Donate

Many people have been asking if there is some place they can donate money. We were never expecting this response and are humbled for your thoughts. We tried to make this as easy as possible for you.

Please contribute to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Mission Fund.

• Check payable to: Matthews Ward
• Send to our Bishop: Jeffery Davis
• 8205 Glamorgan Lane 
• Matthews, North Carolina 28104

Personal checks are also welcome, make the check to Maggie Page, and send it to the same address as above.

Thank you again for all your prayers and love, we can feel it.

~Arica Page

Teenage Mormon missionary from Charlotte dies in Calif. bicycle accident

Charlotte Observer
By Lindsay Ruebens
Posted: Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013

Over the summer, a recent Independence High graduate was excited to start fulfilling his calling to serve a two-year mission for the Mormon church near Los Angeles.

But family and friends were heartbroken to learn Thursday that just two months into his mission, Elder Andrew Page, 18, was hit by a car in California while he was on his bicycle and died.

The crash was an accident and Page didn’t look for oncoming traffic when he made a turn, The Deseret News in Salt Lake City reported. Although Page was wearing a helmet, he died of his injuries, including head trauma, shortly after 10 p.m. in a hospital.

On Saturday, Page’s mother, Charlotte resident Maggie Page, described her son as a peaceful, faith-filled and humorous teen. He graduated in the top 20 of his class, she said, was a Boy Scout and loved playing the tenor saxophone.

“Every single person who knew him loved him, and he was the funniest guy ever,” said his friend, Trevor Jackson. He said he grew up with Page and they played saxophone together in the Independence marching band.

“I know it sounds corny, and a lot of people say this, but he was like a brother to me,” said Jackson, who also is 18 and attends Brigham Young University.

Page’s mother said she doesn’t want anyone to blame themselves for his death.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to feel like they have to live with that,” she said, choking up on the phone. “It was where he was supposed to be. There are sometimes things that happen in our lives, and we don’t know the answers why.”

She said her son was a source of strength for her and his three older sisters, particularly after her husband died three and a half years ago.

“He’s been such a blessing to our family, and it will be a struggle to heal the hole in my heart, but I know... this life is so temporary, and we do have eternity to look forward to,” she said.

Bryant Baker, president of the Charlotte North Carolina Central Stake in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called Page “a fine young man.”

“He was a person that people liked to be around, and he was so excited about the opportunity to serve,” Baker said.

After committing to two years of service in California, Page had planned to attend Brigham Young University.

Baker said a funeral is planned for 11 a.m. next Saturday at the Charlotte North Carolina Central Stake on Rocky River Road.

Time Flies When You're in the Sun

Oh man! There is lots to be done!

Hey everybody! Hows it going? I have quite an email for ya so sit back and relax and pay attention all at the same time.

First off and most importantly, CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME! I wish i could express how much the talks and analogies meant to me more than "awesome" but my time is short to express the true feelings of my heart. Im glad that Pres Monson laid the smackdown on missionary work with the members. He had a lot of insights on hastening the work last year but this time the way we must hasten the work is through member missionary work. Every member a missionary. They mentioned that at least 3 or 4 times. Its worth repeating. Another talk i really enjoyed was Uchtdorfs talk on Come, Join with Us. It was so amazing. We rewatched it with some investigators on their computer and they were moved to tears. His name is S.P. Hes prolly my favorite investigator right now. The reason for that being is because he said he would be baptized on the 20th! Im super excited. His wife is a recent convert and his son D. is still taking the lessons. D. is still a little hesitant about being baptized. Pray for him please!

Anyways back to conference. Something else that I noticed was that there were a couple talks on the importance of women. Especially the talk from Christoffersen who laid out and said "I dont want the differences between men and women to be erased" and he said " I dont want strong tough women, i want women who are dignified and loyal". Those were prolly some of my favorite lines. For Hollands talk I was really impressed on how he was completely honest in describing what to do when we are depressed. He is awesome. I would have to say that my favorite talk out of all was Uchtdorfs Come Join talk. It is just so inspiring because that is what I am here to do. Some other highlights that were cool were the talks involving; Exclamation Point, The Marble Story, Uchtdorfs Life Alert (Help Ive fallen and I cant get up), and others. I really do love all of them. They are inspired men of God. I especially love Thomas S. Monson and the council that he gives throughout the whole conference; be not afreaid, neither be thou dismayed. The Lord will fill the words of your mouth if you let Him. Conference has a new meaning when you are a missionary. Let us all be missionaries.

