Origin

Should you Serve at 18 or 19?

Flat Amric watches with the Parents!

So the SEAHAWKS WON!!!!!! Yes I am so excited to hear about that. Like I said there is a family in the ward the whom I have gotten pretty close with. They are for sure the coolest family!  Their daughter got baptized on Saturday which we were lucky enough to attend. Afterwards they invited us over for dinner with friends and family and actually hit it up pretty good with some friends who live outside of the area but in Mission Viejo. Super cool family that within the next few months I am sure will look into the Gospel. Anyways, to make this story short, Yesterday we did not have a dinner which sucks, especially on Sunday...So after sacrament we talked to this mom and asked if we could swing by and pick up leftovers from Saturday night and she said sure thing. Now, here was the obedience I walk in and guess what is happening? All of them decked out in Seahawks gear watching the game, it was so hard, literally the game was 10 feet away and I did not watch it haha GAHHH SO close haha. Anyways, their son who is 14 kept me updated through out the night so I felt as if I was watching for sure. Seeing as it was a blow out I am not to bummed I missed the game. That is what this new digital age is for right? Re runs and highlights???

 

Anyways...as far as the work, my companionship is difficult. They have figured out that it is 2 on 1 because One hates his mission and has no desire to be out here but refuses to go home but refuses to be obedient no matter what anyone says to him. The other companion is finding it easier to side with that one than with me and it makes it where I am doing about 85 to 90 percent of the work. The plan hopefully is that they can stay together and either shape up or ship out.  Either the one will just continue to hate the mission, with a companion that isn't a hard worker and obedient and decide home is the best option for him. 

Terrible to say but I hate what the church culture does to us, BUT the 18 year old change is the EXCEPTION not the rule. Pray about when you should go.  It is so irritating, I have seen so many 18 year olds come out who are just not ready at all to live the standards one must live as a missionary.  So two weeks left, Zone Leaders told me to call or text them anytime I need to vent or talk to someone who is not my companion so that should make things a little easier.

Consider this taught by JSmith; "a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things." taken from Lectures On Faith

Oh I have a Family History Miracle...

So Irie (Trie) Asleson my Great Grandfather, Pops he is your Grandfather. I have been watching his name for the past year. So I was looking at the line on Wednesday and found something. Asleson and guess what??!! I found him! Anyways that was a cool miracle I found and am so stoked to continue to do that work as I move forward.  

Anyways not to much else to report on. Thank you for all you all do and the prayers and fasting you have done.  We have gotten a little rain off and on the past week but no where near what we need, through all the fasting and praying though we will see miracles happen. Thank you family for all you do - hey Ayris you look so happy and I am happy for you. Keep up the awesome work :) Dad thank you and just know everything will work out the way it needs to and we are in Washington for a reason.  Mom...Keep being you, you rock and you mean a lot to me. 

I love you all so much and cannot wait to hear from you again!!  I love letters and packages!!!!

You See what you Expect to see!

So here I am, P-Day has been switched to Monday now!  I actually kind of like it a little more. It makes reporting numbers Sunday night way easier then before easier to plan out the whole day.

So I am sure you are all wondering where I have been assigned to serve...Well I have the answer...

DANA POINT

Yes I am back in the Dana Point ward and it feels so good to be back, feel like I have come home! The members still remember me and seem to love having me back. I am companions with Elders Belnap (Who was also trained by Armstrong) and Hair (Like the stuff on your head). It is so much fun being back here and to be training a brand new missionary. A little weird that he graduated high school about three months ago!  

We had a couple miracles happen this first week of the transfer which made it even more awesome. 

• We met this one lady who came out and started talking to us and saying how a couple of years ago she sent in a request for missionaries but she must have done it wrong because no body came. Long story short She gave us her name address and phone number and told us to come to her home to teach her. 
• The another one was we were walking around looking for a street and ran into this lady and started talking to her. She started telling us how she is trying to overcome her addiction to alcohol and was asking God for help. We started sharing our purpose with her and she asked if we were messengers from God because we were exactly what she needed at that time. We asked if we could help her with anything and she said she needed prayers we told her we would and she asked if we could pray right there. So we prayed right there on the street. She was so happy that her prayer was answered and knew it was from God and so told us that because of us she wasn't going to go to buy her beer - she did not need it anymore. So she accepted a teaching visit for later this week and hopefully we will get to set up a time to visit. 

