Dear Family, Friends, and Fellow Xangans,

I planned on posting something that I have written about some insights I have found about what it means to be redeemed, how the Book of Mormon teaches Temple covenants, and how redemption and temple covenants fit together in describing the way in which we belong to God and His Christ. You will have to wait until I get home, however, for my doctrinal discourses because I think it is better for me to tell you about the experiences I have had this past week.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Martha, an investigator, and Sis. N, a member from the ward. Martha had been scheduled for a baptism on April 29th, a date we felt was too far away. As we were teaching her, we all felt the Spirit. It was a powerful lesson, though simple, on studying the scriptures and on keeping the commandments.

After the lesson, we asked Martha to pray. She was uncomfortable, but she agreed. Her prayer was one of the most sincere, moving prayers I have heard. She thanked the Lord for giving her hope, faith, and the strength to believe, and she asked the Lord to strengthen that hope and faith. By the end of the prayer, Sister N. was in tears, and I was very emotional myself. The environment became very tender, and prompted Martha to share with us a spiritual experience that she had had that weekend.

When we returned on Friday for the next lesson, we brought a checklist of all the principles she needed to learn and commit to before baptism. We asked her to check off the items on the checklist she had done. By the time she was done with the list, she realized that she was more than ready for baptism. We moved the baptism to March 18, this coming Sunday. At Church on Sunday, she asked me to baptize her. I am touched by the request. It will be the first time I actually performed the ordinance.

Martha's prayer on Tuesday is unlike most prayers. It reminded me of Barbara's prayer in Covina. She prayed "If the Book of Mormon is true, and you tell me, then I will do everything I can to follow its teachings." It also reminded me of Jose's prayer in Walnut. He prayed very simply, "Heavenly Father, Is the Book of Mormon true, and should I get baptized this Sunday? I really want to know." Those are the types of prayers that make me realize the power of conversion.

If you haven't already, you all need to read the March New Era. First read Missionary Mail (Connie Myers, “Missionary Mail,” NewEra, Mar 2007, 58–61 or go to lds.org, click gospel library, magazines, New Era, March 2007 etc.), and then read How to Prepare to Be a Good Missionary. Elder Ballard, an Apostle, describes some of the blessings of missionary service I have experienced more accurately than I have read before. He said:

"Dedicated missionaries who do their very best learn lessons as important or even more important than anything they can learn in university study. I’ll give you an example. Missionaries learn how to relate to people, how to talk to people, how to help people. Whether they are going to be doctors, lawyers, merchants, or something else, the ability to relate to people can be the difference between being successful or not in that career.

A second great blessing is that missionaries become doctrinally anchored to the reality of the Atonement. There comes to them a love for and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ that will absolutely bless them and their families in mortality and on into eternity. The most powerful learning experiences we can have are when we teach someone else. And that is what missionaries do. They internalize the doctrine; they internalize the reality of the Atonement. And this will bless them in all future Church assignments.

Another great blessing is that as missionaries reach out to rescue and pull into the light of the gospel families who are wandering in the darkness, they see what they don’t want in their own lives. The experience clarifies for them the values they want to live by, the kind of family they want, the way they want to teach their children, and the goals they need in order to claim the promised blessings of the temple. A mission is the greatest education in the world" (M. Russell Ballard, “How to Prepare to Be a Good Missionary,” NewEra, Mar 2007, 6–11).

I have experienced those blessings. I bear somlemn testimony that God lives and that Jesus Christ, His Son, is the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. I testify that this is the Lord's work in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sincerely,
Elder Embree

Dear Family, Friends, and fellow Xangans,

I am still in the Chino Heritage ward, but Elder Arballo was transfered.  I now have a new companion, Elder Perez.  He is from Mexico and went into the MTC at the same time as me.  Crazy.

This past Sunday we had 5 investigators to church, and we have 3 with a scheduled baptism.  The work is doing great!

I have a billion stories that I'll have to catch up on later from Elder Arballo.  We did crazy things togother.  Next week I will try to post some things I have been studying about redemption, covenants, and the spititual concept of ownership.  It's cool.

Love you all,

Elder Embree

Dear Family, Friends, and fellow Xangans,

I am still in the Chino Heritage ward, but Elder Arballo was transfered.  I now have a new companion, Elder Perez.  He is from Mexico and went into the MTC at the same time as me.  Crazy.

This past Sunday we had 5 investigators to church, and we have 3 with a scheduled baptism.  The work is doing great!