The reason that I am sending this on Wednesday instead of Monday is because I WENT TO THE TEMPLE. I didn't know i was able to! I went to the Los Angeles Temple about 30 minutes away. It was so amazing! It was a very cool experience. They had murals on the walls. It was prolly the most beautiful Ive seen, even though I hate to admit it. It was a very special experience and I'm glad I got to go. On the mission you get to go every 6 months. Im glad that i made the cuttoff :)
I gotta get going. Im so glad and grateful to be blessed with Conference, The temple, awesome investigators and even awesomer supporters. I feel the love around me. I hope you know that I love all of you with the bottom of my heart. And thats pretty deep :)

Love you guys!

LoVE, Elder Page

Short Letter

Hey Erbody!

Not much time this week. I am always short on time but this week especially.

My companions name is Elder Ostler. He is from Washington state. He attends BYU-Idaho. He's is RiDiCuLoUsLy good at Spanish. He has been out for a year and he has a firm grasp on the language. I'm glad he is my companion. And he knows his stuff on bikes.

This week was really good so far. I got to teach a man, he was kind of vulgar but we told him as missionaries we dont do that kind of stuff. He stopped immediately when we said that. He then apologized and said that he was testing us to see if we would react differently. I don't know if that was all correct. Anyways it was just really cool to see him get his act together. I wish i could say that he came to church but he didn't. Something that was really cool during the lesson is that while we were teaching I could imagine him coming to church and coming to know that these things are true. I don't know if it was a vision but it was pretty close. Thats why im excited for this guy.

Another really awesome investigator is the dad of a 16 year old boy that I mentioned last time. He comes to church every week and absorbs the gospel like a sponge. He really is a fun one to teach but his only problem is reading. We should always read the BoM everyday no matter what happens. Even if it is just a couple verses a day. At least its something.

Thats the only investigators that are progressing for us. Its tough to come to this realization but the good thing is that we have a lot of references and contacts. We just need to work on contacting the references to see if they are interested in the Gospel of Christ.

Hears my lesson to all of you that i prolly mentioned before. I wish that I had a stronger testimony of the BoM before my mission. When I came out into the mission I had a testimony of the BoM but now it has been strengthened times a hundred. It is the most correct book of any book ever. I continue to learn from it daily and all my questions are answered daily if i continue to read. That is all i have to say about that. KEEP READING! Its manna from heaven.
Stay in school kids. Love the Gospel. Continue to be converted.

Love,
Elder Page

Last CCM Email

Good Afternoon Glorious World and All Who Inhabit It!

Well folks, its been fun. It is sad, but all good things must come to an end. I am leaving the CCM in just a few days and it will be a great yet sad experience. Great because i will actually start doing the thing that i have been preparing for yet sad to leave the great friends that i have made. I will get to make some more friends though. It will be more great than sad, in fact it will be a bitter sweet symphony. But the next time I talk to Mom will be on the phone, I do believe :) It will surely be a great experience.

Anyways this week was a blast as always. No need for details. Alright, alright ill tell ya. You just had to ask nicely haha. Anyways, I dont know if ive mentioned before district 10D in emails past but they are awesome. They were all in our branch together and we bonded for the whole time in the CCM. We did everything together like eat, play, and share spiritual insights. My district looked up to them literally and spiritually. They were all huge and they all had awesome points of view on different aspects of the gospel. Anyways they left this past monday and it was sad to see them go. They were our first friends leaving the CCM. I think this is good for us because it will be the first of many goodbyes. But before they left, we skipped the regular church videos they have on Sunday, and had a district to district testimony meeting. It was a good trade, I believe. It was probably the most spiritual experience ive had in a while. Everybody shared their testimonies and it was a brilliant experience. The Spirit filled the whole room as everybody spoke. It was cool to hear everyones background and hear how the gospel has influenced everybodys life. It was a real testimony builder.

