Road Trippin With My Two Favorite Allies 7/2/18

Hey everyone!!

So this week we spent a lot of time driving and... more driving. Friday morning, we got permission to wake up early so we could go from Patterson to Turlock to pick up the Elders (a 45 minute drive) and go from Turlock to Modesto (another 45 minutes) meet the office missionary in a moving truck, load up some furniture and take it from Modesto to Patterson (another 45 minute drive) unload the furniture and stay in Turlock to conduct an interview, change the time, go back to Patterson, shower, change, and then go back to Turlock, conduct the interview and drive back to Patterson right before our Curfew of 9:00 PM.... But it was sweet because we saw the same farmer working in the fields at different times of day like four times.

Other than that, Jose, our golden new investigator, did not show up to church but some other random lady did with her two kids ages 8 and 10. They stayed for the linger longer which means that we got to stay for the linger longer and talk to her. Things are going really good here. hope everyone has a fantastic fourth of July!!!

The One With the Mission Conference 6/25/18

Hey everyone!

This week flew by super fast. We spent most of our time driving to and from Modesto and to appointments. The ball is really rolling here and it is refreshing to see that there are people that are ready and prepared to receive the Restored gospel. We got Bible bashed for the first time since arriving in this area. It was sad because the guy really didn't know his stuff and we usually just go away when that happens but we tried to help him understand that the Book of Mormon wasn't a record of how we worship Joseph Smith. When he said that it was false because the books aren't in chronological order, we told him the order and dates the books in the Bible were written and he did not like that at all. We left before the Spirit was totally gone and found a few potential investigators on our way back.

We had our final mission conference this past week which was sad but also amazing. The Spirit was really strong and I got to say goodbye to some old friends. As the next week approaches, we will become the Fresno mission.

Hope y’all have a great week!! Love you guys!!

The One With the Apostle 6/18/18

Hey everyone! Last Monday we went to a members house and he showed us all his goats! He had about six of them. Later that night, we were just walking around and found a guy sitting on his front porch, and we shared the message of the Restoration with him. He was a pretty cool guy and he loved our message.

Nothing else too crazy happened this week. We had a Stake conference and Elder Cook from the twelve came and spoke to us, which was absolute fire. He was really funny and the conference was super spiritual!

Sorry this is such a short email!

Love you all!

Have a great Father's day!!

The One Where We Sing 6/11

Hey everyone! This week was pretty great! We got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and we had an awesome time. Early in the week, we finally got in with a family we have been trying to visit for some time now. They don't know how to read but we helped them with the first little bit of the Book of Mormon and they committed to pray about it.

There is a part member family we have been working with and the mother committed to pray about baptism and about Joseph Smith. We are super excited for them and for what will happen in the future.

The most crazy thing that happened this week was that the branch chorister asked us to give a special musical number the Friday before Sunday, so we spent a lot of time practicing. When we got to church, the branch president approached us and told us that neither of his speakers showed up and asked if we could fill in about thirty minutes of sacrament meeting. So I gave the first talk, stayed up as we sang "O my Father" to the tune of "Come, thou Fount of every Blessing", and then my companion finished the meeting off with his talk. We were not expecting to be that much of the program but the good new is that new speakers were called almost immediately after the meeting concluded.

The One With All the Fireworks 6/4/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we had what's called the apricot festival, a town fiesta in Patterson, and it was pretty slow... until the sun went down. The Police closed our street down and they started shooting off fireworks, and our neighbors had this massive, shake-the-block kind of party. Haha, we got a lot of fireworks and the next morning, their yard was pretty covered in Bud-Light cans.

We have been trying to keep everything balanced between the English and Spanish wards. It’s still pretty crazy but we are keeping things going right now. We had a lesson with one of the investigators that the other elders were teaching... he’s a really cool guy from the south. He’s older and really active and called my companion a "heavy brotha".. Not sure what that means but I think it’s a good thing!

We met with a prospective elder last night and had a really powerful lesson on the priesthood and the blessings that come from receiving it.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Love you all!

The One With the Peacock 5/28/18

Hey everyone!

This week we had a pretty hectic transfer going from Lodi (top of the mission) to Crows Landing (bottom of the mission). We didn't have a car but I somehow still ended up here and I honestly don’t even remember how that happened.

English work is pretty different, like basic things like prayers, certain meetings, and a lot of words I’m used to using in Spanish. But besides that I love it here. We have been meeting with some of the people the missionaries were teaching before they got transferred out. I am in a trio and all three of us are pretty new to this ward but we are getting used to it.

We have already seen some miracles in finding people to teach, and the members are awesome at giving referrals.

Also we saw a peacock on the street yesterday!

Love you all!! Happy memorial day!!

The One Where I Leave Lodi 5/21/18

Hey everyone!

So I don't have a lot of time this week. We got transfer calls last night, and I am going to a place called Crows Landing, clear at the bottom of the mission, and I am covering the two wards there. It should be a lot of fun. I've had a few companions that have been in that area before and I am really looking forward to meeting a lot of the people I have heard about. I'm gonna miss my companion a lot but we'll be in the same zone so that will be pretty fun.

