Homecoming

Sunday May 13, 2012

Elder Emery gave an amazing talk in sacrament

meeting. It was fun to have everyone in attendance.

Welcome Home Elder!!

He returns...

Elder Emery returns 

With Honor!!

We are so proud of Elder Emery and all

that he has accomplished on his mission.

We are so grateful for you and can't wait

to get reacquainted!!

April 30, 2012

 LAST EMAIL FROM CALIFORNIA!!!

Hello Family!

Im kind of at a loss for words right now, because as i try to look
into the near future its like looking down a dark black hall... you
cant see much. and just like you said dad.. i  kind of have some of
the same emotions that i did right before i left... i knew i was going
on a mission, and i was going to teach people and knock on doors but
besides that i didnt know what i was going to do. now i know im going
home to see family and get a job and go to school but besides that i
dont know very much... ya know what i mean? i really am excited to
come home, but my heart wants to stay out here for just a little bit
longer.
When i get home i dont want to be lame ya know? i want to be excited
to be home... i want to have enthusiasm but right now that is just
kind of hard to see... so hopefully i dont seem bummed out or
anything, but if i do act like that please just be patient, because im
not going to lie i am attached to the mission and so it will probably
take some adjusting. i am glad that you have some things planned so i
can get back into the normal life. i really dont have too many things
planned for when i get home, so dont worry too much about planning
things. the only thing that i have been asked to do is come back down
here to California to go through the temple with Jenny... she is a
recent convert... its Sandra meek's daughter. she will be going
through on June 23rd. i dont know when we are going to the cabin or
anything but i would like to come back down here for that, but if its
not possible then i understand. i would have a place to stay and would
be fed and all that good stuff, but then gas is kind of a bummer nowa
days.
i think we land in slc at 12:40 so yeah,but i get to call you guys
next monday to make sure i have the info right.
anyways.......... SHEESH!!

so this week was pretty good we had some good success. except the part
where Jose ( one of our investigators) was deported... that was a
bummer because he was so sincere, but we will get his info sent off to
mexico.

Melissa is doing well... i am worried about her though she might not
make it this week to get baptized, because she has been struggling
with the w.o.w. she says she has been clean for the past couple of
weeks and she continues to work at it. so we continue to pray for her
adn finish teaching her.

Crystal is excited to get Baptized things are going well for her... we
just have to finish teaching her... we have taught almost everything
but we have a few little things left. the ward has been helping her
out a ton.
something that i feel i need to talk to crystal about is her
piercings... at first it wasnt a problem i was like oh when she is
baptized she will take them out because she will understand, but i
think she might be frustrated when i ask her to take them out... i
felt the need the other day when we were driving in the car, so we
will see how that goes.

other than those things... everything is normal. the ward here is
awesome!! i will be sad to leave here, but i feel so blessed to have
served here.

so this is my last email...sad day right?  i know there is not much to
this email but i just dont know what to say... i might as well just
wait until i get home next week right!!

Well i better be going! but i look forward to seeing you all it will
be great and i will be singing...

Reunited and it feels so good!!

i love you guys and really do thank you for letting me serve a mission

family... you are amazing in every way!

Love Elder Emery

April 10, 2012

Hello Hello family! it seems like i have not emailed in forever.... the reason why i didnt email last week is because we had to go into the office and get our phone fixed... that took like 3 hours because we had to wait for sprint to take action... so it took forever!

 

but its all good im alive and doing well!

 

These last couple of weeks have been super busy... we are teaching and finding alot! so its going great. General Conference was awesome!! it was so good to hear from teh Prophet, Apostles and other  General authorities and auxilaries. so many of the talks were amazing...  i love General Conference! it seems like when i was youger conference was always so boring and long, but now it seems too short. its like you listen to a couple short talks and a few songs then its over. its always so edifiying though.. i really enjoy conference.

 

some things that have happened this week... President Becerra came to my District Meeting and then to a couple lessons with us. that was pretty good he mostly just observes and doesnt say too much... he wants to see us teach and how we are doing sharing the Gospel with our investigators. it was fun to have him out with us for a few hours. during both lessons i looked over at him and said President is their anything you would like to add? and he would say a few things. i thought it was funny because i was expecting him to teach more. he said we were doing well and that we teach well, so its always nice to hear compliments ya know? speaking of compliments i was given a few more this week... one was a member of our mission Presidency, President Gutierrez he walked up to me and he was like Elder Emery huh... i was like yep thats me, and he said i have heard good things about Elder Emery and he asked where i was serving and he said call me up anytime i want to come out and teach with you... so that was nice to hear. i think one of the best one though was one from a close friend. so i was talking to Sister Olson yesterday and she was like i was emailing sister Folsom (sister Folsom was sister Olsons trainer she went home about a year ago) and she was saying she ran into one of my best friends. Sister Folsom is from Texas. Elder Deamer is in texas so im only assuming that it was him... some how Deamer and Folsom talked about me and Deamer said that i was one of the Big reasons he went on a mission. to me that was nice to hear .... Deamer is an awesome friend. oh would you be able to send me his mission Address? ive been wanting that.

