Happy Spring!

Dearest Friends and Family!

                                          Another fast week has passed here in the Ohio and I am still full of the wonder of what the days may bring. I wish I could adequately explain how I am feeling about the work right now; the main questions that repeat in my head are: How does Father do it? Why does He do it? I cannot say how impressed I have been with a feeling of love from Him these last two weeks especially. I feel no closer to Him than to see the people I am teaching progressing. I want to tell you all about Mary. She is the girlfriend of one of our less-active members and has been meeting with us for the last 6 weeks. Mary  has had a hard upbringing and she has raised three children from the time she was 18 with no real help from their fathers. She has such a humble spirit and such a love for her children. Over the time that we have been teaching her we have seen so much change in her; especially in her desire to do what is right. Though she struggles to read she always keeps her commitments to read the scriptures even if it means she has to re-read the chapter over and over. Despite being a 20 cigarette a day smoker she has dwindled down to only 3 yesterday! And she has been sharing the gospel with  her roommate and acting as her guide an mentor. She has banned anyone from smoking in the house anymore and has really cleaned the place up; it has done a 180 from the first time that we taught their. She and Dan are planning on getting married on April 12th and then the week following will be her baptism! It has built my faith just watching this family! When humble hearts come to know God, miracles happen! We took their family on a tour of Kirltand last weekend and had a wonderful experience. We were all joined in fasting and the Spirit was ever present.  The spirit was pured out upon us all as we offered Dan and Mary a blessing in the School of the Prophets where the Word of Wisdom was revealed. That day has been a major turning point and since they have not stopped progressing. Keep this good family in your prayers! They are going to make it!

 

                                        I am so happy to be at this place; meaning Warren, Ohio and also so happy to be at this place spiritually. Though their are yet 'mountains to climb' I know with the help of the Savior that the way is sure. Elder Payne and I have gotten along better than perhaps any companion I've had in the past. The ward's trust and love for us and the work also seems to be continuing to improve and yesterday I had the privilege of speaking in sacrament meeting. I was asked to speak on 'Unity' and was blessed throughout the week to be able receive many impressions from the spirit as to what I should say. I felt very good about the talk when it concluded and had several members comment on how the spirit was manifest to them. I love speaking in public on my mission because if you are willing to put your agenda on hold and let the spirit guide you can literally be a mouthpiece; it is hard to explain, but it is so edifying. The best part of the experience was the 70 year old lady that walked up to the stand when the meeting was over and said "Elder Prince, you have an old soul don't you?", I had to laugh at that!

 

                                       Well, I best be going! I love you all! I love the Ohio! and I love the Lord! May we all come together in unity of the faith is my inner most desire.

                                                                                                        Happy Spring! Love, Elder Prince

Another Transfer Slips Away

Dearest Family and Friends,

                                             I can't express enough how good it is to write you today. I am full of gratitude and amazement at the goodness of God! I want to first and foremost say congratulations to my brother Elder Doutre. This is yet another evidence that with a will there is a way and that God has not ceased to be a God of Miracles. Faith will always prevail; God is always faithful. I am so proud of you my brother. I know that the coming years of your life will be some of the very most meaningful. Thank you for your example. Who would've know us to little punk 7th graders from Albion Middle School would be one day builders of the Kingdom of God on Earth! I'll miss you my friend; but what is 4 years between brothers?

 

                                             Another great week has passed here in Warren! On Sunday I had the privilege of baptizing my good friend Donte Fellows! He is the son of a recent convert in our ward and we have been teaching him faithfully since I first arrived. I am so proud of this young man and all of the faith he put forth to prepare for his baptism! He felt the spirit so strong at his baptismal service and the look on his mother face was better than a thousand perfect mornings! I know this young man will be a missionary and make his mother proud. I have served 6 months in the Youngstown Ohio Stake and every soul I have had the honor of baptizing in this stake has been under the age of 20. I have served in 3 other stakes in Ohio and in all others our converts have been over the age of 20. This stake needs future leaders baldy and I have been so impressed with how the Lord is preparing for future generations to be blessed and for Kirtland to be built up again!

 

                                             We are still working with Mary, Daniel, Leesha and Adam (all roommates). We took our Bishop teaching with us this week and Dan and Mary expressed that they wished to be married! So needless to say we are going to be planning a marriage here in the next few weeks. Little do these people in Ohio know that when I am a missionary by day and a wedding singer by night! I am going to blow their minds! This group of friends has been so exciting to teach as they are all keeping their commitments and getting excited about learning. They have expressed several times how they are beginning to see the changes happening in their life! It is so exciting!

 

                                              Elder Payne and I are doing well. It is crazy how fast time is going. We are already on our 5th week of training! He is growing so much and I love to watch him get it more and more. He is catching the vision of missionary work and the magnitude of his calling is beginning to really rest upon his mind. I've also got him knocking off pant sizes between running in the morning and biking all around town all day! Things couldn't be better! I am excited to keep the pace and finish strong in these last two transfers!

 

                                               My friends I can't say enough about how grateful I am today! May we always keep the love of God in our hearts. We we stay focused on the atonement. I know that my Redeemer lives! I hope you all have a great week! Back to war in Warren!            

