When will Peter be home?

Peter will arrive in Calgary at 1:54PM on Wednesday, June 4. Anyone who wants to welcome him home is invited to come to the airport.

He will report his mission in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday June 8 at 9AM and we would love to have you all enjoy his testimony and missionary experiences. He will be speaking for 15 to 20 minutes. If you haven't attended church with Peter, you should know that everyone is welcome to attend church services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This service will be about an hour and ten minutes. Most men wear a shirt and tie or a suit. Women usually wear a skirt or dress.

Missionaries' Favorite Picture

May 19, 2014

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 103 

Que maravillosa la semana! Me encanta ser misionero por el Senor! especialmente en esta espoca en que la obra esta creciendo! Ya como muestra la foto eramos bendecidos para participar en un bautismop el la Conversion de J! What a wonderful week! I love being a missionary for the Lord! especially at this time when the work is growing! Now as the photo shows we were blessed to participate in a baptism on the Conversion of J!

I am just bouncing off of the walls right now! J got Baptized and it was such an amazing experience! It didn't go off perfectly though let me tell you! It all started Saturday Morning when our ward mission leader asked us to fill the font. Doesn't sound too bad does it only issue was that the baptism was in an hour and a half. So we went down there only to find that we didn't actually have a key to the font. fortunately there were members there that had been cleaning the stake center for stake conference the next day, and they informed us that the door through the women's change room was open. So we ran through and opened the men's side and began looking for the faucet controls... And we couldn't figure out how to fill it, so we called everyone we could think of until finally we got a hold of one of the other ward mission leaders in our stake who explained to us how to fill the font. He also explained that with the time available to us we would quickly run out of hat water and the font would be rather cold. So trying to ensure that J and H didn't get hypothermia we boiled water in the kitchen with the three biggest pots I have ever seen in my life. It all turned out the font was filled and not freezing. Everything was perfect... Until during the service we heard the font draining. Elder McGee had to jump in the water and plug the drain with his toe until they were actually ready to go perform the ordinance. The adversary did everything he could to stop J from being baptized but the work of the Lord cannot be stopped! After J bore his testimony and said that he knows baptism is only a first step and that he wants o continue to make more! Later that day we taught in his home about receiving the priesthood and he told us that he wants to serve a mission! I have been so blessed to be even such a small part of his conversion! 

That was by far the most exciting part of the week we had a lot of other great things happen miracles and opposition I love it! When people yell at us or try to bash us, when they call us names and throw things at us it just makes me say, "Man this must be true!" I know that the the Lord's work is hastening nothing can stop it at this time because he is at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo 

Cleared for Baptism

May 12, 2014 
Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 102

Feliz dia de las madres! Aunque es un dia tarde quiero felicitar todos por cumplir el mas grande papel de una madre! Y agradecer a mi madre, mis abuelas y mis hermanas tambien. (Si tengo 6 madres!) Happy mothers day! Although a day late I want to congratulate all who fulfill the greatest role of a mother! And thank my mother, my grandmothers and my sisters too. (Yes I have six mothers!)

I hope you all enjoyed your mothers days! Mine was awesome highlighted by a few details in just a moment! Thanks for the picture of Isaac's baptism! Congrats Isaac you've grown so much! 

The week was incredible full of miracles that I've written in my Journal and you'll all hear more about later because I don't have time today. We're going Parkouring with some awesome people we know! We were going to do it awhile back but we had to cancel so we're very excited for that today! But Sunday was incredible! We had dinner with a Member of our ward who just moved in and she's a returned missionary, she was going to invite a friend over for dinner so that we could attend. When he canceled she invited J our most amazing precious soul ever! It was perfect because we'd wanted to review prophets before his interview that night and were scrambling to figure it all out! So perfect, she had him over for dinner and we got to teach afterwards in a members home! Talk about the hand of the Lord guiding people! Especially because she thought he was actually a recent convert and not a member. So after a delicious dinner we watched Special Witnesses of Christ and testified of President Monson. It was a great lesson and when we asked him if he believed President Monson was a prophet of God he said, "I'd like to believe it." He has such incredible faith! It was also pretty cool because her roommate was studying at the table and she started watching as President Monson spoke. I know she felt the spirit, so we "accidentally" left the dvd there. I really hope that her interest was piqued sufficiently so she'll pick it up and watch it. 

Later that night J passed his interview with Elder Yates. He'll be baptized on the 17th and I'm so excited for him! I know that this is the true church of God, it is the only church with Prophets and Apostles that are witnesses of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Peter's in DENIAL!!! psst (quiet whisper) "The Day That Shall Not Be Named is June 4"

May 5, 2014
Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 101

Que maravillosa la semana! tengo tantas cosas para decirles pero me falta el tiempo! Vamos a hacer un hike hoy, y tenemos mucho que hacer! 

First and foremost! I know that I'm getting close to the day that shall not be named, and I'm glad you love me, but if you mention how soon you're going to see me and all that YOU WILL BE BLOCKED AND SENT TO SPAM MAIL!!!!!!! Ok I really don't want to think about that at all, I know there're things that I need to take care of but that will come later. Just please don't talk about the day that shall not be named! 

Two quick stories: Wednesday as I think you know was my birthday, we had MLC's that day and somehow they all knew it was my birthday so they all made a big deal out of it and yes I had a great birthday. I was hoping to just not think about it at all, but none of the other leaders would let that happen. Anyways it was such a great day and I learned so much from it! 