It is always cool seeing how the Lord works his answers into our lives. We are all merely tools that need to keep ourselves sharp so we can be used at anytime we are needed. By the way that is the thought for the week, keep yourself spiritually and mentally sharp so when called upon the Lord will be able to trust you with those he has prepared.

The work is going great. Always good to be a missionary and serve the people around me. More responsibility is killing me, a lot more paperwork but it is fulfilling.

When we stop by to visit members to say hello the church members who remember me, the first thing everybody says is; "You look way thinner" or "How much weight have you lost"!   That is super cool to actually hear the fact people notice. We had dinner at the Tomlinsons last night and Sister T said "Dont try hiding back there I know you are skinny but you cant hide from me" hahaha! oh Sister T always the jokester. :)

The mission is awesome I love it and it is staying amazing and great. Keep the faith in all you do and know that I love you all very much and miss you so much. Forgot my camera and so pictures will be coming next week. Stay amazing and stay classy! 

Love You

Elder Sobczak

-- 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

Time is Relative...

What in the world??? It is April already I cannot believe it at all. Time is moving so quickly which is becoming a curse and a blessing as well. Its weird to think I have been in Dana Point 2 and a half months and that I am in the last week of my training transfers. Time, it is a crazy - it'a a funny thing too when you get really busy and start to think. In my free time, yes this is what missionaries do, I broke down time - trying to relate God's time to ours. You know the whole 1000 years to us is one day to him. Lets just say, never try to do that because you will lose yourself and your brain will hurt! I kind of figured a little bit out where when we see Him again in Spiritual time it will only have been like 10-15 minutes we were gone even though physically we were gone 75-95 years. Like I said, super weird thing and it is probably never to be meant to be understood in this lifetime so I will just have to wait until all will be made known unto us! So think of me being gone in that way, like I said kind of difficult but just think, 2 years of time with no real physical face to face contact but think of the millenium, think of the eternity, 2 years of time is like 1 minute or so in a spiritual sense. So if you think of it that way 2 years is not that long and we will have literally = FOREVER to catch up, so dont be saddened by the time -- I will be back before you know it! 

DEEP THOUGHT:  from again Brother Mollenhauer, a man of much knowledge.  We talked specifically about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden they were in a perfect state in a Terrestrial world. They werent in a Celestial world because they were not resurrected he said a little more but I will explain more later (wish I had a recorder to "talk" it through!  When they partook of the fruit of the tree they ate a Telestial thing and brought that into their Terrestial Body/Spirit. There was way more said, I dont know I probably missed some key parts I hope what I have said made sense. All I know is that it was a really cool conversation we had at church.

Lets see, investigators...

M - Doing very well. Starting to understand and have his own experiences reading the Book of Mormon.  He will read and comprehend what the scriptures are telling him.  He is taking his time.  Really cool to see the growth he has gone through over the two months I have been here teaching him. This week sadly we will not get to meet with him because he is traveling to Alabama with a stop in Salt Lake along the way. We gave him a CD with some talks on it and some scriptures to read while he and Sister Melville are driving cross country. He is progressing very well and is a very humble man who just wants to learn and understand all he can which is a very good thing for a person investigating the church to have and want.

E - is a busy busy lady who is currently working for three other people due to quitting and vacations of coworkers which has made it that much more evident she wants to learn because she keeps meeting with us no matter how busy. She is slowly starting to see the picture of the Gospel but is still a little skeptical about some parts. Which is perfectly okay. We are not out here to baptize people. If you ever get a missionary in your ward like that correct him. We are out to teach people guide them down the path and make sure we do all we can so they can make their own thought out decision. If that decision is - "no", then if we have done all we can do.  If they want to move forward and get baptized thats great. It must be done in their own time. We explained this to her and she was relieved because she did not want to let us down by not getting baptized in three or four weeks like she thought she had to do. She is a good sport but like M she is out of town this Easter week and the week after.

