The One Where We Are Looking for Jose 11/6/17

Hey everyone!

So last night we were supposed to have an appointment with a man named Jose. We rode our bikes to what we thought was his house and knocked on the door. Another man answered and we told him we were looking for Jose and he replied that Jose had just moved out a month ago. This was clearly the wrong house but we taught the man at the door anyway. We decided that it must have been the house next door, so we knocked on that one and a short, young man answered and when we explained we were looking for Jose he replied "Oh, my younger brother, he's not here right now". The Jose we were looking for was a grandfather, so this was also the wrong Jose but we taught that guy also and we followed a similar pattern for the next few houses, not ever finding Jose but meeting a lot of potentials. For those of you serving Spanish speaking missions, asking for Jose is usually a pretty good door approach!

So after that we went by another investigator's house (whose name is also Jose), and had a great lesson with him about the Book of Mormon.  I asked him if I could read something from his Bible that he had on his table and the page I opened to had a huge picture of the Virgin Mary, which was ironic because I read James 10 with him, which talks about how there is only one Shepherd, but different flocks.

The rest of the week we spent in meetings, which was really good but my companion and I were excited to find Jose at the end of it.

Hope you all have a great week!

Biggie Biggie Biggie, Can't You See? 10/30/17

Hey everyone!

So this week we have been focusing on involving the Lord a lot more in finding and teaching. These past couple weeks we haven't found anyone to teach. Our biggest problem has been people not willing to accept the Book of Mormon because it isn't about the Virgin Guadalupe. We met a guy the other day who told us that the three members of the godhead are: Jehovah, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary. It's pretty sad but there are a lot of people that just won't part from the  traditions of their fathers. We have our work cut out for us!  Even though people don’t want to hear our message, we get offered a lot of bottled water. A lot of people don't trust the tap water here so they buy bottles and we get offered them pretty often. On top of that we get lots of cans of coke and bottles of sangria whenever we eat out at the taco truck, which is pretty sweet.

So my companion and I agreed that we were being prideful and that is why we weren't finding so we repented and made a goal to be on our knees as a companionship about twenty times daily. And the Lord has allowed us to find some more people to teach. This week we were blessed to have found ten new investigators, one of which is a family where the husband was baptized years ago and has since gone less active. His records aren't even in the ward yet but we are going to help that whole family hopefully become members.

While I was studying the other day, our neighbors were playing a certain song from a certain rap artist that I will not name, needless to say it was a little distracting because the music was shaking the walls, and it was worse because it was a song that I may have used to listen to before the mission (which I have repented of since then). The song ended pretty much right when study time ended which sounded about right with how things like that go with me but it was alright.

We got transfer calls last night and it looks like I am staying in Stockton again and with a new companion that was already serving in this area, which is pretty nice.

Love you all! Happy Halloween!

The One With the Food Rescue Mission 10/23/17

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty good. We visited a less active member who I haven't seen in about six months and he recently had a gnarly trucking accident. No brain damage, which is good but he has a crazy scar that goes from one side of his head to the other. He was happy to see us and we got to meet a lot of his family.

We had dinner with a member earlier this week and we met at the church to get our food. We waited for almost an hour after the time she told us to meet at her at the church. She called us and told us that we have to pick up the food from her all the way across town. My companion and I looked at each other because we didn't have miles on our car but a silent agreement went between us that it was well worth it, so we went to pick up the food and came all the way back to the church building where the other Elders and we ate very well.

We were able to teach one of our investigators this week that we haven't seen in a long time, we left him with a chapter to read and he read the next few chapters after that in the Book of Mormon. We read with him and we are trying to get him to come to church.

Besides that we just had a lot of meetings, but this next week should be a lot more exciting!

Love you all!

The One With the Mayans 10/9/17

Hey everyone!

