Monday, December 28, 2015

week 73

Bonjour

I guess if i had to sum up my 2016 new year resolution as a missionary id put it in one word "attack" 


On tuesday i went to a meeting with President Eclar, First counselor in the mission presidency, and the District Presidency.  It was really weird being in there with all the biggest leaders on French side but i held my own or at least i like to think i did.  But the meetings theme was essentially "we need to attack the year"

The District took a step back in 2015 assistance went down, baptisms, basically anything that was good went down.  And the leaders and missionaries were hurting ahah we wanted so much more than that for 2015 so were putting a foot down.  the falling of numbers stops now.  There is an overwhelmingly feeling of desire to grow here on Guadeloupe.  President Eclar put it best by saying "IM HUNGRY".  So were attacking the year starting saturday were having a fireside with all the missionaries, DMBS, and BPs to talk about how were going to increase efforts.  Followed by firesides in each branch to train members and than a big missionary activity at the end of the month.

I have never seen so much determination and action my whole mission.  Things are going insane here and im really bad explaining but trust me ahah.

We set a date with a guy named Yves Andre for Garretts birthday so pray i can get garrett a baptism for his birthday ahahha

and if youre wondering about my other resolutions for 2016 ill sum it up in one word "marriage"

.....kidding

Elder Logan Robert Sackley




teaching him how to drive stick



service!


week 72



i have so much to say


So will start with my companions.  First is Elder Fitzgerald hes my actual comp that works with me in my area Lamentin.  He has been out one transfer and boy he had it rough his first transfer he is a stud in all honesty but his trainer did nothing with him.  He said they taught one lesson the whole transfer so yeah.  He studied french an hour a day up until he came out so he speaks fairly well and has just the purest heart.  Elder Moux is my ZL comp.  He lives 45 minutes away and is a stud.  I went on exchange with him last friday.  Hes going to be sooooo good for the zone.  Since a lot of the elders are foreigners they dont take correction well from Americans so Elder Moux is taking the reins on that.  On the exchange he just said " i know this elder is being disobedient we have no time to wait lets go see him" he sat the elder down and laid down the law saying "we want you stay out here but we wont tolerate any of it this transfer" hes the honeybadger to put it simply

My area

Lamentin area is traditionally a difficult area.  im not saying that because im discouraged believe me when i say im fired up ready to destroy these transfers here.  But the area itself hasnt baptized in well over a year.  So our first day in the area we got a text from a long time investigator named Anita saying "i want to be baptized this saturday" she wasnt baptized this saturday we have some stuff to work out but i cant even describe how much the lord is doing to hasten the work here.  The area has a ton of members and RMs in it the branch has a 70 in it and a the first counselor in the mission presidency.

The members

so last night i went over to the first counselors house and talked battle plans.  he said " i have waited long enough and i need to progress and i can only progress in hastening the work Elder this is a time of action i need you with me" hes a very passionate man and im SOOOO excited to work with him were going to the District council tomorrow night and presenting mission plans to them but i have never seen a member so convicted to hasten the work.  When i left his house his wife stopped me and said "Elder Sackley we had 4 baptisms for the year in the year 2015 fix it" 

I havent completely been drowned by all these responsabilities but im SO pumped i want to stay here for the rest of my mission.

I just want to leave this letter with my testimony of Jesus Christ.  Mom told me to try to imagine Jesus as a child and honestly everytime i do my heart melts.  I know he is our savior and redeemer i know he is the christ but above all i know he is my old brother and friend.  I bear witness that truely the greatest act of love the world has ever seen was the gift of the son of God.  how loved are we?  how great is it to be here?  i love you all and invite you to share a piece of what God shared with us so long ago.

Happy christmas harry

elder logan robert sackley

Elder Moux this is the other ZL and my home boy


me and my new comp Elder fitzgerald!


tchye  my boys Elder Manasanga from Vanauata Elder Sejournet and pollock from tahiti 

week 71

follow up on last week this will be a long letter

Elder Wilsons letter to me

How the freak is Martinique man!? I sent you an email with my updates and stuff on it so hopefully you got that. I just want to thank you so much for giving me the blessing that night. That meant so much to me and it really helped to comfort me and know that everything would be okay. One thing that really stood out to me was when you said that my mission wasn't over. That gave me so much peace knowing that whether I go back to Barbados or not, I will still be able finish my mission. 