Oh yeah Sister Olson was also saying that Her brother has jsut recently moved to Kaysville and he is in our stake... i guess somehow my name got brought up and someone was talking about me to her brother... ha too funny.

 

we have our Baptism on Sunday... it is going to be awesome! its Melissa who will be getting baptized! she is super excited and cant wait, we talked to her alot this past week and she is doing so good! President was really impressed by her when he came out with us to one her lessons. that will most likely be the highlight of our week!

 

Easter was good still not like home but it was good. i read alot about the death and resurrection of our lord. its such a blessing to know that our Heavenly Father Loved us so much... each and everyone of us so very much that he would hate to see us not make it back to him, so in his mercy he sent Jesus Christ to suffer for us that we might not be lost... that we would have the strength to endure hard things. that we would use his sons infinite and atoning sacrifice to repent and better ourselves... to be more and more like him everyday.

and because our Heavenly Father is so so Merciful he let his son resurrect for us... even after all he went through. it makes me want to be a better person... it makes me want to change my poor ways and be more like our savior.

 

i hope you all are doing well! i love you very much and i am excited to see you all again!

 

i love you

 

Love Elder Emery

April 24, 2012

Hello everyone... i am sure you were wondering why my email didnt come
yesterday... thats because our P-day is today. we had Zone Conference
yesterday and so we hadd our P-day changed.

Zone Conference was really good! it seemed weird to think that was my
last one. i always learn so much even if its something we have heard a
thousand times... there is always something to learn, well i guess as
long as you are listening to the spirit and what you're prompted to
do. yesterday we talked alof about Helping people... like helping them
come to church or set a firm Baptismal date. it was really good. i
still remember my first Zone Conference... being super nervous not
knowing what i was doing. i remember the role play we had to do and i
never wanted to role play again haha. now i love role playing and
trying to help other missionaries with their investigators and getting
help for ours. it has been a unique journey... this mission thing. i
have loved it... i dont know what i would do if i didnt have this as a
part of my life.

This past week we met with Melissa again and she said she really
needed that meeting that we had with her, because she was feeling down
and things have been coming at her that she didnt like. she is still
going through some rough things but she is fighting them off!

we also met with Crystal and Matthew and they are doing good, but
Matthew just went to jail yesterday and now Crystal says she can
really focus and get baptized. (they were struggling a little bit) her
and Melissas Baptismal dates are on the 6th... i truly cannot think of
a better way to end my mission! what a blessing.

we are teaching a man named Jose... he is super sincere and wants to e
baptized really bad... but the only bad part is that he just found out
he is going to be getting deported on Friday. he is the nicest guy
ever and just wants something good in his life for him and his
family... we continue to support him though.

thats about it for this week.. everything is running smoothly except
for my brain, sometimes it seems like i am so scattered.

I love you guys and i Love the Lord. Im still amazed at the fact that
He gave his life for a person like me... how much love he truly must
have had. how can i continue in sin knowing that i caused pain to our
Savior from the mistakes i have made? Our Savior Lives!.. i know just
as surely as the sun came up today...and to know that i may once again
live with my Father in Heaven, because of his son... his Precious Son
is the greatest thing i have ever known. i do thank the Lord for the
opportunity he gave me to serve a mission... to tell people of the
Blessing of the Restoration and why its so important to have a living
Prophet. The Book Of Mormon is true and i dont just say that because
its fun to say. i say it because of what i have been told by the still
small voice.. and by truly, sincerely, and prayerfully abiding by its
precepts... we draw closer to God and feel his presence near.

I love you all with all my heart!

Thank you again for everything!!

Love Elder Emery

March 5, 2012

Hey guys... this letter is going to be super super short.

 

but this week was alright... it seemed to go by so fast! i hate it... im not going to lie thinking of home makes me so nervous! i dont even know what to do. i try not to think about it too much but it happens because it is coming quick. it also doesnt help when you have an elder that came out with you who calls you up and says hey guess what... we have 65 days left. yep thats what happened this morning.

oh and by the way i hate cockroaches... they give me the heebie jeebies ya know what im saying?? yuck! i do plan on leaving alot of my stuff... i actually dont have too much, so you wont have to worry too much about those things! dont worry i would not even think about bringing those little demons home.

