You Are Amazing!

I just received a phone call from Bishop Orozco of the Wasco ward. He wanted to let me know how amazing you are and how grateful he was for you and for the service you are doing. He was also very grateful for your piano talents and for sharing that. He said he doesn’t call all the parents of the missionaries he has served with but he absolutely loved you and wanted dad and I to know. He said the ward would welcome you back with open arms when we come to visit…after you get home. He said that you don’t always see how you have blessed an area but he said that he sees it. And that you did an amazing job with that area. I just agreed with him because you are amazing and you are doing amazing things! Love you so much! Mom

Un misionero agridulce

Day: last pday in Shafter 

Pushup Count: 319

Wow what a week! Buenos días a todos, espero que les encuentre bien este correo. This semana has flown by. We've seen tons of miracles and gotten a ton done! Unfortunately I forgot to journal almost every day, so hopefully I remember, but here goes nothing: 

- For pday last week we played games, and I found out that I'm really good at poetry for neanderthals... Don't know if that's a good thing or not 

- I have this joke of calling my companions "lubina", which means "sea bass". I never thought I would hear someone say that word, but then an inactive member asked me if I knew what it was and it was probably the happiest I've ever been 

- We got wingstop to start exchanges and then I hung out with Elder Espadin for like 24 hours. We taught their friend Kevin who got baptized on Saturday 

- I had my last service at the Shafter senior center  we put applesauce in little cups x 350. It took an hour but was really fun 

- Friday we went to a leadership meeting in Tehachapi so I had to leave my poor campanion alone in Shafter with the other district leader's companion. He missed me dearly

- We got panda express 

- Elder Hanson got peed on by the same dog that peed on my last companion.... 

- We went up to Wasco to eat dinner with the zone leaders and had a great time making fun of each other

- Church in Sunday was so awesome! We had two friends tell us that they were 100% going to be at sacrament meeting, but one of them didn't answer the door when the ride we got them showed up. With five minutes till the start of church we were just praying that our other friend would come, but they never showed. So we sadly walked into the chapel and took the sacrament (but obviously we were happy to take the sacrament). Then Brother Allred got up and anounced that I would be bearing my testimony because it was my last week in the ward. I had no warning, but as a missionary you get kinda good at bearing testimonies on the spot so I did that just fine. When I sat back down, Elder Hanson showed me a text from our friend Star saying that she was almost at the church! She had come late because her husband decided he wanted to come with her, so they brought the whole family! The kids loved primary and Star enjoyed the whole meeting. Elder Hanson saw her skipping around with the kids as they left. It was amazing to see them all so happy 

- I said goodbye to Hermana Josefina, who made me the best posole I've ever had a few months back. She talked a lot  but we made it out alive... I'm gonna miss her 

- Someone gave us frozen chocolate covered strawberries 

- Elder Hanson found out that he's getting a greenie next transfer! He's super excited to train again

- Last night I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite people ever, the Peraza family. It was pretty hard because they've been a huge support to me the last six months. I'm going to miss them so much ahh 

Sooo yeah. If you didn't catch it I found out that I'm leaving Shafter on Thursday. It's been my home for six months and I've had some of the hardest and best times of my mission here. Not sure where I'm going yet but I'm excited for the new adventure and I'll let you know how it goes! 

Spiritual Thought

Some cool verses I read this morning:

"And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption. And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."

- Mosiah 16:6-9

I've been thinking a lot about this plan of salvation this week with it being my brother Peyton's birthday. He would've been 17  Wild. But anyways on his birthday we knocked the door of this old lady whose son had apparently been taught by missionaries in the past. He died in the last couple years, we're not sure exactly when, but she's still in a lot of pain. I was able to share my testimony with her of the plan of salvation and the resurrection through Jesus Christ and it was amazing. She was crying and thanked us so much for helping her feel better. Being a missionary is pretty cool sometimes :)

Los amo a todos! 

Élder Page 

Fotos!

Elder Espadin y yo 

The infamous dog that pees on missionaries

Us

stwabewies

Josefina y nosotros

Los Peraza

Un misionero con un apóstol

Day: 34

Pushup Count: 325

Buenos días a todos, como han estado? This was kind of a crazy week. Lots of running around and driving, but a lot of cool miracles too. Así se bajó:

- On pday we went to Delano and cleaned our car super thoroughly, then we stopped at Vallarta and bought queso fresco and Jamaica 

- We had a crazy lesson with a member referral... His ex girlfriend or something came in halfway through and it resulted in lots of yelling 

- Wednesday we had interviews with President Burton, so we got to drive to Bakersfield 

- I took the mission language assessment and it told me I've improved by a few points 

- We got to hold Chihuahua puppies, and one of them peed on my hand the second I picked it up... 