I just want to thank you for being such a great zone leader. You were a huge example to me of a great missionary! You helped me to know that you can still have lots of fun but also work hard. You have a fun personality and you are also very spiritual! Those are two things I am working on balancing haha. I hope I can come back out there and have more good times with all of you!


Thank you so much for everything and for being a good example to me! 

Je vous aime bebe,💞💋
Elder Justin Jay Wilson

Pierre Joesph

I went and saw him on Wednesday.  He was chilling in a netted tank top smiling like always.  The cancer is actually in his pancreas and he underwent surgery this past Friday and will get it removed this January.  his eyes were a sick yellow from his pancreas not functioning properly.  It was really hard to just be cheerful and talk like it was all normal.  Im going to go see him Tuesday before I go

so that's the news

All my transfers have been done by telephone but since president was on the island this time around I figured id get it in person.  But not the way it happened.  

So we had to meet President and the Assistants at the hotel when we got there president rolled out in a white Mercedes and said "Elder Sackley hop in Elder cox, the other assistant, will ride with Elder Okano we need to debrief you on your assignment"  So I hop into the back of this white Mercedes President and Sister Herrington were in the front and Elder Broadbent the other assistant was in the back with me.  They had a stack of white papers and I fully expected to be given a couple black and white photos of my targets with a brief case containing a pistol and a silencer.

So once Elder 007 Sackley came back to earth President said "were sending you to Guadeloupe Elder Broadbent tell him his assignment" So Elder Broadbent starts telling me all about the island itself and what not and president cuts him off saying "no Elder Broadbent cut the clouds out tell him why hes going there" Elder Broadbent looks at me and says " well Elder Sackley Guadeloupe is struggling" president cuts off again "and youre going to fix this"

So for the next 30 minutes they spelled out the problems.  both previous zone leaders left the island and me and my old buddy Elder Moux are taking it over.  Im going to be blanking an area called Lamentin with a half trained elder who got separated from his companion beacause of... well issues between the two of them.  My area hasn't baptized in over a year and there are a couple elders that "you have to exchange with weekly"  im also the senior couple.  And my debuty Elder Moux is 45 minutes away from the rest of the zone in basse terre so im on my own in that sense.  apparently there is some beef and dis obedience because of it between the Tahitian elders on the island and American elders.  Elder Moux is Tahitian and just a baller so I guess were the boom squad in that regard.

Closing thoughts to all of this.

President came to inspect our apartment and he called me into our study room.  He was staring at my picture of Grandpa and said "how are you related to Elder Sackley" we talked for a while about him and when I dropped him off at the airport he gave me a tight reassuring hug and said "you can do this... live up to your name"

Guadeloupe on Wednesday.  Training, zone leader, white washing, some problems to fix, and an island to baptize

hurrah

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

week 70

Bonsoir

I'm really bad with words and if you read my blog i guess you already know that so ill just fire straight:  This week was hard.  It was hard for two stories and because of lack of time and creativity ill just lay them out simple.

Saturday morning i got a call from Elder Wilson.  He's in his first 6 weeks in the field and he says "elder sackley i need the mission doctors number i had a mini stroke"  hes a goofball so it took about 10 minutes for him to convince me he was being serious.  Later that night i get a call and he says "Elder sackley I'm going home monday morning they want to run tests on me".  I'd say im afraid of three things in life: tsunamis, scary movies, and going home early because of medical reasons.  We talked for a while on the phone.  He's a really funny guy and he was taking it better than i ever could.  That night we went over to his appartment to see how he was doing.  Even with his Utah utes snapback on and the hang loose sign he threw up to me i could tell he was hurting.  We sat him down and he asked for me to give him a blessing.  All of my mission i have been super engaged with blessings when an investigator says " i dont care you choose" 

I'm quick to volunteer.  i love being a part of them there is nothing else like it.

But this time i was uneasy.  I didnt know what to say.  I started the blessing and i had nothing i took a good 15 second pause and just thought to myself "heavenly father i cant give this blessing" and thats why i love blessings because in that moment i didnt give the blessing.  I opened my mouth and the words came out.  There was no way i could have conjured up this blessing with my own thoughts or feelings.  