 

anyway our week was good it was kind of thrown off. we had to help the Zone Leaders 3 days in a row up at Mt. Sac... we set up a booth with them and talked to all the people walking by. it was actually very affective... well for the Zone Leaders, but not too much for us because wedont cover a singles ward. they had us help them all 3 days because we arent afraid to start talking with people and we wont scare them off and we get great referrals for the them... so we do it because its all the same work right?

 

we keep working hard and we stay at it everyday!

 

soundslike things back home are going good... while i was reading your email i was laughing out loud and people were looking at me all weird like. its so crazy to hear that quincie is driving... holy cow thats all i have to say!

 

i love you guys and hope everything is going well for you... i pray for you everyday and i hope for the best for each of you.

 

i love you and cant wait to see you again!

 

Love Elder Emery

March 27, 2012

Hey Family... we didnt have time yesterday to email because we were helping the Zone Leaders move apartments.. and helping other elders move also because it was transfers yesterday... and today i only have a few minutes because we have to help the Zone Leaders again up at Mt. Sac... man these zone leader guys are running us ragged!

 

anyway probably the most exciting new this week was well actually let me tell you a story...

 

so our investigator Melissa... the one with the munchkins. had a lesson with us on Thursday.. well the lesson did not go so well. we asked her to so either the opening or closing prayer and she was like no i dont want to pray, so we were trying to kind of figure out why she wouldnt pray and she was just being stubborn. so we were like whatever and then she was telling us that she wasnt  reading from the Book of Mormon. and we talked about it... she was just giving us excuses. finally i was like can i be serious with you? and she said i could be... and so i was and she did not like that at all. she just sat the rest of the lesson and would not open up. she even told us that she was so close to just getting up and walking away. at this point i am frustrated because i feel she is not even listening to what we are teaching, so we kind of ended the lesson midway through the Plan of Salvation.

 

10 minutes later we get a call from Gabby (a recent convert) and she tells us that Melissa said she felt attacked and belittled, i said well i didnt mean to come off like that we were just trying to figure out if she is serious about this... then Gabby said yeah i didnt feel that you did anything wrong, but Melissa said she does not like you at all.

 

so now im like great we are going to have to drop our investigator because of me... so i was a little more frustrated now... because i didnt know what to do besides just move on and keep working with other people ya know? anyway so a couple days later on Saturday to be exact... Melissa texted us and was like " i would like to apologize for the way i was the other day in our lesson... i hope you guys can forgive me... have a good night and i will see you at church tomorrow"  so we were like wow... that is cool that she would send that. now im feeling lame because i lost faith in her and i just wanted to drop her, but thats not the end of this story.

 

so Melissa came to church and she was totally different. we didnt talk to her much, but she had changed and she almost looked like she had a calmness about her. we met with her later on that day to have a lesson with her and her two friends which became new investigators and want to join the church. before we started the lesson she stops us and says " i would like to say something is that ok?" we tell her yes but in my head i was thinking great what is she going to say in front of her friends?  she looks at me and says i need to say this... i need to apologize especially to you. the other day in our lesson i felt attacked and belittled and i just felt you were rude. i want to say thank you for saying what you did... thats exactly what i needed to hear to give me the push to look at myself and see that i needed to change. today at church i felt so good and it was an overwhelming feeling the whole time i was there and i felt that thats where i needed to be. ( we had one of the most spiritual fast and testimony meetings i've had on my mission... it was amazing) she then said i want to be Baptized... am i still ok to be Baptized on the 15th?  

she says these things and i was just amazed how she had changed her whole attitude... i then apologized for kind of coming off rude and she said it was fine... i tend to just say it how it is kind of more straitforward now a days.

Later Sunday night we were with Gabby and she was talking to us about the lesson... and about how Melissa was doing and how she is so excited for her to get Baptized! and she then told us what Melissa said after we left the lesson. she said i feel in my heart that when i am Baptized i want Elder Emery to Baptize me, because he was the one who helped me understand that i need to do this and that it is important for me.

 

isnt that amazing how she changed in just a couple of days? i am so excited for her to get Baptized!! it is going to be awesome!

 

that is about all i have time to tell you about for this past week but hopefully next week i can fill you in on some more things that have happened.

 

i love you all very very much!!

 

Love Elder Emery

March 19, 2012

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the confusion last week... my bad. But i am glad that we were ablt to figure it out.

