Hello Everyone!!!
The computer is being weird this week, so I hope this sends ok. Well
this week has been another fantastic week! This Sunday our recent
convert Michael asked me to confer the priesthood on him, it was such
a neat experience!! He then told all of us that his sister has also
recently decided to be baptized!!! And she wants him to baptize her!
It will be this Friday!!! This week we have been teaching our
investigators that are preparing for baptism, one named Elaene and the
other named Tacio. They are two separate investigators we found, but
it just so happens that they are both from Brazil. I have taught quite
a few people from Brazil in this area and I have to say those are
usually the most fun lessons I have had. Their culture and
personalities are just fun to work with! Tacio is a younger man who
came to here to go to OCC (Orange Coast College), he accepted a
baptismal date and so we came back the next time and he told us at the
door that he wasn't really that interested anymore, but I just
continued to ask him questions and started testifying of The Plan of
Salvation and he let us in eventually. The Plan of Salvation really
interests him and I was so happy that the spirit helped me to share
that with him or else we possibly could have lost him. We have an
amazing week planned this week already and we are really excited to
see the miracles that will happen.
I would love to write more but I am crunched on time and the internet
is really bad here, so I will send this while I still can. I love you
all!!
Monday, August 15, 2011
August 8, 2011
Hello everyone!
This week has been a great week! My companion and I have been working very hard to find new investigators. Our teaching pool has shrunk a little bit but we have been seeing some amazing miracles! We taught a first lesson to a new investigator named Elaene. She is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and is up here going to UCI studying English. We brought two members with us, one who speaks Portuguese and one who speaks Japanese, because Elaene's roommate is from Japan and studying English as well. When we taught Elaene she told us that she used to go to English class in Brazil that the missionaries of our church teach! She also said she took the missionary lessons in English. She said she already believes the Book of Mormon is true and that whenever she has had hard times in the past or struggles, she will always read the Book of Mormon to find answers and to feel peace and calm. She is such a miracle!
I got to go on two exchanges this week where I had the opportunity to work with other Elders within the zone. I love being able to see how many different ideas and ways to do the work there are. We were able to teach a man who has a best friend is a pastor and organizer of a certain church. It was probably one of the most intense lessons I have had yet on my mission. He was taking notes the whole time we were talking and he would ask really deep questions. However during the lesson he started to bash a little bit and he kept twisting what I was trying to teach and share and at one point after I shared my testimony on a principle he asked me a question where he had twisted my meaning and so I told him "You know exactly what I meant. We came hear to share what we believe and not to play with and twist each others words." It was a little bold, but he stopped and the lesson ended very well.
I am loving everything about serving a mission down here in southern California! i am learning so much and it is very neat to be in California where I get to talk to people from literally every race and culture. I think at this point I know how to say the phrase "how are you?" and a few other phrases in 11 languages. the diversity here makes tracting very fun and I am loving every minute of it! I love you all. I hope all is well! O and today was transfers, but I am staying the same along with my companion! I am excited because my companion and I will see many more miracles this week!
This week has been a great week! My companion and I have been working very hard to find new investigators. Our teaching pool has shrunk a little bit but we have been seeing some amazing miracles! We taught a first lesson to a new investigator named Elaene. She is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and is up here going to UCI studying English. We brought two members with us, one who speaks Portuguese and one who speaks Japanese, because Elaene's roommate is from Japan and studying English as well. When we taught Elaene she told us that she used to go to English class in Brazil that the missionaries of our church teach! She also said she took the missionary lessons in English. She said she already believes the Book of Mormon is true and that whenever she has had hard times in the past or struggles, she will always read the Book of Mormon to find answers and to feel peace and calm. She is such a miracle!
I got to go on two exchanges this week where I had the opportunity to work with other Elders within the zone. I love being able to see how many different ideas and ways to do the work there are. We were able to teach a man who has a best friend is a pastor and organizer of a certain church. It was probably one of the most intense lessons I have had yet on my mission. He was taking notes the whole time we were talking and he would ask really deep questions. However during the lesson he started to bash a little bit and he kept twisting what I was trying to teach and share and at one point after I shared my testimony on a principle he asked me a question where he had twisted my meaning and so I told him "You know exactly what I meant. We came hear to share what we believe and not to play with and twist each others words." It was a little bold, but he stopped and the lesson ended very well.
I am loving everything about serving a mission down here in southern California! i am learning so much and it is very neat to be in California where I get to talk to people from literally every race and culture. I think at this point I know how to say the phrase "how are you?" and a few other phrases in 11 languages. the diversity here makes tracting very fun and I am loving every minute of it! I love you all. I hope all is well! O and today was transfers, but I am staying the same along with my companion! I am excited because my companion and I will see many more miracles this week!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
August 1, 2011
Before I write the letter, here is a picture from this past week. My companion and I were destined to be companions if you can tell by the picture.
Hello Everyone!!!!
