Casi Navidad!

So the biggest thing that has hit me this week is how little everyone knows about us, and how difficult it is to inform them as a missionary. Almost everyone just assumes we are robots coming to assimilate them and don't even want to look at us too long. There was even a lady who saw us coming and opened her door before we even got there and shouted no thanks and slammed it. No one really realizes that we are real people who have made and are making big sacrifices to be here because we care about them.  Obviously we think it'd be fantastic if they listened to our message, felt the truthfulness of it and joined the church, but we don't force it on them. We just invite to learn and help people come closer to Christ, and if they don't want to do that, then we're always happy to just do some service. We're not as aggressive and forceful as they think... but that's the first thing that comes to mind when they see the suits and nametags. That's why regular members are so much more effective at finding, they are just seen as normal people, and they make friends first, then when it's known that they are Mormon, the other people don't run away.  The people who understand that we are just there to help, even if they don't want our message stop and talk and we always have a pleasant conversation. so I just want to encourage everyone who reads this and is a member to make sure everyone who knows you knows it, and if missionaries ever come up in conversation, just make it clear that we are here only to help and teach and uplift people, we don't want to force them to do anything or fight or whatever... That way we might get a little less flak when we're trying to jsut brighten their day.

Another challenge I'd like to make is to anyone who is reading this who is not a member of the church. If you haven't taken the time to learn about the church and it's history and beleifs, do so. A great way to do that is to read The Book of Mormon, or tak to the missionaries. I promise that neither of those things will brainwash you. You can even tell the missionaries you just want to learn and not convert. They'll probably still ask you to pray about the things they teach and maybe even if you'll get baptized, but don't let it scare you. Your obligation is not to them, but to yourself and your God. So just do what feels right to you. We had a lady get really mad at us and not really let us talk because she said that she only studies from the Bible, the word of God, and not from a man made book, but I'm sure she hasn't ever even looked at the Book of Mormon.  We only really had time to simply say we know the Book of Mormon is of God before she closed the door.  What I would say to her if I had time is this: I have read nearly all of the Bible, and I have felt it's truthfullness insomuch that I would say I know it to be the word of God, but I have also read The Book of Mormon and have felt the same testimony of it's truth and know it to be the word of God as well. What qualifies us in saying that God can't give us more testimony of His son? and if He did, would you deny it? So read the book first, then look me in the eye and tell me it isn't a good book, tell me it's not from God. You won't be able to, for it is.

Something that made me happy, though, is the daughter in the Briggs family. They're the ones I wrote about last week who we found by talking to people at the dumpster. Anyways, she took the time to let us share a little bit of our message, and to serve her and her family, and she told us that she's been to a lot of churches, and we are the first ones she's met that really try to do what Jesus would do. She's impressed by that and wants to get involved. See what happens? if you just give us a couple minutes to learn about you and help you, you'll see we aren't bad. Then, if you give us a little more to teach you what we believe, you'll see that that is good too.  You don't even have to agree with us necessarily, it's just nice when people recognize that the work is good and we are only extending a hand of support. So tell your friends how nice we really are. It does wonders.

We also went to check on a lady who was being taught by the missionaries a long time ago, and they kinda stopped teaching her because she said she wanted to come to church and do stuff, but would always bail out at the last minute and just wouldn't keep any commitments. Some members of the church still wen't by periodically, but the missionaries didn't really have time. So yeah, we went back and talked to her and were very nice and offered tours of the church and stuff to make her more comfortable, and invited her to a christmas musical devotional that was last night. She had kind of a hard time... Her husband died ten years ago and she still cries at the drop of a hat about it. She got remarried briefly, but then got divorced and has been going through huge custody battles in the court ever since and is dealing with the mother's pain of feeling like she's losing her children and people calling her a bad mother all the time, and criticizing her ability to be a parent, while her children just tell her that they want to be with her. She prays, and tries to be forgiving, but she's put herself in a little bubble. She takes a couple classes, but doesn't work. She goes to a support group where it sounds like people just go to cry and complain to eachother and be told that everyone there is having a hard time, but not really be helped in any way. She goes to counseling, but the counsellor just seems to try to tell her that she's really strong enough to deal with it all and needs to not worry. That is actually counter productive because she keeps feeling the need to just keep trucking on by herself, because she can be strong enough, but then she gets overwhelmed and does nothing. So she gets up and goes through the same, meaningless routine every day hoping her problems will go away. She says she believes Jesus can help her, but doesn't do anything about it. We were pretty blunt with her and told her that God will answer her prayers and show her the answers and His love if she'll just show him. She needs to get out of her little bubble, out of her comfort zone, and then she'll be able to see changes. Once she actually does something to cope, she'll be able to overcome that pain and sorrow that she has just come to accept as part of her burden. The atonement of Christ can lift us to infinite heights, but only after we have done all we can do to do what he has asked. She seemed touched by that. She actually came to the devotional!!!! After like a year and a half of zero action, of saying she wants help, but doing nothing to get it, she actually got out of her little comfort zone, did something she was scared to do, and it was awesome. She really enjoyed it. It was like pulling teeth, and we were half an hour late, but she got there and loved it. I think that means she's going to make it to church too. She said it would anyways... but yeah. It was a huge step. She has a lot of potential.