                                                                                                       Love, Elder Prince

6 Weeks in Warren

Dearest Family and Friends,

                                           So much to say in so little time. The highlight of my week was the confirmation of our good friend Donte. Elder Payne was voice and he did a terrific job. I am so grateful that he is having these experiences so early on in his mission and beginning already to taste the fruits of his labor! We have still been biking all over this town. It is a lot of fun to have everybody honk at you because of how much the enjoy your haircut; but the odd thing is that I am always wearing a helmet so I don't  know what all the fuss is about! ;). I was sick with a flu/cold all of Friday which was pretty interesting. I cleared out a whole case of airborne, two gallons of water, stayed knocked out in my bed with Ny-Quil and got a priesthood blessing at the end of the day and rose the next morning like nothing happened! Pretty much everybody that we teach and their dogs are sick so I figured it was only a matter of time before I got something and sure enough I did; and it only took a complete 24 hour shut down to get back to normal! So, aside from getting sick this week was great. We have been focusing on finding through our less-active members and we have had a lot of great experiences in doing this. We had two trips to Kirtland set up with investigators this week which both fell through freeing up a whole half a day of back up plans and it was amazing how many times we found ourselves in the right places at the right times. The sun is starting to come out a little and we saw the first flowers of the year peek out of the ground so I am glad to know that we are going to have some warmer weather to work with!  Dan and Mary are continuing to do well. We are trying to get their wedding plans underway, which should be very exciting. They also committed to live the Word of Wisdom this week and this Saturday we are planning on taking them to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland to give them a blessing where the revelation on the Word of Wisdom was revealed! It is such a blessing to have Kirtland here in the mission; our investigator get to experience the Restoration their; it is a place of conversion. Also, President called this week and asked if I would accept the assignment to be a district leader of the Ashtabula District. I was pretty shocked by the call to be honest as I thought my days in leadership were over but I told him that I would love to accept his assignment. I am excited to work with the Elders and Sisters in my district and I am especially grateful because now I have the right to go on an exchange to Ashtabula and return their for the first time in a year and a half. Ashtbaula is still my most favorite area and I thought I would have to wait to my release to return there and be with some of the converts! So I am looking forward to that and am hoping to travel up north pretty soon. By the way, transfers were on Thursday and this transfer saw the arrival of 29 missionaries and only 6 went home. The mission added 12 new areas! Pretty exciting times and all of this is in consequence of President Monson's announcement on the change of missionary age. I am so privileged to be able to serve in this capacity at this time! I am right where I want to be at this stage of my mission. Thank you all for your letters, your e-mails and especially for your prayers. Please keep praying that we can be lead to more people to teach and that our investigators will continue to progress! The Savior is at the helm of this work and I know that the direction we are headed has many blessing in store. I know this Church is true. Let us all be doers of the word!

                                                                                                                            Love, Elder Prince

Another Transfer Slips Away

Dearest Family and Friends,

                                             I can't express enough how good it is to write you today. I am full of gratitude and amazement at the goodness of God! I want to first and foremost say congratulations to my brother Elder Doutre. This is yet another evidence that with a will there is a way and that God has not ceased to be a God of Miracles. Faith will always prevail; God is always faithful. I am so proud of you my brother. I know that the coming years of your life will be some of the very most meaningful. Thank you for your example. Who would've know us to little punk 7th graders from Albion Middle School would be one day builders of the Kingdom of God on Earth! I'll miss you my friend; but what is 4 years between brothers?

 

                                             Another great week has passed here in Warren! On Sunday I had the privilege of baptizing my good friend Donte Fellows! He is the son of a recent convert in our ward and we have been teaching him faithfully since I first arrived. I am so proud of this young man and all of the faith he put forth to prepare for his baptism! He felt the spirit so strong at his baptismal service and the look on his mother face was better than a thousand perfect mornings! I know this young man will be a missionary and make his mother proud. I have served 6 months in the Youngstown Ohio Stake and every soul I have had the honor of baptizing in this stake has been under the age of 20. I have served in 3 other stakes in Ohio and in all others our converts have been over the age of 20. This stake needs future leaders baldy and I have been so impressed with how the Lord is preparing for future generations to be blessed and for Kirtland to be built up again!

 

                                             We are still working with Mary, Daniel, Leesha and Adam (all roommates). We took our Bishop teaching with us this week and Dan and Mary expressed that they wished to be married! So needless to say we are going to be planning a marriage here in the next few weeks. Little do these people in Ohio know that when I am a missionary by day and a wedding singer by night! I am going to blow their minds! This group of friends has been so exciting to teach as they are all keeping their commitments and getting excited about learning. They have expressed several times how they are beginning to see the changes happening in their life! It is so exciting!

 

                                              Elder Payne and I are doing well. It is crazy how fast time is going. We are already on our 5th week of training! He is growing so much and I love to watch him get it more and more. He is catching the vision of missionary work and the magnitude of his calling is beginning to really rest upon his mind. I've also got him knocking off pant sizes between running in the morning and biking all around town all day! Things couldn't be better! I am excited to keep the pace and finish strong in these last two transfers!

 

                                               My friends I can't say enough about how grateful I am today! May we always keep the love of God in our hearts. We we stay focused on the atonement. I know that my Redeemer lives! I hope you all have a great week! Back to war in Warren!            

                                                                                                       Love, Elder Prince