Monday, March 26, 2012

Seminary...Really!

Hey there! So this week was pretty sweet. Last Monday we went to Bishop Pauline's house to give his family a short message about missionary work. The lesson went great and after, I asked him if he could fix my back (he is a physical therapist). He said sure I can do it right now. He pulls out his massage bench and cracks everything in my body from my head to my toes. I felt so good afterward. haha! It made me think of becoming a physical therapist.
On Wednesday morning we taught seminary and we had to get up at 5:30am. I was sooo tired. The lesson we taught was about the gathering of Israel. I played guitar and my companion sang a song. The youth really enjoyed it and so did the adults. They want us to come by again and teach them.
I finally used my debit card today and I bought a shirt and shorts for preparation day. I think it was only $27.00. I think I would like a GPS for my birthday. I would definitely use it every day haha. I got to go because at 1:00pm there is a quad zone activity !!! I will talk to you later, tell everyone I love them.
Love,
Elder DeMarco

Monday, March 19, 2012




This week we had a baptism for Anna M. an 11 year old girl. Her mom was a less active member for awhile. We went to visit a couple weeks ago and she loved us! haha. She wanted us to teach her daughter (Anna). Now fast forward to this weekend…. Elder “Fisi” baptized her and our Mission President confirmed her yesterday(all we did was call President Gelwix and asked if he would give her the holy ghost and he said sure). It was awesome! During the last part of sacrament meeting he talked to the members about how they need to do more missionary work even though they are not set apart as missionaries. Then he told them to go to the missionaries after sacrament and to set up an appointment with us. So now we are super busy these next couple of weeks.
We didn't go to Yosemite today because they received a lot of snow and the roads are blocked. We are going to try to go later on this month. Now I’m going to give you lots of pictures. The one picture with the guy wearing the cowboy hat for fun is my Bishop, Bishop Pauline and his wife.

Love,
Elder DeMarco

Monday, March 12, 2012

Friday, Saturday, Sunday...Happy Days!

This week was definitely big. We had Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and ELder Maynes of the 70,came to visit us on Friday. It was an awesome mission conference. Elder Maynes talked about finding those people who really seek the truth and who keep all the commitments we give them and to put those who aren't that interested to the side for now because its just not there time yet. He said to always be sensitive and worthy of the Spirit. He also told us how Christ views the holy ghost as being extremely important. We should ask ourselves "am i in a position where Heavenly Father can use me as an instrument?". After that all 224 missionaries got to shake Elder L. Tom Perry's hand. He wanted us to tell him our names and where we are from when we shook hands with him.
Me: Hi I’m Elder DeMarco and I’m from Schenectady, New York"
Elder L Tom Perry: ohh you are from one of those places. haha, I’m glad you are here.
It was sooooo cool to meet him face to face. He is a really tall apostle. I think he is 6' 3". Anyways he talked about how heavenly father is preparing this whole world and that because Mitt Romney is Mormon more and more people are interested about our religion and we should take advantage of this moment. He told us to be more bold than we ever were before and to not worry about how people think we are different its because we ARE different and to be an example to all.
On Saturday I baptized a 10 year old girl named Telisha and it was great! I took some pictures but I forgot to bring my camera again..Sorry! ( by the way we get 1 hour to email our family every Monday) we got a lot of members to come and see it so she feels supported. She is a super nice girl and she loves to read the book of Mormon, I was like geez i didn't even read that much of the Book of Mormon when I was her age haha. Me and my companion went to McDonalds to celebrate with the other missionaries.
So on Sunday our ward mission leader Brother D. conferred her a member/gave her the holy ghost. I also taught the lesson in Elder quorum's class on lesson 5 which is about the Priesthood. I did a pretty good job even though I had to prepare the night before because President Tanner ( he is the elder quorums president) asked me last minute haha.
Fun Fact about President Tanner….his great great great great grandfather was John Tanner who gave a lot of money to Joseph Smith for the church. Because of it, Joseph Smith promised that his family would always be strong members of the church and his family would never go hungry. And guess what ....it all came true!! How awesome is that!
Next Monday I will be going to Yosemite and I will be taking a lot of pictures. Yes I still would like it if you could send me the general conference CD so we can listen to them in the car and at our house. Send me some short cool stories about the church too. It can be about anything. I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,Elder DeMarco

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fun times with the Mission Pres!

There are 2 really cool things that I will tell you about this week. One was going with President Gelwix and the other…the ward activity we had. Last Thursday evening President Gelwix went out with us to go see one of our investigators and the “A”. family. At first I was a little nervous because I was like "oh geez i better not mess up teaching", but as the lesson went on it got better. I taught about the A,B,C,D,E of Repentance. A for Admit...B for Be sorry ...C for Confess...D for Don't do it again... and E for Endure to the end. My trainer talked about Faith and President Gelwix talked about Baptism. Overall everything for that appointment went well.
After that we went to Sister “A’s” house and we were going to teach her daughter Anna about "the plan of salvation". When I finished talking about the pre-mortal life, President Gelwix jumped in and took over the lesson haha. He went on for 40 minutes talking about prayer and how it doesn't matter how long or short it is. All that matters is that you are sincere and speak from the heart. Sister “A” then talked about how she wishes we sang more upbeat songs in church like "Jesus Music" and President Gelwix said " me too" haha. We left her with the challenge to pray more as a family each day for one week and to see the blessings from it.
We then went to go see Brother “B” and help prepare him for receiving the higher priesthood. On the way to his house President Gelwix turned on the radio and we were listening to some Christian rock songs and said " when your with the mission president you get the bend the rules a bit" haha. randomly he said that the "protestant in him lovessss Jesus music". When we got to the house the guy wasn't home so we decided to call it a night.
So….the other cool thing…..….my Ward had a pie activity day. There were so many different pies and they were all sooooo good. I took some pictures of it but I forgot to bring my camera with me. I will send them to dad next Monday. My companion and I were part of a pie game and you had to find 10 gumballs that were hidden in the pie. My companion ( Elder Fisi'ihoi ) won by a long shot hahaha. Thank you for your letter and I will mail my letter for you today. I can't wait to hear from you and everyone again!