San Diego Temple Trip

Temple Trip this morning!  We went at 5:30 AM to the San Diego Temple.  You know how close I am to it?  We left here at 5:07 and got rentals and changed and made the 5:30 session!!!! That's how close.  And sadly I only get to go once a quarter. :(

Beautiful San Diego Temple

The work is going good.  So weird being companions with Elder Neal again.  I am starting to settle in which means I probably will get transfered at the end of June and with my luck it will be out to Temecula or Murietta!!!!  HOT!   I am loving the mission life!  We rode bikes 20 miles yesterday after having Memorial Day breakfast at the church

Memorial Day 2013

Elder Armstrong went home :( he passed along some ties!

So here's a question??? A deep thought for all your letter writing!  The book of Ekiekel in chapter 37: says ...  15 ¶The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one ^astick, and ^bwriteupon it, For ^cJudah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and ^dwrite upon it, For ^eJoseph, the ^fstickof Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become ^aone in thine hand.

Obviously the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the two sticks. But Lehi is of the tribe of Manasseh  so why isn't it the stick of Manasseh!!!! Not Ephraim.  My lineage wants some street cred here!!!  :)

Also I was wondering;  Where is Kolob?!!!

Oh by the by!  I study oft and cut my own hair now!
I'll never pay for another hair cut again in my life ;)

Well that's it this time

Elder Sobczak signing off

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

Staying Put ...

Hey there family and friends!!!

 

So I am staying in Carmel Valley for the next transfer. So I will find out who with tonight. Exciting times out here in Southern California.

This past week has flown by in the blink of an eye.

I cannot beleive that it is already May 21st!!! 

What in the heck is this!!?? Time is moving super quick. Its nice but at the same time sucks a lot. I did not really believe the people who said "your mission goes by in the blink of an eye".

 

Not to much to report on. Had a few lessons with our investigator this past week which all went really well. He is dead set on getting baptized and that is all well and good but he is "Not willing to let go of his beliefs and accept some of the doctrine that our church teaches" - so thats super wierd to hear. Hopefully over time his heart is softened and he is more accepting of what we teach and believe in. Baby steps right!?

 

The lawn looks amazing!!! How did you get it to look like that??

 “I stayed up part of the night worried as to whether I should say this, but I’m going to say it… If there are here some of you who have been tricked into the conviction that you have gone too far, that you have been weighed down on doubts upon which you alone have a monopoly; that you have had the poison of sin that makes it impossible ever again to be what you could have been, then hear me! I bear testimony that you cannot sink farther than the light and sweeping intelligence of Jesus Christ can reach. I bear testimony that as long as there is one spark of the will to repent and reach, He is there! He did not just descend to your condition, he descended below it; that he might be in and through all things the light of truth. If there is only one who will feel what I feel of the spirit of God bearing witness to that, I will have been grateful for this privilege.” Truman G. Madsen

The atonement can help us with whatever problems or challenges we are going, have gone or will go through. 

“To all of you who think you are lost or without hope, or who think you have done too much that was too wrong for too long, to every one of you who worry that you are stranded somewhere on the wintry plains of life and have wrecked your handcart in the process, this conference calls out Jehovah’s unrelenting refrain, “[My] hand is stretched out still.” “I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them,” He said, “[and even if they] deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, … if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” His mercy endureth forever, and His hand is stretched out still. His is the pure love of Christ, the charity that never faileth, that compassion which endures even when all other strength disappears.” Jeffrey R. Holland

In Doctrine and Covenants 130:20&21 we read; There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated - and when we obtain any blessing from God. it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. 

So that is all for me this week. 

Again sorry I do not have much to report on. The Gospel is true and I am so grateful for all you do for me. Stay safe and stay awesome.   Love you so much and just think, in a month and a half it will be six (6) months out!!! Thats super crazy.

Love you ALL so much.

Hope all goes well. Stay classy

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

Visions, Visits but no Deliveries!!!

YEAH!!!! 

This is some of us - their were more!
  Thanks Ayris for the First to facebook  publicity on how slow your parents are!!!!

we finally got to talk to Amric and this ain't the "old School" call on Mother's Day anymore!!!!

