The Week has Come and Gone

Hey loved ones!

This week has been fairly uneventful, but I did have one fairly cool story to tell, so here is my miracle for the week!

So there is a main road here named Sheridan.  We drive on Sheridan almost every single day, so we are well familiar with it. (or at least I am. Elder T is getting used to things) There are signs all over the east side of Sheridan Rd. that say "NO PARKING EAST OF SHERIDAN ROAD ON ALL STREETS" so naturally, we never do. But then one day we were tracting east of Sheridan, and a resident there asked us where we
park, and we told her we park and walk, and her exact words were, "Oh, don't listen to those signs. That only matters in July and August when the beach is open. They try to keep the teenage kids off the roads
when they are at the beach."   So, later that week we parked there, for like less than an hour and for the first time, ever.   At the last house we were going to tract in that area, we found a wonderful little old lady who is going to have us help her move later in the month, (May) and she was just precious, right? So of course, we talk to her for like 15 minutes, get back to the car, and the ticket was written 5 minutes ago.   So the devil was really trying to get us to not find this lady.   If we hadn't talked to her, no ticket, right? Boom!   So that just tells me how important it is that we found this lady, and we need to make sure we take good care of her.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning, we head into the police station to pay the ticket and the nice lady working at the counter there starts talking to us. (understand the personality of this woman, think the mother from my big fat greek wedding.  She is Serbian and doesn’t have the accent, but she just reminds me of her.)  She knows we are missionaries, because we told her. You never lose out on an
opportunity to try and contact someone, no matter the situation.   She looks at the ticket and goes, "Wooh! Why would two young men as nice and professional as you do something that stupid? Didn't you read the signs?"   We tell her the situation and what happened, and she says something along the lines of, give me a minute to run this up.  Elder T asks her if she takes card because that is the only way we can pay, and she stops what she is doing, looks right at us and says, "Boy, give me a minute.  I am trying to work, but I can't do anything with all your question asking.  Of course we take cards. This is the 21^st century."   Then she goes back to typing.   A minute or two later she walks up and says, (here comes the miracle) "Well men, I can't void your ticket.  But with my pen and signature here, I can change the fine to whatever I want. How does $15 sound to you?"   Naturally we agreed with many thanks and ecstatic praise, and paid the nice woman.  We asked her if there was anything we could to do make it up to her, and she told us that as long as we kept preaching the good word of God, then we had done all we needed to. It was a fantastic way to start the morning.

That's really all I have to say for this week, but that says a lot right there I think.

I love you all. God loves you all.

Have a great week.

-Elder Logan Gifford

Dear Loved Ones

This week has been fairly uneventful, but I wanted to take a chance to send this email for the sole purpose of letting you know I have a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.

As we celebrated Easter yesterday, it gave me a chance to reflect on what it really means. I know that the true reason we celebrate is for what the resurrection of Christ means. It means that we will be free
of death. Through him we can be free from the bonds of physical death, and more importantly spiritual death. This is a blessing that I have learned to appreciate every day of my life. This is short, but it's
all that I really have to say.

I know that Christ is our Savior. I know that through him we can all be free of sin and death, and that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that it is through this gospel that we can make all of this possible, and what a gift it is to us. I am here for a reason, and that is to share it with other people.

I love you all. God loves you all. Have a great week.

-Elder Logan Gifford

What Wonderful Week

Hello everyone! Dearest family and friends, I love you all! This week has been a crazy one, and a beautiful one.

I have found I do things best by telling stories through pictures, so here goes.

1) This one is the most important thing that happened this week! M got baptized! It was so exciting, and was just a wonderful experience.  B baptized him, he is a member here in the ward, and they have formed a great friendship. It's wonderful to see the members get involved in the work here. I confirmed him on Sunday, but I don't have any pictures of that, so yeah. :)

2) The lake is beautiful this time of year. We found out that our area actually extends about a half mile into the lake, so we are hoping to get permission to go out and see if there are any mer-people who want to be taught.... Until then, we just tract next to the lake to get pretty views while we work. :)

3) This picture may seem trivial, but it got me thinking. This police officer was waiting here to catch any one who decided to speed through or run a light. He was literally sitting on the island of a light post, just waiting. You would think this was way too obvious, and everybody would see him. But would he be parked there if it wasn't worth his time? Sometimes the adversary is like this with us. He will just park himself in an obvious place, and wait for us to do something wrong, and trap us there. Sometimes we see him, and still make the mistake. Other times we gets caught and wonder how we never saw him
hiding in plain sight. The best advice I think anyone could ever get, is to 'obey the law' whether you see the trap or not. If you are always doing what is right, you never have to worry about being caught
doing something wrong.

