13 PaGeS LoNg

WhErE tHe PaGeS oF tHiS bOoK nEvEr EnD



Monday, August 25, 2014

Scarlett Jean...


Can she get any more beautiful!!! She is growing so fast. It seems like she changes everyday. Thanks for the pictures Dallin! Grandma loves you Scarlett!

The Mish...

So the other week, I was so excited about little Scarlett that I printed some of the pictures that y´all sent me. But when we got to the the house, they were no where to be found. Seriously. I prayed all week in order to find them, but nada. So all week when I said "I´M AN AUNT", everyone said, pictures pictures..and there I was...without a single picture. Sigh. But today I printed a ton de nuevo so now I´m locked and loaded!

This week is cambios. I now have 6 months in Brillador in La Serena...so vamos a ver que pasa CHUNCHUNCHUUUUUNNN. Part of me wants to stay here 1 time more with Hermana Mori and part of me is calm with leaving...so I guess we´ll just wait and see! The will of God be done, right? :)

I don´t have much to write about....hmmmm. I guess I´ll just say that I am so excited to have me, Tory, Katie, and Cameron (and all the other friends and everyone) out serving missions together. This morning during companionship study, I was talking with my companion about the mission and the plan of salvation and just how perfect everything is. And I started to cry, cause I left the spirit so strong. The mission is like living in the celestial kingdom and looking down at the telestial... I love being able to feel the spirit and and then see how it can help others and then explaining to them the perfect love and plan that God has for them. It has been the biggest blessing of my life to serve a mission. Without a doubt. The hardest blessing, but the best. I can´t imagine anything better for my life. If you know anyone who is thinking about going on a mission but isn´t sure, EXHORT them to go! Seriously, it´ll only change them for the better. If we serve with an open heart and a humble spirit, miracles happen. What could be better than to see and be a miracle and angel in the lives of other people?? Nothing, that´s what.

Be the light for the world. Look for miracles. And smile always.


Love you guys more than anything and I pray with all my heart for every one of you everyday.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page


Moroni 7:45-48


Hello Family!!!!
I can't believe its already been another week! Thank You for the emails and pictures! Its so Nice to see everybody's faces. Im So excited for Katie! Holy Crap! I can't believe she's leaving this week! I know that she is going to love the mtc and that the work she'll do in England is gonna be unparallelled. There are people there for her and only her to find and to give the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to. They are waiting, and you are going to be the one to bring Christ into their lives. I'm just really excited for you Katie and can't wait to hear how England is! Btw, I am going to need the address of the Manchester Mission home, Thanks! Well, this week has been Great, it really has.

Me & Elder Blasko are really becoming united as companions and teaching by the spirit. It's a good thing that the Holy Ghost is a perfect teacher, because we definitely are not. I am building relationships with the members, and I think they're starting to like me. It's really nice to have members of the ward to lean on and work with. The ward I'm in is awesome and the bishop is one of the nicest and funniest guys I've ever met (He's Samoan). I plan on buying a banana for Viper (the nice homeless Cambodian man) today so that this week I can give him it when I see him. Hopefully I can get a picture with him too so you guys can see him.

Something I've learned this week that has really helped me as a new missionary is that you dont have to know everything. Me and Elder Sipes, one of the other elders that shares the ward with me and Elder Blasko, taught relief society and it was all about sharing your testimony with others. When we were teaching them, I was enlightened by the spirit and I felt so much peace and comfort from what I learned. I shared with the sisters that, as a missionary AND as everyday members, Our job isn't to know everything. We don't have to be eloquent, or perfect teachers, we may not know the scriptures forwards and back, and we may even be awkward when it comes to people (in my own case), But you know what, what I have learned since I've been on my mission is that as long as we have a testimony, and we can share it simply, the spirit will do the rest. People will remember the spirit when it was strongest, not when being taught the Creation, or about prophets, or The Book of Mormon, but when you bear a sincere, heartfelt testimony of these things. That's what changes peoples hearts. That's when the spirit will be strongest. And I've learned and seen since I've been on my mission that I don't know A lot, and it's been pretty discouraging at times, but the facts, scriptures, and ability to teach will come in time. It will come as I study and feed the testimony that I already have. And this applies to all of us, everyone of us that has the gospel in our lives. I guess to put it simply, It Is okay if we don't know everything, our job is to allow the gospel to change us so we can bear simple, powerful, and personal testimony of these things and show people how the gospel has truly changed our lives. So yep, thats probably the biggest lesson I learned this week.