We actually got to "see" him.  It was You Tube worthy Ayris, Sean and Apryl working at teaching Papi and Nana how to use the very, Very cool technology!  I whala! we all got to "hang out" together via Goggle+ !!!!    My only reservation is ... it might make it harder cuz now, it's 7 months til we get to see him again (on the computer)!!!  But it was so surreal to actually have all of us online at the same time, being able to be engaged in conversation with our children and see the babygrands all at the same time. Happiness all around :)   Everyone was blessed to see Charlotte for the first time - that is so great, I remember Austin didn't get to see Vaughn until he was home from his mission.  Ok ...Ok ... enough about Mom and her Mothers day "online vision" let me just say "Love My Kids"!

No mail for 3 weeks in a row!!! Ridiculous !!   Mission President has a rule about mailing "mail and packages DO NOT go to where the missionary resides", and for some reason our mail has been stuck in the Mission Home.   I'm pretty sure  snacks and goodies from Ayris and anyone else are lost and dried up even as we speak!!!

BTW; People here say Care-a-mel Valley!

So being in california is very good. I am learning many profitable lessons, meeting wonderful people and seeing beautiful country.  Also Elder Armstrong called and shared news from Dana Point, one of the referrals we had two 2 weeks before I left is getting married, baptized and her already member fiance is coming back to church - "GOLDEN" that's what I say!

This week I am going to attempt cutting my own hair!  So I will be a different person (looking) I am sure of it.  Just taking my clippers using a #3 and buzzzzzing it all off!  Wish me luck!!!  
Guess he'll be going back to this look!!! (on the left and no more this look (on the right!)

Well it's the Life he leads now and we are blessed that he is Livin' it!!!

Hey guys I have to go!  Love you so much.  The gospel is true and I know I need to be here.  
Love to all - :)  Stay safe and Classy.  Remember who You are!!! Talk to you next week.

-- 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

A testimony of a missionary and the Atonement

Another week down, things are plugging along with only two weeks left in the transfer things are starting to fly by. We reset our baptismal date with our investigator and that was reset for June 15th. So that is really cool. Hopefully that all works out and gets together. Other than that, no groundbreaking information from the area.

This last week I had amazing study on the Atonement and how it can be applied in a temporal sense just as much as it can be in the spiritual sense. It was amazing. One of those experiences where I wasn't writing or taking notes, it was like I was in a third person experience watching myself write things down. 

It started with the Question "How can the Atonement be applied in a temporal sense?" 

• This led to the definitions of Atone and the suffix -ment. Atone: At one, in agreement. -Ment: Result of action or process (Advancement).
• The inspired definition for Atonement revealed to me "Being reconciled in agreement with the result of an action or process." 
• Dictionary: (Theo) The reconciliation of God and men thus brought about by Jesus Christ. 
• So, we are at the point where the Atonement allows us to be saved but only saved according to (In conformity with) the actions or things we did here on this life.
• Wickedness never was happiness. Corruption cannot bring about incorruption.
•  This led to reading Article of 2 which led to Article of 3 and that is where the magic happened. 
• Break it down: Through Atonement we will be saved (promise from our Heavenly Father).
• How are we saved? 
• Obedience to laws and ordinances of the Gospel. (This is why we need to make covenants. They are a result of the process of being obedient to laws and ordinances.) 

• Remember President Monson at conference? He taught - "The toughest test in this life is obedience." 

• Ordinance meaning "A custom or practice established by long usage". 
• Ordinance comes from ME ordinance which comes from (<) OFr: ordenance < MED Lat: Ordinantia < Lat: Ordinare, to ordain < ordo, ORDER.
• Ordinances provide ORDER. 

1. Think of it, every ordinance that we perform in this life is built off of each other. 
2. We cannot repent if we do not have faith. 
3. We cannot be baptized if we do not repent.
4. We cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost if we are not Baptized.
5.  We can not endure to the end (Priesthood, Temple, and marriage in temple) if we do not have gift of the Holy Ghost. 
6. And if we are not OBEDIENT to those ORDINANCES and LAWS we cannot be saved through the Atonement, God cannot save a man in ignorance.