That was prolly the highlight of my week. It has set the tone of the rest of my mission. OH! Also something that was awesome is that one of the elders from 10D is the starting quarterback from BYU come 2015! So i can say i met someone famous. Woot woot hahaah. And also it is really exciting to leave this CCM. I dont really know how to explain it. Its like leaving for my mission all over again. I cant wait but i also can, if that makes sense.

Anyways, I love this gospel. I know i should be typing in espanol but that would take entirely too long. Entonces, i love this gospel and i hope you know that by now. I wanna bear testimony of the miracle of repentance and how it can help you. If there is anything that you have done in your life that you are not proud of, you can always turn to God to forgive you of your sins. The miracle of forgiveness, in the opinion of yours truly, is that no matter how bad we can be, God will forgive us of our sins. We just need a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We also need a few other steps but just ask your Bishop for help. He is not there to judge you, but to help you take the necessary steps of repentance. He will be very understanding and help you through the whole process. I bear you this wittness and invite all to repent sincerely, en el nombre de Jesucristo, amén.

Love, Elder Pagína

One Week is One Percent

Hey Erbody!

Yep! You´ve guessed it! Today is Pday again! Isnt it cool to think that each week i write is one percent of my mission complete? Crazy huh?

Anyways this week was awesome as always. It was a pretty regular week to say the least. We heard D. Todd Christofferson in our devotional last Sunday. It was an excellent talk about 3 things that he regrets from his mission and how we can do the things that he regrets. The spirit was so strong when he spoke. It was an awesome experience. We also heard Jeffrey R. Holland a couple of weeks ago. I might of mentioned this before and if i did its worth repeating. Anyways he said that when you come home off your mission, you should never go back to what you were before. You should always be improving in the gospel. I loved that.

I didnt get to write much in my journal this week and now im starting to regret it. Sometimes if i need help to remember what happened this last week i look to my journal. The reason i didnt get to write much is because i was too busy talking to my roomies. I need to be more diligent, not just in writing, but in all aspects of the Gospel. But anyways...

Thank you all for your sweet letters and emails. I love hearing from each and everyone of you. I know you all say that its okay that i dont respond immediately but i wish i could. It seems as if someone makes time go much faster when im on the computer. Also I wanted to tell mom that i just got her dear elder sent from like 10 days ago. It was much needed on a rough day. Some days are awesome as can be but other days can be challenging with all that i must remember. Im starting to learn that the Lord doesnt expect me to be a pro at spanish by the time im outta here but i think it could help :) I know i already mentioned that last week but its still somethin im workin on. This week was a really great week because i decided to take breaks when necessary and it really has improved my methods of study. I actually understand what i learn when i do this and i also dont feel stressed. Theres a method to my madness but there is also madness to my method :)

I want all who read this that i love this Gospel. God lives. He appeared to a boy in the woods and restored his church to the earth! Isnt it wonderful that we are able to share this news with others?! Dont take my word for it, but kneel and pray and ask if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I know that if you do this you will receive an answer and i know that you will feel peace unto your hearts. It is so nice to know that this is the true and everlasting gospel. I cant deny it. Ive seen heard and felt too much. One of my most favorite parts of the day is Personal Study. I get to read the Book of Mormon during this time! It really is a sacred text. It answers so many of my questions in ways that i would never think possible. Its so easy to focus on what i dont know and maybe complain a little bit but nothing will get done. Youll still be in the same spot you were before. But i know that if we put our doubts and fears against the truth of the Book of Mormon, the book of Mormon will comfort and protect us. We must seek diligently and work for our answers instead of waiting for them. Faith without works is dead. I love the gospel and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My teachers are awesome. My district- i can describe in 3 words- hardworking, loyal, and punctual.... Seriously they are ridiculously awesome. I learn so much from them everyday and I can honestly say that i love them dearly. My life is great at the CCM. I know my mission will be great as long as i am obedient.

Love, Elder Page

P.S. sorry if this email was jumbled :) i luh yah

Woah, We're Half Way There

¡Hola Todas Personas!

This week has truly been a blur. The days run together and I love it. It makes me feel like Im working hard. Its hard to believe that im really half way there (outta the CCM). I love every second of it. Even the tough times.