Besides that, we knocked on a lot of doors this week. We branched out to the other ends of Lodi that we haven't knocked before and met some pretty cool people. We are planning a really cool activity for a coming weekend, and it should be a great time.

Sorry this letter is so short!

love you all!!

The One Where I Am Finally Considered Mexican 5/14/18

Hey everyone!

In an attempt to fit in with the culture this preparation day, my companion and I walked into a Mexican clothing store with the intention of "blending in with our surroundings". The lady at the front desk was super skeptical and asked if I was Mexican. No, I replied. And she followed up by asking why on earth I would want huaraches (which are like hand-woven, leather sandals that are generally worn in Mexico). I explained that I loved her culture so much and that I have seen so many people talk about them that I wanted to see what all the hype is about... She laughed! And when she got a hold of herself she told me where they are... I have tried for my ENTIRE mission, apparently in vain, to become Mexican but I know that once I rock the huaraches that there will be no doubt in anybody's mind that I am indeed Hispanic.

Besides that, this week was awesome. I got to call my mom on Mother's day, which was wonderful, and our investigator showed up to church on Sunday.

Sorry this is so short! Love you all!!

The One Where We Knock on Doors 5/7/18

Hey all!

This week was pretty sweet. We hadn't found any new investigators or any interested current investigators the past couple weeks so we went to work and tracted and worked on finding the entire week. We decided that we needed to improve on obedience and diligence so we worked as obediently and as diligently as we could. We saw almost zero success until Thursday when a sweet old lady named Maria allowed us to share a message with her, the lesson went great and we had a return appointment and she promised she would read the introduction by our appointment. We continued knocking doors in her complex, thrilled that we had finally found someone new to teach. Then a man walked out of the apartment we had just spoken to Maria in, rudely glared at our "Good morning, sir" and hopped in a pick up truck and peeled out. Maria opened the door and asked us to come over, and explained that her husband would not permit us to come by any more and that we had better just leave them alone. She tried to give the Book of Mormon back but I said she could hold on to it so my shoulder wouldn't hurt so bad in my bag.

Disappointed, discouraged, and a little frustrated, we decided to just ride our bikes around, when my companion felt the impression to turn right on a road we needed to turn left on to go home. We did so and when we passed by an empty park, I felt a clear impression to walk through the park and crossing into a neighborhood that was otherwise difficult to enter into. As we crossed the park and started riding in this neighborhood, we found a couple eating lunch on somebody's porch. We started to talk to them and they were super interested! They wanted to know where our church was and what time it started and what we taught. We had a great lesson that morning.

Love you all!! Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!!

The One With the Talk 4/30/18

Hey everyone!

So this week my companion and I have been working with some of the less active members in our Branch, and some of them even went to church on Sunday. We went to the first counselor's house for language study Thursday night and he assigned us to each give a twelve minute talk.... I was excited but my companion, who has only been learning spanish for a couple months looked petrified. He spent a lot of time the next two days after that preparing his talk and putting it word for word on flash cards. Sunday morning, he practiced it again as I told him that he would do great and that there was nothing to worry about.

As we were sitting on the stand, right after the branch president announced that he would be speaking, our mission president and his wife walked into the chapel and took a seat next to the other missionaries... My companion was blessed to have not noticed until about halfway through his talk. He did a great job and brought the Spirit very strongly.

We had a zone conference during the week about safety and technology, it was pretty sweet and I got to see some old companions and other missionaries I had worked with in the past.

Hope Y'all have a great week!!

The One With the Phone Call 4/23/18

Hey everyone!

So this week we had some amazing experiences. First, the brother we have been working with to go to the temple is going this Saturday and we are very excited for him.

We had a few other opportunities and visits with some investigators, but probably the most memorable was with Hermana Gauna, an older sister who really likes to speak her mind. As we were leaving her house, a lady pulled over in her car and asked to borrow my phone. I gave her the phone and she spent like thirty minutes trying to throw information at her daughter and we just had to chuckle because every few minutes she would say "I'm with the Mormons right now and they agree with me". After the phone call, she felt very obligated to tell us every detail about the phone call, while the sun was setting and our curfew drew more and more near. We politely explained that we had to leave multiple times. After the sixth time my companion pulled out his phone and said that we had to go and so we started to walk away and she started to follow us and kept talking! But then she finally said goodnight and we made it into our apartment on time.

I was really touched this week by a favorite quote from Elder Neil A. Maxwell in his talk "Murmur Not"

"...non-murmurers are permitted to see so much more. Ancient Israel was once compassed about with ‘a great host’ of hostile horses and chariots. Elisha counseled his anxious young servant, ‘Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ The prophet then prayed that the Lord would “open” the young man’s eyes, ‘and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha! ‘

In a response to a recently asked question on how to be a more effective advocate and representative of the Lord, we learn that when we do not murmur but accept what the Lord gives us gratefully, and trust in the answers he gives us, we will be able to see so much more than what our physical eyes permit.

We live in a day and age where a prophetic voice is heard and is available to all that want to know the Lord's will. By humility and faith, we can know what and how He wants us to act, and by those same principles know that he hears our prayers.”

Love you all!!