Pictures - 11.26.12

be prepared to be amazed

Some of our investigators and some ward members!! I freaking love these people!!

These guys are two kids in the family that we are teaching!! I will have to tell you about them sometime!! LOVE THEM!! Hunter is 12 and Graham is 6. They are both my soccer players!!

Email 11.26.12

Que pasa?!

This week has been awesome! So much to be grateful for!! :) Thanksgiving was great!! We went over to an "investigators" house who invited us to dinner after we had knocked on their door 3 weeks ago. It was fantastic. Good food and the neighbors were able to come over and they were members of the church. Great experience!! Not only that, but we got to ball up with the kids in the morning instead of the Turkey Bowl. YO! So anyways, Thanksgiving was great and it was a good time to ponder on all of the many blessings that we have and still do take for granted. God literally has given us everything we have. Everything. How blessed we are. 

First off, let me tell you again like I say over and over and over...miracles do happen. But I also want to focus my email on something I learned this week. Something that has really been making me sad. 

It really just depresses me to see all of God's Children, not knowing who they truly are. I learned something while listening to someone speak in church this week. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, He suffered and laid down His life for us. Can you imagine crucifying your Savior as He went about your streets performing miracles and teaching? Can you imagine doing such a horendous Thing? Well they did. They crucified their Savior. They mocked Him, tortured Him and spit upon Him. Why?! How could anyone with a heart do that?! It doesn't seem plausible does it? Then what made them do it?! Here's the answer. Ignorance. In one of the most pivotal moments in the Saviors life on the cross. Minutes away from dying, He said "Father, forgive them FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO". Think about that statement. They know not what they do? They were able to crucify Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior, Lord and Redeemer because they didn't KNOW what they were doing. Why did they not know what they were doing?
1. They did not recognize Jesus Christ as their Savior. Their hearts were "hard" and they would not believe.
2. They did not know who they were.
That's what I want to focus on. They did not know who they were. They truly did not know who they were because if they did, there is no way on earth they could've done what they did to Jesus. So if we liken it unto ourselves, why do we do the things that we do, especially if we know the things that we know?! It is simply because we truly do not know WHO WE ARE. We are all children of God. Do you know what that means? None of us can master that concept completely, but we can begin to understand it. We are children of a Creator who "spoke" and the heavens and the earth were created. We are CHILDREN of God. We need to begin to learn what that truly means. Alot of people out here mock us for believing that someday we can become god's like our Heavenly Father....I just turn to them and say "so, So what?" Why is that so hard for people to grasp. God is our father, He loves us and wants us to be happy and to have success in this life so we can return to live with Him again. It says over and over in the Bible that if we follow the commandments and obey the Father and the Son, we will "inherit the Kingdom of Heaven" or "all that the Father has". Jesus before ascending into Heaven says that there are mansions above being prepared for us, if we only will "follow Him". So my question to you all is if this is all the case, and it is, then why are we screwing around on earth doing the dumb things that we do, wasting our lives away on things that DO NOT MATTER? Dumb. Once we truly find out who we are and who we can become, we will consequently act the part. Start acting like Children of a Heavenly Father who is God, who is Omnipotent and all Powerful and All Searching!!
Are we the people Jesus was refferring to on the cross when He lovingly said "they know not what they do"? I hope not.

Anyways, thats been bugging me lately. So many people in the world living under potential. If only they knew who they were :) I love yall!! I am excited for Christmas and the many more months of pure joy out here in Oklahoma! :)

Write me!! Send Pictures too!! dallin.cutler@myldsmail.net

Elder Cutler

Pictures - 11.19.12

 coke bottles and champagneeeeee

not much has changed...

love this fam

missionary stuntin'

 LIVERPOOOOOOOLLLL

Pictures

(Thanksgiving turkey bowl)

 (and halloween!)

Email 11.19.12

Hey everyone!!

I cannot believe how fast time is going by. It seems like just yesterday I got my call. I coudn't really tell you what happened last week. Time blurs out here. It doesn't even seem like time. It sucks, I want it to go by slower so I can take it all in slower!!! Oh well.

This week man. So many miracles. I want to promise you all reading this that God answers prayers. He hears every single heartfelt prayer you offer up to Him. He knows your thoughts and your desires and he knows exactly what you are going through on the most personal level. Satan is trying so hard in this day and age to confuse us all and to put fear and doubt into our minds and hearts. Don't let him. Don't give him the time of the day. "Pray always, lest ye enter into temptation". Prayer is one of the many ways we can personally come to know our Heavenly Father. We need to develop a relationship with Him and understand for ourselves that He truly loves us. I can't tell you how many times The Lord has answered my prayers, and I can't tell you how many times I have expected to recieve an answer one way, and then He decided to give me an answer a completely different way. I love a quote that I heard from someone who wrote me a letter this week...you know who you are..."God may not always answer our prayers when we want Him to, but He will never be late". How comforting, and how true. I can testify in the name of Jesus Christ that prayers are answered, every single one in God's time and in God's own ways. We have to be willing to take time to find the answer and listen. In this generation, all of our answers can be recieved by a click of  a button or by googling something. That is not how God works. You have to listen and search for it sometime, but He will always answer. He will never be late. I promise.