I have a billion stories that I'll have to catch up on later from Elder Arballo.  We did crazy things togother.  Next week I will try to post some things I have been studying about redemption, covenants, and the spititual concept of ownership.  It's cool.

Love you all,

Elder Embree

From a letter dated February 26, 2007

Dear Family, Friends, and Xangans,

I can't believe that we are already in week 6 of the transfer. Elder Arballo and I have made this time fly by. I hope it doesn't end next week.

It is hard to believe that August 21, my homecoming date, is approaching so quickly. Next Tuesday, 3 of my favorite missionaries will go home and I will feel like I am old (Elder Larkin, Elder Dayton, and Elder Vester). Enough Trunky thoughts.

This past week we had an investigator to church, have 2 investigators committed for baptism (March 25 and April 29), and taught 16 lessons- 9 to investigators and 7 to less actives or recent converts. I feel good about that. This area is actually a very strong area with a lot of potential and a lot of work. Taking the work ethic I developed in Walnut to here has brought me a lot of success. I am excited. I am trying to keep my vision high.

Here's an interesting fact about my area's history: There is a particularly large church in the area that has a long track record of Mormon-hating. Our church is just down the street from it, and our church is one of the most beautiful LDS chapels I've seen for it's size and location. It features and tall marble inlay along the front that goes up to the steeple. Well when our church was first built, this other large church told it's congregations that the grain of the marble formed the image of Satan. Car accidents were caused by people driving by irradically to see the face of Satan in our Church. Kid's at school were getting made fun of for it. This was not in the 50's, this was about 10 years ago. It became such a problem that we painted ontop of our marble to cover it up. Finally a large tree grew and provided enough cover that the paint was recently stripped off, and the marble is now again revealed. I just marvel sometimes at the immaturity of people.

I want you all to know that Jesus is the Christ. He is my Redeemer. That is a realization that I am just now coming to understand, though I have been saying it for so long. I love being a missionary because I get to watch others realize Christ. That brings me fulfilment.

With that, I leave you all with the charge to pick up the March New Era and read "Missionary Mail" on page 47. The End.

Love,

Elder Embree

From a letter dated March 20, 2007

Dear family, friends, and xangans,

I'm still alive and kicking in the Chino Heritage Ward with Elder Arballo. We've had some awesome experiences together. I don't have time to write them all in e-mails, so you will have to wait until I get home (181 days) when I will type them up and post them retroactively. My plans are to print out all these xanga entries and other stories I have saved up at Kinkos and have them bound into a little book. Some of these stories are short- like getting peed on by dogs. Some are long, like taking my companion to the ER. Some are just plain spiritual, like a discovery we made about what it means to be redeemed. You will just have to wait.

Saturday was my 18 month mark. Crazy huh?

This past week was pretty successful, other than the fact that no one came to church, thus forcing us to move the baptismal date of one of our investigators. We do have 4 new investigators from last week. Two are from Illinois. One is progressing, and will have a baptismal date by the end of the week. It is looking like we will have 2 baptisms in March. That is an accomplishment considering the area history, and I am pretty happy about it. I can see the Lord's hand in this work.

I wish I had more time to ellaborate on some of the cool things I have been learning from the scriptures. I have learned a lot about covenants from King Benjamin in Mosiah 1-6. I have learned about how they relate to the Creation, Fall, and Atonement- essential ellements of our temple experience. It is fascinating.

In worldly news, if you go into the xanga archives you will notice that I have been promoting Mitt Romney for President since 2003. My fervor is no less dimmned, and I am excited about the press he has been getting. Barack Obama scares the daylights out of me. He is a snake. Edwards is old news- kind of boring. There just isn't much to say about him- just a regular liberal. Hillary. Well she is like the universal x-wife everyone hates. I hope that she wins the Dem. nomination and runs against Mitt. Enough of that- I am a missionary and will save politics for August 21, when I get home.

Jesus lives.

Love you all and miss you,

Elder Embree

From a letter dated 1/29/2007

From a letter dated January 16, 2007

Dear Family, Friends, and Xangans,

I just read the neatest scripture today. It is something that the prophet Alma said after his miraculous conversion.

Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God. My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more" (Mosiah 27:29).