Joseph Smith said "When a man works by Faith (1st Principle of the Gospel) he works by mental exertion and not by physical force." Step one connecting Faith in Jesus Christ to temporal, Mental Exertion. We must exert force in our mind to find out what we must do. This leads to reptence. In the Greek Bible "Repentance" is used as "Mettanuao" (Met-ta-new-ay-o). When you translate that back into English it means "A CHANGE of heart and mind." So there you go, Repentance is change. When we mentally exert ourselves we gain a knowledge of what we need to change in our lives to become more like Christ. What happens when we Change? We must evaluate ourselves. Thats the temporal application to the spiritual principle of Baptism.  We hold ourselves accountable by physically performing the action that we have come to the knowledge of through mental exertion and the change is solidified. To continue to mentally exert, change and hold ourselves accountable, we must be inspired (Or have the gift of the Holy Ghost) to continue to gain what we must do. When we Do that we internalize it and it becomes a part of us. We endure to the end.  "Salvation in not east we must work at it.  How can we bear testimony of the atonement if we have never known anything of it." - Holland  We come to a knowledge of everything we need to do to stay worthy in the site of God(Priesthood, Temple, Temple Marriage). THE GOSPEL IS PERFECT. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y  missionaries and investigators have to pay a token of that price to know the atonement.

Pants before I tailored them

I don't know how much sense this made but to me through the Spirit it made absolute sense. This Gospel can be applied in Business,  School, work, family.  If this Gospel wasn't perfect in every aspect that would make Heavenly Father not perfect which would make him cease to be God. Its all there.

Pants after I tailored them!

Okay, so that is it for now. We had Zone Conference yesterday Got to see Elder Armstrong so that was good. President Cook told him that "I was more impressive than Elder Armstrong when he was out this long."  thats nice to hear!

Sheets bite the dust

The work is going great. I have to end this shortly because like always my companion is super strict on the 1/2 hour rule and I wont have time to email president if I dont hurry.

Sheets I mended with my sweat shirts

I love you all so much.  I havent figured out what we are doing on Sunday (Mother's Day - I can call Home) yet so just be signed into Skype/Facetime all day. My companion has been lazy and hasnt put any effort into figuring anything out for us, since he is going home 10 days after Mothers Day :)  Wish we could all go for Pizza!!! 

Anyways,

Pizza is perfect!

Love you all so much. hope everything is going great and that all is well. 

keep it classy and true to the faith. 

Love you so much :)

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

April 23 - We are to be positive emphasize faith not fear

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/be-of-good-cheer?lang=eng

So another week has past on with not to much to update you on. But here goes....update for the week; ride bike, walk, tract, visit potentials, less actives, and formers all day everyday. 

The weather here has been awesome so it makes the work a little more bearable. Saturday we biked about 12 miles in the afternoon hot sun and then walked another 2 miles in the night time. Yesterday we biked 4 miles then walked for about 2 1/2 hours all around our area. That would be fun if there were places we could stop at and go see or lots of people walking around, but people do not do that out here in California so it makes talking to people and enjoying the work a little more difficult. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-WduxkDRo0A
Look for the positives in life and start enjoying your life!

Hmm...The person we had on a date I am pretty sure has moved it out a month. So that was fun to deal with. No idea right now what to do for him but we are praying and study lots for him as we go through out our days here. Hopefully something catches on and the Spirit helps us along our path.

Cool thing actually on Sunday...So this family was walking by and they saw our church so they came in and asked a member if this was a Christian church. The member said yes and right at this moment we walked into the front door area where they were. They started talking to us and so we gave them a tour of the church building before Sacrament started. They were this Chinese family who were in the process of studying Christian religion and trying to decide where to go. So we talked about our beliefs what makes us different and all of that. When we were saying goodbye a member of the Del Mar ward walked by who actually spoke fluent Chinese! He didnt serve in a Chinese mission just lived there for 5 years and picked it up. So he talked with them for about 10 minutes and then exchanged information. We got their info as well and they said they will be back at church next week to attend with us. So that was actually really awesome. Hopefully a family investigating comes from this experience. We just have to do our part and keep on it.