K - They are getting ready for the 18th of May. They all know it  is the right thing to do but they want to do it all as a family on the same day, in time she will make choices that need to be made I just know it. So we are being patient teaching her and helping her build tup her faith to know that through doing what Heavenly Father asks of us He will bless us in more ways than we could ever imagine. It is crunch time for them, I feel.  If it goes longer than the end of June I feel we might lose them because they will keep putting it off and off until Satan grabs them. keep them in your prayers as they are needed greatly for all aspects of their lives. They all know Baptism is the right thing for them to do and they need to have the Spirit consistently in their lives. She is just trusting to much in the arm of the flesh. Satan is a deceiver and wants us to think we have all the time in the world.

Things going on for me;

• Transfer planning is going on and we will know for sure by Saturday if Elder Armstrong or I are leaving on the 9th. Hopefully we do not. But hey if one of us does or both, then obviously God needs us in another area at this time and we have done our part in Dana Point ward, we have fought a good fight and exerted ourselves everyday using our time wisely.

• Dad- Way to Testify of truth to the J-Dubs. When I return we shall take the time to have pleasing and long conversations about bashing situations and testimony bearing with the very opinionated people of the County of Orange =the J-Dubs, Born Agains, some of the people - they hate us! Nothing like someone trying to run you off the road while you are riding your bike. People don't understand and without the right information they just hate us. The only thing you can do is bear your testimony and bear truth. God will judge accordingly.

• Mom and Ayris Too! -You rock and thank you for the Easter box. Really appreciate it a lot and all the other things you take the time do to make sure I am being taken care of. LDS Living magazine was a hit in the apartment and we all read it. keep on keeping on and trust and love the Lord in all you do :)  Ayris thank you for the boxes you send and the money you donate, especially as a college student!  It's humbling and very COOL. This time for you will prove to be quicker than you think now and profitable temporally and spiritually in the end.

• Glad you have the countdown Mom. Glad someone is counting because I am trying really hard not to count down time - haha! Somedays are harder than others to stay focused. Dad is getting old  you need to find that episode of KOTH and watch it before he goes in. Dont worry about an Easter tie - I have ties! Easter was great...spent like four hours at a family home. We had a huge dinner and lots of fun. Nice break and I knew you would love knowing I was being taken care of and having family time. Hey there is a guy in the ward who works for with theatre unions in LA and is going to give me information and contact stuff that I can look  up when I get home. Also, I now know an author and her book is being turned into a movie and she said to look her up when I get home and she might have work for me but for sure she would take me on set and walk me around!!! Hey it might all work out in TIME!

The Gospel is true and always will be. There is nothing anyone can say to prove us wrong.  We are the TRUE church! In time all will know that too. Stick that in your back pocket!  I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers, letters, packages and all you do. Stay safe and keep the faith.  Endure to the End. 

Until next TIME!

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

Well that's one more down! The Spirit and Miracles Abound

So my oh my this week has been a crazy one...

  Ill start with some interesting news
A couple days ago I my bike had a really flat tire, so we left it at a members house because he gave us a ride home and
we had the car next day. turns out i had a leak in my tire, we go back like 3-4 days later to pick it up and we take it back after I go and buy a patch kit for the tube. Well...here's the fun part...I took my back tire off and well excuse my French...all hell broke loose. Ball bearings were everywhere the pieces were not hooking back up and well I didnt find the leak...So i just decide I am going to take it to the bike shop in San Juan to get it fixed. 
The guy looks at my pieces and he says "Oh man, you broke your axle in three places"   So yeah they had to get me  a new axle, fix my tire, and fix my gears. So thats been the adventure with my bike for this week. Hopefully once i get it back today or tomorrow It will be in perfect working order and I wont have to worry about it for the rest of the mission. I was really irritated about it. Just snaped my axle in three places which made my wheel crooked and when i took it apart the tension holding it together was gone and so everything fell everyewhere...But hey its fixed and I should be getting it back...Mom knows I really always took things apart, now I've really done it!