Saturday was rough, i got a call from Frere Noel asking if i could meet him to go see Pierre Joesph.  Pierre Joesph got baptized back in july.  He has been not doing super well as of late he complains a lot about stomache pain but i was shell shocked and blown away when he said " i have liver cancer".  Writing this now i still dont really know how to put my feelings other than please pray for pierre joesph.  I love this man a lot.  

Elder Logan Robert Sackley

Elder Wilson looking sharp

Thursday, December 3, 2015

week 69



Barbados trip was just too much

ok we got to go fast

Barbados was sweet.  we got there really early on Wednesday so we got paired up with some English elders and did splits all day.  no offense everyone else but English preaching is really easy. aahahah I only had a couple stumble ups with French words and spoke a tiny bit of franglish but English side has got it smooth.

MLC was super cool.  Elder Martinez from the 70 was there and it was tiring it was just non stop talking the spirit was thick.  I learned so much but just a brief over riding theme was focused on the Apostle Peter.  and ill just butcher and uchtdorf quote but Peter was always willinging to take risks and even though it lead to blunders he learned so much more and so much faster than his colleagues.

To change gears these past couple of weeks I have been having a hard time.  Just not happy with the zone area comp whatever its just been hard and so I needed just a moment to think last Monday.  So I just started spilling my guts into my journal and I couldn't figure it out.  

Tuesday morning I woke up and prayed for a long time kind of calling out a little bit What lack I yet.  And my answer was Virtue.  And im not talking about immoral thougts virtue im saying that is garnishing my thoughts uncessingly virtue that wont even allow one thought enter my mind unless it uplifts.  So I decided I was going to allow virtue garnish my thoughts for the day.  It was really hard I had to stay focused all day long on it but something amazing happened.

We met this man named Raymond.  He walked up to us and said who are you?  we started talking and he let us into his house.  his wife sat down and we started explaining why we were there.  Raymond stopped us and looked at us and said there is no way you are not God sent.  And the spirit just about knocked us all out of our chairs.  

That night I was reflecting on it and I have no doubt in my mind that it came because of the refined mindset.  so I allowed it to continue all week and I feel so good.  so much more happy for lack of a better word.

Back to the MLC we didn't have any thanksgiving meal or anything so that was sad but we did have pizza that tasted like real American food so that was special.  

lots of random thoughts take it how you see it

Elder Logan Robert Sackley



President

week 68



Bonsoir mes amis

Ok in honor of grandpa im going to share a couple thought about my mission.

Madison asked me for a grandpa memory and this is what came to mind.  When i was about 11 i was at the cabin and we were eating lasagna for dinner.  There was a lot of meat and cheese still on my plate and i didnt want to finish it so grandpa Grabbed me by the shirt pulled me in nose to nose and said Logan if you ever want to have chest hair like this, he proceeded to pull his neck line down and show me his chest hair, you got to eat your lasagna.

And id say that about sums up my mission. Especially this last week we had some real uncomfortbale moments spent filing old apartment reports or dealing with silly missionaries and somedays i just wanted to push the plate away and say no more i didnt ask for all this left over cheese and mystery meat to eat.  And the lord has yanked me by the collar and said Elder Sackley if you ever want to be a man you got to do this you got to finish your plate.

I think this has been the biggest growing period of my life these past couple of months.  I have had to eat a lot of cheese and meat and in honor of Thanksgiving ill express an open gratitude for that.  We all want to acheieve big goals in life but we hate the paths we have to take to get there.  Elder Susi or i guess hes still Immanuel asked me to say a trial that im thankful for and how right is he?  Happy Thanksgiving everyone im thankful for you and pray for you.

Ill be in barbados for Thanksgiving for a MLC with Elder Martinez of the 70 should be good

thanks for the advice grandpa love you lots

Elder Logan robert Sackley
hatian bokit ou pataés


week 67



This week was stellar. When we finished off the week looking at numbers we didnt feel super good but i want to share some expériences with you that really kind of blew me away.