4) The last one also has a thought behind it. We were tracting and a woman was cleaning her garage. We stopped to talk and offered to help. She had just finished, so she declined the offer, but she wanted to talk, so we stood around in her driveway and chatted for a while. We saw this car in the garage, and (obviously) started drooling over it.  She got us some water, and we asked if we could take pictures. She
said of course, and told us that this was her husbands car and he LOVED it. We continued talking, and a few minutes later her husband pulled up. We started talking with him too, and mentioned the car.
(Come on, someone has a Ferrari California and you don't ask them about it? As if.) he told us he did, in fact love his car, but finished the statement with something extremely profound. "Sure it's nice, but it's just a car, isn't it? It's not like it matters in the end." How often do we, as humans, as members of the church, as Americans, forget this? They are just objects. It's not like they matter in the end. One of my favorite plays is simply titled 'You Can't Take It With You.' Sure, things are nice, and money is good. But
you can't take it with you, so does it matter at the end of the day?

The week was great, but oh! Transfer calls! I guess I should tell you about that. I'm........staying! So is Elder T, so we will be together at our six month mark, so that will be exciting. I'm taking a lot more pictures, so I think that is what most of my emails will consist of from here on out. I do miss my beautiful camera at home, but I guess what I have will have to do.

Well, other than that, the week was business as usual. I love you all!
Have a great week!

-Elder Logan Gifford

A Bit of Conference Love

Hey y'all!

General Conference was sure amazing wasn't it? For anyone out there who hasn't watched yet, don't worry, there is time to repent! And as Elder Utchdorf told us last conference, the second best time is right now. Go!

Now that you're back, we can continue. That sure was amazing wasn't it?

I don't have a ton to say, but I'll highlight a few of my favorites.

Elder Holland-
"If you haven't already, you will one day find an opportunity when you will have to defend your faith." How powerful is that? I have gotten used to defending my faith sometimes on a daily basis, so this came as a surprise to me, thinking back and realizing that not everyone out there is going through this like I am. It also gave me some confidence when he said that sometimes standing up for your faith and being a missionary just means that you are "called to worry, to warn, and sometimes just to weep." That was comforting.

Elder Rasband-
That story was amazing wasn't it? There wasn't much else I wanted to say about that one other than it was inspiring! Awesome!

Sister Reeves-
"The best filter for pornography or unclean thoughts is a sure testimony in the savior Jesus Christ." That says it all. Do we all have our filtering system turned on?

A couple more noteworthy quotes from the conference:

"If blessings came immediately, then choosing the right would not build faith."
-Henry B. Eyring

"What are we missing if we are ever learning but failing to ever come to the knowledge of the truth?"
- Russell M. Nelson

"There is no up or down. Simply backwards or forwards, and that depends on the person who is called."
"Gaining exaltation is not a matter of asserting rights, but fulfilling responsibilities."
- Dallin H. Oaks

"Hearing a worthy message is of little value unless we are willing to accept and act on the message."
- Donald L. Hallstrom

"With the click of a button, you can gain access to whatever your heart desires. That's the key. What does your heart desire?"
-Randall L. Ridd

"Being a disciple of Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all."
- Dieter F. Utchdorf

"Do not that which is easy, but that which is right."
- Thomas S. Monson

"How often are we waiting to find the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"
-Dieter F. Utchdorf

"No matter how good your message is you may not get a chance to deliver it without consistent and persistent follow up."
- M. Russell Ballard

Of course there were a bunch of other amazing talks, but those were the ones that stood out to me as I was reviewing my notes.

I love you.
God loves you.
This Gospel is true.

And a random lake view picture, just because!