And a huge miracle story. We've been teaching J for about a month now and he's been coming to everything! Church, activities, FHE you name it and he's there! He backed out of his original baptismal date and was somewhat hesitant on it still. Elder McGee and I both prayed about it and felt impressed that we needed to invite him to be baptized on May 17th. We taught him Thursday and talked about it then, he was still hesitant. We invited him to a baptismal service yesterday and asked him to pray and listen to the spirit as he witnessed someone else make this sacred covenant. We both fasted for him and asked the zone and his fellowshippers to join us in the fast. When we taught him after the service he said, "I'm not quite sure, but I think it's about time that I take a leap of faith." He accepted and is working towards the 17th! I'm so grateful that I get to be atleast a small part of this incredible man's conversion. I know that God is a God of Miracles and that he blesses us for our sacrifice! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Spiritual growth

April 28, 2014

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 100

Que ocupado la semana! Con todo que hicimos me siento que estaba aqui en la biblioteca ayer no hace una semana! Es tan loco cuan rapido vuela el tiempo en el servicio del Senor!  That busy week! However, I feel I was here in the library yesterday not a week ago! It is so crazy how fast time flies in the service of the Lord!

Man it was a crazy week, between transfers and several other emergencies it kept us BUSY!!!! thankfully though due to the blessings of the Lord we were still able to have a great week.WE had to do an emergency exchange with the Spanish Elders here in Grand Junction because I am the only other Spanish missionary in the City, So I spent Wednesday in a Spanish area again for a day. It felt good to be preaching in Spanish again, but I missed the Young Single Adults. I truly love the ward here and all those we teach. The work continues to progress at a furious rate! 

Sunday was a huge miracle! We've really been trying to put an emphasis on helping everyone come to church. For our first 10 weeks in the area we couldn't for the life of us get anyone to come and feel the spirit in church. That last few weeks things have picked up slightly. Yesterday we had four people join us in our worship of the Saviour. I also gave a talk that I'd prepared that morning and it went off pretty well so miracle number two! We had a great day just getting out there and working. To finish the night off we taught J, someone who'd been at church. We finished teaching the Restoration, and it was incredible to feel the spirit in that lesson. I feel like I'm so much more spiritually in tune then I've been my whole mission. I feel guided and the spirit is just always there! from the opening to the closing prayer it never left the room. I'm so glad that it was there and that he also felt it, and accepted a baptismal date for May 31st. 

I know that Joseph Smith was the Prophet of the Restoration. He did see God the Father and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and under his direction brought back the same church established by Jesus Christ. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Redd

Living and Dying in Grand Junction

April 21, 2014

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 99

Tengo noticias de mucho animo! Elder McGee y yo nos quedamos una transferencia mas!!!!! Estoy muy feliz servir aqui en Grand Juntion con el. Es un missionero muy bueno y vamos a tener mucho exito, lo puedo sentir! 

I have news for much encouragement! Elder McGee and I stayed a transfer more!! I am very happy to serve here in Grand Juntion withhim. Is a very good missionary and will have much success, I can feel it!

So yes I'm very excited! We got to see a lot of miracles this week, and I can't wait to keep working even harder and see more! One of my favourites was that of X. X is an amazing man he's less active and we've been working with him since we first got here. He disappeared for a little while until last Saturday when we stopped by his place and found him. This week we had two incredibly powerful lessons with him and he's taken some huge strides! The other is C, one day when we were teaching him he said, "Something’s changed and I don't really know what, but I have to read the Book of Mormon! I have to pray and I have to go to church. It's no longer just something that I just do, but I really need to do it!". Too true, too true. 

Another was M, he was a referral from some other elders and we set up an appointment with him for Wednesday at 10. When we went to teach him he was so excited! He has a friend leaving on a mission tomorrow and he finally decided to accept his friend’s invitation and investigate the church! He really wants to learn and he practically already has a testimony! At the end of the lesson we challenged him to read the book of Mormon and he said, "I like how you challenge me to do it, a lot of times I forget, but now that you've challenged me to do it I'm really gonna do it." It's just so amazing to see the hand of the Lord in this work. He has so many people prepared for his gospel, and if we want to find them we just need to be obedient, go out there and work! 

Yesterday we had a very special experience. One of our members, Jake, invited us to come with him to take the Sacrament to Josh, another member who's in a wheelchair. I don't think I can ever describe the feeling I felt as I raised the bread to his mouth for him. It's made me rethink my whole perspective on the Sacrament and the Atonement in general. I'm so grateful that the Lord gave us that opportunity. 

I know that Jesus Christ is our lord and Saviour. He died for all of us, and then rose the third day conquering death and making it possible for us to do the same. He lives today and guides this church through revelation! 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Rojo

What is it with missionaries and eating??

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 98

Buenos Dias! Ojala que se encuentren bien hoy. Estoy muy feliz porque es un dia muy bonito aqui en Grand Junction!  La clima es bien rica, vamos a jugar deportes. Ibamos a subir el Monte Garfield pero se cayo muhca lluvia ayer y por esto no quieren la mayoria de la zona. Entonces lotr dia lo vamos a subir. 

Good Morning! Hopefully you are well today. I am very happy because it's a nice day here in Grand Junction! The good weather is rich, let's play sports. We were going to climb Mount Garfield but MUCH rain fell yesterday and thus most of the area do not want. Then another day we will climb.