This week was Awesome! first off on Monday we had one of the most frustrating but wonderful lessons ever.

so we were teaching this lady named Melissa. She has 3 kids and two of them are twins... one is 5 the other two are 3.  these kids are insane!! not to be rude but for a couple minutes i didnt want to have kids. anyway so we are teaching them at a members home... a recent convert Gabby. she just kind of zones them out and so does Melissa... really frustrating. we are teaching melissa and the kids are going crazy fighting, yelling, screaming, crying, jumping, climbing, breaking, dancing, flying, swearing, they were like a bunch of whirling dervishes... yep just quoted kicking and screaming and i dont know how to spell that. so all this is going on and im trying not to just get up and walk out... my companion cant concentrate... what happened there was kind of funny. what actually made one of the kids settle down is he was running and tripped and smacked his cranium right on my knee... just looked at me, and i asked if he was ok and he just sat and colored the rest of the time... anyway so we are teaching her about how their is one church and we taught her from Ephesians 4 and we talked about that and she understood... then we talked about putting
God first and turning to him for help not giving into temptation... it was actually really good. she said that she really felt good about everything and that she really wants to start changing her life and do the right things... so that was good. we then invited her to be baptized, because we got the kids to go play off in the other room finally and the spirit was strong... and it was really good. she accepted and is scheduled to be baptized April 8th!! super awesome huh?

we had another investigator finally come to church and she loved it... and said she would come back. i had to give a talk yesterday in sacrament... and then they kind of made elder Edney and i do a duet during sacrament also... what the?? yeah making me do things i hate doing. getting up in front of people is liek the worst thing anyone could make me do. but it is what it is right?

we found 2 more new investigators.... that was pretty legit!

the best part of the week was that i got to go to the temple with nana and her sister. her name is aunt Betty she was baptized a little over a year ago and about 4 months ago she was diagnosed with cancer... the bad part about it is that the cancer is all over her body... everywhere... i dont think i have ever heard of anyone with that much cancer in their body... i didnt think it was possible, but it is. Nana invited me to go with them so i got permission and Elder Thompson and i went to the LA temple with them!

so this week was great! we ahve transfers coming up this next week and i will most likely be staying for my last transfer... i will probably get a new comp because he has been here for 4 transfers and if they left him with me he would have to stay for 6 transfers... or else they would have to white wash us... i dont think they would White wash this area.

i have to be going but thank you for your patience with me...

i miss you all very very much!!

i love you and i will get to see you soon.

Love Elder Emery

February 28, 2012

Hello family... you are probably wondering why i did not E-mail yesterday. well the best answer that i have for you (because its  not an excuse) is that yesterday Morning i had to go have an interview with President Becerra. Sunday i was thinking about the Temple and those kinds of things and i was like " oh shoot" i took out my recommend and it said it expires March 2012 so i went in to get a recommend... i thought about it a couple months ago but i was like i have enough time... i can wait a little bit. then it seemed the time caught up to me and i needed to get it renewed. so thats why i did not email yesterday, cause then a member took us out to lunch and we were busy after that... sorry, but dont worry because now you will have an email to read from me... YAY!

 

Ok so our week was totally sweet! well to start off we had Leadership training Tuesday and Wednesday from 10-3... that seems like a long time, but really it goes by so quickly.. and we learned so many things. it is so awesome to be able to go to those meetings! The main focus of both days was Faith... and by first creating it spiritually and then physically creating it. God saw it first in his head.. and then he created it physically. very interesting things to think about. so when we are out visiting people or knocking doors we will create it in our minds that we are going to sit down with these people and teach them, and if thats our motive and if we have the Faith that our Heavenly Father will Help us.. then he will and he will give us the very thing we need to say so that the people will let us in.... anyway it has been very interesting doing this. it has helped alot.

We also talked about " getting out of the Boat" we read the story of when Peter got out of the boat and walked on water towards Christ... it is very neat to apply to our lives and the ones of people we teach. i have learned alot from it.

 

The people we are teaching has gone up alot since this past week. we found 6 new investigators this past week and we found 2 new investigators the week before! it is so great... we have 16 investigators now and it is tough to keep up on all of them. we have to work on getting our progressing investigators up... we have 4 right now and one of them has a baptismal date. we will have a push this week to help these people understand why we want them to be Baptized... we are hoping to set a few more baptismal dates. it is frustrating when you testify to someone the importance of Baptism and when you show them how much it means to you and what it can do for them and then they just say to you well im  not ready yet... i cant give up my bad habits. they are pretty much saying im not ready to be blessed by our Heavenly Father. Why would you prolong that? sometimes i just wonder ya know?