This week was one of my more challenging weeks. Just so you know, in case i didnt tell you, i have two teachers. Hermana Olsen in the morning time and Hermano Whittaker in the afternoon. FYI Hermano Whittaker was the first ínvestigator we taught at the beginning of our mtc experience. Anyways it was funny to see our investigator teach us how to use the gospel and to teach us about spanish grammar rules. Entonces, long story short, my teachers are awesome. I was kinda mad at myself one day because we had to have a Spiritual Thought with some other class just to change it up a bit, companionship with companionship. Also this week ive felt like ive hit a plateau in my language learning. I didnt feel as if i was progressing in the language. Anyways It was a good experience but the elders we were talking to knew A LOT more spanish than me and my comp and theyve only been here for like a week less than us. I did have to keep in mind that they are in the intermediate class so i shouldnt compare myself to them. I shouldnt say compare but measure up to them, ya know what i mean? After the lesson we had with them i just was frustrated that my spanish is not very good. I want to be fluent right now but it doesnt work that way. I had to remember the wise words that people keep telling me in Dear Elders. The language will come little by little. I shouldnt expect so much from myself at once. The reason i was feelin a bit stressed is because I have to remember a lot of things. How to prepare a 5 min lesson, different aspects of the gospel that we delve into in devos and what not and what- oh yeah spanish. Sorry if this is overwhelming for you to read but heres the good part. My teachers are awesome. They basically said forget spanish. Its the gospel that teaches you. If you learn the language of the gospel, spanish will come to you eventually. Especially hermano whittaker. He took on some questions that the class had and answered them with the scriptures. He said lets read moroni 7 and see if we cant answer our questions. It was awesome because he didnt plan on doing that for his lesson. He just picked out a random chapter and said if you keep your question in mind, youll receive respuestas. It was awesome because we all had different questions in mind and all received answers.

I LOVE my teachers. More importantly, I LOVE the scriptures. That really strengthened my testimony of The Book of Mormon. I have been reading them everyday and recording my thoughts in my notebook. It really is a blessing to see what a significant change can occur if you simply read. In The Book of Mormon, we can learn the answers to any answer we have. REALLY. Even if it is a seemingly petty question, it can be answered. I love learning about what happened to the Nephites once they thought they had it all figured out. They get chastised. I think that our lives are like that too. We think that we have all the answers and that nothing can stop us. But then we get to prideful and maybe start doubting why its necessary to go to church or to read The Book of Mormon. Dios does this to test our faith. Not the doubting part, but this cycle of pride. What good is faith if we only rely on ourselves? We need faith in Jesucristo in order to remember that we dont know everything but through Him we can. I hope that this made sense, and if i get some things wrong, go ahead and correct me Bishop :)

I just need to remember what [the apostle] Elder Jeffrey R. holland said: dont focus on the faith we dont have, focus on the faith we do have and expand from there, the best way forward is not to look backwards.

I love you guys and to answer some questions I´ll say this. Thanks for the offers for a set of Spanish scriptures, but i already have a set. I guess i forgot to mention that I received spanish scriptures, Preach My Gospel spanish, and other stuff on the first day of being here. And just to be clear about the food, I DO like it. I just thought it was interesting that its not stereotypical spanish food. Its really good but you have to be weary of the chicken on bone. And yes its messed my digestive system up a few times hehe :) And im not sick anymore, i finally caught my nose. And today i went to the temple AGAIN. It was awesome. It always is. The Temple is a house of God and im glad i got to go.

BTW i wanted to tell you real quick that traffic here is ridiculous. Everyone goes really fast and they all run stop lights. Also the roads are not very good condition. They randomly have speedbumps so that people wont go too too fast. Its kinda funny. They call the speed bumps dead policemen. And they way you merge is by honking your horn and moving over really quickly. We almost got in several accidents today, but we didnt :) we are all safe.

I love you all! Thanks for the letters that everybody sends! I will try to respond rapidly. BTW im not going to send anything by snail mail. Sorry to disappoint. It takes a while to get to you guys and i dont feel safe doing it. ALright!?!?

Love,
Elder Pagína

Just Another Day in Paradise!

Hey its me again!

Just so ya know I have received all of your Dear Elders so thank you for sending them! I would kindly ask that you would send them only by mail please, not to my email. It takes exactly 10 days to get here just so ya know. I just recieved your letters yesterday. Its a little tough to keep track of things that i have or haven't read with them in my email too but its all good :)

This week I will try to write to everybody. Sorry for leavin people out. Its just the way the Choki (cookie) crumbles.

