Bears & Puppies

                                                                                        Jan 25, 2016
  Hi everyone,

     I hope everyone had a good week this week. It sounds like everyone in
Virginia got a blizzard which is strange but it has gotten super warm
here. Though to be fair, right now anything from 15 to 30 degrees I
consider to be warm.
     One of the members here that we visit weekly gave me 3 Chicago Cubs
molds which he made himself. He's really talented, for my companion he
made this beautiful vase with such detail. We had a worldwide
missionary training which was incredible, if I could summarize the
meeting in one phrase it would be the one they kept saying "We teach
repentance and baptize converts". What it means to me is that our job
is to teach the strait and narrow and we bring people to the waters of
baptism who have decided for themselves that they want to continue on
the path.
     On Thursday we had dinner and a meeting at the Ward mission leader's
home and it just so happens that they just had puppies. So all the
missionaries were either eating, turning in their report or playing
with puppies.
     The last thing I want to talk about is my first talk here. My first
Spanish talk was 5 minutes in the CCM which was a struggle because I
had little knowledge of the Spanish grammar and my French accent kept
popping up. This talk had to be 15 minutes long and I had only 3 days
to prepare and I could only work on it during my free time which
wasn't much or as part of language study and personal study. I did my
best to prepare (at the time I was on exchanges so my temporary was a
native Spanish speaker which was a huge help) and prayed that would
have the support of the Spirit. The time of the talk came and I
decided I like giving talks in Spanish because in English I would know
every time I'd messed up in speaking but in Spanish I'd have no idea
when I messed up so I just kept talking and smiling. Afterwards people
came up to me and told me that my Spanish was amazing and has improved
so much and they really enjoyed my talk. One even said that hearing me
talk was a testimony to him of the gift of tongues. Some of the
missionaries said that the Spirit was strong and one even wanted a
copy of my talk. I have to give credit to that the prayer of support
and of course the Spirit, because it was the Spirit that turned my
good talk to a great one. All the work I put into that talk was

definitely worth it in the end.

     Hard to believe that the next time I email will be in February, it
feels like I had just celebrated New Years. I hope everyone enjoys
this last week of January 2016,

                                                                                 Best wishes, Elder Agre

The Molds of the Home Team

The Vase

The Puppies

                       
                                Why I Shouldn't be Allowed to Have Puppies

Happy Martin Luther King Day

                                                                                                Jan 18, 2016
Dear everyone,

     I hope everyone is having a good time this holiday. Mine has been
good. The temperature has been pretty low for awhile.

     Something cool that happened is we had a lesson with a less active
member who wants to return to church with his family. And he said I
won't rest until everyone in my family has been baptized
which was inspiring to hear and my companion and I are happy to help
him out in his goal.

     Thank you to everyone who has emailed so far and for reading my
letters. Sorry I can't report much for this week. I hope for an
exciting next week. We are going to have missionary First Presidency
training this week and I believe it will be worldwide so I am excited
about that.

Wish you a good week,
                                                                       -Best wishes, Elder Agre

Fire & Ice

                                                                                     Jan 12, 2016

  Dear Everyone,

     It got super cold outside. It was 0 degrees one day with a wind chill
of -11 degrees. It hurts my face just walking around but I manage. I
would have sent email yesterday but I was super busy.

     In Chicago one house is similar to a two story apartment. Like a
lot of missionaries in Chicago just live over a family in a house. So
this one house which was pretty much a 3 story apartment, the top
floor caught on fire because a radiator blow up. So the fire fighters
decided to start at the bottom floor of the house and pretty much
flooded the entire house. The person who lived at the bottom floor was
a member so me and a couple of missionaries and members helped move
all the furniture from the destroyed basement to a storage unit and
someone's house. It took almost all day. So the mission president gave
all the missionaries who helped out another day to email and shop
which was greatly appreciated.
     That is pretty much the excitement of this week. The mission work
has hit a slow spot for now but Elder Hanna and I are going to be
working hard to fix that. I hope you are having warmer weather where
you are.
    

                                                      -Best wishes, Elder Agre

At the house that burned, there was a news truck. The lady in the earmuffs is on Spanish News TV. I have no idea if we were on the news or who the reporter is for that matter, but it was a cool picture opportunity.