Okay, On another note this week has been pretty okay one. There was a baptism of an ex-communicated member of the church which was actually really cool to see. Cool to see the changes and realizations that he made in his life to bring him back to where he was at this point in time. He is preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood and go to temple. Really cool to see, I'm blessed to be part of it. He gave us a stackable washer/dryer which it sounds funny but is truly a blessing.

 We no longer have to worry about hauling laundry all over the place taking up preparation-day time and then worrying about going to pick it up later in the week. Its the little things you really come to appreciate while out here on a mission. Its so cool to see people change their lives while they go through the process of learning and
accepting the Gospel. There trully is a physical change as well as a mental and especially spiritual change. The spirit it totally helps people out when they need it to. People feeling comfort or gaining answers to their prayers is so cool to see. 

Yesterday we went to Move some people it was crazy. People getting kicked on... cops called... we were all brought into it and made involved... drugs, alcohol, yelling, squatting, cursing...and this is a civilized state and country!  

The Mission President just sent a email saying I can email Family and Friends officially. So here is my email address so email me. It will be a lot easier to do that I am realizing than trying to write 5 or 6 letters in one P-Day.  so... amric.sobczak@myldsmail.net   also, I won't know about transfers until April 6th.

Also this Less-Active lady who has been away from the church for about 20 years has had a huge change brought about in her life.  She left the church when she was about 13 (Mom died Dad exed) and she has now returned. She is slowly coming to the realization
of what she is capable of through the Gospel and the other day in the lesson she just started bawling because she realized all the things she had done her life that were against Gods will and she didnt know if she could be forgiven. We taught her repentance its true meaning and how God is perfectly understanding of how much we know and wont judge us for more than what we know. That helped her a lot. I was super happy for her and could clearly see that the atonement is at work in her life. She just loves the church and wants to do all she can to make Him happy again. 

K and her girls are continuing to progress. A Family meeting
with us Tuesday night, Tuesday is always a good day, Preparation Day and 2 awesome progressing investigators.

I will write more in letters, hopefully i get some written today. Dont have much time on the email and I dont know what else to say. Thank you for the prayers and thoughts. Life is going great out here in the OC and everyday seems to go by faster. Its weird I love the work and everything and I love watching the spirit work miracles in these peoples lives but still everyday I just think..."well thats one day down!" In my mind its not selfish its just a logical thought to have I guess. I dont know, the work is good I am good I am loving this mission experience and the lessons I am being taught by the spirit and all those lessons around me.


Did you here about the Stake center the church built in the UAE?
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/united-arab-emirates-is-location-of-newest-mormon-house-of-worship        It's pretty exciting, (better let Matthew know!hahaha! he always said let him know stuff like this!).
It seems like the second coming is happening super quick I mean come on newly reopened mission in Istanbul Turkey and now a stake center in the UAE. 

Life is getting good and hard at the same for those of us who know, keep on keeping on - ENDURE TO THE END!  I love you all so much 
 Stay Safe and keep the Gospel in your life. Love you again until next time :)

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

He's Set Apart

He spent the day with his best friend Brianna and he went to say good-bye to the friends from Burke.  Today was better than Christmas!  I think Christmas was tuff, no "worldly presents" the money was all spent on "the mission".  Reality has sunk in, and time running short - Christmas was brutal.

Tonight we went to the stake center to be "set apart" - a blessing to guide and bless Amric as he embarks on this next two years.

The things that stuck out to me were the comments about obedience.  The idea that he should immediately start "opening his mouth" proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Tons of blessings if he is in tune and seeking after the spirit and in the mission will follow the rules.  Also that he must communicate weekly with the parents, but he hesitated...(I'll be curious to see how he communicates) he said it was in accordance with the Mission President.  Amrics spirit is humble and anxious.

Say your prayers for him and us!!! (teehe!)  Tomorrow we are off Ayris, Amric and Us... to start brand new books not even new chapters!  Hold on to your hats!!!!