 

We received a referral this past week and he seems super solid. He is 19 and he has been through alot and he has also been to many churchs. He never really had family growing up... alot of stuff happened.  he was just telling us how he just wants to feel that someone loves him and is there for him. he came to church and he was saying that it all sounded good, but he is just having a hard time believing it. i asked him why and said because something that you didnt grow up with and you dont know to much about is hard to just jump into and start believing. i agreed and we talked about that a little bit and we told him that we will help him on his way. i told him right before he left " we arent going to convince you that this is true and personally i dont want to convince you its true... we want you to find out for yourself." he really liked that because he has been to alof of churchs that were trying to force him to believe in what they were preaching. 

 

so this past week has been good and  we are hoping for big things this week!! 

 

Mom i am sorry that i have not yet sent your letter... i will probably tomorrow because i left it at the apartment and we might not be going home until the end of the day because of miles and we have a busy day today, so i apologize, but it is coming!

 

I love you guys and hope you have the best week ever... everyone of you!!

 

Have a good Day i love you

 

Love Elder Emery 

February 20, 2012

Hey everyone!! how are you doing? well i guess that is always kind of a lame question, because i usually read your email before i type mine and it always says how you are all doing... so it sounds like you are all fine and doing good right?... i only have 18 more minutes before the computer kicks me off... i emailed president a longer email today.

 

anyway... so my exact release date is May 8th 2012, and the flights usually leave here between 10 and 11, so i will probably be arriving aroud 1 ish... thats kind of an educated guess but not really. oh... did you get my letter home that had my license information in it? whats the status on that?

 

This week was awesome!! i love it here! i dont know why i love it so much but it is great. the ward is super cool and im loving it already i know this is going to be a great way to end the mission... the best way!

 

i have already seen crazy things and have talked to people about some pretty serious stuff and it has changed my outlook on a couple different things. some of it is kind of overwhelming to think about. we have some people we are teaching in a pretty bad neighborhood. one where their is a shooting about once or twice a month. people are pretty nice to us, but i dont know how safe it is to walk there during the night. but ya know sometimes we have to do what we have to do... everyone needs the Gospel right? yeah alot of people around here are in need of this firm foundation in their life, but they just dont know where to find it.

 

we have alot of investigators and we found 2 more this past week! we are working with them and doing alot of good work!

 

we live with other Elders... they cover a spanish ward. they are really messy and i came into the apartment and have been cleaning up their crap. we have a cockroach problem and it seriously grosses me out, but im the only one who cleans. i dont like it one bit! so i will be continuing to clean up their nasty mess... and i WILL make them help!

 

anyway i am doing great and i am so happy! thank you so much for the gift cards... you guys are awesome!!

 

I wish you a very happy Birthday also Mother!! i hope its a good one for you. i am writing you a letter and i hope it gets to you on time!

 

Thanks again for everything i love you guys so much.... SO MUCH!

 

Love Elder Emery

February 15, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER EMERY!!!!

Hello family! how are you all doing? i hope you are doing just fantastic, because i know i am!  things are just going great here in California... well except for the weather... its been rainy the past couple of days. i swear the weather just needs to make up its mind here. is it going to be hot or cold? i thought it was sunny california?? that means it should stay hot!

anyway this past week was great! we got alot of things done. we also had another transfer end and well...

i only have 2 transfers left... 12 weeks. it is crazy as time goes on and i get closer and closer to that end date i just think of the things that i could have done better, and i try not to, but its hard. for some reason its alot easier to think of things that i could have done better than the things that i have done that have been great. These next 2 transfers are going to go fast because i am going to do all of the things better, so then i cant say i wish i would have done that better... it would be i did the best i could. its going to be great because i have been transferred back to the Chino zone. i am going to be serving in the Heritage ward. this part isnt Chino Hills... its a little more run down... or you could say ghetto! i am excited finally i get to serve in an area like this!! we cover a good chunk of Pomona. i guess president Becerra said we cant go down certain streets after 7... its going to be awesome!! i figure if i take a bullet to the arm or something... their is probably worse hahah!

its going to be super good though i am serving with Elder Edney... he has been out a little over a year and he is a very hard worker. Elder Tovey was staying in Glendora 5th and is training... i think that will be good for him, and i know he will do a good job.

I am the District Leader again... i keep going in an out of the District Leader Position. maybe this time i will get it right ;) i will have gone 9 transfers as a district leader at the end of my mission... thats a full year as District Leader. its kind of weird but i guess it is what it is right? i was told that i was the DL to kind of Rally the District and get them excited and help with some of their investigators... it has kind of been a younger District for a while and so i guess i am just suppose to help them out a little bit... i will do whatever the Lord wants me to do and this is one of those things. it will be good i couldnt have picked a better way to end my mission... Chino AHH YEEEAH!!

alot of people dont like it here but i love it... so what if its a little challenging... you think Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah didnt have a challenge? i think its the best way i will grow by being here in Chino!

i got the package this past week! it was awesome thank you very much for that...

oh did you get my letter that i sent? it was with my license information? let me know what the next step is.

i love you guys and hope you are all safe and Happy!

