July 23, 2012

Well my lovely family and friends,

First its been a good week! I´ve been with a Dominican the past week and its been pretty great you know just learning a bunch of tigueraje. Maybe one day you´ll know what that means. But we've have some really good experiences. My comps name is Elder Gomez and its been pretty good. They split Elder Mooney and I up after one transfer!!! We were pretty surpised when we heard that. But we´re still in the same house so it hasn't been too bad. But both of our comps sadly enough are leaving to Mexico Wednesday and are leaving us tonight. It´s pretty sad because out of all of the Dominicans there are in this mission.( as missionaries) I think we got the best two of them. Its been really good being with a latino. I feel like its made me notice a lot how bad my spanish really is. But I do my best to not be scared and talk just as much as possible. After Elder Gomez and Cabrera leave Elder Mooney and I will be companions again and the area that I orginally opened two transfers ago will go back to the office elders. Meaning it will be basically closed because the office elders never have time to go out to their area. It makes me sad that all the progress Elder Brezack and Elder Arias had done and that Elder Mooney and Elder Cabrera seems like is going to waste but I trust in President and know that he is guided by the Lord. 

The youth in our ward this past week went to the first ever held EFY in this country. The counselors and all of the youth bore their testimonies and... wow.. it was powerful. Let me just tell you simply, very simply, that I remember loving EFY and coming back on a super spiritual high. But these kids...they are honestly changed for life. There were so many that came back and said for sure they were going on missions and wow it was an awesome sacrament meeting. On top of that we had EIGHT!!! investigators in church! thats a lot just so you all know. 

My beloved friends and family I hope you know much I love what I´m doing right know. I know this is the lords work and I know that I need to be here. I´m not sure if I need to be here more to help others change their lives or if it´s more to change mine. BUT I know I´m supposed to be here. I have grown a strong testimony of the power of the priesthood this past week. I know that the Lord´s power and authority is with us everywhere we walk and that there are unseen forces helping us at every point. I hope that all of you priesthood holders realize what you truly can do as a worthy man of God. And before you judge this as cliche read in Ether 12 and then remember that a worthy priesthood holder can literally move mountains with faith and the power of the Lord.

I love you all so much I hope you have a great week and hope that you all can remember that your Heavenly Father loves you and that He wants you to be preparing yourself right now to be able to return to His presence. So do so. Progress in the gospel. Learn more. And most importantly of all: Live it. 

Manténganse cerca del evangelio de Jesucristo y Él siempre estará con ustedes.

Love,

Elder Pemberton

June 18, 2012

My dear Family,

I´m going to try to write really quick but Elder Mooney had a great experience this week. We have a really awesome investigator named Jerig I think ive mentioned him before. Well he received his answer that he is on the right path a few weeks ago and he wants to be baptized the thing is that he might be moving to Haiti for a month or so. Being a new convert and moving to a place where you doing have a support system to saty active in the gospel is a fate that we did not want to condemn him to. But we also didnt want to prolong something so important as baptism if he is ready to do so and if he might not even leave. So the first fecha we put with him was the 23 of June which is this saturday. After worrying about him leaving we changed it to the 16th which was last saturday. We talked to our Zone leaders to see their opninion on this subject and they said you know we are the ones who know jerig best but that its really hard in this situation. So basically they said that we should wait. So we talked to him about it and explained that Baptism shouldn´t be something so iffy. That it should be a firm thing that we know when we´re going to do it and why. So we decided just to wait and see how this job thing works out, in other words he did not get baptized the 16th. Well we had been waiting and I just felt like we needed to do something that just waiting on this iffy job was not the thing to do. So we decided to do a companionship fast. Elder Mooney´s first in the field. As I did my personal prayers on saturday night Heavenly Father told me that he needed to get baptized on the 23 of June. That was a test of my faith. I said well I´m not sure if everything could be ready by this saturday. We havent even talked to the bishop yet. I asked if it could possibly be the 30. He patiently replied that Jerig needed to be baptized this Saturday and that everything will be ready. So I accepted ended my prayer and called out to see if my companion was still up. He was. I said, "Elder Mooney.... Jerig needs to be Baptized on the 23..." He said "ELDER NO WAY!!!!!!!! That was the EXACT date that came to my head too!" So in the morning I called Jerig to inform him of what we were thinking. He accepted the baptismal date and it was announced that day in church.