This week was pretty awesome we saw a lot of miracles and just great things happen in our missionary labours. We also had a ton of fun! First off I'll explain the story behind the pictures. so there is a restaurant in Grand Junction called Dos Hombres. And they have a burrito challenge that they call the Ghost buster. It's a 2.5 pound burrito covered in Ghost Chili that comes steaming hot out of the oven and you need to eat it in 30 minutes without puking or eating anything with a basic pH to make it easier-that means no sour cream, no Guacamole, no milk, just water. Elder McGee had already done it before I served with him and he completed the challenge in 6 minutes. With how competitive we both are I told him I would beat him and we started a smack talk that has been going on for two months now. After emailing last week we talked to some elders from the other zone and they told us that they were doing it. I wasn't prepared at all, I'd eaten a pretty big breakfast and I hadn't been eating anything really spicy for a while but I decided to go for it anyway. That was the most fun I've ever had while being miserable in my life! That's a picture of Elder Koyle, Elder Curran, Elder Milner (from Calgary actually) and I after completing the burrito and winning our T-shirts. Elder Merrill finished it too, but he was puking when we took the picture. 

Alright, now to the actual important stuff. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but at Zone conference President Murdock gave us a survey door and OYMing approach. And it's so much fun! 

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Yates, he's a great missionary and I really love him. We parked the car and spent most of the day walking to appointments and OYMing along the way. The survey approach is so bold and it's so fun! After we explain the survey we ask "May we step in?" and step forward just assuming to get in. The rest of it pretty much follows-we sit ourselves right down in their house and after the survey just go straight into teaching! We saw some incredible experiences and success from it so far! On Thursday we had Zone meeting and we made breakfast for the zone again. We were much more prepared this time and we didn't burn through any cookie sheets. Also the Sister Training Leaders helped and that was awesome. Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Yee, and that's when we were on bikes. I loved being outside the whole time and having so many opportunities to Open My Mouth! Also that day we had dinner with a family, and the husband was from Cardston. Brother Pitcher, is that someone who we're distantly related to dad? 

Update on our miracle of the month. We taught him Thursday and he's still reading the book of Mormon and loving it! It was such a powerful lesson on the Gospel. He came to church again and is really enjoying church and making friends there. He's come to several activities and the Members are really doing a fantastic job fellow shipping him. I know that the Lord blesses us with miracles everyday we just need to look hard enough to see that his hand is always present in our lives. I know that Jesus Christ lives and guides this church through a living prophet Thomas S. Monson. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

MLC, Zone Conference and General Conference in ONE Week

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo Capitulo 97

Que maravillosa la Conferencia General! Aunque no recibi mi extension ya. Me encanto todos los discursos. Para mi algunos favoritos: Lo del Elder Holland, y del Elder Nelson. Me encanta escuchar del profeta y los apostoles vivientes! 

What a wonderful General Conference! Although I did not receive my extension already. I loved all the speeches. To my few favorites: The Elder Holland and Elder Nelson. I love to hear the living prophet and apostles!

Time crunch as always so I'll have to be brief. We had an amazing but super busy week! We were blessed to see some incredible miracles in the work. Tuesday we drove up to Frisco for our mission wide MLC's It was great to see some mission buddies serving as Leaders on the other side of the mountains. I especially enjoyed seeing Elder Merrill again! We woke up at 4 to drive up there. I drove on the way up and it was a beautiful drive through the Mountains in the early morning. AT the MLC's we counselled on some great things the most important being our goal to Baptize 100 precious souls a month! It was an incredible counsel as we set goals on the preliminary steps leading to this great goal of the Lords for our mission at this time. I also forever cemented my place as the outspoken, mood lightening, Zone Leader. 

Here's a few snipits of the conversations held: 

(While talking about why missionaries don't drop investigators) 

Sister Murdock: It's because they love them! Look at all those Sisters (indicating all 14 of the Sister Training Leaders) They love their investigators so much! 

Elder Redd: Man, Sister Murdock we love our investigators to! 

SM: No you don't it's not the same. 

ER: I dunno we make cake and brownies for our investigators a lot! (followed by a perfectly synchronized high five between Elder McGee and I) 

I love Sister Murdock so much she's just an awesome little fireball and she always jokes back with me at MLC's. But in all honesty it's probably true Sisters do have an incredible capacity for love that I still don't really understand. 

Or this one with President: 

President: But how many families are all at home at 4 PM? 

Elder Redd: In Grand Junction you'd be surprised. It's a pretty weird place. 

P: Really? Do you not like Grand Junction? 

ER: No I love it I fit right in. 

My opinion on MLC's is that someone needs to lighten the mood we all sit down there for so long and it can even get a little heated sometimes. So I love making the left field comments to have everyone laugh a little bit. 

We also had Zone Conference Thursday and that was awesome! Two of the Murdocks sons came and spoke on their missions. And the Assistants gave such an incredible training on the title of Liberty. To conclude the training we all signed our new mission flag making a covenant as did the Nephites. 

I don't have time to write a fraction of the miracles that we see on a daily basis or really any of them today. But I want you all to know that we are so blessed in our missionary service! 

I know that Jesus Christ lives, he is our Saviour and Redeemer. He has called prophets and Apostles to lead and guide his church on the earth today! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Three years??

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 96 

Hoy tengo muchas historias para relatar! Vimos muchos milagros y fue una semana marravillosa! Y me falta un poco el tiempo entonces voy a escribir rapido! 

