of us and if we have faith in Him then we will accomplish those things.
Today, just a few hours ago, Elder O'Rourke and I went to Wild Blueberry Land! It is a tiny little..."park" where this woman sells all of here homemade and homegrown blueberry products. It is pretty cool and I got some pretty interesting things while I was there that I can't wait to
update you on!
Have a great rest of your week and know that I love you all lots!
Until Next Time!
-Elder TWO Starr
This week was really fun and we got to do a lot of interesting stuff. Starting off Monday was the day of the Eclipse, I think that I touched on this briefly last week but it was a lot of fun and we got to go to a big gathering of amateur astronomers and hobbyists that had some really cool equipment set up to see the sun!
The cool part is that Elder O'Rourke and I made it into the 2nd page of the local newspaper. (in the background) we are pretty high profile!
After that P-day we went on exchange with the Rockland Elders for the rest of Tuesday until Monday morning. Funny thing is that the district leader: Elder Wendell, is actually training 2 missionaries at the same time right now so I was able to work with them for most of the day. To start the exchange, all of us put on our service clothes and drove out to the local blueberry farm in Roque Bluffs where we raked blueberries to be processed for the local food-pantries. It was lots of fun and hard sweltering work. At the end of the morning we had all raked about 50 lbs of wild Maine blueberries. (photos to follow)
The rest of the week went pretty normal. On Friday the Looks gave us an awesome lobster meal and some great blueberry pie. The Look family has been feeding missionaries on Friday evening for the past 45 years of their 50ish years of membership within the church. They are such an example of unconditional service and they are a wonderful addition to our small branch here in Machias.
I think that if everybody was just willing to put themselves out there to help others more often that the world would be a better place. I have seen how striving for charity, unconditionally to my
fellow men has blessed me and made me a more happy person as I cherish and love my Heavenly Father's children regardless of what they may think of me.
The recent convert James came to church again yesterday! it was so awesome because James had gone back to school at the age of 62 to get a welding certificate so that he could better support his family and provide for them. He is one of the most self-reliant people that I have ever met. It was awesome to see him at church because he had missed several weeks due to his extremely demanding schooling schedule. I am glad to see that the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed him and even though he couldn't make it to church his heart was still there and he found a way to make it work.
Like Nephi said: for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. God prepares a way for us to do the difficult things that he asks of us and if we have faith in Him then we will accomplish those things.
Today, just a few hours ago, Elder O'Rourke and I went to Wild Blueberry Land! It is a tiny little..."park" where this woman sells all of here homemade and homegrown blueberry products. It is pretty cool and I got some pretty interesting things while I was there that I can't wait to
update you on!
Have a great rest of your week and know that I love you all lots!
Until Next Time!
-Elder TWO Starr
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