What struck me was Alma's choice of the word snatch. What a strange word to use. What a fitting word. He was snatched from his torment by the mercy of Jesus Christ, and he saw the light of God. I have been snatched. And I am sure I will be in the fire again, but I know that I will be snatched again if I can just hold onto that attitude that Alma had- that complete repentence. And because of the infinite mercy of God, I can be snatched forever.

Have you been snatched?

From a letter dated 1/9/2007

Dear Family, Friends, and Xangans,

Excuse my lack of letter writting and xanga updating (via my dad). I have been busy this holiday season and have not had the chance to keep up with all the things I want to do. Entonces (oh, sorry, I accidently slip into spanish so natually now)- So, I have not gotten the opportunity to write you (Lisa, Heather, CHO, Andrew, Grandma and Grandpa, etc. etc. etc.).

Por exemplo, ahora estoy aprendiendo epanol; estoy ensenando ingles a mi companero; y estoy corriendo mucho de un investagadora al proximo. Obviously I need to work on my grammar because I'm sure I just made some big mistakes, but you get the gist of it: I am learning (and remembering) spanish, teaching my companion english, and running around trying to contact all these people that I am trying to work with.

This past weekend I confirmed another convert. Depending on how you count baptisms, I have had <b>6</b>, 9, or 7 converts on my mission. I mention this merely as a statistic to give you perspective, please don't read into it. I prefer to think about lives changed, or touched. That, however, is not measurable (as it should be).

My companion is awesome. He is from Colombia, and so I get to eat cool Colombian food and what not. Funny story- En Colombia they make tomales con hojas de platano. (I understood tomales, and platano- which means banana). Upon learning this I went days imagining tomales wrapped in banana peels. One day during a conversation about tomales, I told my companion that I thought it was really weird to wrap tomales in banana peel. He couldn't understand why. Finally everything because clear, and we both felt very silly. I have since learned that hojas means leaves. Tomales in Colombia are wrapped in the giant leaves of banana trees. JaJaJaJaJa!

Yesterday I made real authentic Chicago pizza for everybody. Tons of work, and I made them all reemberse me for supplies, but man it was worth it. It was very authentic, I have become an expert.

Two Sundays ago we spoke in Sacrament meeting again, and we also taught Sharing time in primary. This past Sunday we taught at a fireside for the turning 8 year olds on baptism. All in all, this ward continues to love the missionaries, and we continue to love this ward. It really is the best area I've ever served in. I should have known, after all, R. Swartwood came from here.

Well, until next week, Take Care. Again my apologies to all of you that I have neglected. I love you all so much, and miss you. I'm at the point now where I want to finish strong in this area, start a new area and get it going well, and then go home and become a member of the Church and put everything I have learned to practice. It's a strange sensation.

Love,

Elder Embree

"In His name all opression shall cease" (O Holy Night).

Dear Friends, Family, and Xangans, Merry Christmas! I wrote a very nice Christmas message about how Christmas Carols include the principles of our missionary lessons. Unfortunately, I don't have time to type the whole thing up. Perhaps I will post it next week, after abridging it.

I have a new companion. His name is Elder Delgado, and he is the coolest companion ever. He is from Columbia, and has only been speaking English for 4 months. El esta aprendieno ingles, y estoy aprendiendo espanol. Es muy divertido. I am amazed at how much I remember from High School.

This area continues to do well. I love and miss you all, Elder Embree

"Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die; Born to raise the sons of earth; born to give them second birth" (Heark the Herald Angels Sing).

Dear friends, family, and fellow xangans,

Merry Christmas! Things here in Walnut are wonderful. So wonderful I don't have the time to write about all the amazing things that have been happening. Write me, and I'll write back, though. Three things you should know:

December 10th: I watched as Jose baptized his mom. Wow. That was very beautiful. He had been a priest for 4 weeks. He had only been a member of the Church for 6 weeks. He had changed so much since baptism, though, that his mom wanted to experience it herself. I confirmed Jose's mom this past Sunday.

December 12: To use mission slang, I gave birth to a baby boy! I found out I was expecting on the 9th, and now here I am as a trainer!!! This is a huge responsibility- to train a brand new missionary. My kid is Elder Vega, from Peru.

December 17: A young lady we've been teaching was baptized! I was very impressed with her- at 13 years old she has not missed a Sunday since her first one 2 months or so ago. It was a neat Sunday. (Funny story about sacrament meeting: The Bishop handed me a binder and said, "the bishopric is going to be late, conduct the meeting, President Rowley presides". That was interesting).

So, Merry Christmas again! Love,

Elder Embree