Thursday, October 25, 2012

10/22/2012: mall miracle

holy guacamole! i'm not even going to say it haha.

Yesterday we had stake conference (and it sounds like you all did too haha). It was awesome!! we had Elder Parker of the 70 there. it was awesome!!!

So here is a crazy story that we found out at stake conference. So, last pday after emailing, my companion and I went to go get lunch. i was driving but i wasn't even really paying attention and didn't even ask him where he wanted to go. i just for some reason drove to the mall food court and we went to China Wok (super tasty and they load it up!!) so we are just sitting there in the food court laughing and having a jolly good ol time and then we leave. normal story righhhttt??? so we get to stake conference, and we meet a family that the hopkinsville elders have been teaching. The mom looked at us and started to tell us this story of how she wasn't sure if she should join the "Mormon" church or not and she was praying for God to just give her a sign. Well she was praying in her heart about that... in the mall. She turned the corner and BOOM we are sitting in the food court hahaha. She said that she was just stunned that right when she prayed, she sees 2 missionaries in the food court. She didn't come up and talk to us because she was in shock and at a loss of words. CRAZY!!!

Then Elder Parker on sunday, stopped mid sentence in his talk and said, "someone in this audience, i don't know who it is, but someone needs to act on the promptings they are getting from the Holy Ghost. they should not resist it any longer." and after conference she and her family decided to get baptized!! woohoo!!! i just thought that was awesome!! you never know when the Holy Ghost is guiding you... even when you are hungry. stay classy!!!! i love yall!!!

Peace out Girl Scouts!

Elder Cawley

P.S. don't get all trunky and excited but i sent two packages home with some of my stuff in it... it will get there like wednesday. and its mine!!! so... NO TOUCHY!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

10/15/2012: the chef got baptized!

welp, our chef got baptized on saturday!!! woohoo!!!! It was awesome! he wanted a small baptism, so about 13 ppl were there. Elder Duke baptized him, and I confirmed him on Sunday :) I think that he is the most prepared individual I have ever seen, no joke. He just loves the Book of Mormon... he can't get enough of it! They invited us over for dinner tonight, we are having ribs and steak :O

in Elders Quorum yesterday, they passed around a sign up sheet for the chili cook off on the 27th and i looked at him and was like, "hmm... i wonder who is gunna win???" and he laughed and signed up. He already has an interview with the bishop to talk about him getting the aaronic priesthood :) He is going to be an awesome and strong member!

as for our actress, she is SUPER busy with her shows right now :( but we still keep in touch with her. she wasn't able to come to church yesterday because she was so busy.

It seems like once i leave everything starts happening... on Nov 7th Elder Christofferson is coming out to organize another stake in our mission :) woo!! go missionaries! also, Elder Perkins (from priesthood session) is coming to our mission in november as well... why couldn't they have done this in october!! It kind of hit hard yesterday just how little time i have left on my mission. We were over at some members' home for dinner, and when we were leaving brother _____ and i realized that this was the last time we were going to see each other, he is deploying on saturday. so he looked me in the eye and just said, "have a good life okay??" and i just looked at him like... holy cow... its starting to become real now. I LOVE this family. Brother _____ is Haitian and speaks like 8 languages... no joke haha. he is awesome. and Sister ______ is a Californian, so we always talk about cali.

its weird though... just gotta work hard. Elder Duke and I planned that my last week we are just going to work as hard as we can... like we never have before... go out with a bang! i hope all is well back home!!! i love y'all!!! Cardon and I can have an eating contest! i love y'all!! stay classy!

Peace out girl scouts!

Elder Cawley

10/8/2012: loved General Conference!

General Conference was AWESOME!!!! Man, all of it was good!! i think my favorite favorite favorite one... was good ol' Jeffery. It was kind of crazy, at ZLC we watched a devotional Holland gave at the MTC in January 2011. He talked exactly about what he did on Sunday, but it was better at the MTC, mainly because he had 45 mins :) it was INTENSE!! he gave like the NIV version of John 21 and he just put detail into it and everything. I always thought of what would happen if someone tried to biblebash Holland... that would be nuts!!! hahaha.

Our play investigators are doing pretty good. they are SUPER busy with their play, so its hard to see them, but we see them every sunday and like one other day. the girl is super awesome and already knows all the doctrine to be baptized... she is just waiting for an answer :) I'm listening to Holland's talk while writing this. its just so good!!!

and jakey is getting huge!!! i see pics of him every so often... he is a baller. haha. and dad i thought about sitting next to ya while watching priesthood session, i kinda had the split screen of us watching its as well. it was awesome.