In this situation I felt a little like Elder Fausett with his similar experience. But Elder Mooney and I had our prayers answer and we will be having a baptism this saturday. I´m so grateful for the love that our Heavenly Father has for His children. And am so happy for the knowledge that the restored gospel gives to the members of the church. If some of you are wondering," what in the word is Elder Pemberton saying. How in the world can he say that he had a conversation with God!?!?!" I promise each and every one of you its possible and that HEaveny Father loves each and everyone of you enough to talk to you in the same way. Its us who have to just be patient and listen. In your personal prayers if you kneel down in a quiet and calm place, pray with real intent understanding who you are talking to, and before you say amen just wait there with your mind empty. You´ll find that thoughts begin to come to your head. And while they come in your own voice somehow you feel like they´re not coming from you. Then in a sense you just.... talk back. And before you know it you realize that you are having a cnversation. Those of you who dont want to understand will thing that I was just talking to myself. But those of you that do and put a test to my words will find tha what I say is true. I testify to you as a special representative of the Lord Jesus Christ that what I have told you is true and that it can happen to you as well. You can feel of the love of your Father in Heaven in this very special manner. He wants to hear from you and wants you to hear from Him.

I love you all and am so grateful for your support and your love. I hope you have a great week and cannot wait to here from you all soon.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Pemberton

June 11, 2012

Well i no more have over twenty months left in the mission. Its crazy to think about but in just a few days will mark 1 year that we moved to TX. But if anything this just helps me remembeer that the time flies and that I need to take advantage of every single moment of my mission.

Today i would really like to talk about one of our investigators named Jerig. This man used to be very evangelico and really REALLY knows the bible quite well. But the great thing is that everytime we go there to teach him he learns something new and is so accepting to the commandments of God. He´s a man of great understanding so knows quite well HOW we should live this life: by trusting 100% in the lord and never looking back. The hard part for all of us is that we can all talk to the talk but when it comes to walking we tend to falter tdue to the straightness and narrowness of the path. But he´s doing very good and I love the evenings that we get to spend teaching him. Elder Stott and I had planned for the longest time to make his family cookies one P-day. And out of love for Jerig and my dad I completed with the goal today. I made some betty crocker oat-meal cookies and added some peanut butter. I wasnt sure if that was ok to do but hey they turned out well... enough haha. You all know me I just love peanut butter. We are working really hard with Jerig to get a baptism date but he has a pending job that he might have to take in Haiti. He´s currently unemployed. But he knows that this is the right path so while we wait for what his plans will be for the next few months will will help him strengthen his testimony of the Book of Mormon and by doing so ultimately strengthen his faith in Christ.

We had Ana-María´s baptism on friday. Elder Stott was there and so were his parents!!! It was really nice to meet them and I was really happy to see my dad again. And! Elder Mooney got to meet his Grandaddy. But on a different note it was such a spiritual night. Ana-maria asked me to share my testimony and I actually wasnt nervous. I guess my language is coming along far enough to where I can let the spirit talk through. The gift of tongues is real. Every talk was great. Exactly what Ana needed as well as what those who attended the baptism needed. The baptismal service was completely dircted by the Spirit. As i have said before I am convinced that there is a joy that Heavenly Father saves specifically for those who participate in missionary work. 

I´m loving my mission and I know that the Lord is using me and my companion to touch the lives of many of His children. And I am more than excited for the many experiences that I will have as the time comes. I have one favor from all of you. If you could take a special moment to just pray for our investigators not only I but also they will be eternally grateful. Those that we are woking with the most are: Jerig and his family, Jonathan, Ela, Adis and her family, Karina, Olga and her family, Guarionex, and Victor. I know you all are very busy but if you could just help these children of God in this small but very significant manner I know that it will have an effect on these peoples lives.I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Pemberton

Granma  Sug and Grandpa Kieth: Thank you so much for your letters. I am receiving them and I love them! So glad to hear that you had a fun trip but glad you are home now. Have a great week!

