Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation

BAPTISMS and SEAHAWKS!

SubChecking in on Jan 27!!!! (get it?)

Hey hey family what is up!!! Oh man has this week been an interesting one. It's really just been an exciting one! The really Big thing to update you on is the baptism of the Gonzales family which was so cool!

The baptism was on the 25th of January so last Saturday and guess what...?
We filled the chapel with people. You would think it was a Sunday service of a small ward or branch it was so cool to see how many people showed up, just great awesome support from the ward.
Jesse the dad baptized all of them and then on Sunday I got to stand in the circle as they got confirmed, one of the Elders Confirmed Skylynn and the Home teachers Ken Bailey and Don Sand confirmed Christian and Carrie.  It was cool for Brother Bailey as he converted 4 years ago so he didn't get to confirm either of his kids as they were 14 and 10 when he got baptized and so that was his first confirmation, and guess what his oldest daughter Katherine was giving her mission farewell yesterday as well, so she got to see her dad confirm someone before she left. So all in all a very spiritual experience Saturday and Sunday. It was very cool to be a paret of all of it and see it go from start to finish.

working for a livin'!

In other news, well there is not to much in other news. The mission is going good. Work is back to the ground level and it is time to pick it up.

They be about served up!

Cool to see all of the stuff about the Gilbert Temple. They are telling people here to go to that, seeing as how it is about 5 hours away from Mission Viejo ... haha you could have come to see me haha! or not!

Anyways familia I hope all is well and that everything is going strong. Sorry for the short update as there really is not to much to update you on. Miss all of you. You ALL should WRITE ME! whats a missionary to do without letters!!!!?????? In case you've forgotten... Elder Amric Sobczak
23 Lake Rd.
Irvine, Ca 92604
(Ok so this is Mom reminding family to WRITE him)!

Also it hasn't slipped by me that it's Superbowl Week! I will be standing by my ward family for updates on the SUPER BOWL!  Go Seahawks!!!

I love you all thank you for the prayers and thoughts, they mean a lot. 

Keep up all the good work and miracles will happen. Love you!:)

-- 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

Jan 20 ...

Hey hey there Family!!! How is everything going for you?? Today should be a better email than what I have done as It is MLK Day so no one else is really in the Library so here we go...

When we are baptized we make covenants

The Gonzalez Family had there baptism interview on Saturday which went really well. Carrie showed up and as soon as she came in she was like - oh man "I need to pay my tithing!" and went and grabbed a slip and was like I will just give this to bishop the next time I see him.

Tithe is 10% of your increase

Super awesome how she and Jesse are already committing to that and doing it...SO AWESOME they are so ready for all of this. They are in the final week now before the baptism which is making me stress out a little bit, but I know the whole ward is praying for them and they are committed which makes my worries go away.

Elder Madsen and I will have the opportunity to confirm them members of the church...yeah it should be really exciting. I have truly come to love this family and to see the change they have made these past three months, it has been amazing. It has been an honor to work with and teach them and to have them teach me as well. Saturday Starts the time line and then in one year they will be able to go to the temple to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity which they are super excited for. Hopefully I get back here...{Actually if I extend past Christmas I would still be on my mission when they hit their year mark...Actually...it would be the last week of my mission...hmm sorry that thought just hit me}. Anyways so they are doing great and are getting ready to make this step and covenant with the Lord.

 

This last week we also had the opportunity to stop by our friends the Pipitone's Sal and Joe...such and awesome couple. They are in their 80's and are kind of like my mission grandparents. Not members, we got their name off of a referral and we stopped by and they said we were an answer to their prayers and we were angels. They love us and we love them. She (Joe) wants to write us a check because of all we have done for them in this time of need for them. They are just awesome and are an old Catholic Italian couple. So that is them, keep them in your prayers, Sal is battling Leukemia is doing good, but can always use the prayers and thoughts. I mentioned to her that Elder Madsen and I could get moved away and she almost starting crying and said she was going to call President Orgill and tell him he had to keep me here hahaha! so we should see how that goes.

I guess I wore them out!