Love Elder Emery

January 17, 2012

Hello Hello Family!

 

Well i was happy to get your emails today... thank you for those. some very surprising news about things going on with the family... i hope everything is ok with that...

sorry that this letter is not going to be very long... i just typed a super long letter to president but when i sent it... it didnt go through and it erased everything i typed........ so lame!!

 

This week was kind of quick for me. it seems like everyone is always too busy to do anything with us, so we jsut keep moving along the best we canand try new people to visit and try to always find new people to teach! i need to break out of my shell... i have broke out alot and im not as shy as i used to be but i feel that i need to really go out of my way with this ward to get them interested in working with us, so that is what im trying to do and for some reason it is really hard for me but hopefully i can break through a little bit more this week.

 

we had another lesson with Jackie and that was an interesting one... she just is taking her time with things...

 

We had a lesson with a family and they are just taking there time with things...

we had a lesson with another family and they are also taking their sweet time...

 

They all are just waiting for something amazing to happen for some reason... its so hard to teach people when they just want to take things slow. and from being on my mission and seeing different things i am a firm believer in taking it slow and making sure they have a burning testimony. i know that some of the people that i have taught have not had that burning desire, and it hurts to think that i might not have done everything i could have to help them be fully converted and i think that will be one of my biggest regrets, because i dont know what i can do to help them now... some of the people that i have baptized are less active... not many of them but 3 or 4 are and it makes me sad.

 

as i look at my missionary effort i notice things that i could have done better... as i look at other missionaries i notice that their recent converts are going to the temple and being sealed as families and i think what about these people i taught? what could i have done to help them to have seen the eternal perspective on things? i know that alot of the people that i have taught have been younger but the few that are old enough to go to the temple still have not... and it is always in my head.. so its just hard you know what i mean?  i actually wasnt expecting to start talking about this so im sorry you had to read my sob story but i just wanted to say it because it has been on my mind constantly.

 

everything else is going well! i love you guys and hope all is well with you ... take care and be safe i will pray for you everyday and have prayed for you everyday since my mission started... i love you very much!

 

Love Elder Emery

January 2, 2012

Hey Everybody... this will be a little on the shorter side today, because we are suppose to go meet up with some other elders, so i can show Elder Ebanks what he will be teaching for District Meeting... Yep you heard right. i am no longer a District Leader transfer calls came in Saturday morning and the Assistant told me that because i had been a District Leader For so long (7 transfers about 9 1/2 months) that they were going to let this other elder give it a shot. so i am just a regular missionary once again... its kind of weird not being in Leadership, but it will still be good.

 

I was not moved anywhere, but my awesome companion Elder Naeata was Transferred to Covina with elder Meeks... Lucky guy! i would love to serve with Elder Meeks again. i was sent a new companion his name is Elder Tovey... he is from Oregon and has been out for about 4 months. it should be good he seems like he will be a good companion who wants to work hard... we have some things in common, so that always makes things a little bit better. This transfer should be a good one... we are hoping to have 3 baptisms!

 

New Years Eve was good! we went over to a members home and played some games with them a little bit before we went in for the night so that was fun! it sounds like you guys had a crazy party and lots of fun... thats awesome!

 

Sunday night we had an awesome lesson with Jackie Meek... (her home is where we skyped from) she fed us and then her and i were talking in the kitchen about religion and what its all about. she is buddhist and believes that what ever church makes you happy is the church that works for you... i told her she has a view of religion all wrong. we began to have a pretty good discussion on the restored church and it was really good. she has a problem with mans hand involed with religion, but i told her that the Doctrine is true, what we believe is true and if God says that this is his true church... the only Church that God set up on the earth is this one, well dont you think you should be a part of it? and she said yeah and that makes sense and i would know what i would have to do (meaning get baptized)  but then she said that she had a bad upbringing with religion in her life and when she heard that most of her family is now newly members of the chruch she was like "oh great not this again" and so at this point she is kind of stubborn and is choosing Buddhism but we are slowly getting her to change! right after that talk we had... we shared the gospel overview lesson and im pretty sure she is hooked now! taught her straight out of the Bible so she could see that nothing has been changed Doctrinally. and so we will see how things are going with her when we stop by!

 

Everything is going pretty good for us! we hopefully have alot of good things going on this next week!

 

I love you guys and hope you all get back into work and school smoothly!

 

Love you very much and i thank you for everything!