June 4, 2012

Buenas tardes mi queridos familiares y amigos,

Well I had my first baptism this past weekend! It was on saturday and it was such a great experience. It is a beautiful sight to see a young man changing his life and making a coventant with our Father in Heaven to leave behind everything of his past and focus on how he can follow Jesus Chrst more in his life today. I´m so excited for him and all of the awesome experiences that he is going to have being guided by the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

But what I really want to talk about is my awesome day yesterday with Elder Stott. It was my last day with my dad here in the mission field. We had 3 investigators in church and each one of them loved it after that due to a few complications\miscommunications we actually had two different lunches that we had to go to. I shouldnt say it like that because I will assure each and every one of you, I was not complaining one bit! ..... well that is at first. After our second lunch..... bueno the son of the human garbage disposal for the first time in his life met his limits. I dont remember feeling so full ever in my life not even after a sushi night. And you know how much I love sushi! Luckily I was actually able to walk to the area. We had 3 AWESOME visits that day. The first was with a joven named Jonathan. We´ve been teaching Jonathan off and on since  I first got to the mission. But now he is SOOO set. Something that was rough for me was that he´s got a really bad potty mouth. And we knew that if he continued in that manner that he would not be able to feel the spirit in his life. Remember that the Spirit is a perfect gentleman. So with as much love and as bodly as I could be I just told him straight up that if he wants the spirit more in his life then he should watch his language. I felt really good about it and he accepted the invitation very well. I knew that It wasnt me that it was truly the spirit. 

Our next lesson was with Anamaria who is getting baptized this coming friday and she is super ready. We taught her on eternal marriage. It was a little hard as two young men who still lack this sacred experience but it was good. The best thing about it is that she is single and she wants an eternal family so bad. But she´s not worried. She knows that if she keeps the commandments that Heavenly Father will provide. Her faith is exceptional and I hope that my faith can grow to trust in the Lord so much. Its getting there but like always I have a long ways to go.

Elder Stotts last lesson as a missionary was with our progressing investigator Jerig. We invited him to fast this sunday and he actually did awesome. We asked him how he felt and he said that he had felt an internal peace and tranquility that he had not felt in a very long time. With the help of the scriptures and being completely guided by the spirit we helped him realize that what he had felt was his answer from God that he is in the correct path, and that this is what God wants for him. He accepted a baptism date for the 23 of June and I am so excited to see his progression now that he has recieved his answer.

Elder Stott said he couldnt have asked for a better last day in the mission. After serving an honorable full0time mission that is exactly what he deserved. He left last night and so now I am in a trio. Oh yeah last week two other missionaries mved into our house. ELder Brizack who leaves in a transfer and Elder Arias who is a missionary from Costa Rica but is actually in a kind of round about way from my group. I also found out last night that my new companion is ELder Mooney and will being coming straight from the MTC here in the DR. I hope I can help him have a good experience. Well thats all the time I have I love you all sooo much can´t wait to here from you.

 Love,

Elder Pemberton

May 21, 2012

This week is going to be short you´ll have to forgive me. Just know that I love all of you very much and I am grateful for your love and support in Everything.

We had an awesome temple trip on thursday and I really loved it. The temple is most definitely a house of learning and I feel spiritually enlightened by the experience I had this past week at the temple.

We´ve been asked several times here why can´t everyone go into the temple? And Elder Stott explained it in a really good parable which helps describe one of the reasons why not just anyone can enter into the Temple. Imagine if you had just cleaned the house really really well. Imagine your house spotless white with a lemony fresh scent in the air. As your just finishing up your 5 year old son or daughter knocks on the back door after playing in the mud for a good few hours. Now its not that your not going to let him or her into the house but your going to help him or her get clean beforehand so that the house doesnt get dirty right? We believe and i strongly testify that the Temple is the literal house of god that it is the most holy place that is found in the world. So its not that we´re not going to let people in, its just that, to not defile the sanctity of the temple the lord asks us to be worthy, or clean of sin, before we enter. I hope this can answer a few questions any of you might have.

This week has been crazy with the Dominican Presidencial elections that were held yesterday. But everything is a lot more calm now and Elder Stott and I will be going out tonight to teach. 