While we were looking for a referral we knocked on someone's door and a man answered, he wasn't who we were looking for but we asked if we could share a message anyway. We were getting to know him and his family, and the guy and his wife started speaking another language, which threw us off. We asked them about it and they were speaking Mayan! I didn't know that was still a spoken language but they speak it more than Spanish, which makes teaching something of a struggle.

We started teaching a family that has been taught by missionaries on and off for about a year now and they finally went to church for the first time on Sunday since they started being taught. It was a really cool experience for them to participate in testimony meeting and for them to feel the spirit. We had a lesson with them earlier in the week where they fed us dinner and really showed a lot more interest than before, it was really cool to see how their hearts are being softened.

Yesterday, as we were pulling out of church, some members asked us if we wanted to eat lunch with them. We had dinner in a couple hours so we said yes. We went down to their house and on the way, were telling us about this huge barbecue that they had the day before. They tried to feed us all the leftovers, pretty much almost killed us, and we went from there to pick up the other missionaries and headed down to dinner and the first thing the wife said when we walked in was "oh Elders, I hope you're hungry" and she fed us a ton of food also!

I am very excited for this week. We found out our investigator who was going to get baptized took a vacation to Mexico, we thought she was ignoring us but she invited us to come by later this week, just out of the blue! We have some appointments set up that seem promising.

Sorry this is a shorter letter, love you all, have a great week!

The One With the Dates (Fruit) 10/2/17

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty cool, while we were contacting the other day, I tried to say hi to an Asian lady who was herding fruit on her driveway. Not sure what the purpose of it was but she gave us a handful each of what I'm pretty sure are dates, they didn't taste very good but we were appreciative of it anyway.

We went on exchanges and I went with the two Tongans in the trio, haha it was a lot of fun but they ate a lot. They tried to teach me a little bit of Tongan but I'm just not made to speak Tongan so I'll  just stick to working on Spanish.

Not much else happened this week, I've been getting over being sick and then we had conference. Conference was amazing! I think one of my favorite talks was the one by Elder Anderson about how conference talks are made. Something I really focused on was taking notes of the speakers teaching doctrine and promising blessings.

Love you all! Hope you enjoyed conference!

The One With Olive Garden 9/25/17

So this week was pretty crazy. We had dinner set up with a less active member who we didn't know very well. She told us that dinner would definitely be super early and then hung up. We painfully waited throughout the day, feeling too afraid to eat lunch right before a big meal. By the time 6 o'clock hit, pain won over courtesy, and we went to work and made a giant pot of pasta and sauce. We decided she was ignoring us, because she wasn't answering her phone, so we made enough food to make up for the calories that we usually get between lunch and dinner. When we finished cooking, we got a call from the sister. "Sorry the meeting took longer than I thought" she said "I'll meet you at Olive Garden". With a look of frustration and disgust towards the giant pot of pasta we just made, we told her we would love to go to Olive Garden.

We got lost twice on the way over there, but when we finally made it, we had a wonderful dinner as we learned about this sister. She is from Spain and her husband Ireland. She was baptized when she was young and hasn't gone to church in a long time. Her husband is very devoutly Catholic but we invited ourselves to fix her yard and some repairs at her house so hopefully we will meet him and start to build a relationship; he seems like a really cool guy.

I'm super excited for General Conference, hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

The One With the First Week of the Transfer 9/18/17

Hey everyone!

So this week we were able to meet with one of the investigators we have been working with and set a baptismal date. The lesson was super powerful and spiritual. At the end of the lesson, she asked us if we knew her brother, who turns out to be a recent convert that the other Spanish Elders have been working with. It was super cool and we are hoping that her baptism will help him become reactivated and enjoy the blessings of the sacrament once again. In the same area a few days later, we were just walking down the street when we felt impressed to talk to a man who looked really busy. We used a pretty classic "Hola!" to get his attention, and he replied with an equally classic "Hey, what's up". I felt like I still needed to talk to him in Spanish so I did and he looked really surprised, but started to talk back to us in Spanish. We had a really good conversation and it turns out he almost got baptized about seven years ago, but his wife wouldn't let him and they left everything to come to the United States. We had a great conversation, left him with a Book of Mormon, and set a return appointment.

