The Final Words of Elder Theodosis

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!

Like the title says, these are the final words of Elder Theodosis. I feel so weird writing this knowing that in 3-4 days I will be back to civilian life in Texas, but I am looking forward to it so you don’t need to worry about me not being ecstatic because I am. I haven’t showed it as much though because I feel like other missionaries would shun me for doing so! We moved into this really awesome house today because the lease was up in the other one so I will be in a new place for about two days before I have to move out again, but oh well, haha. The place we are in is sweet! They have autographed jerseys all over the place of legends like Michael Jordan, John Elway, Karl Malone, Shaq, and etc. I will have to show you later.

Well I will see y’all in 3-4 days! Please don’t have a girl there waiting for me, I’m not ready to start dating yet Thank You!

Take Care of yourselves everyone!

Love Always,
Elder Theodosis

It’s the Final Countdown!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!  This past week was great and there was a whole lot that happened! The first thing that I can think of that happened was of course being able to go to the aquarium with some members last Monday for a Preparation Day activity; it was super fun too because we got to see a whole lot of crazy things! I would upload pictures of it, but I won’t be able to this week because I am not at a computer that allows me to do so. Sorry about that. 

 

The awesome thing that happened this past week was that Antwon got baptized and confirmed! We got it all taken care of the week before stake conference so that was good because had it been next week he most likely wouldn’t have been able to get confirmed on that Sunday. Antwon is going to get sealed to his family on the 27th of this month, and they are inviting us to go so that should definitely be a fun way to go out of a mission! 

 

I am getting pretty excited, I honestly won’t lie ~ I am excited about being back with all of y’all soon!  So although I do try to shoo it off as much as possible, I only do that because I want to finish strong, and come home with absolutely no regrets so please don’t take any offense to that. Expect next weeks letter to be extremely short because what ever happens this week I will be able to tell you a couple days afterwards.

 

I Love & Miss y’all, and hope that y’all continue to take care of yourselves!

 

Love Always, 

Elder Theodosis

Baptism This Week!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis! (If you forgot what this random saying that I continue to use is, it means hello, how are you white people). Sorry, I thought that I would bring that up because I don’t know if you remember little things like that haha!

This past week went well minus the fact that I found out that I got an ear infection in my left ear (swimmers ear, but I have not been swimming I promise) ! It is starting to get better, and I have actually been using ear drops to help out with it to, so it is all good!

Time has been flying by like crazy now, and the members aren’t helping one bit. I think one thing that you do learn here while serving is to ask better questions of the missionaries in your area. The top three questions that you get from serving a mission in Utah are: 1. How long have you been out, 2. Where are you from (nothing wrong with that), 3. How much time do you have left – probably the worst question to ask someone who is getting ready to lay the hammer down in their area before they have to go home). I have honestly gotten more frustrated with questions #1 & #3 than I have the 2nd one. I know the members aren’t looking to create anything bad, and that they are all either curious or excited for the missionaries, but I hope that I don’t ask those questions a whole lot after my mission to the missionaries because it has made it a little more difficult for me to focus; no doubt missionaries around the world have the same issue with that question too.

Antwon, the kid we are teaching is getting baptized this Saturday! Elder Bell & I are extremely excited about it too! Antwon will shortly after be adopted by the family, and then sealed to them. They invited us to go to the sealing with them, but we have to figure things out first before we know whether or not we can go. I personally think that would be an awesome way to end a mission because you don’t hear about it happening that often anymore. If we were to go it would be on the 26th of this month.

We have a couple of investigators that we are planning on picking up this week so that will be awesome! I know I probably won’t be here for the time that they are baptized, but it would still be fun to work with them in the time being. I honestly,
to tell you the truth, don’t really care who all comes to the airport to see me. I say whoever would love to greet me at the airport can go, family are welcome to go if time allows them to be there, but if not, then I would be happy to see y’all later that day!

I’m not trying to sound frustrated, it is just that I am trying to not think too much about all that right now. Thank goodness I still have 2 weeks left to do all this! I love y’all, and miss y’all, but I know that I can’t skip right to the finish line yet. It will have to be after I get off the plane in Houston. I honestly didn’t think I would ever be sounding like this, but it’s a good thing right? I sure hope so because I have been able to see the difference that it has made in other people since I have been here and it is awesome! Actually after we finish emailing we are going to go to the aquarium with some investigators today so it will be a blast! I will try and take LOTS of pictures for next week along with the baptism photos too. Take care everyone! I love, and miss y’all! I have loved all the gifts and everything that everyone has been sending me! It has been awesome, and Elder Bell/ I have thoroughly enjoyed it!

Love Always,
Elder Theodosis

Turning Up the Heat in Drape-town!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!