Today I have many stories to tell! We saw many miracles and had a wonderful week! And I need a little time then I'll type fast!

Man I am so excited for Conference! Firstly because I love to hear the Prophet and Apostles speak, and Secondly because President Monson is going to announce that missions will now be three years and offer extensions to all serving missionaries! So that's going to be awesome. (That's my personal belief and there is no doctrine to back it up) 

It was great to hear from several of you! Especially those who sent pictures! I think I was asked a few questions but I don't remember so I'll just go straight into stories. 

Well Monday was awesome as the pictures show we had a ton of fun hiking the Monument. Elder McGee and I had a ton of fun so we decided to go back during the week and run the trail for our morning work out. So on Thursday we woke up at 5:20 and drove up there and ran the Trail with Gabe! It was a beautiful morning and I took my camera with me on the trail so I could get some pictures of the Sunrise that I knew would be coming. As we ran I kept thinking any minute now it will just come over the Grand Mesa and I will get some epic pictures! and then it was cloudy... =( 

So Saturday I was on exchanges with Elder Koyle, one of the outwest assistants (yeah we have four aps in our mission!) And I really love Elder Koyle we've both been in leadership for awhile so we know each other fairly well. He came to the 12th ward with me and it was an awesome day! We were OYMing like madmen because everyone was out on the beautiful Saturday. We also went to an appointment we'd set earlier with a young man we'd OYMed. When we got there he'd already read the pamphlet we left him and had some awesome questions! We taught him and it was just pwerful! Before we could even invite him to church he asked us what time it was! Then he came the next day to an amazing fast and testimony meeting! He stayed all 3 hours and for the Break Fast that our Singles ward has. He loved church and he's been reading the book of Mormon! 

Sorry it's a little shorter I just spent some time talking with the man next to me about the Gospel! 

I know that the Lord's hand is in this work, He loves and cares for each of his children. THat's why he sent Jesus Christ here to suffer and die for us because he is the only way that we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Peter Wimpy? Nah!

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 95

Buenos Dias! Hoy vamos a subir una montana entonces me falta un poco el tiempo y por esto vamos a hacer algo un poco differente. 

Wow last week was pretty interesting! Not a ton of crazy or cool stories other than that I pulled a muscle in my neck, but I'm completely fine now! We had a very exciting and inspiring MLC's Thursday that got me super pumped! When during the meeting I commented that if we want to see all these miracles all we need to do is stop being wimpy with our invitations, our how to begin teaching, our finding etc. Then I mentioned a few examples in our area of how we'd been wimpy. Then President Murdock said, "Elder Redd I don't think you could ever be wimpy." I'm kind of known as the crazy person of the mission. But in a good way! 

So quick funny awesome story explaining one of the pictures. On Wednesday Gabe, one of my favourite people in the whole world took us out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Genghis Grill. It's a Mongolian grill where you pile a bowl up as high as you can with meat and other stuff and then they fry it up for you. As you all know I love challenges and I love food! So this is what I did. Starting with a base layer of squishy meats like chicken breast and marinated steak tips, then piling on top some of the harder meats like pork and crab, then I filled in the cracks with more chicken and flattened that all out with pepperoni slices at the brim of the bowl. Then I lined the edge of the bowl with snow peas to make it bigger! threw some spices in and then more meat, green onions cilantro and peppers. All that with some delicious peanut sauce and hot sauce fried over yummy noodles. Gabe took a picture of my bowl before it was cooked and uploaded it to facebook. we got several likes before even finishing dinner. To put it in perspective that bowl with it all cooked was about the size of that one pasta serving bowl we have at home. Yeah it fed me for two days afterward as well. We went running with Gabe the next morning to work it off. 

Alright so quick miracle story. On Tuesday we met up at the institute with a young man named Dustin. He's dating a member and came to church the Sunday before, and then we set up to teach him Tuesday. It was a little interesting because he wasn't supoer comfortable with a traditional sit down lesson. So we taught him over pool! It was incredible to see how the spirit worked and we ended spending way more time just talking than we did shooting pool! He really opened up and it was just incredible! 

But as I said earlier we are going hiking today so I gotta wrap it up! 

I know that God created this beautiful earth for us to come and find joy in the beauty that surrounds us I know that he loves us and wants us to be happy! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

I climbed a tree to watch for an investigator that we were waiting for. (Editor- This reminds me of Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.)

Yeah already told that story

March 17

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 94 

Buenos dias familia! Ojala que se encuentran bien y felices con lo que el Senor les ha dado este dia! Estoy muy contento aunque vamos a ser muy occupados! Esta manana vimos un milagro! Elder McGee ha tenido un dolor en su rodillo por un tiempo. Entonces fuimos para ver un Pediatrician para examinarlo. Fue interesante porque el doctor a quien visitamos es un miembro quien nos dio una referencia por uno de sus empleados. Tratamos de contactarlo, pero nos falto el suerte! Hasta hoy cuando lo vimos en la officina y firmamos una cita por el Miercoles! 

Well last week was phenomenal! just all kinds of awesome stuff happening! So first off just a quick question is my blog being updated? (Editor's note: this is what prompted us to update all his letters from October to now) I need to hold you accountable and make sure it does happen! Secondly I can't remember what is secondly so we'll just move on. 