Last Monday, we got a really desperate call from one of the Peruvian members (I love Peruvians), saying that she had some food left over from a Peruvian festival in Sacramento, and that if we didn't come over immediately, it would go to waste. It just happened to be our hour for dinner so we dutifully dropped everything, threw on our bags, and ran to go help this member with this very serious problem. She gave us pacha manca, which is goat cooked in the ground with banana leaves and spices from Lima. She was grateful for our help and we were grateful to be of service. We shared a spiritual message with her and went to go teach.

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

The One With the Car Ride 9/11/17

Hey everyone!

So this week we had a cultural event in Modesto called Fiestas Patrias, where people in the mission boundaries get together and celebrate different cultures. It was a lot of fun and we were able to have one of the prospective elders we are working with give us a ride. He took us in his run-down ‘65 dodge that he has been trying to restore for the past ten years. We got in the car, all excited, and he tried to start the car but it wouldn't work, so he pulled some pliers out from under his seat, and started messing with some of the chords under the dashboard until the engine started. We somehow made it on the freeway, with the body of the car scraping the ground whenever we hit a bump. Haha my companion and I weren't exactly afraid for our lives, because he was a safe driver, but we did doubt just a little that we would make it home that night.

While we were tracting the next day after that, we ran into the house of one of our potential investigators and one of his friends, so we started to teach them about the Book of Mormon. Toward the end of the lesson, my companion looked at his friend and asked "haven't we met you before?", the man replied that we knocked on his door like three weeks before! Our two contacts are friends and we taught them together! Haha it was a funny coincidence.

Love you all!

Fiestas Patrias

The One With the Bad Door Knocking Skills 9/4/17

Hello!

So earlier this week, we received a referral that we went to go contact. It took us a lot longer to get to the house than we realized, and when we got there, it was around 8:40. It was dark, and it looked like nobody was home. So when I went to knock the door, I didn't want to wake anyone up who could potentially be sleeping so I knocked really silently. We waited a little while and I knocked with a little more force, but still no answer. The third time I knocked, we heard someone walk up to the door. When the door opened, my companion and I put on our most harmless smiles and as soon as I said "Hi", the lady screamed and almost slammed the door in our faces! As it happens, she didn't hear us knocking at all and just wanted to go outside to get in her car and opened the door to two, strange looking young men (us) and naturally, freaked out. We had a good laugh about it later and set a return appointment. But for the rest of the week, I have been super self-conscious about how hard I knock on doors.

A few days later, it was about 110 degrees outside for the majority of the day. One of the members invited us over to dinner and made a perfect meal for when it's scorching hot outside-beef stew! Mexican style, so there were hot peppers and everything. The meal was really good but I felt bad because we were sweating so much! The members didn't even seem phased by the heat but we were all dying!

I'm really happy to be back in Stockton. I have a small list of "unfinished business" for people I want to visit again. Being put back here, I feel like I was given a second chance to do things right this time. My companion and I get along super well and we're just working really hard. It's a little stressful being a zone leader but I love it!

Love you!!!

Driving through Stockton

The One With the Car Accident 8/28/17

Hey everyone!

This week we were able to find a new investigator. While we were outside, talking to her, someone driving their car pulled out from an intersection and got t-boned from a pickup truck. All of us jumped when this collision happened, so we went over and made sure that everyone was alright. When everyone involved said that they were alright our investigator looked at us and said, "Ok let's get back to what you were talking about". We are pretty sure she is interested.

We spent a lot time this week in meetings and went on exchanges, which was awesome. We were able to teach some less-active members. It was pretty good but I am very excited to find and teach these next few days.