 

Love Elder Emery

 

oh yeah my new years resolution is no more caffeine or carbonation... adn i am going to be a more loving kind caring person.

December 19, 2011

Hey guys how are you all doing? i hope you all are getting excited for Christmas... i know i am! i cant wait to talk to you guys it seems like it has been a very long time.  Brash.. Happy Birthday! i hope you get your Letter soon... and you too dad i sent them at the same time... sorry it took so long to get them off.

This past week was super lame, because i was sick most of the week... it started on Tuesday and it just continually got worse. i am alright now i am feeling alot better. i still have a cough and stuff but its nothing too bad at this point.

We had our Mission Christmas Party on Wednesday... that was really fun! the only bad part was i left my camera in my backpack so i didnt have that with me that day.. that was kind of a bummer, but i am working on getting pictures from other peoples cameras. it has been really hard for me to get into picture mode on my mission. so i always forget to take my camera to things and then i end up getting mad at myself when i dont take it. i am working on being better at taking pics. My companion, two other elders and i sang a song with the Ukelele at the Party... that was pretty fun, but it was hard cause i was sick, but it went good though. i am working on getting that performance from another missionaries camera. it was really fun to celebrate that with our mission president. he is awesome i really have loved him being our mission president.

Alright so i am sorry i didnt have time to send this off yesterday... my companion had a doctors appointment we had to get to, and i had to email our president our numbers for the last week, so i didnt have time to send this, but i am just sending you a quick note because i know that you want to be informed on what will be going on on Christmas. we will probably... well we are going to be skyping at about 12:30 our time so i think that would be 1:30 your time... i hope that works for you i know you will have a busy day, but that is the time that works best for us. 

sorry again that this is short... i hope all is going well for everyone of you! take care and i will talk to you on Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

Love Elder Emery

December 26, 2011

Hey family! it was so good to see you on Sunday! i know i never really say much when we talk but its cause its just fun to see you all and see how you all are doing!

 

this email will probably be short... well i know it will be short because i just talked to you guys.

 

Anyway i hope you guys are doing well. you all looked great!

 

i am going to get my drivers liscense paper work done so that i can send that home by the end of this week

 

and the face wash is called power cleanser.

 

Christmas day ended up being good! we went over to La Crescenta to see Mary and Brendon... that was fun to see them this past week they were excited and we just talked for a while and then we had a nerf war with Brendon so that was fun.  Then later on we went over to our Bishops house and we had dinner with them and that was fun too... sister Ballard cooked a good meal and then we played scattergories with their family so that was pretty fun!

 

Yesterday was our P-day so we went and played soccer with a member family... last week i told one of the daughters that i could beat her in soccer so we went and played at a park. then we played soccer later on with some other missionaries... then we went to Jamba Juice and that was delicious!! thank you very much for that Gift Card! then we went out to work and received a few referrals for a member. when we were driving to go play soccer i was thinking about our area and i started thinking about some people in a part of our area that we go and try and visit...( we have like 5 people in a little area that we work around) and i was thinking about a lady that is a member who is never home when we stop by, but i thought we should stop by her and turns out that she was home and she gave us a friend that we should go by who is interested in the church... so that was good that we went by her last night!

 

other than that we just have a busy week ahead of us and we are going to work hard to try and do the very best we can! transfers are this week and i dont know what will happen, but whatever happens i just know its for a reason and i will find that reason...

 

i love you guys and have a great day!!

 

Love Elder Emery

2011 Pictures

December 12, 2011

Happy Birthday Dad!!  I hope you had the best DAy Ever!!

 

Hey family how are you all doing? sounds to me like things are going well! doing good things and living a good life is what it seems to me.

well today and for the next few days it is going to be rainy and cold here... how is the weather there? any snow yet? i would probably imagine it has snowed quite a bit. 

hmm so Christmas is around the corner... it is so weird that it is here again. seems like the time has kind of started to pick up these last couple months (well since October...) it actually seems like it wasnt too long ago that we were talking on mothers day. and that was 7 months ago... crazy huh? alot has happened since then... lots of great experiences and blessings have come in just a short time and i am so greatful that i have had the opportunity to have them.

 

hearing about the Christmas parties makes me miss them... Grandmas temple party is always awesome! lots of memories helping set up, helping with food, and serving the temple workers is always fun! and nanas party is always fun too... did you have the party at hires? i miss that stuff but its all good.

 

oh yeah i received a little thing from Lara and Derek... they look so good and i was so surprised to see how big jack was! i was like what tha whose that? he is super big? it was fun to hear from them.