Probably one of the best parts of the week was Fernando, who I mentioned last week. He's progressing really well and he is such a prepared soul for this Gospel! We taught him thrice, Monday, Thursday and then Saturday! On Saturday his roommate Jacob was there and he bore such a powerful testimony to Fernando of the Gospel and how he knows it's true. It doesn't get much better than that! Jacob has really changed since the first time we met him. Coming to church, reading the book of Mormon, and praying have really changed him! 

Alright now for the pan story. So we had Zone meeting on Thursday, and Elder McGee and I decide we wanted to make this the best zone meeting ever! So obviously the best way to do that is to make all the missionaries breakfast! We bought everything we needed, borrowed a few things from the members of our ward and were very excited for our Comp aprons we made. We got up early Thursday morning and headed to the stake center to get going on breakfast. We'd borrowed a pancake grill, but somehow we didn't think to bring a frying pan... Yeah I know, but we had a lot on our minds! Fortunately we found a ... ... I don't know what to call it, it was like a pancake grill but had taller walls so we used that for the eggs. All we had to do was find something for the sausages that's where the big mistake came in! we found two pans that looked like they would be great for frying. Yes we know they were flat baking sheets but we're men and didn't realize that at first! So we were just happily cooking along making everyone breakfast. It was delicious and everyone loved it or at least they said they did! but the sausages were just cooking so slowly! Once we'd finished it all we went to put all the dishes in the sink to soak while we held our meeting and we'd clean up after. Imagine our surprise when we lift up the pan and see the bottom melted off and sticking to the burner. That made things interesting we immediately turned the heat off and tried to scrape the metal off. It was a lot of fun when flames started coming out a bit. We remained calm and I stood ready to break the glass on the fire extinguisher and book it into the kitchen should it be necessary while Elder McGee slowly got it all off. Now we have a Souvenir to remind us of the momentous day! 

Alright now for a quick miracle story! We had an appointment on Friday, and we were walking on our way there when we saw some students throwing a football around. We OYM'ed them but got slightly separated talking to people in the same parking lot. I ended up talking to two guys named Justin and Duncan. At first they were fairly reserved, not talking too much feeling awkward while some of their friends who'd ran in laughed at them for talking to the Mormons. I kept talking though I'm good at that! Then Justin who'd sat down on the curb asked me, "I know that God's forgiving, but to what point does he forgive us?" It was an awesome question, and as we talked about repentance and the Atonement i felt the spirit so strongly testify to him that it was true. He'd someone that I know needed to hear what we said at that time. 

I know that God loves his children he knows us each indivually and cares for our concerns and challenges. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Miracles yes, Skiing-not interested

March 10

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 93

Buenos Dias! Hoy me siento muy bien y animado, tambien hay un poco de tristeza pero es la voluntad del Senor entonces estoy bien. El elder Hale se va a cambiar, pero Elder McGee y yo nos quedamos! Tenia un poco de miedo por las transferencias, pero no mas! Estoy muy emocionado para servir aqui en el barrio de los solteros, por lo menos, una transferencia mas! 

It was great to hear from all of you, as always I love to hear from people! Except Dad please the ski talk is not helping! I love you and I know you love skiing, but could we talk about it later? 

Ok I don't know what to say other than just to tell you miracle stories. 

1. Working with Less Actives is the best! On Friday we went to visit a guy named Jacob. We taught him and his roommate Fernando that night It was a really powerful lesson because Jacob would bear his testimony to his roommate of the things we were teaching. It was just powerful. We went and made them both breakfast yesterday to get them up and to church. Unfortunately Fernando had to work, so he only got breakfast. but after church we talked to Jacob to confirm our appointment for tonight. we talked about how we'd see them at six then he asked about FHE at seven. "Could I invite him to that?" "YES absolutely you could!" "Ok so you guys come at six teach us a lesson and then I'll bring him to FHE right after." Fernando has a built in fellowshiper and friend in the ward! 

2. Following the spirit is the way to go! On Saturday we went to contact a referral. But the address didn't exist. =( We prayed and then decided to knock a few doors in the area just to try and see if we could find him. As we walked the first people we talked to walking out of a house, we asked them, "Hey do you know Richard?" That would be me." One of them replies so we taught him and his father right there. 

I know that this is God's church. I know that He guides our lives through the Spirit! listening to what it tells us will bless our lives more than we can possibly imagine! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

I love this Gospel so much!

Feb 24

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 91 

Buenos dias! Hoy estoy altamente agradecido por muchismas cosas! Pasamos una semana maravillosa con muchos milagros! Estabamos muy occupados por toda la semana, pero al fin la disfrutamos a un grado que no puedo decir! 

It was a super awesome week this week! We were so blessed in our missionary service! The Lord always blesses us, whether with incredible opportunities to work or chances to learn and grow. There's never a shortage of blessings! This week was great I don't really know where to start but first and foremost I want you all to know how much I love serving the Lord! I also love serving other people, When we serve our fellow men we truly do serve our God! along that line: on Wednesday we had Specialized zone training and Interviews, The Assistants came and trained us along with Presidnet conducting interviews. Our zone is the biggest in the Mission so it made for a long day! The Assistants crashed with us the night before because we have four beds and a couch. Elder Holmstead and Elder Koyle are both fantastic missionaries that we love a lot. And they work so hard, I can't even imagine being in their position! So Elder McGee and I decided to get up early and make them breakfast. And it was delicious, atleast I loved it, eventhough I was exhausted because we'd been up late the night before preparing our training and then sacrificed an hour of sleep in the morning I felt so good all day. Serving people is the best thing ever! 