So yeah... I was going to say something else, but I forgot... I still get to practice Spanish. Every day I pray for opportunities to use is it, and when I look for them I always end up talking to at least one spanish speaker. It's harder than you might think here. My area has the lowest hispanic population of the mission, and I'm in an english ward, so yeah... anyways, thank you for everything, sorry if my email doesn't really make sense, my brain is tired. I love you all :)

IN TEXAS

How's life in Idaho? send me the latest scoop. I'm pretty curious. I hope you're all doing really well. Everything is fantastic here.

So the first night here in San Antonio, we went down to the Alamo and placed copies of The Book of Mormon. It was pretty awesome. The weirdest part is that I got to be very confident and good at talking to people in the MTC, even people who acted super real, but as soon as I got here and started to taking to people who really need it and really matter, I got super nervous. I'm way better by now though. If you haven't figured it out yet, my P-day is Monday here. 

On Thursday we got our companions and our first assignments. My trainer is Elder Lish. He's pretty cool, and we have his old companion with us until Wednesday when He goes home. Elder Lish is the district leader as well.  We are both Spanish-speaking elders, but we're in an English area, so it's really hard to keep up on the Spanish. I'm doing alright, though. My first street contact in my area was actually in Spanish. She would've taken a Book of Mormon, except I only had English with me, so I just left her a pass along card and referred her to th Spanish elders in the area. Since then I always carry Spanish and English, and I have had the opportunity to use both. There are also some members in our wards that speak Spanish, so I can practice with them. We cover three wards here, and it is the wealthiest area in the whole mission. the worst aparments here push two thousand dollars a month, and almost every community is gated. It's really hard to find people, but when it happens, they are solid.

One of the things I like most about Texas is that almost everyone is really nice. Much nicer than in California... However, there are still very rude people every now and again. They especially don't like us, which is silly because all we do is come and ask if we can help them in any way. Even if they don't want to listen to our message we are always happy to just do service for them. It's kinda silly.

It has been way awesome to see miracles every day, and feel the Spirit guide us to the things that God wants us to do. The kinda frustrating part is that I know it could happen even more, but not everyon in the group wants to be totally obedient to all of the rules... and people who have more experience or are in authority or about to go home are not very open to corrective suggestions. That's okay kinda.. but I need to be a little more forceful when I know somethng needs to be done differently but the others don't want to.

Anyways... probably the coolest little miracle I've seen so faris this: We had an appointment cancel on us, so we didn't really know what to do. We pulled over to the side of the road to pray and seek guidance. As we then looked at our area map we felt prompted to go to a certain apartment complex and check up on some old dropped investigators. While we were there we had a bunch of doors closed on us and a bunch of people not home. we got down near the bottom of the complex and were knocking on a door, when a black woman pulled up and got out of her car to put her trash in the dumpster, which was pretty close to us. We decided it was a good idea to talk to her, you know since it was three men in the dark, by the dumpster going to talk to one woman. Makes sense. Anyways, she was a little freaked out at first, but then recognized us as Mormons. She said she wasn't interested because she's "non-denominational," but her sister is Mormon and lives in the complex if we wanted to visit her. She called her to ask, and the sister said she'd like that.  We went there and found out she had moved to Texas from New Jersey about a month ago for cancer treatment, and had just had chemotherapy the day before. She was living there with her husband, son, daughter and daughter's two sons, who are all not members. The folks in New Jersey said they'd send her membership records here, but haven't yet, so nobody knew she was here, and she hasn't had the energy or strength to go out and find someone. Her husband can't walk, we didn't figure out exactly what was wrong, but he was sitting there on the couch with some big things on his feet and a catheter. He has some serious depression and is losing his voice because he very rarely uses it now... The son was asleep, but the daughter was there, and wants to take the discussions because she remembers when the two white boy missionaries knocked on their door in the projects. Good story. Anyways, we got all of the woman's info. (her name is Kathy) so we could pull her records here, and shared a spiritual message with them. It turns out they picked up and moved so fast that she forgot her scriptures, so we left some there for the family. At the end we gave Kathy a blessing and it was way awesome. The husband and daughter wanted one too after that, so we gave three blessings in that apartment. They were all really awesome, and I know that family is going to have a lot of help and support and miracles over the next little while.  Kathy insisted we come back tomorrow for some fried chicken.  That made my day. It was awesome to see how the lord puts His servants where they will be able to succor his children. The church is true.