Last night we had a member invite us over to lunch after church. This family is from Chile and fed us a huge Chilean meal called "a poor person's steak". Not sure why they call it that but they fed us so much food that we barely made it to the car. We went straight from that to the hospital to visit a member that was sick. And straight from that to a member's house for dinner. These members are from El Salvador and gave us this huge soup full of rice, potatoes, shrimp and fish. When we finished (we were just about dead), they put a massive plate of food in front of us. So we started to battle our way through the meal, trying to stay awake, and somehow we finished. Upon finishing, my clothes felt a little tighter, my heart was beating faster, and my stomach was past "maximum occupancy". I knew I was going to have to push my limits in the mission, but this mountain was just a little higher to climb than the others have been. I learned that through determination and an attitude of unapologetic zeal, no limits can hold us back, and there can be no end to our greatness.

Similarly, through the Atonement of our Savior, and humbly and obediently obeying his commandments, we can receive comfort in knowing that not only immortality is in store for us, but eternal life, which is living forever in happiness, with our very personal and very loving Eternal Father, as well with Jesus Christ.

                           My year-mark package

                         My companion and I at lunch

    A youth we helped prepare for his mission

The One with Peru, El Salvador, and the Dang Good Salsa 8/21/17

This week, we went on exchanges with some of the Elders in the English ward. The Elder I went with and I went to eat dinner with a family from El Salvador. The family we were eating with speaks English but prefers Spanish. So every time the Elder I was with tried to talk to the family, they understood the question but responded in Spanish. We would remind them that he doesn't speak Spanish and they would say something like "oh, yeah sorry", and then keep speaking Spanish. It was really funny haha and the Elder even learned a little Spanish.

Later in the week, I got a flat tire, so I went to the store and bought a new tube (the old one already had two or three patches in it). So then we took the bikes and biked a little more than thirty minutes from our apartment to an appointment. We had a lesson with one of our investigators which was super good and when we got on our bikes to go, I saw that my tire was flat again. We had patches so I put a patch on my tire. Right as we finished, this guy pulled into his driveway. We started talking to him and it turned out that his grandmother was Mormon and he used to study with the missionaries. We asked him if it would be alright if we had some missionaries stop by sometime and he told us that he would love that, and he would love for his 9 year old daughter to be taught. We would have missed him if I didn’t have that flat tire to repair. It was really cool to see things happen like that.

My companion and I felt impressed to visit a less active member that should have been about an hour bike ride away from our apartment. We got to her house in thirty minutes! When we got to her house and started talking to her she asked us if we had eaten dinner. We told her we ate dinner at the apartment and her response was "Oh, so you're hungry then." She made tacos and salsa for us. My companion and I had a thought prepared and some important questions we were going to ask her... And that was all forgotten when we had the salsa she made for us, it was probably the best salsa I've had in my life. Of course, we got over ourselves and shared a lesson with her. It was just a great night overall.

Love you all!!

The One With the Awkward High Five 8/14/17

Hey!

So this week my companion and I got to go on exchanges with some of the Elders in Modesto. I was in a trio with the two of them that started serving the same time I did. While we were walking down the street and trying to contact people, we passed this older guy and asked him how he was doing. He raised his hand and said something that sounded like "hey guys". I looked at his hand up in the air and gave him a high five, when I realized that he said "not interested". Whoops. I kept walking feeling very awkward when I heard two slaps behind me as the two other missionaries behind me gave him high fives.

So my companion is really cool, he's from Peru. We met a member the other day who is also from Peru, and she offered to feed us lunch. When the day came, we were finishing tracking the street that she lived on.  On the way up, there was this guy cooking elote and chicken on his grill. So of course we started talking to him, and it turns out he is super prepared and had an awesome relationship with one of the members, so we set a time to come back and he gave us some food. We were really early for our appointment so we just sat at the street corner, eating our food, when a lady doing a yard sale across the street told us to come over. She had us sit in the couch she was trying to sell and gave us some water to go with our food. When we finished that we went to our lunch appointment and had the best Peruvian meal I have ever had. It was a pretty good day.