This past week was week number 6 of the 7 week transfer! I can't believe how fast the time has already flown by! We have been in the 'search' mode all week long because our investigators kind of disappeared, so we have been out talking to a lot of people and knocking a ton! This week we taught a less active member named James that some other elders referred to us. At the beginning of the lesson we could tell he wasn't taking it that seriously, and I asked him what he has liked so far about meeting with the other missionaries. He said "It is awesome because they never make me do stuff"....well, his answer didn't sit well with me and my companion and I bore very strong testimony on how we don't live the gospel or go to church to be entertained. We told him the reason is because we need our Father in heaven. We must be closer to him and continually strive to be as close to him as we can. Church is not meant to be a fun zone, it is something sacred that cleanses us and brings us more into touch with our Heavenly Father, it is sacred. Because it brings us closer to our Father in heaven we have what we call Joy..."not fun or temporary happiness". Pure joy that only comes through living the way that God has commanded us to live....we went on a bit more with our testimonies but it was really powerful and by the end of the lesson it had completely changed his whole outlook on it, and he said he wanted to go to church. I love this work, it is just the greatest :).
I got to go on exchanges with my former companion Elder Bray in the Chinese branch! I still remember my Chinese! I have seen so many blessings with this language, but it is still very hard. I am so happy to be a missionary in exactly this mission. It stands out to me as a testimony, that the Lord knows exactly where he puts his missionaries and why. It seems as though I have been tested in every area of my weaknesses but also been able to use my strengths to the fullest here. It is really nice to take this time to stop putting focus on myself and put on those that are around me, it really makes life a lot happier and easier. I love you all! I hope everything is going well! Until next week!
Hello Everyone!!!!
This past week was week number 6 of the 7 week transfer! I can't believe how fast the time has already flown by! We have been in the 'search' mode all week long because our investigators kind of disappeared, so we have been out talking to a lot of people and knocking a ton! This week we taught a less active member named James that some other elders referred to us. At the beginning of the lesson we could tell he wasn't taking it that seriously, and I asked him what he has liked so far about meeting with the other missionaries. He said "It is awesome because they never make me do stuff"....well, his answer didn't sit well with me and my companion and I bore very strong testimony on how we don't live the gospel or go to church to be entertained. We told him the reason is because we need our Father in heaven. We must be closer to him and continually strive to be as close to him as we can. Church is not meant to be a fun zone, it is something sacred that cleanses us and brings us more into touch with our Heavenly Father, it is sacred. Because it brings us closer to our Father in heaven we have what we call Joy..."not fun or temporary happiness". Pure joy that only comes through living the way that God has commanded us to live....we went on a bit more with our testimonies but it was really powerful and by the end of the lesson it had completely changed his whole outlook on it, and he said he wanted to go to church. I love this work, it is just the greatest :).
I got to go on exchanges with my former companion Elder Bray in the Chinese branch! I still remember my Chinese! I have seen so many blessings with this language, but it is still very hard. I am so happy to be a missionary in exactly this mission. It stands out to me as a testimony, that the Lord knows exactly where he puts his missionaries and why. It seems as though I have been tested in every area of my weaknesses but also been able to use my strengths to the fullest here. It is really nice to take this time to stop putting focus on myself and put on those that are around me, it really makes life a lot happier and easier. I love you all! I hope everything is going well! Until next week!
Monday, July 25, 2011
July 25, 2011
Hello Everyone!!
This past week has been a pretty good week! On Monday my companion and I went to UCI (University of California Irvine) and talked to everyone we saw. I saw this young man locking his bike up and I said "Hey, you ever talked to the Mormons?" and he laughed a little and said that he actually hasn't before. He invited us in and we taught him and two other of his roommates. It was a great lesson and it was interesting because they were all from different religious backgrounds. One was raised Christian and had a good knowledge about the bible, the other was catholic and rarely went to church, and the other was raised in a Chinese family who had no religious background at all. They accepted to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, they recently cancelled our next lesson but we will check on them in a couple of days to see where they are at. We recently got a new ward mission leader and he is so good! We were kind of struggling to meet and correlate with the other one, but the new one is so excited about the work and he has already been coming to lessons and helping us out so much!
Our mission president told us he wants us to make our own mormon.org profiles!! So I already made mine and now it is being processed, but it should be up soon for everyone to see. To my family who reads this, even my relatives...make a Mormon.org profile! It is such a good way to share your testimony with the world and the world really needs it today. We have been meeting with our recent convert Michael and his sister as well, his sister has been coming to church every sun day and she is doing so well, and working toward her baptismal goal, she lives in a different area though so this week we passed her off to different elders. However this last lesson we taught with Michael and his sister, his mom joined us! It is such an amazing thing to see that Michael is being such a great example for his entire family! He also said this Sunday that he wants to work toward serving a mission!!! This transfer has this week and the next and then we will be in a new one, it is very crazy how fast time goes. I love you all, I hope all is going well. Until next week.