Okay, so my address is:

Elder Brock Katzakian
20211 Huebner Road #915
San Antonio, TX 78258

Anything that's been sent to the mission office I won't get until the next big meeting at Christmas, so the apartment is the best place to send things, unless it's close to transfers. I'll let y'all know when those are coming up (they are every six weeks, and it's the only time that I'm guaranteed to have a big meeting where I'll get the stuff that's at the mission office). I did get the blankets, though. Thank you :) I know packages can be sent to the apartment too. I don't know if there are any mission rules or anything about where they are supposed to go or whatever, but I do know that the apartment office is able to recieve them.

There is so much awesome stuff happening all over the place here and so many awesome people that I can't even come close to sharing all of it, so I'll just try and do the best ones. I've got to go now because there is a lot to do today. Oh, by the way, I know why missionaries get fat. We sit in the car all day, then peole feed us ridiculous piles of food. We had three desserts yesterday. Three. And people get all excited to give it to you, so you can't say no. And since there are so many members in this area, they always have our dinner, and it's always something special, and there is always some ridiculous dessert... every day. We have three lunches scheduled for tomorrow, and a dinner. I don't know what to do. and most of the missionaries don't want to get up early to exercise, and don't want to run. We're not supposed to get up witout our companion and I definitely can't run without them. I'm doomed. It's okay though. This is way more important than my health stuff. I'll just deal for two years, then I can do what I want. I'm just a little worried about all the sugar because I was starting to have some issues before I left and now I can't really get away.. but yeah. Love you all :)

Elder Katzakian's first member dinner in San Antonio

(I love that we have been able to get more updates in the last few days than we have the last 3 months!!)

Hello Parents of Elder Katzakian (can't remember how it's spelled!),

We just fed your son tonight and were pleasantly surprised to be his first meal at a member's house! I think we fed him well...after eating it, he said, "I vote YES to all of this food." It's always fun to have a "greenie" over and we never would've guessed it had we not asked him when he got here.

I just thought you'd like to know that he's in good hands and has a great companion, Elder Lish. They're in a threesome right now with Elder Phillips who goes home next Wednesday. This area of San Antonio is awesome, and we know the elders will continue to touch the hearts of the people around here.

Living up to the stereotype, "Texas pride" is already being fed to your son :) We informed him that we have the absolute best ice cream here (Blue Bell) and gave him his first taste of it. He talked about his mother's love of peppermint ice cream and how the freezer will be full of it this time of year. Well, I believe we honest to goodness have the best peppermint ice cream here and you've got to give it a try if you come pick him up in two years! I'll make sure he tries some of that flavor soon! :) Thanks for sharing your son with us and rest assured he's got a great trainer in Elder Lish. They'll do good things together. Enjoy the pictures!

He is in Texas!

(this is an email and picture we received from Sister Jones.  She is the Mission Presidents' wife.)

Dear Missionary families,

Your wonderful sons and daughters have arrived safely in San Antonio, Texas!  Their plane arrived on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.  President Jones and I and our assistants were there to greet them as they came down the escalator. They were enthusiastic and happy to be here!   We loaded the mission vans and returned to the mission home for lunch and an orientation.  At around 5pm they headed to the Alamo!  After learning a little about the history, they were divided into companionships and went out, Book of Mormon in hand, to make their first contacts as Texas missionaries.

Later, we returned to the mission home for dinner and a slide show. Tomorrow we will meet in the morning for more orientation and then your son or daughter will find out where they will be serving and who their companion will be.  We have excellent trainers for each of your sons and daughters and we know they are where they are supposed to be.  We will be sending a letter to you soon with a picture and more details and their address.  P-day is on Monday so you should expect an email from your missionary.  

Thank you for sending these well prepared, extraordinary young men and women to serve with us!  We'll take good care of them.

Love,

Sister Suzanne Jones

Week #9- Done! with the beginning

So I pretty much finished packing everything I'm not using to get ready in the morning by now. I'm ready to roll out to Texas. Fly, rather... but yeah. I feel pretty ready. I taught a lesson on how to teach part of the second lesson to a new advanced class, in Spanish, who're all from Mexico and Colombia and stuff, and they understood everything I said and it it all flowed pretty well. I can express just about anything I need to. I'm a lot better at speaking than writing, though... but that's okay, it'll come. Haha I know that I'm all confident in my Spanish now and the first person I talk to is just going to laugh at me because I'm such a gringo, but that's okay.

 

So we had the chance to teach Daniel Limon two more times this week and it went really well. Basically he kinda said we were probably right but he didn't feel it, an we pushed Him a little and he said he'd be more open and try the things we were suggeting, and that it'd better be worth it. The second one he was a lot better and he was sad to see us go. He told us that we'd been really good friends to him and to do the same to everyone we meet at th places we are going. Elder Jones left this morning, by the way. So I've been tagging along with another companionship today. We haven't gone many places, though, because it's our preparation day...