Oklahoma!! Good ol' Oklahoma. It is so fun out here. The people out here are a different breed (in more ways than one), they are so nice and genuine. It is pretty dang cold out here and I don't do early morning cold runs, so my hot missionary bod is suffering...oh well. Funny story, so we went tracting late friday night and we knocked on this house and this guy answered the door in cowboy boots, spurs and everything, pointing a rifle at us....lets just say, we were kinda shocked haha. He had a big ol mustache and told us to leave and that he was christian already....hahaha what a SOLID Christian hospitable greeting. :) Love these people. There are so many good times and thanksgiving is gonna be dope. I am playing soccer with all the little kids in our ward and the ones around Edmond who all are on different clubs. We will see how big it gets. I am stoked to put the good ol boots on and rep Liverpool!! ;)

Well, here's my challenge to you all. In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I know that we do not thankour Heavenly Father enough for what He has done for all of us. Go into a quiet room by yourself when you have time and say a prayer to Him and in the prayer, do nothing but thank Him for all your thankful for. Make it heartfelt and listen as you pray, make it a conversation and I can promise you all that you will feel something amazing. It will begin to change your hearts as we are grateful to our God. Gratitude is the antidote to pride and is cultivated by prayer. Look for ways to be grateful and pray to have more gratitude and I promise you all more peace and happiness!!

I love all you guys!! Thanks for all the letters!! Remember that I love food and pictures and surprises ;) just sayinnnnn!!

Love always,

Elder Cutler

Longest shortest week of my life. - Email 11.12.12

This week was awesome. Simple as that. 

Got a new companion, he comes home after this transfer so I am "killing" him. His name is Elder Jacobson and he is the EXACT opposite of me, humble, from idaho, quiet, hunts, from Idaho, loves horses, from idaho, hard working, from idaho....from idaho. I love the kid to death. He is a great example to me. We work really well together and the Lord has blessed us because of our willingness to obey and go to work.

Here's the low down. There is nothing more joyful, there is nothing more peaceful, and there is nothing more "desirable" than feeling the Spirit of God. The fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22) are the greatest. Especially love. Love is key. I love the people around me so much. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father and we must love each other. Humble yourselves, repent/change and learn to love those people you are around. I promise that you will experience a sense of peace and happiness unmatched to anything else. 

So this week was busy. Edmond has LIT up. The Lord is hastening His work "to bring to pass the imortality and eternal life of men" by helping them receive the Restored Gospel. It has been awesome. A couple things I have learned.
1. Faith leads to miracles. 
2. Faith is a gift from God that we must ask/pray for... We must pray with true DESIRE believing "Someone is there". Then we "shall receive".
3. Faith is not just a belief, go out and do and have faith that the Lord will guide you.
4. If we trust the Lord, He will give us success, whatever success may be. (Alma 26:27)
Beginning this week, we had nobody to teach and I had to lead the area out, something I have never done because Elder Jacobson didn't know anyone or the area. We prayed and prayed with sincerity unlike anything else. Well, let me just tell you that we have had so much success we almost don't have time enough in the day to do what we need to do. It is humbling to know that the Lord really is in charge...to the very second of every minute of every hour of every day. This concept can be applied everywhere especially outside of a mission. We all worry about so much that doesn't matter. If we truly seek to have the spirit in our lives and trust that the Lord will guide us with His spirit, we have nothing to worry about. Alot of negativity has come about in this election. Although I am not supposed to take a stand I do have something to say about it. 

For those of you familiar with the Book of Mormon, and the Bible, there are COUNTLESS times where the Lord has promised that if we are righteous, we have nothing to fear. The Lord will protect His righteous people. Its a promise. So why do we pay attention to the negative and worry about what "could happen". I will tell you what "will" happen because it says in the scriptures over and over very bluntly "at the last day, the righteous will be saved and the wicked shall be destroyed". Isn't God's promise enough? So instead of worrying about the bad in the world, worry about what is taking place within the home. The central unit to God's plan of Salvation is the family. How are we making our families and homes a safehaven from the world. How are we making them a place of righteousness? It all starts within the home. It all starts with our desire to choose the right, follow God's commandments and continue to warn others of the consequences of sin. If we truly love Him "feed (his) sheep". 