So, me and Elder Blasko were visiting some formers this week and we met a man named Frank Facio. He saw my name and said he knew an Elder Page once. He said that he knew a Dallin Page!!!!! I told him that he is my brother and it was crazy! Apparently Dallin was the first missionary Frank had ever met, and since then he moved from Irvine to Long Beach and has been meeting with missionaries off and on. He asked how Dallin was doing and I told him Great and that he just had a beautiful little girl named Scarlet :) The connection was crazy. Anyway, we are gonna start meeting with Frank and his wife and kids. We'll see what happens. All I know is that NO mission assignment is by chance. The Lord chose me to come to This mission, just as it was for Dallin and Matt and Zach and Abby and now Katie and all of the missionaries out now or have ever served missions or who will ever serve missions. The Lord knows us personally, the missionary and the investigator.

I'm running out of time so I have to go, but I Love You Guys Soooo Much! I hope this email wasn't too "all over the place", I'm trying, haha. But I miss you all and am looking forward to next week! Keep doing what y'all are doing, I feel the love and the prayers. Thank You. I am praying for each of you guys everyday!

Until next time.
Love, Elder Page

p.s. We were watching the district this week as part of my 12 wk program and Sister Sabin was in it! In the district 1 which took place in San Antonio had sister sabin in it! It was pretty crazy, just thought Id let you guys know that.Pretty cool.

This is Frank Facio with Elder Dallin Page on his mission!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Howdie...


Hey Everyone!! So I have to begin this email by saying CONGRATULATIONS Dallin & Jaclyn!! I just logged on and all of the pictures were the first things I saw! Scarlett is Beautiful! She looks like y'alls child for sure!!! She's adorable, I can't believe she's finally here! I can't wait to meet her :) And also on a side note s'mores is looking chunky! I don't know if its just the pictures or if he's actually put on weight, but he looks big. I miss him. So this week was pretty good.
I'll start off by sharing my biking experiences. The bike was not my friend this week. First experience I has, me and Elder Blasko were riding around in the projects and we needed to hop the curb, so Elder Blasko hops it with grace, and me thinking I'm just as good goes to hop it, and right before I go to hop it I remember Zach telling me about the first time he tried to hop a curb and ended up popping his tire and wiping out. As I was reflecting on Zach's experience I lift up my front tire only to come right back down in front of the curb wiping out. It kinda hurt but it was just too ironic to get upset. Plus these two little kids saw the whole thing happen and were just standing there trying not to laugh. Before we kept on, after I had picked my self back up, I walk over to the kids and say, its okay to laugh. I then gave them a pass along card of Jesus and told them to put it on their mirror, and they said they would. So it was actually an ice breaker in sharing the gospel with two little kids :)
The other experience I had this week with a bike was on exchanges in Compton Again. I was using another Elder's bike and lets just put it this way, I would have been better off straddling a broom stick than sitting on the seat of this bike. I had to ride this bike mile after mile. By the end of the day, I couldn't feel my behind. But anyways, learned to laugh and hide the pain behind a smile, so it was all good.
Now onto a spiritual experience I had this week. While I was on exchanges, with Elder Brock (super funny guy) We were teaching this 19 old guy named Carlos. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and through reading it and praying about it, he could know that it was true. And that as he reads it, he can feel "that Peace" that he kept describing all throughout the lesson! I told him that he will get closer to his savior by reading that book than any other book out there, because I've experienced it for myself. The spirit was so strong and Carlos was definitely prepared for everything we had to tell him and teach him. We invited him to baptism and he excepted without hesitation! My testimony was definitely strengthened on the fact that the lord really does prepare people, he has a literal hand in these peoples lives, so that way when they do hear the message of the restored gospel they not only are ready to accept it, but they want to. And what a blessing it is for me, and for Abby, and Very soon Katie to be apart of this! I Love this work and am learning so much its crazy. I am so humbled and grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ right now in my life, and to be recognized as a servant of the lord.
There's a quote I found by President Eyring this week that I really liked, he says, "Each time you choose to try to live more like the savior, you will have your testimony strengthened. You will come to know for yourself that he is the light of the world. You will reflect to others the light of Christ in your life." I Love this because this applies to all of us full time missionary or not, we all can reflect that light as we live more like the savior and come to Know Him. I know this is Real. I Love you Guys so Much!! I Really Do! I hope y'all know that! I am thinking of you and praying for you each day, all of you. I am so glad that I've had so many examples set the way before me and that I don't have to do this alone. I can't wait to email next week and let y'all know how I'm doing and what I've learned!
I Love you again and will talk to you guys next week :)


Love, Elder Page

P.S. Feel free to send more pictures of baby Scarlett

oh my goodness, I am a Grandmother....