Ok now for a miracle! So on Friday we went to contact an investigator who we hadn't seen in awhile. We knocked on his door and just waited a little while. It didn't look too promising but we knocked again! And his Neighbour opened the door, perfect! so we started talking to him and he invited us in. Turns out that his whole family are members but he was never baptized, he's related to half of our ward and he's on date now! MIRACLE!  Sunday night we come out of an appointment and see someone walking slowly down the street. OYM, Young Christian guy going through a rough time really needs to find God again in his life and invited us back! Ok this one is possibly my favourite. We contacted a former named Gabe on Tuesday, he's an incredible young man as soon as we walked into his house we could feel something different, in a good way. He invited us in just like that. He told us he wasn't too interested in coming to church or reading the book of Mormon because he'd tried for 9 months to no avail. But you could tell that he wanted us there. We talked with him for awhile and then had to leave but we set a return appt. for Yesterday. He knows that the church is good, but he just got very discouraged because he didn't feel he got an answer. At the end, all of us were kind of stumped on what invitation to extend. He didn't really want to read, nor come to church. Then we felt prompted to leave him with assignment to write down how in his life he has felt the spirit. Times, methods, feelings, impressions. He stopped and stared at the paper for a good minute. then said, "Yeah I can do that." He's such an incredible man, I can't wait to go back and visit him again! 

I love this Gospel so much! I know that the Book of Mormon is true it contains the fulness of Gods plan for us. It is the only book in the world with a promise from our Father in Heaven that we can know it's true. I know that the promise is valid. Every time I pray sincerely about the book of Mormon my testimony is strengthened in the love that God has for each of us and that this book is his word. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

Teaching a Canadian

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 90 

Buenos dia de familia alla en Canada! Ojala que ya saben que ayer fue el dia de los presidentes aqui en los estados unidos entonces estaban cerradas las bibliotecas. Por esto les escribo hoy. 

Man what a week! It was crazy and hectic as normal but it was just awesome! I love serving here in the Grand Junction 12th ward! It's really interesting because we do technically cover 4 stakes given we don't want to take 8 hours out of our day to drive up to Steamboat Springs and back, but if we really wanted to we could easily go back to some of my old areas! Which ofcourse we won't do, you know how I feel about time wasting! 

So last week we were so blessed with some incredible miracles! It was a little bit of a tougher week, Elder Hale got sick, and passed it to Elder McGee and I, but we just powered through it and went to work anyways. On Friday we were all super exhausted. After weekly planning we decided to walk to a nearby appointment. On the way over we OYMed a girl named Tia. She was from Kamloops which was cool to meet someone from Canada, and in here own words, "Very Catholic". She was friendly enough to talk with us, but at first really wasn't too interested in the Gospel, then she aksed a few questions which led into an awesome lesson on the street about the Restoration! Possibly the coolest moment was when she asked, 

T: Why don't you believe in the Resurrection? 

EM: We actually do believe in the resurrection.

T: Oh I thought you didn't. So why don't you wear crosses then? 

ER: Well we actually prefer to focus on the resurrection rather than the death of Jesus Christ, and the Cross is the symbol of his death. 

T: Wow that's a really good point. Now that I do think about why do we wear crosses? WHy do we celebrate his death, that's really not the part that matters.

It was so awesome, as we'd talked about the restoration she felt the spirit I know she did she started asking even better questions like: "What if Jesus Christ created your church to get rid of all the fake religions that are in the world today?" "Well the way you can know if he did or not is through the book of Mormon." It was such an incredible experience she accepted a soft baptismal invite right there on the street and promised to read the Book of Mormon. 

Everything's just great I love being a missionary so much. Just so you all know, I've been doing really well health wise. Those of you who sent me some ridiculously large pants for Christmas (Cough Fixsens Cough) (I love them though they're super comfy) I I actually needed to aqcuire a new belt because the other one I had was too big. We do P90X about 3 days a week. It's awesome! 

I know that this church is true the mission field is the place that the Lord wants all of his children to spend atleast some time. I would never trade the experiences I've had and the lessons I've learned on my mission for anything. Most importantly though is how much closer I've come to our Saviour Jesus Christ. I know that he lives! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo 

Grand Junction YSA

Feb 3

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 88

Buenos frios familia! Yo se que no tiene sentido pero queria decirlo porque suena chido. Hoy es un dia de lloranza aqui en Colorado porque si no saben se perdieron los Broncos... Jajaja a mi no me importa tanto pero esta bien asi es la vida. Fue bien chido el esta semana porque recibimos mucha nieve! me senti bien a gusto! 

So there is lots of news to tell you all this week, but really not that much now that I think of it. So first off as I mentioned last week I was transferred. I'm now serving in Grand Junction Colorado! specifically the Grand junction 12th ward. It's also a YSA ward. So that's a little strange. But I love it so much! It's definitely a different experience College students and Hispanics have some major differences but shockingly also some striking similarities! So it's a very new experience, and I love it! My companions are Elder McGee. He's from Sacramento California and he's half Korean. i know super funny a Korean with the last name McGee. And Elder Hale. He's from Oregon city Oregon. So this is my fifth trio. Evidently I haven't learned whatever it is Heavenly Father wants me to learn from them. I don't think I'll learn it either, I quite like trios they're a lot of fun! Oh and we're whitewashing.