Happy New Years

                                                                                         Jan 4, 2016

 Happy New Years everyone,

     My New Year is going to start out a tiny bit rough because I'm a little sick but I am still excited for this coming year of 2016. It's also special because this will start only full year as a missionary (which is also called a black year here in the mission field) which I'm excited for, I cannot wait to see what happens these 12 months in Chicago. Here are my New Year resolution for this upcoming year:

1) Exercise 

     Here in the Spanish program we are fed by members often with tons of food. Which is awesome but at this point even though I walk a lot I still feel like I'm not burning enough calories to balance my intake of calories so I'm going to take advantage of the 30 minutes we get every morning to exercise. 

2) Study Preach my Gospel and the Missionary Handbook 

     I'm part of a generation of missionaries who use Preach my Gospel, a missionary handbook created by so many people through their personal revelations and approved and edited by the 12 apostles and the first presidency. Thus this book can be seen almost as direct counsel from the General Presidency and God himself. If I want to be the best missionary I can be then I must know this book cover to cover. The Mission Handbook, sometimes called the white bible, is a set of rules that protect missionaries and I know if I follow these rules then I know I will find the hand of God in my life. While at the CCM, someone who deals with the reports of missionaries who are injured or worse told us that almost every time he sees a report, the cause is usually because missionaries didn't follow the rules of the Missionary Handbook.

3) Learning Spanish 

     I want to speak Spanish so bad. I'm going to study hard and pray for the gift of tongues everyday so I can be fluent in Spanish. Someone in the mission I respect told me not to worry about too much about things like that while I am still new in the mission. So I'll be patience and practice hard everyday until the day when I need to step up from being a new missionary to the needed missionary. 

4) Supporting My Companion

     I finish my first transfer here in Chicago tomorrow so my "trio will go down to two" (Lion King). So Elder Patrick is going to another area of Chicago, and me and Elder Hanna will stay here. Elder Hanna came only one transfer before me so he is pretty new too. He is also the new District leader so I am going to do my best to help him out anyway why I can.

     These are my goals for the new year I hope you all enjoyed the start of 2016. Still feels a little like 2014 for me I know 2016 will be a special year for me and I hope you feel the same way about this year for you. 

                                   

                                                                               -Elder Agre

Hey Everyone

Here's a photo with me and a puppy, I didn't put it on my general email because my  my face looks goofy. It only looks goofy because a puppy is licking my face.

Here's an activity we did a while back gave out my first Book of Mormon here on my mission.I just forgot to put this photo in my general email. I hope you guys are enjoying your winter break, it's snowing right now.

                                                           - Love, Elder Agre

   

Baptism Day

Napoleon's baptismal day, what a great time

Me and my district Christmas sweater picture. This was at the request of the sister missionary with the glasses since she is going to finish her mission this Wednesday. I didn't have a Christmas sweater so I had to get a normal sweater and put Christmas pictures on it.

Merry Christmas Week (Part 2)

                                                                     

                                                                                                          Dec 28, 2015

  Merry Christmas everyone,

               My first Christmas here in Chicago was fun to say the least. Definitely different than a Christmas from back home. It was also warm throughout the entire week of Christmas, absolutely no snow. However I like it warm than cold so I consider it an enjoyable Christmas.

              Christmas Eve began at around 6 am for the missionaries here. We did service that morning by packing up food for the less fortunate. It was strange because many missionaries were saying hi to one other and remembering memories but I didn't know anyone else outside from my zone. Which made me excited for the day when I'm the one saying hi to everyone and remembering the hard and the good times. That night we had a Christmas dinner with our Ward mission leader. It was so good and so much food that I felt stuffed. We also had a sleepover that night with the other elders.

              Christmas morning started off rough because we had to get up at 4 am and I didn't really sleep that night until 3 am. We finished packing up the food and all the missionaries sang a Christmas hymn for the people volunteering for service. I then got to call home and see my family for the first time in 3 months. It made me really happy that we have the Plan of Salvation and families can be together forever and not have to be separated after this life. Then we helped our investigator overcome his last reservations about getting baptized.

              The First Baptism that I witnessed on my mission. His name is Napoleon has been waiting to be baptized after seeing the miracles of a Mormon doctor. It's been 3 months in the making but he got baptized the day after Christmas. At church we confirmed him a member and conferred the Aaronic priesthood to him. I didn't feel like I had a part in his joining the church since we had only known each other for a month, but I know the time will come when I do need to play a key part so I need to step up as a missionary now so I am prepared later. 

             This was my first mission Christmas, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmases and I wish everyone a happy New Year. I can't wait to see what comes in 2016 and I'm grateful for came about in 2015.

                                                                             -Happy Holidays, Elder Agre

Companion Fun

My zone at the temple this last Tuesday. It was such a great experience.