I love you all and I bear you my testimony that there is nothing to fear. There is nothing to worry about other than pleasing your Father which is in Heaven. Strive everyday to love others. Continue to grow in faith of the Lords "mysterious ways". Continue to deepen your knowledge of the fact that you are His children...you are sons and daughter of the "Most High". Act like it. Choose the right. I say this in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love you all. Write me!! :)

Elder Cutler

Just another week of craziness!! - Email 11.5.12

This week was nuts!! Filled with miracles and learning. It really is amazing how fast time goes by when you lose yourself and just have fun and have a good attitude. That was the fastest 6 weeks of my entire life. Transfers are this wednesday and I get to stay in Edmond 3rd ward. I get a new companion because Elder Hanes is going Zone Leader in a city called Moore. I will be leading the area out and we have an exciting month ahead of us!! 

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. Thank you so much for all the letters I have received. I have been really surprised at some of you ;). haha I really do appreciate it!! ONE MORE THING: Send me pictures of you and me!! I love getting pictures!! 

So the beginning of last week me and Elder Hanes decided that because we would most likely be split up at transfers, we would work our butts off this week and leave it all on the table...kind of like a yolo moment...ya feel? Thats exactly what we did and I can testify to you that when we truly have faith and then go to work and trust the Lord, He will provide...whatever that provision may be :) Here's a cool story.

Tuesday night we went to dinner with a younger couple in the ward. On the way from driving us back to our apartment, a family was brought up who was less active. All of a sudden I had a feeling to go visit this family that night...don't know why but i did. So when we got home, a member from our church was waiting for us because he was going to take us out and teach people. He said that when he was driving that he had the feeling to visit the family that I got the feeling about too. So we went and visited them at their apartment. After knocking 3 times and no one answering, we were confused. We knew that the spirit had told us to go to this house, but they weren't even home!! Just as we were about to walk away, we turned around and a door on the opposite hall opened and he just looked at us. He started talking to us and right then, we knew why we had come to that apartment that night. Eventually he let us in and we talked with him and his roomates. Two of them were from the Ivory Coast and the other was from Uganda. They spoke english but it was difficult to understand because they had only lived here for a year. We set an appointment for when we could come back and teach them. Thursday came along and we went back to these guys. Except Elder Hanes wasn't with me, we were on splits with the Zone Leaders. So me and Elder Robison (one of our ZL's) went and taught these guys but only two were there. I can't even begin to explain how prepared these guys were. When we talked about the Book of Mormon and told them that it was another testament of Jesus Christ and His ministry in the Americas, their eyes LIT UP. They became so excited. They asked why they hadn't known about this their whole lives. They asked why anyone would turn down "more of God's word". We were so excited for them that they had felt the spirit testify to them that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and goes hand in hand with the Bible. We then asked if they would be baptized by the priesthood authority that Joseph Smith had brought back to earth through Jesus Christ...they said of course. They both are set to be baptized December 8th. What a miracle. I learned so much from the experience but the biggest was how much we take the Book of Mormon for granted and how close minded someone has to be to turn down the opportunity to read it. It truly is God's word. It testifies of Jesus Christ and just because we have the Bible doesn't mean that God is done speaking to His children. He has given us more!! You can know that the Book of Mormon is true if you just read it and pray about it like I did. You won't be able to deny its turthfulness after that. 

There are so many miracles like that one that happen everyday. The key is having faith that miracles will happen. It is not wrong to expect miracles to happen. They should be, God wants to work them according to our faith. "For behold, I am God, and I am a God of miracles, and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday today and forever and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith." (2 Nephi 27:23) If God can work miracles for Moses in the old days, then why can't He move mountains and part seas today? 

It really is amazing how this Gospel can change us if we let it. It changes our nature. It is so scary at how much I have forgotten about my old lifestyle. I really can't remember anything....It was so weird this week as I sat in dinner with a family that was asking about my life back at home...frustrating really, cause I sat there blank....I couldn't remember anything. All i could think about was the scriptures and Gospel related topics...I feel like I am turning into what I dreaded becoming before my mission....and now, I couldn't be more happier that I am. I love this Gosepl and Jesus Christ and the scriptures. I love being "weird" as to worldly things. Once we stop worrying about what others think about us and start worrying about what God thinks of us, then we will have true happiness, then we will begin to grow in ways we would've never thought of!! Don't take my word though, go out and try it, you have nothing to truly lose because anybody, or anything that you lose by trying to please God, is not worth a second of your time. :) Anyone who mocks you for your beliefs in God or your willingness to obey, or your willingness to be "different"/weird/ "in the world but not of it"...will regret it much later. That I can promise you. :) 

I love all you guys so much! Keep writing me, I love hearing from all of you!! You're in my prayers!!

Love always,

Elder Cutler

Pictures - 11.1.12