We have been focusing a lot on finding. We found a few new investigators this week, and one of the lessons we had was very powerful. We were teaching a lady and she told us about how she wants to change her life and have a happier personality. We were teaching about the Restoration of the gospel and how the gospel brings peace into our lives. We set a return appointment and she committed to to church on Sunday.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Tried, Tested, and Prompted 8/7/17

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty crazy, I'm back in Stockton now and I'm having a lot of fun. We only gotten bashed once this week.  The guy was pretty funny, he tried to convince me that I wouldn't be received in Heaven because I'm white, and that my punishment after this life was going to be worse because I have blond hair, but then told me to repent... not sure how to do that but I was entertained. We went tracking down this one street and this guy got super offended that we asked for a return appointment that he yelled at us and then slammed the door.

While we were tracking on Tuesday, I felt the impression to knock on a door that I had tried, without success, many times before last time I was here. We knocked on the door and the guy answered and let us in. We sat down and started to talk about the Book or Mormon. He pulled out a copy that he had received years ago and we had a fantastic lesson. Last night we were trying to stop by an investigator's house. On the way there I felt the impression to try a house that I had also tried before many times without even an answer. We knocked on the door and the guy opened the door, and greeted us like old friends. We had an incredible lesson with him also.

When my companion and I were heading back to our apartment, there was a guy who was pushing his broken-down car. His wife was trying to push and they had a little girl in the back seat so we pulled over and helped push the car three or four blocks to the gas station. They were really grateful and accepted to have the missionaries come over and teach them.

Yesterday at church there were some people with signs outside the building trying to protest the church. Thankfully nothing turned violent and they left after a while.

Have a great week!

The One with Pat Benatar 7/31/17

Hey everyone!

So this week we had a lot of lessons set up, and all but two cancelled. The one family we have been working with for awhile now are literally an invitation away from being baptized... except now they are ignoring us so we are trying to figure out what is going on there. We worked with another investigator this week and he got his work schedule figured out so he could attend sacrament meeting- and he didn't show up! We were really excited to see him in church because we've seen the influence of the gospel already work in his life. We have an appointment with him later tonight so hopefully we can get him to come to church this Sunday.

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week, which was pretty sweet. I got to go up in Lathrop where we spent the most of the day tracting. The people that even bothered to open the door showed very little interest, until it was time for us to head back we decided to knock on a few more doors. When we got to the porch of one of the last houses we were going to knock on, I didn't feel like anyone would show any interest. The car outside had a bunch of hard-rock band stickers on it, and it sounded like people were having a huge party inside. We knocked on the door and this girl answered that (no joke) looked like Pat Benatar. We explained who we were and she told us to hold on for a second. Then came out a lady that was probably her mom. We explained who we were and she told us that she needed the Savior in her life. They were going up to her father's funeral that next day but she told us to come back the following week and gave us her phone number. We told her a little about the Book of Mormon and she accepted a copy.

So we got transfer calls last night, and it looks like I am returning to Stockton. They called me to be a Zone Leader in Stockton. I wasn't a district leader for very long (I wasn't even a full district leader), but I'm pretty excited. I miss my home ward up there. Because it's such a small mission, there aren't many options of places to serve, especially for Spanish missionaries. All transfer calls are made by revelation. I'm sure that a lot of prayer and meditation went into the transfers. My companion will hit a year in Tracy by the end of this transfer. It's just where the Lord wants me to go.

Love you all!

The One With B-DUB's, J-DUB's, and White Chocolate 7/24/17

Hey everyone!!