-Elder Logan Gifford

A Sigh

This week has been so crazy, and so amazing.  I have a ton of things to get done today, so this will be shorter, but I wanted to email out anyway and let you all know how amazing The Lord's work is. Last week I was having a very hard time with not having much work in the area.  We didn't have any investigators, and no one wanting us to teach them, and it was overall just a discouraging time. I contacted my mission president to ask for some advice, and he told me that he would be in my area on Thursday, and could meet with me then, but until then, to just fully consecrate myself and trust in The Lord.

I thought this sounded a little redundant, because I felt like I was doing that already. Of course, trying to be obedient, I knelt in prayer and re-dedicated myself and said something along the lines of, 'I can't  figure this out on my own, so it's in your hands now!'  And I'm pretty sure I could feel the sigh of relief when The Lord said, 'Finally! I've been waiting far too long Elder Gifford!'

Miracle #1
Less than three hours later we were doing our laundry, (laundry room is occupied all day, doing it before bed is faster) and we started talking to someone we had seen before, and been friendly with, but never tried to contact as missionaries. So instead of waiting for us to contact her, she contacted us. She asked about what we do, what we believe in, and invited us over to teach her and her fiancee the next evening. (Their little girl had a fever and has been sick for the last few days, so we haven't taught them yet, but they are reading the Book of Mormon, which says it better than we ever could.) Miracle

Miracle #2
Wednesday morning, we got a call from our Bishop's wife. She informed us that she had just gotten off the phone with a young man from Vietnam, and he goes to school in Lake Forest, (super rich community
in my area) and has been in Vietnam on Spring Break. While he was there, he has been taking the lessons with his Mother, and upon his return to America, wants to continue learning from us, and be baptized. Wait just a darn second, did you just say that we have skipped past new investigator status and went straight to committed to baptism? Why yes, yes we did. So he has been going to Church there,
and has been taught all of the lessons but one, and wants to be baptized as soon as he can, which will be next weekend or the one after. He just got back in town yesterday, so we haven't met him face to face yet, but just emailing him, you can feel his testimony and his dedication to changing his life for this Gospel. It's beautiful.  More to come on Minh later. (That's his name.) Miracle

Those two miracles were just what we needed to have a renewed energy and attack this area. Things are coming along here in Buffalo Grove, slowly but surely.

I know this is truly God's work, and he is just waiting to make it happen. As we cons create ourselves more fully, he will open up doors we didn't know we had. Keep smiling, keep working, keep consecrated. I love you, and so does your Father in Heaven.

-Elder Logan Gifford

PS some Photos

Oh goodness, where to start. I have been taking a lot more pictures lately, because I feel bad that I don't have anything to show you all, so there are a few here.

Let's start with FMSC! That stands for Feed My Starving Children. This is an organization that we have been serving at for several months now, and we love it there. The work they do is simply tremendous, and they give all of the success to God, recognizing that without His help, none of this would happen. This is my district, (minus two Sisters) standing in front of the numbers for our two hour session. We
have gotten really good, and really fast. They say that on average, every volunteer packs one box of food, or 216 meals, in a two hour session, but last time each of the members of our group averaged out
at 2.85 boxes packed in two hours. We have a really good system set up. :)

The next one is taken at Bernie's Book Bank, which is awesome. They collect and distribute books to kids in the Chicagoland area who wouldn't normally get books as a child. They provide every kid in the Chicagoland area with 12 new books every school year. It's also an amazing organization, and we are proud to serve there.

The third, fourth and fifth ones are just exciting things we have received over the last week. We were talking about how the weather is starting to turn nice, and we would love to start riding bikes around,
and then I remembered that there were two extra bikes in another apartment, so we went and got them. Yay for bikes!! The fourth one is my personal favorite. You all know how much I like to dress up, but I also love variety. That is not something you get a lot as a missionary. So when a ward member asked if I wanted some of his old suits, (they fit me, but not my companion) I jumped on it. He gave us six suits, (jacket and pants) eight pairs of slacks, five ties, and a pair of shoes!  My companion didn't like the ties, and these are all of the clothes that fit me, so the rest will be added to the abyss that is a missionary apartment. Some other Elder can find some new suits. So I am excited to add a little color to my wardrobe. :) Blue with pinstripes, dark brown, and light gray with pinstripes? Don't mind if I do. :)

The last one if for you Mama. This is to show you how grateful I am for my pillow case and the body pillow. My bed may look pampered, (and it is) but it means I sleep well, so I don't mind at all. :)

I love you all! Enjoy, and have a great week!