That is exciting about Camille going on a mission!!! she is going to be an awesome missionary, we all know that she will :) it was so amazing to feel the spirit when President Monson said that announcement... it just felt right. well i love y'all!! stay classy!!! eat some in n out for me!! :)

Peace and Blessins!!

Elder Cawley

Friday, October 5, 2012

10/1/2012: last month of the mish

hey its october!!!!!! hahaha.

We went to the temple on wednesday, and the whole time president mckee was like "time is ticking!" and i would go "president! stop it!" haha. and he would just laugh and smile. It was pretty cool though, because president told me that my last month i will get a lot of revelation on my future, and he said when that happens... just go write it down and not look at it until you get home. that way i stay focused :) so i've been doing that.

Yesterday, we had to teach gospel principles... so we decided to teach "The Church of Jesus Christ Today" since our england investigator was at church again. it was cool because it was me and my comp, then our english investigator and the member friend that brought her and 2 others... so small class and we just had them talking the whole time. i like it that way because then we don't have to talk and lecture hahaha. Then they signed up to feed us, well they said to call them because they are so busy with rehearsals and shows, but they want to have lunch with us and have us meet the cast! crazy! 

My comp and I made a goal to read the standard works this month. we have to read TONS of pages to do that. i think its something like 80 pages a day... but its for a good cause i reckon! thanks mommy for the package and pictures!! :) me and my comps trade mark is hot chocolate in a mug hahaha. so the hot chocolate was perfect :) and i downed the salsa and chips!! got a lil left. i hope everything is going as planned for bert's wedding!! :) i love yall!!!  stay classy yall!! Jakey is a stud. end of story.

Peace out girl scouts

Elder Cawley

9/24/2012: miracles

hey familia!! :)

Seems like my companion and I are just seeing miracle after miracle here in Clarksville!!! The first one was our chef investigator that has now finished the Book of Mormon, and made us filet mignon and ribs :):) he is a stud.

The next one happened to us yesterday at church!! So we are in the Chapel just shaking peoples hands, and a couple walks in with a Sister in our ward. Her husband just deployed so we just assumed that it was someone she knew helping her out.... so we thought. After sacrament meeting, we talk to more people, and we walk into our Gospel Principles class and that couple is in there... and i think to myself, "why are they not in Gospel Doctrine???" They are both participating and everything and after the class we go up and talk to them. She is from England, and is an actress that is here for 3 months doing some Dolly Parton musical called like 9 5 or something like that haha. And the guy is an actor in the musical as well, he is a member and he brought her because she has never met a Mormon before. it was sweet!! She asked for our number and said that she would be interested in learning more!!! Just awesome people that are being prepared are showing up to church! i love it!! Everyone at church was coming up to her and saying that they love her accent too. it was pretty funny.

Tonight we are going over to see our chef investigator and he is cooking us seafood this time :O  its the best, but we are running out of lessons to teach him because every time we go over and teach a lesson he goes "teach me more!" and we cant say no. its great :)

I had a good birthday too :) my comp and I went to Chili's!! super tasty strawberry lemonade. remember we would always have competitions to see how many we could drink??? haha. well i think that's it for this week. i love yall :) thanks again for everyone sending me birthday wishes and cards :):) i loved em all. stay classy!! :)

peace n blessings!!

Elder Cawley

Monday, September 24, 2012

9/17/2012: happy birthday elder cawley!

well i reckon its my birthday this week haha. it doesn't feel like it. it is going to take some getting used to when i tell ppl that im 21 and not 20. crazy!! 

So, nothing really happened this week :( although we did teach the husband of the member that wants to get baptized. and he is a chef! like... a good one haha. he went to culinary school and then right after went to France and had a chef teach him for 6 months. Our first appt with him, he cooked us filet mignon wrapped in bacon... super tasty!! and he is just about the most solid person ever, is already in 4th Nephi... knows the church is true... just needs to be taught the lessons and then baptized!! awesome possum!! 

On wednesday, we are having a zone meeting. Since the First Presidency took out leadership training, they want each zone to hold a zone meeting right after ZLC and train the missionaries on what we learned. So that will be on wednesday, we are going to plan most of it today. our zone didn't really change much with transfers. in our whole zone, only 3 people are leaving, the rest are staying the same. i think that they are leaving missionaries in areas longer. 

anywho, i hope yall have a great week!! gotta finish this race running!!! :) i love yall!! stay classy!!

Peace out Girl Scouts!!

Elder Cawley

fun fact... Lake Tahoe is west of Los Angeles!!