This week we had a member take us to Buffalo Wild Wings. He looked at us both and said "Oh you guys don't eat spicy food, right?". I'm not saying I was offended or anything but I told him whatever he was getting, I wanted. So he ordered some of the medium wings to start it off. We ate them so then he ordered some of the mango habanero wings. The member started going to town on the wings so I took one and bit into it. It took a few seconds, but when I swallowed the first bite, fire started to engulf my mouth. "Elder, is it hot?" he asked, "No, hermano" I replied with  some difficulty. I ate four more wings after that. My mouth was on fire pretty much the rest of the night, but it was well worth it.

On Friday we tried to teach some of our investigators. While we were walking to the house, we passed by four or five pairs of Jehovah's Witnesses. All throughout the rest of the day we saw a lot of them, which is weird because I haven't really seen any since I got here until that day.

That night, we had sport's night where we invited our investigators and less-active members to go play sports and get acquainted with some of the members. It was mostly teenage kids that showed up and because of the difference in ethnicity, I was dubbed "White Chocolate" by some of the players. I don't think I even scored many points but it was a good turnout.

So we have been teaching this guy named Jose, who's stepdad is in jail and his mom used to investigate the church. We had a few lessons with him this week about the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. While we were teaching him his friends came over, and he asked them to wait outside until we left. We are going to try and set a baptismal date for the middle of August.

Love you all! Happy Pioneer Day!

Buffalo Wild Wings

The One With the Jar of Peaches 7/17/17

So this week was a little busy.

Last Monday, we had to leave Tracy super early to go to Turlock for a doctor appointment. On the way back up, traffic was super bad and we got lost a few times so when we got back up, we barely had any time to wash our clothes and get shopping done. That night when we were proselyting, we stopped by our investigator's house. She's a really sweet old lady who wanted to be baptized about three years ago but her boyfriend (who she has kids and grandkids with) is very Catholic and refuses to marry her, thus preventing her from being baptized. We finally met him last Monday. The lady let us in the house and the boyfriend tried to go the other room, but she made him stay and listen. We talked about faith and some of our beliefs. At first he didn't seem very interested but the more we talked, the more he started to agree with us. We finished the lesson with him saying that anytime we wanted to stop by, please do so later in the evenings when he is home. We now consider him a friend.

The next morning, when we were walking around, a guy stopped us and told us he had some questions about the church. He asked us these really deep and sometimes tricky questions. We felt the Spirit as we answered the questions honestly and after a while, I said "Now I have a question for you". He looked puzzled, I asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. He said that he has read the book, but never prayed about it. My companion and I promised him that if he would read it again and pray about it, he would receive a confirmation through the Holy Ghost that it is true.

So yesterday we went teaching with the Elder's quorum president- an 83 year old Peruvian guy who converted to the gospel 2 years ago. We went to visit a less active elder. We pretty much just let President talk the whole time because he is so direct but loving (If any of you have listened to a LeGrand Richards talk, that's pretty much what he sounds like). The member opened up as to why he wasn't going to church and committed to go to church this coming Sunday. When we were walking away, he told us how much he loves teaching with the missionaries, he then said "Elders I got you a present to show my appreciation", he reaches under the seat of his car and pulls out a jar of peaches! He hands it to my companion and tops it off with "Hope you guys aren't diabetic" with a chuckle and then peels off.

The One With the Correct Answer 7/10/17

Hey everyone!

So this past week was super hot- over 100 degrees for most of it. We have been trying to get an appointment all this week and last week with this guy under house arrest. We can't wait until his step-dad gets out of jail sometime this month so we can teach them as a family. The dad was apparently learning from the missionaries right before he was put in jail, so we'll have to start from lesson 1 with all of them. They are a super nice family and they accepted the Book of Mormon instantly. We are pretty excited to meet with them more.

Last Friday, we went way down to the rural part of Tracy to visit a less active member we are working with. When we went down there, he was working on a car, which he apparently does as a side business. He told us he has a Mercedez he's going to work on later this week and if we wanted to come, we could help him fix it. He topped the offer off by saying he would feed us tacos. We both said yes as soon as he said "tacos".