 

so this week was kind of good, but every one seems to be busy around this time of year. i dont know why? ha just kidding. anyway so you know i was telling you about how we talked with the ward asking them for their help with missionary work? anyway so slowly the ward is coming to us and wanting to work with us and do some activities. two different families asked us to come caroling with them this next week... they will have a big group with them and so we will have two different opportunities to get to know some of the ward members. slowly but surely we are making progress. and we did have the bishop asked us to come over for Christmas! so we are making it happen here in the Glendora 5th ward!!

 

i think things are going to really turn around here... just have to get the ward members to be on the Lords errand you know what i mean.

well i have to be going but i love you guys very much and appreciate you all very much!

 

be safe and take care.

 

Love Elder Emery

 

 

December 5, 2011

Hey Family! sorry that you are probably wondering why i am emailing so late ... well its because my companion was practicing with a few other elders so that they could practice for the Christmas party on the 14th. they are doing the haka! i am singing with two other elders... they forced me to do it with them. we all are suppose to participate... that will be interesting!

so since i wasnt able to get off a letter... sorry. anyway i will let you know how things have been going lately. oh yeah and i have a letter that i have written today so i could send home my cf card.

so i am with one of the coolest elders in the mission... in one of... if not the most prideful area in our mission. these people have so much money that they flaunt it. i felt so out of place these last couple sundays... well mostly the first sunday but yesterday was bad too. i wish you could see it up here it is ridiculous! i try to be nice towards the members but most of them probably dont even care that we are here in this ward.
i got up yesterday in fast and testimony meeting and i told them that they need to help us with our missionary work... and the best way that missionary work moves along is through the members. i said other stuff too, but i dont know if alot of members liked me doing that. then we had to present our member missionary work program to the high priests... that was pretty good. it just felt like them members were like " yeah yeah we have heard it before." i dont know what is going to happen. i told them that i they need to step it up... i also brought up the fact that i have been in the area for 2 weeks now and i have only been in 2 member homes... one being Thanksgiving. the ward probably hates me, but it will be alright.

last night we received a call from one of the more humble members... he asked us if we would be able to come over to his home on wednesday and help him do missionary work... he is going to have a friend over and he wants us to teach him!! so i guess it must have worked a little bit!

i am on bike again which i actually dont even mind but with this wind ( we got the same winds you had) and it being freezing at night makes it a little hard. it makes missionary work easier because we can talk to everyone on the streets!

this week should be pretty good.. we have already set up a bunch of lessons so we are going to be busy!

i love you guys and i will send off the card tomorrow morning!
i miss you and i hope you all are getting into the holiday season as we celebrate the birth of the Savior!

i love you very much!

Love Elder Emery

November 21, 2011

Hello family! Happy Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!! how are you all doing sounds like the usual... keeping busy. that is always nice. well things are pretty interesting around here... my groove has been thrown off fo sho... transfers were this weekend and well i was involved in the 12 week program with my trainee and so i was with him for only 6 weeks... i was transferred to Glendora 5th ward! crazy huh and they just wont give me a break on this District Leader stuff haha... it should be good im actually glad that i will have a companion that is going to be on the same page as me. training was fun but it was alot of hard work... i had to watch my every move because actions speak louder than words so i had to make sure i was the best example the past 18 weeks or 3 transfers... becasuse i had Elder Nielson for 12 and Wagstaff for 6.

My new companions name is Elder Naeta... he is from West Valley... big ol tongan! it will be great i am excited to be here. its actually kind of funny... ever since my first week in Hacienda Heights Sandra Meek (aka Nana) has been trying to get all of her family in the church... well this has been going on for over a year now i guess. but she has a daughter that is very stubborn and will not join but she goes to sacrament every week... so i told Sandra that i wanted to teach her so she should have her over, well we never ended up having the time for that. then on Saturday night we were talking about her daughter and i cant remember what we were saying but i said jokingly " i just need to get transferred so i can go baptize here" about a half an hour later i got a call to be transferred to her ward!! haha that is funny huh? so Sandra told me that i have a job to do and we need to get her. it is going to be good i can already feel it!

i am a little bit sad... Brandy's mom liked us alot becuase we were nice to her daughter and she liked the church and we were willing to always help them... when she found out that we were not with our family for the Holidays... she demanded Brandy to ask us to come over for dinner on Thanksgiving haha it was pretty funny... but i am not going to be there so i am sad about that... but the missionaries will do good so i shouldnt worry. Brandy and Carlos are so awesome they will be some of my favorite people to come visit when i am home... i am so happy i was able to teach them!

Well that is about all for this week family... i love you all and i hope you ahve a happy thanksgiving... Stay safe and be happy!

I love you with all i have

Love Elder Emery

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