Words can not express how happy I am for Dallin & Jaclyn and their new Little Scarlett coming into their family, and also for me and Steve getting to be her grandparents. What a wonderful experience and blessing it is to have little ones so fresh from their Heavenly Father. She is precious!!! I look forward to watching her grow and caring for her and teaching her all that her Heavenly Father needs and wants her to know, along with Dallin & Jaclyn. They are going to be the best of parents.

Look at that proud daddy!

Proud Grandparents

The Church is true...




Firstly, our family is just a family of 13´s isn´t it?? My year mark, the aniversary of mom and dad, and my little nació!! Best day ever :) I love her already..even though it hasn´t sunk in yet. I think it´ll hit me when I come down the escalador in the airport and there´s a baby! Haha, but I´m gonna get there in the perfect time..right when she´s ready to start playing ;) Ay...my little peanut.

Also, I am officially one year older and wiser too in my mission! I literally cannot believe it...I only have 6 months left.....AHHH. ...Okay, time to change the topic.


What I wanted to tell you guys más que nada is a experience that I had this week. Gradually I have been feeling bad and badder inside my mind and heart. Ya know, Satan working hard so that I´m sad and all that. But anyways, as a mission, we are doing a 40 day fast so that we can consagrate us to the obra even more. And every person in the mission is sacrificing things individually. But Satan (the sneaky little guy) obviously doesn´t want me to be happy, so He has been amping up the things that I am trying to change for my fast. Long story short, I have been praying and fasting and I got a blessing and every thing, but I have been feeling really bad. So on Saturday night I was just fed up with Satan and how I have been feeling, so at like 11:30 at night I rolled over in my bed, got on my knees and began to cry while praying, pleading with the Lord that He can help me change. That He can tell me what I need to do to really change who I am..the things that I lack, in order to really use these last 6 months with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. At the end of my prayer, I asked God to tell me what I needed to change during church the next day. That something that I felt or heard could help my to know the next step cause I seriously didn´t know what else to do.
And just to let ya know...God loves us. And He listens to us with ears of a loving Father. And if we are willing to change our heart, He will answer us.
During Church, I got my answer, and now I know what I am going to strive to do better so that I can give it all to the Lord.

This is the best time of my life.
I love my Savior, and I know that He literally watches over me.

Love always and always,
Hermana Abigail Page

Ps...send my little peanut ALL my love...and lots of kisses from her favorite aunt ;) Hey! We´ve gotta train her while she´s little...put a picture of me and say "tia favorita"

Monday, August 11, 2014

Ether 12:27


Well, so it's crazy to think I've been away from home for almost a month already. I seriously can't get over it! It felt like yesterday we were at the airport saying goodbye. But this past week was Great! On Thursday we had a zone meeting and the zone leaders asked me to give a motivational message to get the zone to get us all fired up for the work. I thought long and hard as to what I was going to talk on, so after praying and asking heavenly father what I needed to hear along with the rest of the zone, I decided to read Ether 12:27 and speak on that. I also read from Preach My Gospel (section: No Effort Is Wasted). These two things were the bulk of what I talked on. I bore my testimony on the power of prayer and how if we are willing to humble ourselves and turn to the lord that he really can turn our weaknesses into strengths. I knew this without a doubt before the mission, but I'm definitely expanding that testimony now that I am doing all that I can to learn, grow, in becoming the best missionary I can be. The whole meeting was seriously inspired because another Elder who did a training of his own used Ether 12:27 too. It was a powerful meeting. I love the zone!

On Friday I got to go on my first exchange. It was probably the craziest exchange I could have been on. First off, the missionaries that we exchanged with are in a Spanish area, So pretty much the whole time we were out working I was just standing there smiling. I would throw in a few words of Espanol, but it has been 4 years since Ive taken a Spanish class. It was fun though. Also the area they cover is Compton, so I definitely got to see the scarier part of the mission. There are some sketchy people out here. But its interesting, Ive found the scarier they look the nicer they are (for the most part). I exchanged with Elder Woofindin who's from Salt Lake City, super nice guy and great missionary. We did a lot of contacting on the streets, which was great practice cause it's still something Im working at. But what better place to do it than out on the streets of Compton around 8:30-9:00?