- We went to the temple! I love the tiny little Fresno temple, and we had an awesome time there. We met the Fresno temple cat, and I slept the whole car ride back 

- We did service at the Buttonwillow food drive and afterwards they gave us tameles, pupusas, and tres leches 

- Elder Mitchell came with us for the evening on Friday and it was a blast

- An inactive member bought pizza for our lesson and told us he wants to do monthly pizza nights 

- Saturday we drove down to Bakersfield to hear from Elder Gary E. Stevenson. It was so cool! I had to stand on a chair for an hour waiting to shake his hand after the picture but it was worth it. He talked a lot about our purpose and power as missionaries and how we're exactly where we need to be. We also got to hear from Elders Bragg and Casillas of the seventy, and their talks were awesome too.

- After the apostle meeting, we decided to go to Raising Cane's for dinner... Turns out so did pretty much every other missionary  so I got to talk to my trainer Elder Westerby for a little bit while we ate. He goes home next week  Wild.

- On Sunday we had stake conference, and Elder Stevenson spoke to us about the gift of the Holy Ghost and the blessing of living prophets. It was really good :)

- I got to do a baptismal interview for a kid named Kevin. We're super excited for him 

- This last week people gave us a total of 7 bags of grapes... I've heard this is just the beginning 

Yep, everything's going good here. This transfer has kind of flown by, but I'm enjoying it a lot. Let me know how y'all are doing, love you sooo much! 

Spiritual Thought:

Elder Stevenson talked to us about the power of our testimonies and I thought it was really cool. He told us that no matter how good we teach, the spirit won't be present until we start to testify. So don't be worried if you feel awkward talking about the gospel, whether your sharing it with a friend, giving a talk, or teaching a class. As long as you make sure to share you're testimony, the spirit will take care of the rest. Elder Stevenson showed us this principle really strongly at the end of his talk. When he bore his testimony of Jesus Christ the spirit filled the room and there was no denying what he said. Obviously he's an apostle, but the principle applies to us all. So go share your testimony! 

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page

Fotos!

Un misionero estresao

Day: lunes

Pushup Count: 331

Buenos días a todo! Espero que todos estén bien :) This was another good week. There were lots of things going on but it was a blast. Here's lo que pasó:

- On pday we played clue as a district and it was way too much fun

- Monday night I got a call from my good friend Elder Reynolds who I was on the social media team with. He told me that president had requested that we make a music video to show Elder Gary E. Stevenson when he comes to visit Bakersfield this week. Which meant that we were going to have 10 days to record, produce, film, and edit a video for an apostle... No pressure 

- I had exchanges with my old comp Elder Ireland and we had a blast, even though we got trapped at an old inactive member's house for over an hour

- Wednesday was a crazy day. We woke up and drove two hours to Lancaster to record the music video just to realize that we didn't have a very crucial cord to connect the microphones to the laptop... Sooo we were delayed for over an hour while Elder Reynolds went shopping. Then I had some struggles with the equipment because I hadn't done this in months, but we finally got the recording done and headed home like 7 hours later 

- On the way home we stopped in Mojave, an area I covered at the beginning of my mission, and it was super fun to be reminded of how desolate it is out there 

- During every spare moment the rest of the week I was just working on editing the audio for this video... I'm almost done but wish me luck 

- Thursday we had a super long lesson where we got nice-bashed pretty much the whole time... 

- We found a super cool guy named Gabriel who we had two lessons with this week

- We talked to a guy who told us that he was looking for a new church and that it's super hard to catch him so we apparently got really lucky... *there are no accidents *

- I wasn't expecting dessert at our member meal last Saturday and then hermana plopped down one of the biggest pieces of cake I've ever seen right in front of me so I left feeling like a marshmallow 

- We had a great lesson with Paul and he gave us a watermelon and 4 squashes... No idea what were gonna do with those but we appreciate the thought 

- Yesterday we brought a member to a lesson, and when our friend answered the door we found out that they already knew each other... Wild 

- We brought Elder Eager, a service missionary in our district, to a couple lessons yesterday. Unfortunately he doesn't speak any Spanish though and all of our lessons were with Latinos... But he's a trooper and said a lot of prayers, and we translated his testimony 

- Last night I had the opportunity to give a blessing to a member preparing for surgery this week. It was a super cool experience 

Anyways, crazy week, but lots of fun. This coming week is going to be super cool as well. On Thursday we get to go to the temple, and then Saturday we have a meeting with Gary E. Stevenson of the quorum of the twelve apostles. Annnnd he's coming to our stake conference the next day. We're super excited. But let me know how y'all are doing, I love hearing from you!

Spiritual Thought

We saw tons of miracles this week and we really felt like God was guiding us to certain places at certain times. I once read a quote that said, "don't live your life without miracles". I love that (so much that I keep it on my desk) because it reminds me that seeing miracles is a choice. When we have faith, God will work in our lives. We may need to change our perspective to see Him, but he's there.

Mucho amor, 

Élder Page

Unfortunately I don't have any photos on my phone from this week... Not sure if I just didn't take any of if they're all on my camera but I'll let you know next week, chau