This past weekend was Stake Conference which was very missionary minded..very missionary minded. They showed tons of clips from the Hastening the Work of Salvation tab on Mormon.org which made it a little more interactive. The Stake President, said the members need to have the missionaries over weekly to have the discussions taught in their home. So that is awesome, and we already have members who are taking that challenge up.

 

The Dunhams have become in the top 3 of favorite families I have met on my mission. Die hard Seahawks fans and love the missionaries. Their son and I have become good friends, and they invited us to come to the baptism of their youngest daughter Paisley on the 1st February. I have gotten pretty close with them and love them dearly...and they give me all the sporting updates and we already have plans Parker and I to watch the superbowl next year when I am not a missionary hahaha!

The work out here is going awesome!!! I love being a missionary and everything is starting to come together. It has been a blast learning all that is out there. Friday we had a 6 hour training from brethren from the Proselyting Division of the missionary department in SLC. Quick notes from that ... Ipads should be coming within next 3-5 months... hopefully he said, anyways he was going to recommend our mission to get them. 90 million people in the US want to meet with missionaries of that 9 million said they would get baptized this week. They just Don't know where to find us or are confused by the craftiness of men. We learned a new way to teach the first couple of lessons which should greatly increase our effectivity as we teach. 

All is all awesome things are happening. My favorite scriptures as of right now are in 

1.   NT 2nd Cor. 9:6

 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall ^areap also sparingly; and he which ^bsoweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

 and 

2.   2nd Nephi 9:50-52 

50 Come, my brethren, every one that ^athirsteth, come ye to the^bwaters; and he that hath no ^cmoney, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your ^alabor for that which cannot ^bsatisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and ^cfeast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness. 52 Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give ^athanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts ^brejoice.

So...study those and let me know what you think. I love you all and you all mean the world to me. Keep up the awesome work and stay safe in everything you do. Keep awesome and stay classy!!:) 

Love you all Church and Gospel are true and Remember - the Gospel is Perfect!! 

-- 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

Mormonism: A Christ-Centered, Global Faith

Seahawks: What Does The Hawk Say?! OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

In honor of Seahawks SuperBowl Week!!!!

being from Washington and all!!!

Start Strong finish well

Hey hey there family glad to be able to write you 

Not to much to update you on this week. The  Gonzalez family is doing great and prepping for their baptism on the 25th of January which is coming right up. So exciting to see them go from beginning to end and how much they have changed in all of this. The companionship is going really well. All three of us are getting along great which is awesome again to be apart of a companionship that is getting a long so well.

Some cool things to update you on....some members gave us the names of four of their neighbors to go and see and so obviously we went to see them...one of them Mike Martin let us in Friday night and gave us some dinner and talked to us for about an hour, invited us over the next morning to help him with some stuff around the house. Really awesome time there really great guy. 

Elders doing service

Service or Mountain Biking!

I am riding the bike more and have decided I am going to turn it into a even better all-mountain mountain bike when I get home and get into mountain biking. I was talking to a guy at a bike shop while my companion bought a bike and he was telling me how good of a state for mountain biking Washington is and I decided I want to use the bike I have for what it is really 

meant for when i get home so stay tuned on that, yet another one of "Amric's Ideas" he gets hahaha!!!

So this is the Raver Family that I taught while in Dana Point. I love serving missions because this is what happens...HAPPY FAMILIES!!! :)

Oh Max is in the Hospital because he got into a nasty Surfing Accident but he is all okay...    Max wanted you to see the awesome shot he took in the barrel last week

inside the barrel

That is really all for me, The Ha!e family in the ward are HUGE Seahawks fans, so we went over there last Sat to share a message with the family and get a little update on the game :) hahaha!!! The dad lived in Seattle he works for Boeing and was saying "I have been waiting 30 years for this day to come!!!" hahaha!!! so funny!   SO that is nice, Also, the Dunham Family they are awesome and by far one of the favorite families in the ward, they have a 14 year old son who is awesome and keeps me updated hahaha!!!  Happy for Dad and Austin!  --that they got to go to the game LIVE!  

Anyways, that is all from for the week, the church is great and true, the gospel is perfect. My goal for this transfer is to read Jesus The Christ so that is fun and exciting to read, such a good book with lots to learn from it.