Also i thought i might mention why i didnt really have a lot of time last week. Cause I went to the TEMPLE! It was sooooo beautiful inside. It was a really special experience. I knew exactly what was happening and I am glad that i went so many times before my mission. Thank you guys for being awesome! I loved every second of it.

I really am grateful to you guys. I dont know where i would be with out you people and the church. Its such a blessing to be in this Evangelio and sentir the things i feel. I cant thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessings I receive.

Also i wanted to mention that I got sick last Wednesday with a horrible stuffy nose and sore throat. I didnt rest at all though. I knew that if I kept on working I would get through it. Boy was I wrong. My throat doesnt hurt any more but nose continually runs and Im not quick enough to catch it :)

I guess Ill give you a quick run down on the food here since Ash asked. It usually is pancakes or waffles daily for breakfast or you can have some kind of meat with some fruit sauce covering it. Its not bad, but i can tell you im kinda tired of pancakes and waffles. Probably because they are made from the same batter. Cereal is always an option for every meal. It runs out quick though so you gotta be fast. Las Hermanas and Older Couples always go first for food, which I actually think is nice but you´ve got plenty of others who complain. Chivalry is not dead :)

Anyways the lunch consists of some kind of chicken or beef with really spicy sauce on it. Beans, rice, and corn tortillas are always available during lunch. Its really nice to make your own taco slash burrito. But youve gotta be careful about the chicken on the bone. One day we were eating it without question and we realized all our pieces had feathers on it! It was truly disgusting. Lets just say that cereal was out that afternoon hahaha. But other than that there hasnt been too many disgusting things. Some things youve gotta grin and bear. Bear or bare? And dinner is very similar to lunch minus the beans and tortillas. Its not stereotypical Mexican food here. If you think Mexican food you think of some sort of enchilladas or burritos, with cheese covering the whole plate. Nope it really is just some sort of meat with fruit sauce on it. Like peach covered pork or something. And every tuesday is pizza night which is nice except the dough is a little doughy. Eh, cant complain. I like it (:

It really is a blessing to be with such amazing people surrounding me. I look up to every single person in my class. Everyone has their strong suit. Haha mission jokes. Anyways its cool to see how people grow in el Evangelio. I can feel each individual´s sweet spirit. Also since Ashleigh asked again I thought i would mention that I live with my classroom at my house (minus las hermanas obviously). My housemates are the same as my classmates. We sleep one room away from each other. 4 elders in my room and 3 elders in their room. 2 showers between both rooms. 1 objective for us all. (<<< See what I did there!!!)

I knew that it was inevitable, but the class got into a little spat. I wont go into great detail but i thought it was worth mentioning. But after we got over ourselves it was way cool to see us become even closer, if its even possible. We apologized and then moved on. We also talked about ways to avoid these things. I love my class and Im glad we are so close.

Thanks for supporting me while im here! I love you guys. And mom you said to ask for anything. I want a NEW WATCH. Im not fond of it. It ticks too loudly and I cant tell time very fast. I know thats horrible but i would like that really cool watch Brennan Burgoyne had. It was awesome and it told time effectively. And i want a Five Guys cheeseburger so bad. Amen.

Love,

Elder Pagina

Elder Pagina & The CCM

¡Hola Mi Familia!

Yeah sorry for having pday on thursday and not being able to write. Your first week here you dont get a pday. Well today is the day! I have pdays on thursdays in case you didnt catch that :)

I have got to say Mexico is AMAZING! Everyone is so nice where ever you go. Everyone in the CCM (Spanish MTC, it means Central Commission for MIssionaries, in spanish of course) is super nice and willing to help at the drop of a hat. Its so nice to be around wholesome strangers 24/7. Everyone has the same goal. Su Objetivo. Which is the Missionary Objective. I have it memorized in Spanish! Yay me! I could recite it right now but then how would you know Im not looking at it haha :) I also have the first vision memorized in spanish.