"Everything around us is made up of energy.  To attract positive things in your life start by giving off positive energy!" -unkown

Lets see update on the mission life. Really only one cool thing, I have taken up a new hobby. I now tailor my own ties. Yes I take my ties and cut them, press them, then sew them and make them thinner. They are not skinny ties but they arent that big either.  A nice mixture of the two!  The bad part about this was I tried to tailor clothes....I took a pair of suit pants and tried to make the legs tighter and waist smaller...that didnt turn out to well!!! The legs were great and fine but the waist, well I ended up with a huge huge hole left in them?? :(  Really hard to stitch up a seam in a pant by hand...But the ties look awesome and so I am moving forward with adjusting most of my collection. Should be done by the end of the week. Well, that is about it for me on my end.

The work is going great and I know that I am supposed to be here. I am in the process of figuring out who I am as a missionary so as I pray and study bunches. I know that through doing it I will be guided to my answer. It wont be given to me but If I do all I can the Lord will justify my efforts and push me over to the other side.

Just like anything you want you have to work at it

Keep doing all you can while trusting in the Lord. Do not be like Oliver Cowdry when he asked the Lord if he could translate the scriptures Doc & Cov Section 9. We must do more than just ask, we have to do all we can along with asking. Only then will we gain an answer.  Faith without Works is dead.
Reference: http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/9?lang=e     
and

James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.   18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

I want you to know that I have a testimony of this gospel.  It is perfect in every sense of the word and any person WILL come closer to God by applying the principles in either a temporal or spiritual way.  All things are spiritual.  

Doctrine States Why.  

Principles answer what and How.  Doctrine Understood changes attitudes and behavior.

I've been thinking about coming home and living at home for awhile and going to UNO? thoughts??

New Niece!

Love you all and hope all is well. Hope baby Char is doing great and hope Anona is doing well as also. Have a great great week. :)  Love you so much. Hope all is well.  You guys are the best and I love you so much. Keep the faith and stay strong. Love you!!! 


"Fourth Floor Last Door"
"That's What's Up"
Elder Amric Zane Sobczak
California, Carlsbad, USA
January 2013-January 2015

April 16th Welcome to The Southern most tip of my mission!

It's looks like, since I went south I'll probably stay in the Carlsbad Mission!

AREA: My new ward is Carmel Valley, the Stake is Del Mar.  The community is a suburb, essentially of San Diego. The area is amazing and the ward is great.  I have learned this trivia; It is the Highest paying stake in the world. Who would have thought that they even kept such a status?  It isn't as close to the beach as Dana Point or at least it doesn't look like it is.  It is the very most southern tip of the mission so one wrong turn can take you out of the mission boundaries.  Which could be life altering according to my companion!  Companion:  He is in his last transfer his name is Elder Soderberg.

RUGBY:One of the top high school rugby programs in the nation is actually in Carmel Valley, Torrey Pines High School and a lot of the young men in the ward play on the team. So that has been fun. HOUSE Arrangements: I am living with a member, I have composed a letter written by hand that explains more that living arrangement.We go to the Library to email on Tuesday.

Other than that sadly to say is not to much else. I came into an already scheduled baptismal date with a man with a for April 27th.

WHAT I DO ALL DAY: We tract for 12 hours a day! and had One - yeah 1 teaching appointment this last week!!!  Maybe its just the area; but I am dissapointed because I know that the area can do much better. My companion is trunkie.So that's the "catch Up" and info on my whereabouts!  The mission life is getting easier, and tougher at the same time.  Easier because I am starting to figure out the ropes and littler better so I don't feel so lost. Tougher because I always start to think how long I have been out versus how much longer!   I guess it's a thought missionaries have lots! You just have to push forward everyday and don't look back.  A man who looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.  I don't know where I'd be without my parents and the support of my family and friends.  thank you who do support me :)

Okay so to prevent me from saying anything else that is super negative I will conclude with this statement.


I want to leave my mission with the knowledge that I know I did not leave anything back.  I am going to put all my cards and testimony on the table in hopefully every situation I am placed in. I know Heavenly Father has put me in this spot at this time for a exact and specific reason and for that knowledge alone I am grateful and thus nothing should be held back.  I do not want to look back and think or feel that I left something out. That is my goals for my next 20 months. Do the best I can in putting everything I have out there so that those I am put in the path of have every oppotunity to accept or deny the truth.

Luke 9:62 and Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.


I love you all so much, so sorry for the short letter, hopefully more exciting things happen this next week for me to write about next week. I hope all is well and I love you all very much.

Keep the Faith
God bless

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015