START STRONG FINISH WELL

That is all from me for the week. Keep up all of the good work and stay safe. Love you all so much!!!

A Secure Anchor

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 1 Year in 1 to go

Hey hey there familia so some awesome information to update you on...

Oh man the last email of 2013 from the mission field...how crazy is that!!!

Not to much to report on seeing as how we talked on Wednesday, even though that feels like ages ago. It has been a rough week...we taught 3 total lessons, 3...you'd think i am in a foreign land that hates mormons...sadly.
I have been sick ever since Friday, like my Once a year Holy Crap Amric is Sick kind of sick so that has made things a little rougher. This week though is already looking way better, Bringing on 2014 we already have 7 lessons set Temple on Thursday Hit my Year Mark on Thursday church switches to 12:30-3:30 reverse block which is nice so gotta look at the positives of life otherwise the mission will just drag on and not get better and only go longer.

Baptism happened on Saturday which went amazing!!! We filled the chapel. Think Fremont Sacrament Meeting, thats how many people were there to support Allison as she got baptized. So cool!!

Oh, our temple President passed away, Nolan Draney. He was from our ward so it is a big deal. He was very well known throughout the Temple District and his services are today and they are expecting 1500-2000 people at the service so about the size of a stake conference.

Anyways not to much else. Oh Dad I need the names of the missionaries that Baptized you. (Fred Dewitt and Eddie Lockwood - they were stake missionaries)The Mission President's wife that was the mission president of the Tempe Mission from 78-81 is in my ward and there is a guy who served in the Tempe Mission from June 1978 to June 1980 and he may be able to get in contact with the missionaries that taught you - so I NEED THAT INFORMATION!!!:)

Anyways hope all is well in Zion - Keep up the good work I love you all so much thank you for the Christmas gifts :)

Jan 2nd - 1 YEAR!

Other news...

It's the tradition and I did it ...I burned my shirt and tie....  I have taken lots of pictures, I am scared to send my memory card home from my camera mainly because it has pictures since May on it, so when you get it you need to immediately put all pictures on the computer...as soon as you get it. I am going to buy another memory card today I think and send this one home so be prepared to put this pictures on.

So yesterday our ward had a thing called "Great to be Eight" which is a little baptism preview for all of the primary kids turning eight in 2014 and all of the fun things you get to do after you turn eight. Well, our investigator family the Gonzalez's have a daughter (Skylynn) who is already eight and so she got to go and her mom and dad came as well. Super spiritual experience her dad is currently a teacher and when Bishop Platt was talking he was saying how all of the kids baptisms will be done by their fathers even Skylynn...it was so cool basically just said that her dad will be worthy to baptize her when she gets baptized. After her thing Bishop Platt and Brother Lenning (1st Counselor) kind of cornered Sister Gonzalez and started talking about baptism and setting a date...well guess what as we were all showing them the font and talking about everything that needed to happen they set a date with Kerrie and Christian for the 25th of JANUARY!!!! YES!!! Aw so sweet so sweet is was and is awesome....we are so stocked for them and they will be ready, miracles and prayers are answered...So that was like the cherry on top to the week.

Other news,,,

Elder Madsen and I are staying together as companions. Should be fun we have lots of big plans to help this ward and we both will get to see the Gonzalez family go from new investigator to entering into the waters of baptism. As of about 5 minutes ago we were just going to stay us but literally the assistants just called and said President wants to put another young missionary with me, so we will be in a trio. Also, we are losing our full-time car, which is perfectly okay. So next transfer will be a trio with the car on the weekdays and bike on the weekend. Which will be sweet. Elder Madsen and I are stocked for everything and this missionary coming in is going to get put right into work which will be awesome.

Not really anything else to report on. Should be fun keeping the same companion and staying in the same area for three straight transfers. Nice, it should be lots of fun, not a lot of new things to work out or anything like that.

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/a-secure-anchor?lang=eng
Don't live on the edge -- watch this -- 

Anyways I hope all is well and that everything is going good. Have a great week and know I love and miss all of you. Keep up the awesome work and stay strong in the Gospel :)

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014