Me and my companions in front of the temple

Me and my district's jumping picture, we decided that it was not necessary for me to jump.

A squid dish that my Elder Patrick made, I was the only one who enjoyed it.

Our caroling activity after we withstood the riot.

And the reason why I'm here having all these experiences. To share this message to all in Chicago.

Merry Christmas Week (Part 1)

      

                                                                                                         Dec 21,2015

 Hi everyone,

     What an awesome week here in Chicago. I hope you guys are having a nice holiday season. Here it's pretty warm and wet. All week I'm packed with appointments, this will be my business Christmas. I can't believe I've been out for a 2 months already.
I have two stories to share about a something cool and what I consider my first miracle here on my mission. 

     Something Cool. You may have heard there was some riots here in Chicago. So Thursday, my zone and I were singing  Christmas carols. And as we were singing the police surrounded us and then we saw an enormous group of people started coming down towards us. We were about to

leave then the police told us to  "Keep singing ". So there we were protected by the police and in front of a huge crowd of people, while singing Christmas carols. 

     My first miracle on my mission. We have an investigator for certain reasons cannot come to church. So me and my companions were trying to figure out how to teach him about the important of baptisms, going to church, and the blessings that God will bless him with for choosing God's way. However, when we got to the appointment he told he was able to go to church starting next week and hopefully afterwards. I consider this a moment when we planned to accomplish our duty and God blessed us for our efforts by giving us another option to accomplish our goals. 

     A lot of awesome things happened this week for me and super excited for what comes afterwards. I hope you all enjoy your Christmas week and the day of Christmas.

                                                                                  -Merry Christmas, Elder Agre

A Warm December in Chicago

                                                                                                     Dec 14, 2015
 Hi everyone,

     Like it said in the title it's been pretty warm this week. All it is has been rain and sunlight. Everything is alright here in Chicago. We have been hearing about the riots going on around but we haven't seen everything from it in our area. Christmas is coming into full swing here. Every time I contact or talk to someone Christmas always comes up. The missionaries are going out caroling with the Ward sometime this week. Lights are on the trees and the spirit of Christmas is here.  
      I want to share a story that really touched me. During our zone conference the other day. We had a speaker who was a return missionary. He talked about just random events in his mission, there was no transitions between them, it just felt awkward to listen to.Then he said suddenly that he had to go home early because he was showing the early signs of Schizophrenia. The saddest part was when he asked his mission president if he could return to his mission in the future. His mission president said of course but never to this mission. He then pulled out his name tag with tears in his eye talking about his regrets about certain times when he felt he could have worked harder.     
      This actually explains perfectly how I feel about my mission. This isjust my fourth week but so much has happened. If I tried to explain it would probably sound pretty weird and some days are just strange to say the least. But it's so much fun but it will end one day. Not onlyfor my mission but for things like going to high school, being in BoyScouts, and anything I've ever been has ended and I only have thememories and the could have been. It just reminds me all the time towork my hardest and really enjoy my time because I only have thistime.    
      I hope you guys are having a good time with snow fall and the Christmas spirit this time of year.                                       
                                                             -Best wishes and Love, Elder Agre

The First Week of December in Chicago

                                                                                 Dec 7, 2015
        I can't believe it's already this time of the year. There are

  Hi everyone,

already Christmas lights all over the place. And pretty soon my
district of missionaries will be caroling on Friday and we are sharing
a video called A Savior is Born, it's a pretty powerful video. It
already feels like Christmas here. Everyday feels like such an
adventure here. We are teaching two new investigators, Omar and
Carina. Omar is super receptive of the Plan of Salvation but he's
going to Mexico and won't come back after Christmas. Carina just moved
from Mexico and is looking for God, which is super for perfect. We
also have a baptism scheduled with a man named Napoleon he's come such
a long way and the day after Christmas is when he's getting baptized.
      Teaching in Spanish is my biggest struggle at the moment, I can
understand pretty well but when I speak in Spanish my French just
shows everywhere. However I know the gift of tongues is true because
I've witnessed it so many times so I have faith that my Spanish will
improve until I can perfectly express it to others.
       I hope you guys are joining the December weather, here I have
to wear a sweater and sweatpants underneath my proselytizing clothes
but I'm starting to get use to the weather. Oh I found in a zoo gift
shop a winter hat and a scarf. It's probably the warmest hat and scarf
I've ever own. I'm really excited for this week and I hope you guys
have a good week too.
                                                                          -Love, Elder Agre