The family we have been working with has had a hard time understanding Priesthood authority, so we showed them the Restoration video. They loved it! We asked them if they had any questions and the kids started asking about really deep stuff (mostly about marriage). Then the mom was like "oh yeah, my husband wanted me to ask you guys something". We were waiting for some crazy deep question when she asked if they could take us out to dinner. "Yes!" I think we gave the correct answer.

Earlier this week, we had a mission conference where I saw my old companion that I was with for six months, and a lot of the other missionaries I got really close with Back in Stockton. It was really good to see them. My companion saw one of the missionaries he trained, which was pretty cool.

One of my favorite scriptures is 2 Timothy 1:7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

It makes me wonder just how much power the Lord has given and gives us.

Love you all! Hope you had a great 4th

The One Where I Almost Got Run Over 7/3/17

Hey everyone!

So this past week my companion and I were focusing on potential investigators that never got followed up with. We knocked on the door of one woman and asked if Maria was there. She gave us a weird look so we introduced ourselves. "I know who you are," she replied "you can come back Friday morning.” We were a little scared because people who usually act like that try to bash with us- but we came back. We got to know her and found out that the missionaries who found her three years ago set a baptismal date, but her boyfriend who she has been living with for about 20 years is Catholic and refuses to marry her. They have children and she takes care of the grandchildren while everyone is working during the day. She still wants to get baptized and more than anything wants to go inside the temple, but her boyfriend just doesn't like the church so we're going to try and meet with him sometime this week.

A less active family that we have been working with since I got here finally went to church on Sunday! Along with some other less active members and investigators we are working with.

While we were walking down the street the other day, we saw this really nice Camaro ahead of us. He was stopped at the entrance of the parking lot, just in front of the sidewalk and facing a street. The guy was looking down so I pulled out a pass along card to give him and when we got right up to the car, it lurched forward! The guy was laughing pretty hard and then took off, just barely missing my leg! My companion and I decided he did not want the pass along card, so we'll have to catch him next time.

Have a great 4th of July!

dinner on Saturday 

! Mexican soda that was super good an investigator gave us!

           trying a charcoal mask

By faith all things are fulfilled 6/26/17

Hello everyone!

Last week went by pretty slow, we just had a lot of meetings and tried to get lessons with people. We had a lesson with some of our investigators on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and committed them to pray about it. It was a really short lesson so we're going to catch up later this week.

We also felt like we should stop by one of our eternal investigators. An older couple from Mexico that we haven't been able to teach for a long time. We walked over to them in the backyard of their trailer and they invited us in. The husband greeted us with probably the most awkward hug I have ever received in my life. He told us he saw us when we were biking the other day when it was 105 degrees outside and told us we must really believe what we teach to be out in weather like that. Especially when few people are likely to open their doors. We told him we were happy to see him and when we asked to share a message, we felt prompted to testify of the Book of Mormon. We went through a little background of the Book of Mormon and explained how it helps us understand doctrine. Undoubtedly, they have received this lesson many times from many missionaries, but this time it felt different for all of us. We felt the Spirit working with us and they apologized for not taking their commitments seriously in the past. They then committed to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon every day for the next week. It's really amazing how the Spirit helps people understand what we are trying to teach.

Just another quick story from this last week. My companion and I have been talking a lot about tender mercies for the past few weeks. Little demonstrations that the Lord loves both of us, and knows our hearts, thoughts and desires. Through my childish and hyperactive imagination, I compared tender mercies to a giraffe. When we stopped by the Bishop's house later that night, right next to a picture of the Savior in his house, we saw a statue of a giraffe that neither of us have noticed before. We of course talked about tender mercies with the Bishop and on the way out, next to the door, is an even bigger statue of a giraffe that for that family was just a nice decoration, but for me was a sign that the Lord both loves me and knows my thoughts- enough to send a small message that meant a lot to me. This example seems insignificant, or even coincidental, but it just added to my testimony that the Lord and his work is very real.

Love you all, have a great week!!