There's a woman named Renee who me and Elder Blasko have been working with, she has a 7 year old son and we've taught here a few times. She's pretty solid, and wants more than anything to get baptized and have her son baptized too. We took her on a church tour Saturday and it was pretty wild at first. When we walked into the church we didnt realize it was the Tongan wards day to clean the building so there were Tongans everywhere, vacuuming, and talking, and laughing, basically not how we imagined it would be. So, we still continue the tour, it goes okay all throughout and we get to the chapel expecting it to be nice and peaceful. So we walk in and as we're saying, "And this is where we have our sacrament meeting..." there are a bunch of Tongan children running around talking into the microphone, and playing the organ. At this point we figure this whole thing was a waste, so we shew the kids out and go up to the front to just sit. The chapel is finally quiet and the spirit is there. We talk to Renee about some things and at the end we ask her to pray. At that point the spirit is so Strong and she feels it. Throughout this thing the lord was definitely trying our faith, but because we pushed through and were patient, we were blessed as well as Renee with the spirit. She has a baptismal date of September 14th. All I know is that through thick and thin, if people are prepared, and we are in tune with the spirit, the Lord can work miracles.

The mission continues to be hard, everyday. But by taking on each day with patience, humility, and with a firm desire to do the work, I've found peace, comfort, strength, and my burdens have been lightened. I dont go a day, sometimes even a prayer without praying for my family, all of you guys. Know that I Love Each and everyone of you and am thinking of you. I know that families are essential to gods plan and that through our families we can find the greatest of happiness if we are living the gospel and always relying on the lord, in good and bad of times. I Love you again and can't wait till next week to email. God Speed!

- Elder Page

P.S. I have been getting all of yalls emails and letters. Thank You! I hope yall have been getting my letters. And your suppose to get/havegotten a packadge today! :)

(sin tema especifico​)

The truth is..that sometimes I don´t know what to write. There are a million things and experiences or feelings that are in my head, and I wanna share them all! But obviously time is my enemy so I won´t be able to go on rabbling for too long. But seriously, I´m better at rabbling out my feeling than typing them out (like you all are fully aware).

I guess I´ll just say that I love my Savior. I love that His atonement isn´t conditional. It´s infinite. And it doesn´t matter how many times we mess up, or how many times we fall down, or how many times we feel lost...there He is..waiting patiently for us. Sometimes I literally imagine walking on a path next to Christ...walkin walkin walkin, when suddenly we look over to the side and we get distracted by a butterfly or a plane or superman or whatever and we take a "short cut of doom" into the woods by the path. And Christ tries to talk us out of it, pleading us to keep walking with Him cause we will get to "grandma´s house" soon. But us, being tan porfiados, we ignore Him and go into the woods... and then after falling and getting lost and scraped up, we make it back to the path again, and there is Christ...waiting patiently right where we left Him, and he stretches his hand out to us and says "...yeah, are you ready to keep going?". Without anger, without giving us guilt, without chewing us out for being tan tonto. Nada de eso! Just lovingly accepting us and helping us to "keep on swimming".

How awesome is Christ´s love?? Goodness, it just blows my mind sometimes :) I love Him so much, and I am so glad and grateful from the time He has given me to lovingly explain and demonstrate a portion of that same love with His children here in Chile.

Another thing...I am so excited for my little peanut!! And I think I´m with dad..cause she´s gonna be born on the 13th! Anniversary of Mom and Dad and my year mark in the mission! 13 is just our number, isn´t it?

But that´s all that I´ve got time for! I love you all a boatload! Give my lil peanut Scarlet lots of love from my part!!!!!!

Until next week!

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

Monday, August 4, 2014

"Heello"


Well hello there! It's been a while since I last emailed because of the whole flying here to long beach and p-day not being till today ordeal. But here I am! I don't even know where to begin. It's been a pretty crazy week. Im serving right now in Long Beach, Im a little ways away from the beach but by the looks of things I feel like I should be. Im in the "Virginia Ward" Its mainly made up of Samoans, they're all so nice. Super chill, and they cook pretty dang good. My trainers name is Elder Blasko, he's from Maryland. He's really cool and a really nice guy. He's been working me hard which has been good. I've come to realize that the mtc doesn't prepare you for everything. The mission is hard, but because I have a great trainer, a strong testimony, a sure knowledge as to why I'm even out here, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I have managed to make it through the past week. I have received so much strength and comfort from Him. My burdens have been lightened and I think I'm beginning to realize that I can't do this alone. We've taught quite a few lessons, we've done some contacting on the streets, which I'm getting the hang of. I've really had to trust in the lord and the spirit on what I'm going to say next, Everytime! But every time you can receive that help, and that's been good to know.