This past week was great! Elder Bell & I were able to plant a whole bunch of seeds, and do a whole lot more ground work to build up the foundation for the Hidden Valley Stake that we are in right now! It has been frustrating at times talking to people, but overall it has been great, and I have enjoyed every bit of it – I love it!

Elder Bell has been slowly but surely getting back to normal healthy health, and he has even grown a little bit in the process too. I think he said that he came out about 6’1, but now he is around 6’2 or 6’3. I think it must be the tall genes that I have handed off to him while training, but I don’t know!

He has been increasing his portions more and more so it has been getting better now. Whenever he tries something new it gets him really excited because it is something that he isn’t used to trying, and so whenever he is exposed to it he tries it more.

I love him, and I am glad that I have been able to work with him for the past two months because he has taught me a whole lot about myself, and the traits/ Christ-like attributes that I need to work on like Patience, Faith, and Humility. It has been extremely helpful, and I still have a lot that I need to work on.

Things are still moving forward, and we are planning on having a baptism on the 16th of August so it will be awesome! I love it! I love and miss all of y’all, but will see y’all shortly! Take Care of Yourselves!

Love Always,
Elder Theodosis

Bouncing Back in Drape-Town!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!

This past week we were able to bounce back a good bit in Drape Town, and find more joy & smiles instead of frustration & stress! It was great! We currently are working with 1-2 people, and helping them work towards baptism on the 16th of August so that should be great!

That was awesome to hear about Cindy’s job raise! That is sweet! I knew I came from a hard working family, but that proves the case even more haha. Congratulations Cindy on the accomplishment, and don’t stop there!

There were a whole lot of people that we talked to this past week, and we handed out a ton of pass along cards too! I remember when I was super apprehensive about talking to people, but it is actually a whole lot more enjoyable now. All you have to do to have fun with it, is to look for clues when you talk to them, and get to know them personally. Elder Bell knows a little bit of Espanol, and I know enough to say “I know little Spanish” so we were able to communicate to some people by doing that , and it’s fun. I don’t have to worry about looking stupid because I am preaching the gospel while doing it. I have officially gotten to the point where I am actually going to start phrasing how long I have been out differently. Reason why is because whenever members ask us how long we have been out I would say 22 months. It is the truth, but I’m starting to cringe more whenever I hear it because people are always like “oh, you’re done!” or “It’s smooth sailing from here”, and I hate it. I didn’t like the question when I was first out because I was thinking this was going to last forever, but now I don’t like it because I know that I am not done, and that I’m not finished until I get off the plane in Houston. I’m going to start saying “more than a year” now because it sounds a whole lot more comfortable, and it makes it sound like I have tons of time left!

I have seen myself change a whole lot since I have been out; I have actually been able to come to understand myself more throughout the growth process since I have been out here, and I love it! I can now boldly say that I know that Jesus Christ is our savior, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this gospel is true! To be completely honest with you, I don’t think I could have told you all that two years ago — in fact I know that I wouldn’t be able to but I can now.

Elder Bell has gotten a little bit better from the last time we emailed you, and he is eating a whole lot more now which is great. I have learned a whole lot of healthy eating habits from him, and I actually love grilling vegetables now! They taste so good, and I have been using a ton of olive oil with them too! We still enjoy walking everywhere because although we have a huge amount of ground to cover we are able to talk to so many more people than if we were in a car. Elder Bell like me loved to workout a whole lot before the mission, but he would do a whole lot of running. I personally don’t like to run unless I am doing something while I run so we do workouts at our house every morning at 6:30 am. Elder Bell does 15 minutes of lifting weights as prescribed by a member nutritionist, and then does 10-15 minutes of cardio. He would actually originally have done cardio the entire time, but since his weight is so low he has had to mix it up because he doesn’t have anything left to lose on him. I on the other hand have gotten to the point where I do stretches for the first little bit and then afterwards lift weights on a bench press set that we have so it is pretty nice!

It doesn’t even feel like I am coming home in a month, but I am pretty excited. I have a whole lot more I need to finish up here before I can think about that though. Wish me luck in my last month on the mission! I love and miss all of y’all, and hope that y’all continue to stay safe!

Love Always,
Elder Theodosis

 

Stressful Week

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!

This past week was definitely a trial-filled week, but there were some positives to it. Elder Bell & I ended up staying together for this next transfer so I will be dying (in mission terms) in Draper. Only 3 areas, hahaha. Elder Bell had his colonoscopy Thursday and they found some things that I won’t go into full detail about because I will either gross you out, or not get it right.  After all of that was done we met back up, and some member took us both to Astro Burgers. I didn’t order anything, but the members let me get a drink so I got a Powerade. The members that took us “force fed” Elder Bell and told him that he would either need to eat the bread that came with his meal or he needed to drink all of the milkshake that the members got for him. He chose the shake, but asked while drinking it if he needed to eat the entire thing. The member responded by cussing at him, and telling him to drink the D*#$ shake!  He downed the entire thing after they said that to him. We both found it funny afterwards so it’s all good!