First was on saturday. Elder Okano is a great missionary not just a good one but a great one he really wants to go above and beyond the call and his love and dilligence showed this past week. We decided to fast for the faith and ability to find and baptize someone in the next 4 weeks. So saturday night comes around and were walking on the boardwalk its about 830 and we havent had much luck. I bumped into an old contact who kind of hasseled us than took off. When a voice called out to us right behind us. It was a man and a women sitting on a bench. We sat down next to them as they started asking who we were and what we were doing. I could tell seeing two Young missionaires with funny accents inticed them a lot. They asked us to sing a song to them which was a little out of the ordinary followed by an explanation on the BOM and Joesph Smith. The spirit was there so strong and i could just feel their sincerity as they listened and asked quesitons. After Church Elder okano and I ended the fast seperatley in the same room. When we talked about what we felt we both felt that this man was the anwser to out fast. His name is tony hes from montreal and were going to see him later this week.  The other women ended up being a friend of his but we really feel like hes someone special.

Second experience

In Church our longtime invesitgatiors Simeon and Espagna came. Espagna is the guardian of three kids that have been coming to Church for the past 4 or so months. Espagna told us that the Church was not for her but parfois she will come to be with her kids and boyfriend. This past week was the primary program. Im going to have to give a trophy or a cake to the Primary President for what happened. Her youngest son is still in primary so kid after kid goes up and talks about Jesus Christ and simple principles that Espagna would find common ground on than her son goes up and he gave a talk on Joesph Smith the prophet of the restoration. I cant remember the last time my jaw dropped like that watching as a 10 year old boy not baptized in this Church bore a powerful sweet testimony to what felt like to be only his mother. I havent had the occasion to talk to Espagna since than but i know the lord is softening her heart through her children.  

I wish i could adress this better but time is short.  With all this talk on the change of Church Policy and The shooting in Paris i will just leave it to the last thing we should do is leave the ship.  Not understanding is one thing but allowing emotion and confusion judge or décisions is foolish.  More directly to members of the Church you didnt get a testimony from a Church Policy so you dont lose a testimony from one either.  

Elder Logan Robert Sackley
now with 5 elders stemming out of the sackley blood line in my zone i make them do the"sure love ya" with me after prayers

week 66




my comp is set already ahahha

Elder Gardiner has left me for Guyane

moses splitting the Brown sea

if you take my spot take my handicap also!

teachin in da rain,

The photo is me and some other elders getting to the Church.  we had a Skype meeting with the assistants so we treked through thigh high water to get there. I was doing my best moses impersination.


Theres been a massive rain storm as of late and i will tell you the Lord is on our side ahahha.  One of the biggest problems we come across in the mission is people have gates so if you want to talk to them you have to be clever and convince them to come to the gate and talk and than you have to be witty enough to let them open the gate.  

but when its dumping rain and lightning is so loud car alarms are going off... thats not me being dramatic thats me just telling you what happens..... peoples hearts get softened towards a soaked to the bone missionary.  I dont know its something i have been thinking about this week.  I got a couple calls from missionarys in the zone asking if they should go out because of the weather.  And i seriously cant think of a better time to proselyte.   

firstly being oregon grown who in the world is scared of rain?  and why is everyone so concerned about getting wet thats just like the daily routine.  and than secondly ill just tell what happens yesterday.

we go to this mans house named Frantz.  He was a cool contact but not super engaged its dumping on us so we go up and start talking to him.  Hes shaking us and trying to get us to go away when mrs Frantz comes out and yells at us to come in the house for goodness sakes its raining.  We ended up sitting down and low and behold a family of 3.  Two people who are actually married right infront of us and we just have a stellar lesson.  There whole attitude towards us just changed looking at two silly kids from up north soaked to the bone they were curious what would push us to do such a thing.  Pray for them and pray for some more rain.

Watch out Martinique theres a crazy kid from oregon who loves his rain

Elder Logan Robert sackley

so we were driving by a big field with like 20 guys playing baseball lots of them were from the domincan republic but lots of martiniquans too.  so they hit a foul ball right by our car so i hope out and they all start whooping at me making fun of the silly missionary so they send a guy out to meet me half way about a 50 foot throw so i summoned my 4th grade baseball skills and with some pride and anger fired this ball just a line drive at this guy.  

ended up throwing it too hard and he could hang unto it and everyone on the field was going wild now yelling " american! hey its an american!  come play! come play on our team!" i would have but i cant bat so i let my ego and pride be boosted a little than we took off.