 

We got to watch the first presidency Chrismas devotional on sunday and it was so good. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is amazing. If you didn't see it, watch it on lds.org. Totally worht it.

 

So yeah, there is a very very very very slight chance that I will be able to call home very briefly in the airport just to let the fam know I'm getting on the plane... but I don't know. This last week has been crazy. It's been even more time warpish than the rest of the time here. I can't tell if it's gon super slow or super fast. I'm going to be surprised if I sleep tonight.

 

I'm excited to go to San Antonio. I know that I have been called by a prophet of God to be a witness of His truth, and I feel geat joy every morning when I put the Savior's name over my heart.  I am going to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Salvation as i stumble over Spanish words that I can't pronounce haha.

 

Love you all, thanks for all the help and support. Next one will be from the lone star state.

Week #8

So on Tuesday night, Elder Malm spoke to us. He was in the last conference. He's pretty awesome. Look him up.  He basically talked about how everyone who's here in the world now said yes to the plan before, and how we're doing God's work, so where ae the limit's? It was pretty awesome.

 

On Thanksgiving, Elder Holland came with his family to speak to us. It was pretty awesome. Elder Holland is probably my most favorite apostle ever. Anyways, he said that this Thanksgiving his family would be our family and had all his grandchildren sing for us and his wife talk and he kept the last twenty minutes or so to talk to us. He also, at the beginning, had four missionaries who had really intense stories of family struggles, or political issues in their home country trying to get on their mission, and one who has cystic fibrosis serving now in the referral center here get up and bear their testimonies. It was pretty sweet. He also had us think about how there are so many young children who look at missionaries and cannot fathom that they are anything less than perfect, that they are anything less than all the great missionaries in the scriptures wrapped up into one. He told us to think of them whenever we are tempted to be anything less than the very best we can possibly be, to live worthy of that trust.

 

He told us three things that he was grateful for this thanksgiving: He is grateful that the Godhead knows us each individually and personally, by our first names. They know our likes and dislikes, and our needs and our wants. Pretty awesome stuff. Look it up haha. He also is grateful for the compassion that the Godhead has always had on the poor. You gain a remission of your sins by being obedient to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, and you retain it by imparting of your bounty to those less fortunate (see king benjamin's sermon, alma 34, and like a bajillion other scriptures. I just stopped looking because there were so many. Also an apostle said it, so that's already scripture.). He also said he is grateful that God was able to offer his son to atone for our sins and pains alone. As alone as we ever feel, and as hard as it ever gets, we always have someone, even if it's just one friend, but Christ did it alone. Follow the patten of His life as everyone falls away from Him, his family, Jews and gentiles (as symbolized by the leaders who condemn him), his apostles (one of whom betrays Him, and the chief one even denies knowing Him), and eventually even the common man on the street who does not know Him, but cries out for Him to be crucified.Throughout His life he said the Father would always be with Him because He always did that which pleased the Father. Then, at the end, as He hangs on the cross, even His father has to let him hold the weight alone, hence his cry, which was so important that it was put in the bible in the original aramaic.  We can't understand it without the translation that was put with it, but the translators left it there... It was probably the single most pained cry in the history of the world. It doesn't mean the Father was gone, rather He was probably right there, but he had to let Christ do it alone so that we wouldn''t have to. And that is intense. Thinking about that, look at D+C 133. Changed my life. 

 

So yeah, gotta go now. I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. I know mine was good. If there's anybody who is hesitating to use dear elder because they'd rather send it by hand, it's okay to use it now because I'll only have it for another week, then I'm pretty sure dear elder charges a stamp and mails it to me, so it'd be the same. Use dearelder before that. In a week and a day I'll be in Texas. I forgot my address so I'll send it by hand.

Love y'all

Week #7

Alright, so apparently there's a huge blizzard coming in. Haha that's really funny because I'm totally coatless. Though I do have gloves and a scarf as of today. Thanks family :) I appreciate the things people have sent very much.  Also I got some more good pictures that I'll have printed and sent. Anyways...

 

Last Tuesday our speaker was Elder Pearson of the Seventy, and it was really funny because basically his whole talk was rewording of my study journal for the week before. So I have a lot of doubles on notes now. Apparently it was important. He talked about becoming a true disciple of Christ and following the Spirit. His closing thingy was "A disciple of Christ is...? If I am becoming a disciple of christ, I am no longer...?" Good stuff. Also I suggest that everybody look up a talk called "The Armor of God isn't Comfy" by Hank Smith. He's an EFY speaker and a genius. After listening to that, you should study the armor of god in-depth and think about the extensive metaphor that can be made if you thing of life as a battle. It's pretty awesome. I can't actually listen to the tak here, but I've listened to it so many times that I know it really well... So yeah.

