I Almost Stepped On a Snake 5/1/17

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty amazing. We went to go visit one of our investigators on Tuesday and we knocked on his door but nobody answered. But we heard something so we turned around and in the field across his house, our investigator was riding his horse, so we waved to him and he took off! We decided he probably doesn't have too much interest.

After that we had dinner with a member as we walked away from dinner, my companion grabbed me and pulled me back. I couldn't see it in the dark but I almost stepped on some snake that was like four feet long. Not sure if it was poisonous or not but I didn't want to find out!

The day after that, we went to teach some of our investigators. The last visit we asked them to pray and ask God if He exists. We came back to follow up and when we asked them about it, their faces lit up and they both talked about this amazing feeling they felt. One of them went to church this Sunday and we are excited to see what happens next.

We went to visit a less active member. We gave her a blessing back in January because she was having really bad stomach problems and she had been having them for a while (which is bad because she works in the fields). She told us that since the blessing we gave, she hasn't had a problem with her stomach, which was really cool.

Hope you all have a great week, love you guys!

I Ripped My Pants... 4/24/17

Hey everyone!

So on Tuesday, Elder Nelson and I were teaching a family we have been working with. Two members of their extended family decided to join in on the lesson and now they are super interested in hearing about the gospel.

The next day, as we were waiting for a meeting to start, and we saw some kids playing basketball. When we got a closer look, we saw that it was two on one. It was pretty easy to see that the one just wanted to fit in and the two were picking on him so my companion and I joined the one (which was pretty fun because they were all in like fourth grade). We started off terrible but we got to the point where the kid on our team was making all the shots- he even made a three! We were super proud of him and the other two kids got along with him better after the game. The only down side to the game is that I tripped and tore a hole in the knee of my favorite pair of slacks- but I feel like it was worth it.

We had interviews with President Palmer this week and he told me that everything I do now has to be in Spanish- studies, shopping, everything. He told me that not every missionary has the  ability to become fluent but my companion and I do... so we should.

One of the youth we have been working with just got his mission call last night to Salt Lake City South (Herriman's in the mission) so if you meet an Elder Gonzalez would you please feed him and his companion? His family have made sacrifices and gone out of their way to make sure we didn't go any nights without.

BTW for Nick (Joseph’s cousin, who just got his mission call to Malaga Spain)- tell his parents to have him speak Spanish as much as possible- it will help him immensely if he can learn how to pronounce the tricky common words in the scriptures. He doesn't need to worry about eating spicy food- that's really only a Mexican thing but starting now to learn Spanish will be a great blessing. Learning doctrine is important also and he may get the gift of tongues but just like anything else in the gospel it won't come unless he puts in work first. Just some advice from missionary who's lived it.

The rest of the week after that, not much happened because I got sick, so just a lot of rest and practicing Spanish!

Love you all!

Miguel's Baptism 4/17/17

Hey everyone!!

So last Monday we went over to teach Miguel after a lot of prayer and study and the lesson went incredible! The Spirit was really strong and he got really excited to be baptized on Saturday!

The baptism itself was pretty interesting. The first problem that happened was that Miguel's baptism clothes were too tight. We rushed and found some bigger ones, right as it was supposed to start. Nobody else showed up until 20 minutes after it was supposed to start, including the bishop. The sister of our investigator was being baptized first and slipped the first two times so it didn't count and the third time she decided she didn't want to do it. So our ward mission leader decided to throw baptism clothes on baptize and her himself! She agreed to do it but didn't want anyone to watch so we closed the doors and had the witnesses watch from the other side! It was valid but didn't go exactly according to plan but it was pretty good nonetheless.

Last night for Easter, the ward member who had us over for Christmas invited us over for Easter dinner. Last time we ate dinner with their family, his daughter's hair caught on fire but this time we spent like an hour putting a bike rack on her car while it was raining. They told us that the sister missionaries were on their way to dinner But we had to tell them that Elders and Sisters are not allowed to eat together in this mission so we had to scarf our food down and rush everything, but he gave us each a pie.  They also gave us easter gifts, he's really awesome.

My companion and I are collecting souvenirs to send home. I'm looking for a "Straight Outta Stockton" t-shirt so when I find them I'll send them.

Hope everybody had a great Easter, love you all!

The One With the Jehovah's Witness 4/10/17

Hey everyone!

So while my companion and I were studying there was a knock at our door. We opened it and it was a Jehovah's Witness!! He introduced himself and gave us a flyer telling us that we were invited to go to their kingdom hall to celebrate the Savior's death. I told him that we actually belong to another church and he said "Oh yeah, and what church is that?" so I said "We're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and if you have a few moments we would love to tell you a little bit about what we believe". He didn't seem too interested in hearing from us, asked for the flyer back, and just about ran off! We now keep a stack of Books of Mormon by the front door.

We went on exchanges with our district leader and I got to go with his companion, who we discovered also has ADHD. Haha we spent most of the exchange trying to figure out where we were but we had a really fun time.

Earlier this week, we taught our 10 year old investigator and at the end of the lesson we asked him if he was excited to get baptized and he responded by saying no. We spent the rest of the week preparing for our next lesson with him on Saturday and praying for him and when we had the lesson, he seemed different. He listened more intently, asked a lot of really good questions and when we asked him if he was excited to get baptized, he told us he knew he needed to, and wanted to; but just didn't feel ready. We told him to read 3 Nephi 11 with his mom and pray about whether he should be baptized or not. He promised to do that and we are following up tonight, so we'll see.

Love you all! have a great week! watch Prince of Peace!