I've definitely met some interesting people. Like one guy, he's a homeless asian man who lives outside of our apartment complex, we call him viper. He doesn't speak any english, but he's nice. To give you guys a mental picture, he looks just like the guy in surf ninjas, that says, "Heeello". Looks just like him! Anyways, let's see, Companionship study and personal study has been really good. It's awesome having 3 hours of study everyday. Right now in my personal studies, I'm reading "Jesus the Christ" Dang James E. Talmadge is the man! I'm also reading the Book of Mormon all the way through, highlighting any references to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost. I'm 15 pages in and have already found 134 references! Its crazy. We always sing a song before Comp study and the other day I was feeling pretty discouraged and we sang "Come Come Ye Saints". All I have to say is that the 1st 2 verses brought tears of joy to my eyes. I felt the greatest sense of peace flood over me. It was pretty great. Saturday me and Elder Blasko along with about 10 other missionaries got to go to a convert Baptism. The spirit was really strong and it was just another answer to my prayers. There I felt and witnessed the main reason why I'm here, and that's to bring souls to Christ. This work is Amazing! I can't even describe it you guys. The areas here are really small so I usually see at least 3 other companionships a day. It's pretty cool though. So, y'all won't believe this, but Joey (Elder Nanto) is in my zone! I've already seen him twice. It's so nice to see a familiar face, I'll tell you what. Some good news, Some really good news actually, every 2 transfers as a zone, we get to go to the LA temple! I'm so excited to go.

I know this email is kind of all over the place, I'll work on it, but something else I've learned this week has been the power of teaching simply. Basically, teaching simply makes the doctrine easier for investigators to understand and it brings the spirit a lot faster and a lot stronger.

I'm running out of time, but one of the last things I'll say is that I have only been here a week and the Lord is already helping me love this area, the members in the ward and especially those that I'm trying to find and help. I Love it all. Missionary work is hard, but it's not meant to be easy, because it was never easy for the Savior. But lucky for us, because it was never easy for Him, it Can be Easier for us, and I'm eternally grateful for that fact. Well I Love You all, I miss you guys So Much, but I know I'm where the Lord needs me. I can't wait to email next week. Keep me posted on baby Scarlet please!


Love,

Elder Page

P.S. Can someone burn me a copy of the lower lights cd (full) and also Lord of the Rings! :) Thank You!




BeDtImE sToRiEs...


Once upon a time, in a far away land se llama La Serena, there once were two brave princesses named Page y Mori. They had been searching high and low for "the chosen one". The one that had been promised to them by the wise scorcerer (Presidente). Far and long, high and low, left and right they searched trying to find the special soul. But on and on they went without any trace of the person. Without even a hint or clue of how to recognize the chosen one, they began to lose hope that they could be the ones to accomplish the task. "How can it be" they said. "Maybe the scorcerer was wrong...maybe we weren´t meant to find the chosen one.." But either way, with some of the last drops of hope, they went. Looking even harder. Knocking every castle door, searching in every pasture, talking to every peasant and prince and knight that passed them on their path.
One day, when passing through a familiar path that the two princesses usually used to arrive in town, there was a young maid outside a cottage washing out the stagecouch. Not thinking too much about the young lady, they gave a friendly hello and kept walking. Not 4 steps after crossing in front of the young woman, Page and Mori were brought to a hault in the path. Their feet could not go another step. "Turn around" said a voice. "Talk to the maid. What do you have to lose?" So without trying to overthink the still voice, Page and Mori turned and began to talk to the woman. She asked what their purpose on their path was and where were they going. They replied that they were pricesses on a noble quest to find the chosen one..the soul that could become the heir to the kingdom. The young maid, intriged in how two ladies so young would embark on such an errand, began to question the reasoning of the two princesses. With a flicker of hope, Page and Mori, invited the maid to the castle in order to explain the purpose of the quest more clearly. The maid, Francisca, began to come to the castle frequently (and Page and Mori traveled to her cottage as well) to learn about the kingdom, the quest, and the chosen one. After a few visits, Page and Mori told the Francisca that they believed her to be the chosen one..the one from the fortune of the sorcerer. Doubting herself, but also trusting in the princesses, the Francisca did not know what she should do. "Ask the king" Page and Mori told her.

A few days went by as Francisca wrote a correspondence to the king and waited for her response..explaining her feelings, her thoughts, her doubts, her desires.

One day Page and Mori, hopefully that by then the king had sent a response to Francisca, headed towards her cottage to see if she was ready to accept her title as the chosen heir. When they arrived, the Francisca sat them down at the small table. With the fireplace crackling and the hearts of Page and Mori pounding, Francisca said "I recieved my reply from the king. And I have my answer..........I am ready."

Rejoicing was had throughout the kingdom as the royal court planned the correlacion and the ball to celebrate! When the day arrived, Francisca, nervous but ready, took on her title of heir to the kingdom and realized for herself that she was indeed chosen...special...the Princess of a King.

And from that moment on, the Princesses Page and Mori followed on with other quests and the Francisca resumed her training to one day become queen.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

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