 

We alo got to teach Daniel Limon again. We went in with the intent to try and steer the lesson towards a baptismal commitment. It was a great plan. Anyways, when we got there, he told us he had read some more. Awesome! He read all of the book of Moroni. The chapter that stuck out the most to him was chapter 9. Less awesome... it's the chapter where Mormon is lamenting the fallen states of the Nephites and Lamanites, and describes their abominations. So yeah, the conclusion he came to was that he didn't want the book to be true, because if it was, that meant that it is possible for a people who saw God, who were a great and delihtsome civilization, to fall into the vilest of wickedness in a relatively short time. That mostly killed the plan we had. The lesson ended up bein mostly us bearing our testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, and that even though it does have some sad scary things in it, it can bring you closer to God, and make you happier than anything else. We also explained that it is a warning, and that that is why we do what we do. The people fell that far because they forgot their God. We are missionaries because we don't want people to forget, we don't want that to happen again. He did end up praying at the end, too. Nothing too special, but it was a prayer.  He said he'd keep reading, and pray about whether it was true. So I suppose it did go well.

 

Happy Thanksgiving all :) Looks like it'll be a pretty cold one.  Hopefully the food will be awesome, though. I'm not really sure what to expect here, haha.

 

Happy Birthday Grandma B!

 

Happy birthday dad! How's everything going in Idaho? I heard the blizzard hit there too. You've gotta tell me what you do for your birthday. It had better be super awesome. I would have written you in spanish, but I don't think I can do it fast enough... I do appreciate your letters though :) The only thing is that you used a gerund as a noun, but in spanish it's the infinitive. So yeah. Anything I could send you for your birthday? haha I love you. Thanks for all your help and support in getting and keeping me here.  

 

Alright folks, that's it for this week. Join us next time, on Elder Katzakian's blog!

Week #6

Last Tuesday Elder Bednar came to talk to us. It was pretty awesome. We got four apostles in a row and I'm hoping for a fifth tonight.  So Elder Bednar and his wife pretty much proved to me that a sense of humor is part of perfection. She spoke first and poked a little fun at him, then, during the beginning of his talk she actually got up and squezzed in front of him to get at the microphone to tease him about his age because of something he said and made him blush in front of the whole MTC. It was awesome. He said some funny stuff too, but I can't really remember specifically what now, and I was busy writing down the stuff that was more important than the jokes. Anyways, he talked about doctrine, principles and applications. Doctrines being what answers the question why, principles what, and applications how. He didn't really give any super specific examples, because the point of the talk was that we put in the effort to learn, rather than just being handed all the answers. so yeah. One good example is home teaching. Lot's of people try silly things to enforce the principle of home teaching, such as baking a cake on the first of the month for your home teachers. If they come early, they get good cake, if they come on the last of the month it is moldy. That's just a gimmicky application and won't really improve home teaching at all. It'd be more effective to get the biggest, ugliest, scariest guy in the ward (preferably an ex-marine) and put him in front of the Elders quorum to say that everyone had better do their home teaching, or he'll come get them.  Even then it would be useless. What would happen when he moved out of the ward, or died, or left for any other reason? Not home teaching. The answer is in the doctrine; the men must learn why they do it, and truly believe it for the home teaching to happen. There are a few hings it could be brought back to, but the most obvious would be our baptismal covenants, or the oath and covenant of the priesthood. To fulfill either, home teaching must be done. To have the motivation to do it, one must thoroughly understand and believe that. You can do a lot of good things in your life, and even know why you did them, but if you don't truly believe them, if you don't truly become those things, then it won't do you any good.  Not to say the applications are useless though. They are the action, they are the doing, but the base lies in the doctrines. If there's no real reason to do it, it won't get done.

 

We also had the opportunity to meet with Daniel again. It didn't go as well as last week. I think it was because we went in with too much of a plan, we didn't leave ourselves as much room to change things up according to the Spirit.  Apparently we weren't as clear as we thought, and apparently we misunderstood him a little bit. He said he wasn't really looking for God and he asked us why we were really there. We told him basically that we had experienced the joy that the gospel can bring and that we love him and want him to have it too, and that he may not be looking for God, but he is looking for something, looking for more meaning, and we're there to show him that that search leads to God. He thanked us for our concern. He actually did read the Book of Mormon a little, but not what we left for him. He ended up reading the first chapter in Ether, which is okay. He did get some stuff about prayer out of it, and we talked abot that a little. He said he'd keep reading, and we asked if he had any questions or anything we could direct him to in the scriptures, and I felt prompted to also leave the option of freely choosing himself what he'd read, without any direction from us, and he chose that one. I trust that he'll come across something that will help him, that we can discuss and make some progress with next time. So yeah, I'll let you know what happens next week.

 

Until then, adios.

Week #5

Another week bites the dust!

