"Faith and Trusting in the Lord" Dec 16th 2012

this was a weird week, haha i dont got to much to write about it, lots of crazy stuff happened and im just left with a big question mark over my head haha. people in our area are still progressing so thats good, no complaints there. the christmas broadcast was really inspiring and it was something i think everybody needed to hear. This christmas season is even more different than last year, but the spirit of christmas is always still there, when we let it be. ive been reading jesus the christ and its absolutley incredible what He did for us and for me, really helped bring in the christmas spirit, we had a miracle happen yesterday at church, a less active who probably has the hardest head i have ever met came to church! her biggest problem was not coming to sacrament meeting cause she was working and no matter what we said she wouldnt budge. well yesterday we saw her walk in and it was incredible to see her using her faith and trusting in god to help her and make everything alright. the spirit of the lord truly touched her heart and she made the change. it always depends on us to make the change and when we decide to make the change, we will experience the most sweetest joy. i love you family and wish you a merry christmas! Elder Machen

"This Work Is AMAZING" Dec 9, 2012

Well howdy there family! it was great to hear from you and see the pictures i love that! well this week was crazy, we had a lot of things going on and our work suffered a little bit, nevertheless we got it done and we saw some great progression in some of our less actives and espically in our investigators. we have one family the "daven family" there is 6 of them included one of their cousins thats interested and we got 3 of them at church! we were way pumped! the other 3 had a emergency, oh well things happen, we were happy for the results, all in all we had 7 investigators come to church! it was a great week. this week was not all easy, it was a rough one with get punted left and right, people hiding more than usual haha and some of the worst excuses but thats all apart of the mission! i relied heavily this week on our Heavenly Father cause there were times i was just ticked and didnt know exactly what to do, but thats the amazing thing, hes always there to ease our burdens and give the direction we need. it was a great thing that helped me grow personally. today we had a activity and we went hiking, it was ok, i did get to hold to huge pythons that was neat and this week when i was on exchanges i got to hold a monkey! it was way cool it started picking throw my hair looking for lice and i learned they dont like it when you smile, they think your mad haha the little guy bit my finger, dont worry it wasnt bad, just a little nibble hahaha everybody was laughing way hard. Family this work is amazing and im loving it, we are working hard and the lord is really blessing us out here, our area is slowly starting to progress since i got here and thats been the great blessings from heavenly father. i love you guys and hope you have a great week! no news yet on the christmas call, if anything ill just call when its christmas over there. mahal kita elder machen

"And Then There Were Three" Dec 2, 2012

well this week was a interesting one for sure! we got a new companion this week, one elder in our house got sent home so we got put into a 3 some. our new companion is elder discaya, hes probably the coolest pilipino ive ever met! we had such a good time this week, the work was interesting at first there being 3 of us but we figured it out and man, this week was full of great things! this week we extended a lot of baptismal invitations to some well prepared families! im excited to see them progress as we help them get ready for baptism! this week i learned a lot from both of my companions, we set some lengthy goals that made us stretch and do the best that we could, we talked to so many people this week and found a lot of new investigators. our focus is starting to switch back to investigators and so its been a great challenge for me espically because my whole mission as been with less actives but im excited for the challenge. elder terry and i are doing great, the kids a stud with a fire for the work! haha he reminds me of the kid of the best two years that will just talk to everybody, hes been a good example for me! its been such a fast transfer! its already week 5. the work is starting to progress here in santa maria and its getting fun! well im kinda at a loss of words because of the new news, really throws a twist on things! i love you guys and thank you for your example! Elder Machen

"Self Evaluation" Nov 25th, 2012

Well this was thanksgiving huh? haha honestly i totally forgot when it was! people where asking me and i think i said the 24 of november or something i guess i was wrong, but im glad you guys got to have such a good time with bryce and cassidy! sounds great! well this week was a eventful one that tested me and elder terry. it was interesting cause we had lots of stuff going on and we tried finding some people in some areas in our area that we havent been to but that didnt turn out so well cause we just ended up walking so far and it really wasnt effecient, but it was a good learning experience. ok mom i dont want you to worry with what happened this week because as of right now i am 100% and nothings wrong but last tuesday i got bit by something and my ankle swelled up to the size of a baseball and i could barely walk! it was the weirdest thing ever, really painful as well but we still went out and worked and by the time we got home it was bigger and i wasnt feeling well so i called sister monahan and we got some antibiotics. they called the missionary doc and he said i had staphe infection, but we caught it early enough and so it was ok, i just had to stay inside one day cause i wasnt feeling good but like i said please dont worry haha im totally fine right now. so that was interesting. this week i also learned the importance of self evalution! its one of the most important things we can do because we constantly have to keep improving ourselves! this week things just werent falling into place and so we were constantly reveiwing what we could be doing better in our work and it was great what we learned! as far as our work went this week we had some great things happen with the La's. we met this one la named philip and he has been la only because he went abroud to work but came back and still wasnt going to church and said he complete lost his testimony. we taught him and that same sunday he came to church! we were pretty surprised with that! and he has a great support system so that helped. then we went back to follow up if he had read and prayed to know if the book of mormon was true and he said yes i know its true! wow! it was so great! he thanked us for the visits cause he said it really helped. this work is so rewarding! then we met this part member family and we told them we were going to stop by there house before church and we did, well it was obvious that they forgot so he said ill just catch up. well usually that means "yea im really not coming" but to our surprise he came! it was great! tender mercies of the Lord for sure! with our investigators where still working with them, some our so promising they just have no finish. meaning they get excited about the things we teach but dont act on it, like coming to church, thats the hardest part of our work here. our area in some aspects just seems dead so we have our work cut out for us but im pumped for the challenge heavenly father has given us! well family just like i say every week i am having the time of my life! dont worry just smile! Reach the Expection! mahal kita Elder Machen