Elder Bell has lost so much weight and he is now down to 122. I don’t think I ever told you how tall he is, but he is 6’1. Not a small kid. He is “so healthy” that he has a habit where he looks at the nutrition label for everything that he eats, and he doesn’t eat fats at all. Right now we are trying to help him get into a habit where he won’t have a problem with eating them, and that is part of the reason why I gave him all my McDonald’s gift cards. He is literally almost all bones, but he has a little bit of skin left.  I have had to learn a whole lot about patience with a little dose of faith/charity since I have been with him, but I honestly don’t know if it is actually going anywhere because it seems like things have started to get more difficult.  The reason why I am freaking out so much is because I’m stressing about getting everything all done that I need to in this transfer before I finish.  I can’t afford to waste any more time, but at the same time I need to help Elder Bell keep up. This probably looks, and sounds like a complaint email, but I honestly don’t know what else to say because I have been completely buried under negative things this past week.

A couple of positive things though that have happened this week is that we put Antwon on date for August 16th, and we picked up a new investigator too. We had to hand off Alexa (12 year old) & Kaylie (10 year old) to the ward so that the ward can fellowship them until they are ready to be taught again, but there will be others that pop up that we can start teaching because anything is possible if you trust in God.  We had this thing happen in our area this past week called Draper Days, and it was a gigantic festival with tons of things. Although I had never been before, it made me think about Austin City Limits because there were also people that came from California to perform. It was a whole lot of fun because we got to go to it and talk to a ton of people too. There were fireworks afterwards, but we didn’t get to stay for that, but we did hear them all from our house.  I hope that all of y’all continue to do well and stay safe!

Love Always,

Elder Theodosis

Things Are Being Reorganized & Fixed

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis (I don’t even think y’all even know what that means anymore, but whatever haha)!

 

This past week was great! There is a whole lot that is going on right now. We are switching everything up so that we can have a more stable foundation for this stake. We still have the same 3-4 people that we are teaching right now, but we are hoping to get more. Elder Bell is going through some medical issues right now and his weight is now down to 125 as of today and getting everything all figured out with his stomach. He is going to start eating a whole lot more so that is a start, and he is now gonna start eating a little more fat as well. Just so you are aware, I am going to give all my McDonald’s gift cards to him. I had them saved up to $135 worth of McDonald’s so I am going to give it all to him because I feel like he needs them a whole lot more than I do, and I’m sorry, but I don’t really like McDonald’s anymore. I have saved these cards up from when I first started, but I have gone to McDonald’s maybe at the very most 9-10 times since I have been out here. 

 

Enough with the ranting – Elder Bell flooded the toilet yesterday, and although it was really frustrating at first I was laughing about it later. We probably used way more bleach then we needed too, but I believe that it killed everything. Elder Bell was freaking out later hoping that we weren’t going to catch some disease, but I’m pretty sure that we would have been fine either way afterwards ha-ha.

 

 

We had a cool experience with one of our investigators who is only 9 yesterday. We taught her about the Joseph Smith story and the Restoration which eventually led to talking about the Book of Mormon, and its importance. We let her talk the entire time and she pretty much summarized the entire first half of Book of Mormon with names and everything so it was really cool! Elder Bell asked if she believed that it was all true and she said of course it it, it’s in the Book of Mormon isn’t it? She is getting really close to commiting to a baptismal date so it will most likely be brought up in the next lesson or so. It’s exciting! 

 

 

Sorry that I don’t really have a whole lot to say. Transfers are also this week, and this tranfer will determine whether or not I finish my mission here or somewhere else. Elder Bell & I are both extremely anxious, but we will be able to find out tomorrow what will be happening so I will be sure to let y’all know the following week.  6 more weeks people! I’m not saying that as a trunky missionary, but I am saying that as an excited/anxious missionary hahaha. I love all of y’all, and hope that everything is going well! 

 

 

Love Always,

Elder Theodosis

Great Fun Filled Week!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Palanis!

This past week was great! We planted tons of seeds, and we found 3 more people that we can start teaching now too! There were a couple of crazy experiences that we had this past week and one of them included some guy forcing us to stay and watch the final seconds of the USA vs Belgium game so we will start with that one. We were going to go to someone elses house, but we saw this guy’s garage door open so we decided to go in and introduce ourselves to him. He said that he wasn’t interested in a message, but he wouldn’t mind talking to us for a bit. We were about to leave because nothing was happening, and then he told us to stay and watch the final moments of the game.