I guess Ill tell you a bit about what goes on around here. Wake up at 630 every morning, shave, brush your tooth. From 7 to 8 personal study. Breakfast at 8. Then we have language study for most of the day until 1140 which is gym time. Then lunch, then prepare to teach our first "investigator" his name is Pedro. He is actually a member but he acts like an investagador for our practice. Its hard to understand what he is asking or what he needs to hear but me and mi compañero made it through our lessons with the spirit present. We had a total of 5 lessons with him. It was muy dificil but we got him to commit to baptizm! We are pretty awesome.

Oh I totally forgot to mention my companion! His name is Elder Logan Nielsen. He is from Seattle. He is soooo funny! He is a huge guy like muscle-wise. Hes not that tall, so hes pretty stocky. He can bench some ridiculous amount and he eats like 4 times the amount of food of a regular person. No literaly. We had pizza a few nights ago and he ate 9 pieces. And they were huge slices! We say he eats like a beast because he does. He is really spiritual too. We both talk about the same amount during our discussions with our investigador (its all in spanish just fyi) and he comes up with some really good sentences. We both love Batman and we both love Harry Potter. Hes a pretty happy go lucky guy.

Elder Page's companion: Elder Nielsen

All my housemates are awesome. Debo escribo a circa de them for a while pero i wont. I will just give a quick run down cause their awesome. In my room there are 4 beds, 1 for me, 1 for elder nielsen, 1 for elder elm, and 1 for elder haws. Elder Elm is from Utah and he is a pretty cool guy. He loves to read and he has listened to the audio books for Harry Potter for like 3 years straight. He loves Harry Potter soooo much. His mom gave him a list of HP quotes that can relate to the gospel too. He is also a big sports fan. And elder haws is a cool guy too. He loves to run and has some ridiculous times for cross country running. He is from Nebraska. He is probably the smartest guy in our district.

There are a total of 2 pairs of sisters, Hermanas Rawls and Carter and Lau and Stott in my class. There are 3 sets of elders in my class, Elders Haws and Elm, Elders Goff and Tesina and Perry (a 3 some) and then me and elder Nielsen. We all mesh well together. We do everything together and thats okay by me cause they are all awesome people. Ill tell you more about them in my next letter if you want me to.

Housemates

Anyways ill tell you some funny things that happened. On the first day here we taught an investigator as a class as part of orientation. We were wondering what were some ways to approach the investagador (investagador is the spanish spelling). Anyways the teacher asked "do you think that he could ever be a member?" and then hermana rawls hand shot up and said "oh yeah, mormon girls all over him!" It was so funny because she basically said he was cute and it caught me off guard. It was like the first really funny thing i heard since being at the mtc. Hahaha. I told my class about it and they thought it was hilarious too so now its our inside joke. It was funny.

Everyone here calls me Elder Pagina (pa-hee-na) because that means Page in spanish. Sometimes they even call me just Pagina. I like my new nickname :) even my language teacher sister olsen calls me pagina. Its funny.

Elder Page and his teacher Sister Olsen

I love it here. It really is a pleasure living in my own house and we get to go outside every where we go. At night we can see the stars and we can see the mountain right next to us light up. It really is bonita.

Sorry if i dont get to everyones emails. I will try to be faster next time. Next time ill be deadly serious next time. Whats that from? My brain!

Love, Elder Pagina

Flight to the Missionary Training Center

¡Hola Everybody!
I am here and I am safe. It was a little nerve racking to fly by myself but I made it through. I don't have much time to write except to say that i made it. Forgive my typos the keyboards down here are a little weird and they will take some time to get used to. I want you all to know that I love you and I will be okay away from home. I met some other missionaries and they are going through the exact same things as me and that was comforting.
I couldnt help but relate the plane ride here to my new beginning. As I left, I thought that the take off was my take off in a missionary way. Its anticipated, unexpected, and yet satisfying. Its a little bumpy at first but once you keep going it gets more and more beautiful. The lining above the clouds truly is silver. I know because Ive seen it. I know that Heavenly Father sent me that comforting that message at that time and it was what i needed to hear.
I fell asleep a couple times on the plane but the screaming baby next to me wasnt helping :) Customs was really easy to get through but it was a little tough to navigate through the rest of the airport. The toughest part so far is the language barrier. I arrived and was quickly whisked away by the welcomers. They didnt know any english
bye sorry

