Choose to Be Happy

To start off this email I'm just gonna say that conference was the greatest. It is such a blessing to be able to hear modern day prophets and apostles speak to us. The Ames district watched all of the sessions at our Stake Center (which is about the size of a regular ward building in Utah). I felt like one person after another was giving killer talks that were so applicable. By the subject title, I'm sure you can guess that my favorite talk of the weekend was President Nelson's. I will give a cute little spiritual thought at the end of this email. 

Things are starting to cool off a little bit here in Ames. I have officially broken out the long sleeve shirts. It gets pretty chilly in the evenings.  I do have to say that Iowa sunsets might give Utah’s sunsets a run for its money. They are beautiful. The sky here is HUGE!  It seems as though you can see forever when you are away from the city. I will try to snag some pictures this week. 

This week was solid. Nothing too extravagant happened though. Elder Dunford and I are still teaching our girl, Diane. She came to all of the sessions of conference and even stayed for a baptism for one of the Ames 2nd Elders. When we told her that there was a baptism she got so excited.  She thought that she was getting baptized! We unfortunately told her that she had to wait a couple more weeks. But we did move her baptism up to the 15th. She is so great! 

Unfortunately we are still living with the Ames 2nd Elders. It gets pretty crowded sometimes, but it is nice to have other Elders to talk to.  We should be getting back into our own apartment this week, hopefully. They have to replace all of the carpet because they waited so long to get it out.  A bunch of mold got into the carpet. Lets just say that the apartment smells like springtime. 

Like I mentioned earlier, my favorite talk was President Nelson. One of my favorite quotes from the talk is that, "saints can be happy under every circumstance." How true that is! Our pal Travis (an investigator) said this week that one of his friends told him that she doesn't think Mormons are ever sad. Consider one of my favorite scriptures, Mosiah 2:41 when it says "consider on the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments". Saints CAN be happy because we know that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We know that Christ suffered for our sins. We know that we can be forgiven of our shortcomings. That is why we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ "The Good News."

We started teaching a new investigator this week. His name is Hoarace and he has had quite the life.  He came to us through a member referral. He is such a humble man.  He sincerely wants to change his life and make things right with God and his family. In one of our lessons this week he was down in the dumps and he was being extremely hard on himself. It was sad to hear him look back on the things that he has done and the consequences from those actions. I was able to look him in the eyes and tell him that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, all things can be made right. I testified that he can feel the joy that only the atonement can provide. The spirit was incredible. Times like that are when I love being a missionary the most. 

To conclude this email I want to add my testimony. Happiness is a choice. We can be happy in any circumstance. We have the good news of the gospel. What is there to be sad about? I'm not saying that we won't go through trials, because we definitely will.  At times we might be discouraged, but our Savior took not only our sins upon him, but the pains and afflictions as well. The church becomes more and more true with every passing day. I love Iowa, I love being a missionary, and I sure love the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have an amazing week. 

 I love you.

Choose to be Happy

Elder Obray