Transferred

     Hey everyone!
     This week was an interesting week! So we had some great lessons and found some great new investigators! Elder Martinez and I have been so blessed in this area, I'm so grateful for how much the Lord loves and blesses all of us. I feel like as a missionary I have discovered how powerful Christ is and I can see the Lord's influence in the work daily. I love this work!
      Angela got baptized! It was a fun baptism, she is the one with the black dress and white stripes in the middle of the picture.

     She was baptized by one of her friends Brandon so that was cool to see! We still have 2 other investigators on date right now for October 17th so we are helping them prepare!
     We had a really cool experience at church yesterday, so this lady showed up with her friend and asked us about being baptized because she loved her experience and church! We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized on October 24th and she said yes! It was an awesome experience and this is evidence to me that the Lord is always preparing people for us to teach!
      We also had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to hear Elder Whitney L. Clayton of the First Presidency of the 70.

      Him and his wife were speaking at a Spanish devotional yesterday and it went really well. He spoke about the principal foundations of our church, which all reflects back to the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I know without a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is true. I know everyone can know this by acting on their faith and doing what Moroni says in Moroni 10:3-5.

        I love this work and I love this area, but sadly my time in this area has come to a close. President Spendlove called me last night and said he needed to emergency transfer me. As of today I am now serving with Elders Balledos and Gowdy in a trio! We are serving in the Pioneer YSA stake which is basically YSA around Salt Lake City. The area I'm assigned too is also English so I will get to preach the gospel in my first language for a bit! The trio will only last for a week and then I will be with Elder Gowdy because transfers are next week and Elder Balledos will be put in a different area when next week comes.
       So far my mission has been crazy! I was in Canada, Calgary East Stake with Elders Smith and Cervantes for 1 transfer, then Bountiful for 3 with Elders Berrios, Firpo, and Osborne, then I was in the Pioneer Stake with Elder Barfuss for 1 transfer, then I was in Rose Park for 3 transfers with Elder Strother and Jimenez, then Cannon Stake with Elder Martinez for 1 transfer. Now I'm changing areas again, holy freak! This will be my 6th area and my 11th and 12th companions! It's been a crazy mission, but I love it!
         Love,
            Elder Strate

Comic con was here this last weekend and we saw this minion! Pretty legit!
Also ran into Osbourne!

Ward Picnic

     Hey Everyone!
      This week was good, we didn't have a lot of stuff happen but it was still good! We have Angela still on date for baptism this Saturday and she seems really solid so we will keep working with her to help her prepare! We had some awesome activities this week with the branch! We had a picnic on Saturday and one of my old companions, Elder Firpo, came over to say hi! He lives in Layton and is now going to school at LDS Business College. He really likes it and is having a blast! It was awesome to see him again! We have some great people we're working with and hopefully they will be on date for baptism by the end of this week!

      I had an interest thought come to me during personal study and learning at church yesterday more about pride. Pride is one of the worst things we can possibly have in this life, it makes us fall very
quickly. Lucifer in the pre mortal life fell because he had pride, he compared himself to God and thought he was better than him, and that's why he fell and became Satan. We must avoid pride, and the ultimate antidote for pride is humility. We can gain humility from what it says in Mosiah 3:19, pride is a desire of the natural man so if we can learn how to remove the natural man within us, we will become better disciples of Jesus Christ.
        I love my mission, it's the best!
          Love,
              Elder Strate

                                                      This picture makes no sense.

Wedding then baptism

     Hola

     Juan and Beatrice got baptized! It was an amazing experience, they are both very solid and I had the privilege of baptizing Juan while Elder Martinez baptized Beatriz. Lots of the members from the Branch were there and they all are awesome support for this new family. Juan also received the Aaronic Priesthood and Sunday after church so now our goal is to get him blessing the sacrament and into the temple doing baptisms! We are very excited to continue working with him, he also cut my hair this morning so he's going to try and start up his own business as a barber! We are going to get the word out, he is pretty good at cutting hair!

 

      On Saturday I was on splits with a member named Genaro Vazquez, he's our Ward Mission Leader and we went and visited some families and other people that we are working with. We put this guy named Jacinto on date for October 10th. It was a great experience, he is a newer investigator and he has a ton of potential! Sunday afternoon we also put a girl named Angela on date for September 26th, she's super ready to be baptized! 

      The Lord is blessing us so much in this area, I knew when I got here that this area was going to be the toughest area on my mission, it was a little bit dead when I got here but we have done a good job working with the members, staying obedient, and working diligently. In situations like this, that's all you can do, is stay faithful and keep working hard. I had been praying specifically for people and now we have helped those people and the Lord has revealed unto us more people to work with! I love this area, it's picking up really fast and we are always busy! I love it here!

      Seahawks lost... Dang it oh well, last year they started bad and made the Super Bowl so we will see what happens! They have a tough game next week, I personally think the Packers and Seahawks were the 2 best teams in the league last year and I'm expecting the same thing this year. We will see what happens, but it should be a good game!

     Thanks for all the letters and support! I know that God loves us and that if we show him our faith, he will give us miracles.

      Love,

      Elder Strate

Wedding Bells

     Hi everyone,

     We had a wedding this week! It was awesome, we have been working with the Martinez family and on Saturday they were married. They have 4 little kids and have been together for a few years, but we needed to help them get married before they can be baptized so we had a wedding with the ward on Saturday and it was great! Pictures bellow! I got to be a witness at the wedding too!

     This upcoming Saturday the parents, Juan and Beatrice, will be getting baptized! It's awesome! I think the curse in this area will finally be broke on Saturday, and we have been working with some other awesome families so we will see if we can get some other people on date for baptism!
      My new companion and I are getting along great! He's really cool and we work well together, it's been fun so far! This area is starting to grow and it's been such a huge blessing to watch the atmosphere in the Branch change, even in just the small time I've been here. We got a new Ward Mission Leader too and he's very focused to help us in every way possible, the Lord just continues to bless us!
      I love this work. I and I can't wait to see what this week holds, I know the Lord is always looking to provide us with miracles. I read Mormon 9 this morning and it was awesome! I have seen countless miracles on my mission and it's because God is a God of happiness and miracles. In Mormon Chapter 9, we are specifically promised miracles if we live the gospel and have undoubting faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know God lives and that he loves us. Christ is waiting
for everyone with open arms, we just need to bring ourselves closer to him through diligent prayer, scripture study, and church attendance.
      My companion and I got take up to a restaurant called The Roof by some members in our ward, this was our view of the Salt Lake Temple from this Restaurant! This is my companion,Elder Martinez!

   Have a great week, I know I had one and I can't wait to see what this week holds!
      Love,
         Elder Strate