This week has been a crazy one

So today, I am going to tell about my week through pictures.

The first one is the highest temperature that I have ever seen since coming to Chicago, 52F.  Mind you I arrived almost 4 months ago.  I wish I had taken a picture of someone on a motorcycle, because those were pulled out this week too. The air is ringing with the beautiful music of 4 stroke engines and people driving convertibles with the tops down. :)

 The next one is a celebration of sorts!  When you are a missionary in BG2, and have a birthday, you always spend it with the A. family, and this is how we celebrate at the A. home. We sing in two

languages, and then we smash their face into the cake.   Good times for everyone.   So Happy Birthday to my companion! (He turned 19)

The next two are also connected. This is what happens when your dishwasher decided that emptying the used water is not necessary, but would actually better serve a purpose ALL OVER THE KITCHEN FLOOR!! But hey, at least we have a dishwasher....... Kind of......

The next one just makes me laugh. A member of our ward was traveling and made it back into town for sacrament yesterday. They come up to me all excited and told me that while they were visiting family in
Cincinnati, Ohio, they met the missionaries there. Lo and behold, one of these Sisters knows me! From there the story just got bigger and bigger.
'She knows you!' Says he.
'You went to high school together!' Adds his wife.
'She says you are friends!'
'She says you've gone on several dates!'

'Well, what's her name?'
'Oh I don't know. I forgot. But, I did take a picture of her so I could show you later. But I forgot it at home. I'll send it to you later.'

So hours later I get a message from him with our last picture in it.  Sister C. B.! The mystery is solved! And sure enough, they are right on all counts. She is from Magna, we did go to school together,
we are friends, and we have been on several dates together. Small world, no?

So I got a haircut today, and I think it looks pretty good. This guy in the area cuts missionaries hair for free if they clean up the shop, so we frequent his place. I told him that I wanted it trimmed back to
what he did last time, but I wanted the hair off my ears, so he does this, gives me a straight razor shave an inch off the ears. And honestly, I'm loving it! Might not be a forever thing, but for now, I'm really liking this.

And my personal favorite of the day, the sword he has hanging in his shop. Look at that thing. It's beautiful!

Well I'm sorry that things haven't really been spiritual in this email, but I'm short on time today, and doing this is faster. But I love you all and pray for you! Have a great week!

-Elder Logan Gifford

Transfers already? That can't be right...

So the email today is more informational than anything else, but hey, it's something.

Transfers are tomorrow, and I'm not going anywhere. My companion is however. So I will be getting a new companion, Elder T. We came out on the same plane, so because I know the area, that makes me senior companion for at least the first transfer we are together.  Crazy right? I don't know enough to be a senior companion yet!

The other big thing I wanted to talk about is a mission wide fast we just had, and I will probably be repeating several times this month.  Our mission president has decided that we aren't baptizing nearly enough people, so what does he do? Takes it to The Lord of course!

Yesterday we all fasted for the same thing. That every single companionship in the entire mission will be able to bring at least one person into the waters of baptism by April 13th. That's roughly 125 baptisms in the next month. Can we do it? Heck yeah! And we are going to! The first place for us however is finding someone to teach. Then we can start thinking about the whole baptism thing. :) it's definitely a testimony to me of the power of fasting and prayer though. To know that with faith we can accomplish this enormous goal, that's amazing. Elder T and I are going to tear up the area and we are going to baptize at least two people by that day. Goals are only worth it if you aim high, right?

The last thought I wanted to mention is something that a departing Elder in my district said at district meeting last week. 'Every new area or new companion is a brand new mission.' I love that. How cool is that? We all make mistakes. We all have hard days, weeks, or transfers. But as soon as you get that new companion or area, nothing from the last one has to cross over. It's all a new slate. That's my goal for when I pick up my new companion tomorrow. Brand new mission.  So wish me luck, I'm getting ready to serve my third brand new mission.

Like I said, mostly informational, and not very long. But I want you all to know that I have such a strong testimony of the power of prayer and fasting, and I know that if we work hard at this goal and give it our all, that we will accomplish it.

I love you.
The Lord loves you.
Your Mom loves you. (Well it's true!)
The Church is true, your body is a Temple, DON'T DO DRUGS!

-Elder Logan Gifford