It's a very interesting combination. Elder Hale is the Grand Junction guru. He's served all over the city so he knows it all pretty well. Elder McGee is the Yogi of the Young Single Adult wards, so he knows what to do with all the college students. And then there's me... ... ... So yeah I guess I'm the crazy one. And I say that being 100% serious. 

Another Transfer

January 27

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 87

Aye Cabere. Pensaba que estaba libre ya. Pero, me equivoque... No se porque pero me voy a cambiar manana! Estoy muy triste para salir del Denver Primero me encanta el barrio! perdon tambien porque me olvide la camara entonces todos las fotos que he sacado esta semana voy a mandar otro dia. 

Aye Cabere. I thought I was free now. But I'm wrong ... I do not know why but I'm going to change tomorrow! I am sad to leave Denver First I love the neighborhood! also sorry because I forgot the camera so all the pictures I've taken this week I will send another day. 

Alright so as mentioned above I'm being transfered tomorrow morning... again... And I'm very sad to leave the Denver 1st Ward. I only had one transfer here and there were so many awesome people that I wanted to teach and see them converted. However the Lord has different plans which I suppose I will find out later. Of course that's how it always is, but sometimes I wish he would just tell me now! But I know that I fulfilled my purpose here, Cesar was Baptized, Jesus started coming back to church, and our Area is really booming. Maybe i shouldn't have worked so hard so I could have spent another transfer here accomplishing those goals. Chiste! Never would I stop working hard, the Lord's time is far too important! 

But I'm very grateful that I was able to serve here. We saw many miracles. Yesterday when I was saying my goodbyes I was very touched my many of the Members. Jesus, who'd just started coming back to church took us out for ice cream Saturday and then he brought me a tie and a belt to church! (The belt's something that I really need mine are pretty trashed) I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting. Afterwards one of the members who gave a talk said, (I'll translate this for you right now, he's a guerro anyways) "Elder Redd, the tears you're shedding now are nothing compared to the tears that you will shed when you leave the mission."  He later talked to me and told me that they'll all miss me. Ok first off good to know that I'll be missed. But secondly thanks brother Young! I really needed a reminder of the day that shall not be named! The day was just filled with tender mercies of the Lord and Love. I know that God lives, he is our father and loves each and every one of us perfectly. I know that this is his church restored on the earth! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo

January 20

Worth it!

January 13

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 85

Buneos Dias! Escuche que hay mucho nieve alla en Canada! Tristemente casi no hay nada aqui, He escuchado que Colorado es un lugar en donde hace mucho frio, pero no aqui en Denver! En las montanas como Meeker o Rifle si, pero me gusta chistear que el tiempo de frio aqui es como verano en Canada! 

Buneos Days! Hear that much snow there in Canada! Sadly there is almost nothing here, I've heard that Colorado is a place where it is very cold, but not here in Denver! In the mountains as if Meeker or Rifle, but I like chistear that the cold weather is like summer here in Canada!

Well we had a great week last week! We saw some incredible miracles along with some trials. But if we don't have trials in missionary work we'd never grow and those awesome amazing miracles wouldn't vale la pena. Sorry I couldn't think how to say “be worth it” in English for a little bit. Anyways. We saw a lot of amazing things happen.

Miracle number 1: Our investigator Ashley, the fourteen year old little Sister of one of our less actives Eric. She's been going crazy back and forth on everything: reading the scriptures, praying, getting baptized. But this week she told us that she wants to get baptized because she knows it's true and wants to make a covenant with God!

Miracle number 2: We finally found our investigators Roxanne and Javier at home! It was a super crazy experience. They'd been having some family problems, and we went and started teaching them the plan of salvation and they both just softened so much! 

Well Sorry that it's a short one today, but I've got lots of other things to do today!

I love you all so much and I know this church is true!

con mucho amor,

Elder Rojo

Back to Work!!

January 6

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 84

Buenos Dias a todos! Feliz ano nuevo! Espero que todos se encuentren bien y estan feliz para regresar a la escuela y el trabajo! Yo estoy muy feliz que ya llego el fin de todas la vacaciones! Porque impide un poco a la obra misional, es algo que me encanta! Aqui hoy hace un poco de frio, no tanto como alla en Canada, pero si hay frescura. 

Good Morning to all! Happy new year! Hope you all are well and are happy to return to school and work! I am very happy because I am finished all the holidays! Because it prevents some missionary work, is something I love! Here today it's a little cold, not as much as there in Canada, but there is freshness.

So finally all of the holidays are over! New Years was the last distraction that kept people too busy to talk to missionaries. Except PSYCHE!!!!! I'm a Spanish missionary so we still have to deal with el dia de los tres reyes magos! Ughghghg but it's ok because I love Spanish culture and their holidays! But I love being a missionary so much! We had an awesome week last week! We saw so many miracles in our area especially in finding! Oh right I totally forgot Mom and Dad did you ever meet a Sister Zaugg in Thailand? Because one of the Sisters in my District knows her in Thailand.

So real quick a few miracle stories. One is our investigator Cesar. He's 13, and the son of a recent convert. We taught him on Monday and it was incredible when we asked him why he wanted to be baptized and he testified to us about the atonement and repentance. Then after a while he told us he knew he needed to be baptized, but he wasn't sure that we were the true church and he wanted to know. We testified to him of the power of prayer and how we knew that this was the true church. We then invited him to say the closing prayer. After we asked him how he felt and and he said that he felt so good and during the prayer he'd felt almost like there was a hand on his shoulder. He's on Date for the 19th now and we're so excited!