We´ve had a few really great lessons with an investigator named Jerig. This man is a true disciple od christ and you can really tell how much he is willing to follow his commandments. We taught him two lessons the past couple weeks. Coupled with scriptures we were able to really teach him why we do baptisms for the dead and why we keep the sabath day holy and why its on sunday. To answer this question for any of you who have the same one the reason are simple. Its because we believe that we have a living prophet who leads our church through direct revalation from God. We trust this man and all that he says and have a testimony of his sacred calling. If you want a more detailed answer please send me your address and I can have your friendly neighborhood missionaries pass by! If thats too much... which I hope it isnt.... but if it is you are also welcome to go to mormon.org. Questions are great if you have any feel free to email me or my parents they will be happy to answer anything you have when they have they time. Love you all and can´t wait to here the news of the coming week.

Just for all of you to know. You can email me but I am only allowed to email family members due to time and to help me stay focused on the great work that I have been called to do. But feel free to send me letters or a short email to say hi. I miss all of you and so grateful for each relationship I share with each of you individually. Also I have a letter waiting for Elder Zach Collier and Ciera Taylor and am just waiting for addresses to mail them off. I have also been recieving emails from bishop Stevenson and from Abuela Nydia and from Grandma Sug just so you all know that they are getting to me! I also would like to know if anyone has gotten a written letter from me since I´ve been in the DR because I´ve sent a few but havent heard of anything yet. Love you and thank you so much! 

Love,

Elder Pemberton

May 7, 20102

I´M BACK WITH ELDER STOTT AGAIN!!!!!

Wow i really missed my dad and I am so happy to be back with him. His companion went back to nicaragua this morning. They worked it out so that he could serve the rest of his mission there. So I am back with Elder Stott and in my old area again. I´m so very excited to see my old investigators and meet some of the new ones that Elder Stott and his old companion were able to teach while I was gone. Elder Poulson is staying in the office and in the other area. He and his new companion will continue to work with our investigators. I wish them luck and hope that they can be the best missionaries possible for the investigators that I left behind. 

During the past two weeks... wow... I´ve grown a lot. I basically was the senior companion even though Elder Poulson had more time. Most of the time I was leading the area and the lessons. It´s really hard to learn how to share the lessons when your other comapanion doesnt know to much spanish. But my spanish I feel shot through the roof. I feel like I can speak a lot better now that I have had to fend for myself.

I´ve had some pretty great experiences though. One of them being the rain. The past four days it rained every day from around 4 to around 8 or 9 almost nonstop and HARD. Have any of you been to a beach in a parking lot? Well i have haha. Elder Poulson and I were waiting for a member in the parking lot of an apt building and the parking lot was flooded. So as the cars passed the street that looked more like a small lake, waves were comeing into the parking lot. It was a fun experience.

Other than that I´ve really learned how the Lord blesses his missionaries who work hard. That and the fact that there really are people that he is preparing in individual ways for each one of them. Twoof the few progressing investigators I left behind were Javier and Joeli. They are both studying at the university right now and are really intelligent people. They understand all of the principles so fast and are really accepting of them as well. The biggest hold up they are going to have is that they are not married. So we left them a Law of Chastity pamphlet in hopes that they can start planning now. The Law of Chastity is a moral commandment given to us by our loving father in heaven to help us better understand how we should treat the sacred power of procreation that He has given us. To be eligible for baptism one needs to be worthy which means completing with all of the commandments of god. (there arent just 10 of them). For them to fully be living the law of chastity and be worthy of baptism marriage is vital. That or they need to live in different appartments. But they have a beautiful almost 7 month old baby girl. So the best option would be to get married. I hope they will. I hope thy see the importance of living the commandments of god. ANd really he only gives us commandments so that we have opportunities to receive blessings. They greatest of all being eternal life. 

Well I love you all so much. I´m super excited to be working with Elder Stott again. We´re going to do a lot of work in these few 4 weeks before he leaves. On a quick other note, I would really love to hear from my friends and other family member if you have time I know your all busy but.... just a little reminder of how much I miss you all :)

With lots of love; Con Amor,

Elder Pemberton