 

So my companion, Elder Jones, and I had the chance to teach Daniel again. It went very well. He did let us pray at the beginning and the end this time. at the beginning we asked if there was anything we could do for him and he asked if we had a million dollars he could use and we laughed and said no, then Eldoer jones pulle dout a hundred dollars and told Daniel he kept it for emergencies, and he could have it if he needed it. Daniel said he was okay, but seemed touched. When we got into talking about gospel stuff, we challenged him to pray again, and he wasn't really for it. He said he didn't even really want to know anymore, and what would happen if he found out we were right?  He'd gotten into some bad stuff since he stopped doing the church thing, he was a "partier." He didn't really have a desire to do those good things anymore, and he didn't really want to talk to us about the stuff he'd gotten into because he said that we were men of God. We promised him that if he'd just give it a shot, just pray, just try reading the scriptures, he'd feel that desire grow. We said he does't even have to really believe it'll work, just want to hope that maybe it will, and it cn grow from there. We shared a couple of verses from Alma 32 with him, and left him with the chapter to read in the next week. We couldn't get him to commit to it, so we just challenged him to read it and pray, and we'd talk about it next time, and that if he didn't have the chance, we'd read and pray with him next time, then talk about it. We bore our testimonies of that change of heart that can happen, and a little bit of personal experience, and told him that we love him and just want him to be happy, then left.

 

It's crazy how strong the spirit gets when we're teaching him. It seems kind of funny since it's just practice, but it's easy to forget that it is only practice. It does make sense that, being a teacher, the spirit would help to practice with these things. It's so cool to be recognizing promptings and being able to follow them and everything. It's just awesome.

 

Also, last tuesday night, Elder M. Russell Ballard came and spoke to us. He talked about the importance of developing the best possible personal communication skills, because that's what we are: personal communicators. Also It's important to learn the doctrine and have it down, so you don't have to focus on that while you are teaching, and you can just focus on the people and what they need and the Spirit.

 

So yeah, thanks to the Downeys for that package, it was basically super amazing. I don't have their address though. I'm trying to get letters out to people, but I'm only really getting out one or two every Tuesday.  Also, I apoligize if i forget to say thank you for something, a lot happens during the week and it's easy to forget. Just know that anything and everything is appreciated.

 

That plan for the jacket is perfect. It's not too bad here, because I'm only outside for a long time on Tuesday when I'm walking to the temple. Oh, and I dunno if I ever mentioned it, but Elder Flake started getting stuff, it was just a little later. As for what kind of stuff I'd like to get... I dunno. I'm not too picky and anything I don't like can always be traded for stuff I do.

 

So yeah, write me, tell me how everything's going, I'll try to respond. Gotta go now. Peace out.

 

Elder Katzakian

Pictures from Brock

 
I think this is for the Bellvilles.  Look at those shiney shoes!


Brock's comment "Volleyball is brutal"

(These are just a few of the pictures he sent)

Week #4

Alright, so it's been a super awesome week. On Tuesday, Elder Richard G Scott came to talk and it was so awesome. He spoke abput the companionship of the holy ghost and how important it is to missionary work and to life. It was also really cool because he had the main points of his talk written out and printed up for everyone in order to limit the notes we'd be taking to just our spiritual impressions. Then he bestowed an apostolic blessing upon all of us that we would all have the confidence in and through the Spirit to be bold representatives of jesus Christ, that we would all be blessed with the gift of tongues as we study and pray, and that we'll be able to retain the things we learn on our mission, not only the language but all of the spiritual lessons as well.  He then closed by bearing testimony, not as Elder Scott, but as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ that "Jesus Christ lives. He is a personage of perfect love. He is our redeemer. He is our intermediary with the father. I love Him. I solemnly declare that He lives. I know that He lives because I know Him."

 

The most amazing part was the number of elders who still couldn't maintain their reverence during a meeting like that. We got in trouble because a bunch of missionaries were taking pictures during the meeting. Anyways, it was awesome. Then it snowed. Pretty much the best day ever.

 

Also, my whole district got changed up because of people leaving early and moving to other MTCs, so now i have a new companion named Elder Jones, though i still room with Elder Flake too.

 

Elder Jones and I decided to take on the toughest challenge the MTC has to offer. Daniel Limon. He's a guy who works here as an investigator. there are a bunch of teachers you can practice teaching with, and they'll help you and give you feedback, but he's basically real. As soon as he steps onto MTC campus he's in character as himself before the he got baptized. He was also a difficult convert who took some very effective, dedicated missionaries and a whole ton of the spirit to get to church. So yeah, he doesn't even break character talking to other teachers. He speaks Spanish and English. Now we have one or two appointments a week with him until we leave. We spoke with him yesterday, us and him fluctuating between Spanish and English the whole time.