(could you pray for him please? we really want him to meet his date.)

But I've been on for a little while and I need to give the computer up but I love you all so much! I love being a missionary so much! I know that this is the true church and that the Gospel is the only way to truly be happy in this life!

(Also mom and dad did you know an Elder Creer? I think I remember you mentioning it. because He's a friend of one of the Elders in my zone.)

Con mucho amor,

Elder Rojo

Back to Denver

December 30

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 83

Buenos dias! Y feliz ano nuevo a todos! Quiero decirles que pase una navidad maravillosa! Me gusto mucho para celebrar con la familia Cardenas y tambien hablarles madre y padre. Pero ahora estoy muy feliz para regresar y hacer la obra misional otra vez!

Good morning! And happy new year to all! I want to say I had a wonderful Christmas! I really liked to celebrate with the Cardenas family and talk to mother and father. But now I am very happy to come back and do missionary work again!

So last week was an awesome week! Christmas was great, in the morning we went caroling at a seniors center and it was awesome to see the spirit come into their lives as we sang. But being Christmas we couldn't just go out and work regularly, so that's why I'm excited for this week.

We saw so many amazing miracles last week I'll recount a few of them:

1. Our investigator Cesar is on date and he came to church for the first time. He's the son of a recent convert, and he wants to be baptized on the 19th of January. He is awesome and just such a miracle. 

2. La familia Cruz is super Golden, we taught them on Saturday, and then invited them to church. Only the wife was able to make it to church, but they all have felt the spirit super strongly and want to be baptized when they knwo it's true! Yesterday we taught them again, and when she said the prayer and asked Heavenly Father to please guide them in the path that he wants them to take. When she did the spirit just came into that room so strongly! 

3. We went to go visit Jesus Rodriguez, the convert who I'd taught when I served here before. He hadn't been to church for a long time, which I was super sad about. As we were teaching another man who lived close by I just felt that we needed to go see him. I was nervous because other missionaries had tried to teach him and he hadn't let them in. but if there's one thing that I've learned it's not to ignore the spirit! So we went to visit him. As we talked he told us that he knows he needs to go back to church he told us about so many experiences that he's had in the last months where he's felt that he needs to return to church and that he knows god is calling him. At the end he promised that he would come to church next Sunday! 

I know that God is a God of miracles. This is his work and his church! I know it beyond a shadow of a doubt. I love being a missionary so much it's the best time of my whole life! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo 

Friends going home

December 23

Las Venturas de Elder Rojo: Capitulo 81 

Buenos dias a los familiares del Elder Rojo! Aqui estoy en Rifle hoy. Venimos aqui para despedirnos al Elder Jordan. Y que loco tambien a la Hermana Bennet! Ella se fue a Denver con el grupo de algunos missioneros todos quienes mueren manana. Es tan loco que mi jemela de la mision ya se va! 

Good morning to the family of Elder Redd! Here I am today in Rifle. We come here to say goodbye to Elder Jordan. And also crazy to Bennet Sister! She went to Denver with the group of some Missionaries who all die tomorrow. It's so crazy that my jemela the mission and go!

Well it's great to talk to you again family! Well I bring a bit of sad news today, I'm being transferred tomorrow... It's unfortunate, but it's the Lord's will and not mine! But the good news is that I'm pretty darn sure I'm going back to an area that I've served in before! I'll leave you in suspense until next week! 

I also don't have my camera today unfortunately so I'll send pictures some other time. But as to the regard of seeing me, on Christmas for skype what do you want to do? I'll be going to another area so I don't know where I'll be on Christmas or approximately what time, but I'll figure that out and get back to you next week. 

Ok so I need to include a few quick miracle stories. This week we were so blessed. On tuesday we went to work in Craig. We worked our tails off all day but the Lord blessed us with so many people to teach and talk to. We had an amazing lesson with our investigator Carla. We'd taught her very briefly once before in the transfer and hadn't been able to make contact with her for awhile. We went to her house and she let us in to teach! It was a super powerful lesson. She has been so prepared for this Gospel! When we were talking about Prophets just to start off We asked her what a prophet meant to her and she said, "Well I'm not completely sure, but I think that a prophet is a special teacher that God sends to guide his people." After picking our jaws up off the floor We said "Wow that's perfect! And why do you think that Prophets are important?" "Well I think that we all need guidance to get back to God, It's just so hard because there isn't a prophet on the earth today!" "Well the beautiful part of our message is that because God loves us he has called another prophet to lead and guide us. He hasn't left us here, he didn't abandon us. But once again he has sent a man to show us the way back to him." As we taught about Joseph Smith the spirit so strongly testified to all of us that it's true. That is one of my favourite parts of being a missionary, how often our own testimonies are confirmed! 

So long before the transfer call came I had a feeling that I would be released and go to a new area. I wanted to open Craig Spanish as it's own area so bad! But they're opening it with Spanish Sisters... So that makes twice now that I've wanted to open a Spanish area and twice that they've opened it with Sisters... I have five back home and they keep taking my area jajajaj Heavenly Father must be trying to teach me something. 

Well I love you all, I know that this is the Lord's work I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet of God and that through him the Priesthood Power was restored to the earth to bless our families! 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Rojo