After that was over I went over to the basketball hoop that they had where his older kid was playing basketball and I tried to dunk it, but little did I know that trying to do that would lead to a challenge. He wouldn’t let us leave until I made one. There were many failed attempts before I actually made one. When I made one he was really happy and gave me a high-five & a pound. He said that we could stop back by whenever so a couple of days later we went back to that same area to talk to the people that we originally had planned to see. We stopped to talk to the neighbor because we saw them outside, and after a little while Dean the sports guy invited us into his house. We shared the message of The Restoration with him. It went awesome! He asked for a Book of Mormon after the lesson and said that he was interested in reading it. I happened to put a Book of Mormon in earlier that day and so I handed him the one I had. He is interested in reading the Book of Mormon, and learning more about it, but he doesn’t want to meet with us right now. I think it is ok though because I believe that this will go somewhere in the near future so it’s all good!

We also had another cool experience walking in the park in our area. There are always tons of people hanging out there so on Saturday we went by and talked with people as we were heading home. We talked with this lady who was nice to us, but not too interested. After we talked to her though, we had a group of teenage kids come up to us and ask if there was any possible way that their Brazilian friends could meet with the missionaries. It was awesome!
They didn’t live in our area, but we gave them two pass along cards with one being Familysearch.org & Mormon.org. We explained to them that if they went to Mormon.org they could type in their address and request missionaries to come to their area so they could be taught. I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about how awesome that was to be able to have that happen to us because I know that that will in fact lead to something great!

We had fast & testimony meeting yesterday and I had the opportunity to bear my testimony on those two experiences. I thought it was great because I got to add some humor in along with being real with the people. It is crazy how many different ways you can reach out to people. I personally find fun in it whenever I find opportunities to express my personality to others. That doesn’t mean that I will randomly go around to people’s houses and dunk basketballs, but I will at least get to know them, and try to find ways to leave a nice positive impression. It won’t always end up like that, but when you take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself you find satisfaction in just about everything. Oh yeah, my companion also turned the ripe old age of 19 this past week!

I hope that all of y’all are doing well and that you all had a happy 4th of July! I know I did!
Sorry no pictures this week!

Take Care & Love Always,

Elder Theodosis

Training Is Tough, But It’s Getting Better!

Talofa O-A-Mai-Oe Sole’s!

This past week was great, and a whole lot of good things have been happening in Drape-Town!  Elder Bell has been adjusting pretty quickly to everything, and I have been extremely impressed with his results too!  As of last week his social skills have jumped, his teaching skills have doubled, and his stress levels have dropped like crazy;). Training has been a huge learning experience and I have learned a whole lot from all that has gone on in the past month or so with training him. There are still lots of times where I will find myself stressing over certain things, but overall things have gotten a whole lot better and we usually are able to find things to talk about each day so that is a plus.

We had a miracle happen yesterday where we had one of our Ward Mission Leaders text us about a family that has a kid that is 9 and wants to be baptized. The family that is planning on adopting him want him to be baptized before they adopt him, and the kid wants to be baptized so it is win-win.

Elder Bell & I are both excited about everything that is happening in this area, and even though we aren’t really teaching a whole lot of people right now there is a whole lot of contacting/talking to people that still needs to be done!  There isn’t really anything else that is going on in the area right now, but hopefully something else good will pop up that I can share with y’all.  Take care of yourself everybody, and I look forward to seeing y’all soon!  I’m getting more and more anxious, but don’t worry I’m not trunky, hahaha.

Love Always,

Elder Theodosis

Great Week Full Of Improvement!

Talofa Sole’s!

Sorry for not emailing y’all yesterday, but it is because they moved our preparation day to today. Reason why is because we are going to be going to the temple today! We will be going to the Draper temple today to do a session so that will be fun because I haven’t gone inside the Draper temple before! This past week was great for Elder Bell and me! I will admit that training isn’t easy and most of the time it feels like a parenting job, but it promotes a whole lot of growth for you and for them. We had Kaden’s baptism last Saturday and it went really well too! It was Elder Bell’s first baptism in the mission so I’m glad that he was able to experience that for himself because he has been stressing out a ton with everything that has been happening so it was a good stress reliever for him, ha ha.

That is about it from here. Sorry again for not forewarning y’all about having our preparation day on Tuesday, but this is honestly the last time that this will happen because this will be my last temple trip with my district so it’s all good! Pictures next week! Stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Love Always,
Elder Theodosis

PS: I got the school schedule and it looks like it will definitely be a fun way to get back into the routine of doing “school stuff” haha. I’m looking forward to it and thanks for all of the help! I love you mom!