15 minutes later

hahahahahahha! sorry for that unexpected goodbye. A siren went off and then they told us to get out. Suposedly an earthquake was going to happen but nothing ever happened! hahah that was funny. It wasnt a drill either it was just a small tremor haha.
Anyways, they didnt know any english so it was tough to figure out that they wanted me to get some spanish money and then go to the bathroom. Then everybody started to come. There was 5 of us total. 4 elders and 1 sister. They are all pretty awesome.
The bus ride from the airport to the missionary training center took about 50 mins. It was a great site to see.
Anyways i hafta leave for real. I love you guys. I´ll be learnin spanish in no time and i will learn Gods language too.
Love, Elder Page

Officially labeled a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Open House

First some preshow kid pictures:

 Arin got a little silly!!

 We got some good ones though.

 The Johnston Family

 California Arcadia Misson

 Brother and Sister Steffenhagen

 The Thomas Sisters

 Jackson Family

 Cousin and Cousin-in-law

Thanks to all those who came out to support and give some love to Andrew; even those who I do not get any pictures. We appreciate it all!

A Couple of Addendum's

Missionaries can now email whomever they'd like and don't have the time limit like they used to in the glory days. :) So if you have an email address you may give it to Andrew and he can reply. He will still write a general update email and I will still post it on here.

Also, with the new rules on the emails, it doesn't mean that hand written letters (and packages) aren't appreciated. I will update his physical address as I receive it.


Thank you,
Arica (management)

Farewell Talk

We're in the final countdown to Andrew's missionary departure! 

Here are some notes Andrew took for his farewell talk. He's so ready! 

My Farewell Talk

Good morning, brothers and sisters! I just wanted to say I’m not going on a mission……..(He sat down right here as if he was done talking)... I am going to serve a mission. J Yes, my dad always said not to go on a mission, but serve your mission. I’m sure lots of people have said that phrase but he’s the first I’ve heard that from. There’s much wisdom in that different set of words, “serve” rather than “go on a” mission. “Go” implies the act of continuing on in a certain state or condition, while “serve” denotes an act that helps the betterment of others. This brings me to my topic, which is My Testimony Prompts Me To Act. (When I say act I mean it in the sense of serving, fulfilling a calling, whatnot).

This is such an appropriate topic for me since I am about to serve my mission fairly soon. I’m grateful to speak to all of you on this topic. I’m thankful for the words that were already spoken by Sister Ross and Sister Lorimer. I pray that the Spirit can be with us as I finish up the meeting. I told a few of you that my mission president told me not to prepare anything for my talk but go by the Spirit only. I actually reread the letter he sent me and it said “try not to read your talk verbatim but go by the Spirit” so I’ll try to do what he asks of me J. We’ll see how it goes.

I’d like to start off by referring to a talk by Elder Holland from this past General Conference. It’s called Lord I Believe. Elder Holland tells us a story about a father and his son who was sick and needed to be healed. They tried everything they could but no one could heal the son. Then Jesus came to them. The father said “If thou canst do any thing,” he said, “have compassion on us, and help us. “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Elder Holland went on to say that he can’t read the words “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us” without weeping. The father is saying “our whole family is pleading. Our struggle never ceases. Can you help us? We will be grateful for anything—a partial blessing, a glimmer of hope.” Christ then goes on to heal his son.

My perspective is that this man is putting all his faith in Christ because he knows he will heal his son. He is showing his testimony by relying on his faith in Christ. He is acting by, as it said, “straightway” crying out Lord I believe. Without an instance of hesitation he knows he cannot deny Christ and he asks for help. I appreciate this story because it shows us so much. It tells us what Christ requires of us. He requires us to believe in Him and have faith in Him. And with these equipped, all things are possible. It tells us what kind of man the father is. He is the type of man who is willing to sacrifice everything in order to get his son healed. He is also not afraid to ask for help. Asking for help is the first attribute of My testimony prompts me to act.

The second criterion is one that I already touched on but I have a better example for it. In Mark chapter 4 starting at verse 18 it says

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

So from this passage of scripture we can learn that the apostles straightway left their nets and followed Christ. It doesn’t say that they meandered about and said can’t we leave later? They immediately acted upon the will of the Lord. The father with the sick son, he also “straightway” said Lord I believe. I love both of these instances of action because they both demonstrate their testimony with much quickness. They determine what the right action would be and decide to act upon it with much haste. Their testimony prompts them to act with efficiency. Getting the job done straightway is the second attribute of My testimony prompts me to act.