 

It was actually really cool. We were outside his "apartment" waiting and praying and getting ready, when he walked by, and asked us if we were Mormons. We said yes and he let us walk with him to his door, where he told us he had about five minutes until some friends were coming over. It was funny because we left then just went right back because we were the "friends" and he just didn't realize, but he didn't even miss a beat... Anyways, we started ten minutes early and ended up going fifteen minutes over our time and never got past telling him that God is our loving heavenly father. Long story short, we spent the whole time testifying and getting to know him, and we read a little from the scriptures, and the Spirit was super strong the whole time, but he wouldn't agree that we were literally children of God because he said that brings God down, and wouldn't agree to pray because he tried once five years ago when his mom and brother died, to get one more chance to see them, and didn't feel he recieved an answer, or that God really cares about little, insignificant people. i told him that we were the answer to his prayer, and that that was our message, that we can be with our families again, forever, and that God loves each one of us individually and personally. he said it sounded nice, but he couldn't believe it. he'd seen no evidence of it hiimself, and that we were five years too late, he no longer has thae hope. he said we could come back, but he won't pray because all that's done is hurt him. So yeah. it was intense. anyways, that's basically all my time. Oh, also, my name means "Son of Lightning." The armenian elders told me.

 

Tell grandma and grandpa thanks so much for the cookies and tie, they were super super nice :) and thanks for the pictures you sent. I also still need addresses. so yeah. everything is going well.

 

Elder Katzakian

Week #3

So today has been an especially crazy day, so I have less time. I hemmed my own pants today, because they were just short enough that I thought they looked bad. Pretty much I think that makes me really cool. I'm also getting really good at Spanish. I understand everything anyone says, and I can say just about whatever I want. The spirit is pretty awesome an I nkow it's helped me with all the things I've accomplished. I've even definitely noticed it guide the things I say during lessons and contacting and stuff. I can't even imagine how cool it will be once I'm actually talking to real investigators and such, though I know there will be many many many no's for every yes. I've actually made it a point to be that frustrating contact whenever we do practice in class. I think a lot of the missionaries are too optimistic about their character, and they always set appointments and are always interested to learn more. Being optimistic is good, but you can't just say whatever to whomever and expect them to want you to come home with them to teach their family. You have to listen very carefully to the spirit, and let it guide what you say so that that person will feel it and they will be interested, and even then there will be a lot who don't want it. For example, my character one time was a teenager, almost out of high school, with an internship at a law office. I believed that there was a god, but didn't have time for church or think it was that important. I felt like my family just held me back and I wanted to get out of the house as fast as possible. After finding this out, the missionary who was contacting me asked if I wanted to hear their message about families. I said no and it hurt their feelings, but the teacher said it was good and that we need to stop just using scripted lines, or expecting every single person to be super eager to learn more. Again, sometimes there will be, but not always.

 

Thanks for the halloween stuff :) and thanks for all the letters and the pictures. Dad, your picture is pretty funny, because pretty much that exact situation really happened to me. So yeah, the invitation to everyone to send ties is still open. Thank you for that yellow one, by the way. It pretty much totally rocks with my brown suit. I think I can actually print pictures, so I'll try to send some within the next couple of weeks. Tell grandma b thanks for the cookies and tie :) Also, I need addressess of family members and such. Now that I'm here I realized I'm missing a bunch.

 

Love you guys :)

Elder Katzakian

Week #2

Alright, so here's the low-down on the emailing. I can only email on tuesdays and I only get half an hour on the computer. that includes logging on and off and checking emails, so I effectively only get fiften to twenty minutes every day, and if I'm sending an email to both sides off  tthhe family, that's not very much. the best way for me to recieve an email is through dear elder, because the mtc prints it out and gives it to me that day or the next, so I can read it at night during personal time, rather than waiting until my email time to use that for reading. Also, please don't expect a whole giant amount off  correspondence from me while I'm at the MTC. P day is the only day I can wwrite letters or anyhting, and it's not a day off or anything, I still have a ton to do if I want to stay obedient and be prepared for the rest of the week. I''m up before the sun every day, and down well after it, working the whole time. Every once in a while there are a few minutes for us to divertirnos, but mostly I'm super busy all the time, and fall into bed exhausted at the end of tthhee day, but can hardly fall asleep because I'm thinking about so much stuff.  So the moral of the story is use dear elder instead of email. that way I'll have moorree time to write emails, soI can answer questions and tell about experiences rather than just one or the other.

 

I did see Heidi Busch at one off the devotionals, but it was just by chance. Mostly there's a pretty small group of missionaries that I spend all my time with, so unless someone is part of that group I probably won't see them. Also I forgot to tell you, it was about four hours before they started calling me  Elder Gato.  Every P day I get to go to the temple, and it's super awesome. I feel the spirit so much and learn something new every time I bear my testimony, which is like every two minutes. Also I never got an email from dad, but I did get a dear elder. when you asked about me being able to see the blog I actually laughed out loud. all I can do on the iinternet is email and look up conference talks. Also, nobody is supposed to send me talks or literature. If it's something from conference, I can get it myself. Also, don't worry  about missing a day or two writing. I do love getting letters, but I have tons to do, and my companion hasn't gotten anything yet and I don't want him to feel bad.  The food is good, but it is to the point where it doesn't really matter. I just try to pick something relatively healthy, down it quick, then get  back to class. Also, I'm working really hard in my gym time to beat the MTC mile time record of four minutes and forty five seconds. I get about fifty minutes a day that  I have to spend in the gym. My companion, Elder Flake, is doing really well, and he's awesome at basketball. I can't email pictures, but I'll try to send some soon.