 The third point is one that might be overlooked but it is as essential as the last two points. In Luke chapter 17 it deals with the 10 lepers that Christ heals. After he heals them only one returns to give Him thanks at His feet. Christ then asks did I not clean ten? But where are the nine? Then he tells the Samaritan that thanked him to go and thy faith hath made thee whole. It was such a simple act to give thanks for this marvelous miracle Christ performed but Christ demonstrated further powers by making the Samaritan whole in return for thanking him. The Samaritan was humble enough to remember who healed him after he was cleansed and thus received further blessings. It is important that we remain humble as we are acting upon our testimonies much like the thankful Samaritan. He demonstrated faith and courage by washing himself clean of his leprosy. He also exemplified and acted upon his testimony by remembering and thanking Christ. His humility is a trait that we all can demonstrate when our testimonies prompt us to act. Elder Uchtdorf said this about humility: Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman. I couldn’t have said it any better than he could. Remaining humble is the third attribute of My testimony prompts me to act.

The fourth and final point is a tough one but with the help of the Lord anything is possible. We go to Nephi in the Book of Mormon chapter 17. Nephi deals with his murmuring brothers. It says And when my brethren saw that I was about to ^abuild a ship, they began to ^bmurmur against me, saying: Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship;  And this goes on for several more verses but then Nephi has the courage to say a lot of points that show that the Lord has helped them all this time. He even says Ye are ^aswift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God; which is hard for Laman and Lemuel to hear but it was necessary for them to hear it. Then Nephi gets filled with the power of God and shocks them. Sometimes we as members have to take initiative and have the courage to stand firm in the foundation of Christ. We must be prompted by the Spirit and our own testimony to act in defending truth and righteousness. The Spirit can guide our testimonies and it takes much courage to act upon those moments. We need to remember Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. President Thomas S. Monson said It is this sweet assurance that can guide you and me—in our time, in our day, in our lives. Of course, we will face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully, but also as a determination to live decently. A moral coward is one who is afraid to do what he thinks is right because others will disapprove or laugh. Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well. Standing firm and exemplifying courage is the fourth and final point in My testimony prompts me to act.

The California Arcadia Mission

Andrew will be serving in the California Arcadia Mission in the Spanish language. He reports to the Mexico Missionary Training Center on August 7th. 

We were waiting for his call all week and we got the mail on Good Friday.

 And we found this...

He's nervous? Excited? Ready? 

All of the above! 

Here's the official video:

Thank you to all of those who came over to share in opening his call. We are thankful for your friendship and support. Andrew is very excited and says he feels: "excited y satisfecho."

Keep you posted.

~Arica

They're In

Hello to all who read this blog,
This is Arica, Andrew's second oldest sister, I will be taking care of all things dubbed "Andrew's Mission". When it comes to emails, communication, addresses, or any other sort of information...I'm your girl.

A couple of housekeeping items for now and the future:

• You may comment on the blog but Andrew will not be responding. Remember who's running the blog. If you have questions for me, Arica, you can post them there too. Don't post them on facebook...I probably will not see them. All conversations/questions will be discussed on the actual blog.

• I will mostly use this as a place to put his emails while he is on his mission, for all to enjoy. 

• Pictures will be shared ONLY when Andrew sends them, I will not beg for pictures from him, this part will be a learning curve to us all. 

• Andrew can only email family while on his mission, you may email him but it's better if you just write a letter. It's a lot more fun to get mail during the week than 1000 emails once a week.

• I will be posting these on HIS (Andrew's) facebook page, so no need to worry if you missed an email. Also, you can follow him on here by typing your email address in the box under Follow My Emails. 

That concludes the boring but necessary stuff.

In the mean time, I thought I'd announce...Andrew's papers are officially in.

Official mission photo

Andrew got started on all of his doctors appointments and meetings in February and finished with the Stake President last Tuesday. We were informed the papers were sent to Salt Lake on Friday night. Now...we wait.

Take time answer the poll (above) and we'll let you know when the call comes and where he will be serving.

Thanks,
Arica Page