 

gotta go, love y'allll, bye

Week #1

(Below is the first email we received from Elder Katzakian. I am posting it exactly as it was written by Brock without spelling or other corrections)

So today is my first P-day at the MTC. It's tuesday, so that's when my emails should normally be coming out. there's a thirty minute time limit that never really seems to slow down, no matter how slowly the rest of the computer is going. Also, if you log off and log back on you lose five minutes, and the page takes like two minutes to load. The first night it took me hours to fall asleep, but every night the sleep has gotten better. The only problem is that I'm more and more tired every day.  The spirit is awesome, but very exhausting. My companion is Elder Flake, from Snowflake, Arizona. He's a couple inches taller than me, and a very spiritual guy. I actually think he looks kind of like Robert Pattinson with short hair.

 

So far my district has been the bestt  in the  zone. We're the cleanest, most obedient ones. Also we have been saying all of our prayers in spanish.  please forgive me if there are any extra letters in my words,,  tthhee  ccoommppuuter keeps thinking I'm pushing each button like five times andd it takes way to long to go back and fix it every time. Something that'd bee  ccooooll  if you guys could do is go to dearelder.com and set up an account so you, or anyone else can send me maaiill  tthhaatt  wwaayy. It basically emails it to the MTC, and they prriinntt  iitt  every daay at two. that way I'd get the letter that day or the next. My inffoorrmmaattiioonn  is:

 

Elder Brock Tyhler Katzakian

MTC Mailbox #135

TX-SAN 1208

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, Utah 84604-1793

 

My estimated departure date is 12/8//2010

 

So yeah. Having the spirit around all the time is so fantasic, and I've beecome so much more sensitive to all of it's subtle feelings and messages. I have  sseeen and personally experienced answers to prayers in the short time I've been here. Sundays at the MTC are easily the best day. Eveenn though they are no less busy than any other day, the church meetings have so much power, and the sacrament has become so much more meaningful to me. I love it here. It is hard at times, buteverything we do is just infused wwith so much of the spirit that I can't help but be happy about it. Thankss  for all your help and support. I might not have made  iitt without it. If I did, it would've been much harder.

 

Ashlie, I love all your letters and everything, but I honestly can't remember iiff  yyoouu asked any questions I was supposed to answer or anything, I'm so rushed right now,,  so sorry if I missed anything. Dad, I think it'd be really cool if you'd write me in spanish. I need all the practice I can get. Connor, thanks for the advice, I've been praying like a million times every day. Cooper, I'll make sure and get you a picture of me in a cowboy hat. Cody, just stay cute. Also, I would like ties. I thought I'd just take a few, but it turns out they are one of the most exciting things that happens every day, so i want more. Thanks so much for the care package, it's been super awesome to have the candy and the camera. I can't email pictures, but I think I can save them to a disk if i have the right cable, then mail them. out of time, love you guys, bye.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Elder Brock Katzakian entered the MTC on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 1pm. 


Pictured is Elder Katzakian and Grandpa Bellville.    Brock was dropped off at the MTC by Grandpa Bellville, his brother Paeden and his mom Sydeny.

(We are hoping we get an email from him tomorrow.  If that happens, the blog will be updated weekly with his letters)

1 week....

Exactly 1 week from today and Elder Katzakian will be at the M.T.C!!!!

Farewell Talk

Brock will be giving his Farewell talk this Sunday, September 12, 2010 in the Hurley ward.  This ward meets at 9am.  He will also be giving a talk in the Singles Branch in the same building at 1pm.   Everyone is invited!

Due to conference and fast Sundays, he needed to do his farewell this week.  There will not be an open house this Sunday.  

Opening of the Call

(disclaimer..this video is shaky and I talked waay to much.. I forgot you would be able to hear what I said also!!!)

This was sooo fun!! Brock opened his call at Grandma and Grandpa Nelsons house on July 29, 2010.  His Aunt Rebecca and her kids were here visiting from Utah, Grandma and Grandpa Pollmann, Nelson and Bellville were there.  His Aunt Jamie and her kids, his friends Josh, Matt and Aubree were there.  All of Brock's brothers (Paeden, Connor, Cooper and Cody) were there and I was there.  His mom and dad were both out of town but they were both on speaker phones and heard the whole thing. 

He has been called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Texas San Antonio Mission, Spanish speaking.  

Work in Progress

So much to do..so little time to do it!! This blog will be up and running soon...stay tuned!!