This past week has been a pretty good week! On Monday my companion and I went to UCI (University of California Irvine) and talked to everyone we saw. I saw this young man locking his bike up and I said "Hey, you ever talked to the Mormons?" and he laughed a little and said that he actually hasn't before. He invited us in and we taught him and two other of his roommates. It was a great lesson and it was interesting because they were all from different religious backgrounds. One was raised Christian and had a good knowledge about the bible, the other was catholic and rarely went to church, and the other was raised in a Chinese family who had no religious background at all. They accepted to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, they recently cancelled our next lesson but we will check on them in a couple of days to see where they are at. We recently got a new ward mission leader and he is so good! We were kind of struggling to meet and correlate with the other one, but the new one is so excited about the work and he has already been coming to lessons and helping us out so much!
Our mission president told us he wants us to make our own mormon.org profiles!! So I already made mine and now it is being processed, but it should be up soon for everyone to see. To my family who reads this, even my relatives...make a Mormon.org profile! It is such a good way to share your testimony with the world and the world really needs it today. We have been meeting with our recent convert Michael and his sister as well, his sister has been coming to church every sun day and she is doing so well, and working toward her baptismal goal, she lives in a different area though so this week we passed her off to different elders. However this last lesson we taught with Michael and his sister, his mom joined us! It is such an amazing thing to see that Michael is being such a great example for his entire family! He also said this Sunday that he wants to work toward serving a mission!!! This transfer has this week and the next and then we will be in a new one, it is very crazy how fast time goes. I love you all, I hope all is going well. Until next week.
Monday, July 18, 2011
July 18, 2011
Hello everyone!!
Ok, well I don't have much time again....being a zone leader is crazy, but i love it! This week our investigator Michael was confirmed a member of the church!! He is so happy and it is an amazing experience to see how much he has progressed in these short couple of weeks! We were able to meet with Michael's sister who is not a member, and it was a great lesson about the restoration of the Gospel, and she accepted a baptismal date!! We went on a few exchanges this week and I had the chance of working with some other elders in our zone! I find it so interesting to see how many different ways things can be done. it truly amazes me how the Lord has placed so many people in our path! This week we had interviews with our new Mission President, so Elder Coons and I got to do 9 hours of training the elders and sisters of our zone while 1 by 1 they were interviewed!! We were a little nervous about teaching all of them but we got a basic outline of what we wanted to teach and then the spirit took us the rest of the way, and in the end it went very very well! I love this mission and this opportunity to be out here serving the Lord and serving everyone around me! I love you all, I promise I will start writing a bit more in my emails haha, things will get a little less hectic soon and I will let you know all that has been happening! I love you!! until next week!
Ok, well I don't have much time again....being a zone leader is crazy, but i love it! This week our investigator Michael was confirmed a member of the church!! He is so happy and it is an amazing experience to see how much he has progressed in these short couple of weeks! We were able to meet with Michael's sister who is not a member, and it was a great lesson about the restoration of the Gospel, and she accepted a baptismal date!! We went on a few exchanges this week and I had the chance of working with some other elders in our zone! I find it so interesting to see how many different ways things can be done. it truly amazes me how the Lord has placed so many people in our path! This week we had interviews with our new Mission President, so Elder Coons and I got to do 9 hours of training the elders and sisters of our zone while 1 by 1 they were interviewed!! We were a little nervous about teaching all of them but we got a basic outline of what we wanted to teach and then the spirit took us the rest of the way, and in the end it went very very well! I love this mission and this opportunity to be out here serving the Lord and serving everyone around me! I love you all, I promise I will start writing a bit more in my emails haha, things will get a little less hectic soon and I will let you know all that has been happening! I love you!! until next week!
Monday, July 11, 2011
July 11, 2011
Hello everyone!
We have a new mission president! President Bowen is absolutely amazing! We had the opportunity of having him come with us to teach one of our investigators named Jocelyn. I admit, we were pretty nervous to go teaching with the mission president, but it was one of the best lessons we have ever taught, the spirit was so strong!
This past week and few days have been some of the best of my entire mission so far. It started out with a lot of knocking and finding but we saw amazing miracles. Our investigator Michael was baptized on sunday!!! He asked me to baptize him so that was the first person I have personally baptized on my mission. It was such a beautiful baptismal service. He has such an amazing story. When I was on exchanges with another missionary we saw a young man playing basketball, so I walked up to him and started talking to him. He eventually walked over and sat down with us at a bench. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel, at the end we invited him to pray but he wouldn't pray with us, so I told him to pray silently, and he did. He said afterward that he felt tingly and pretty happy, so we scheduled another meeting and left. At the next lesson we asked him if he had been reading and praying and he said he tried but didn't do much. We focused on helping him know the only way to receive and answer is through reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We struggled the next couple of lessons but then at one particular lesson, I had a strong feeling to tell him "Michael, I know that you already know it is true. What are you willing to do to show your faith?" and he just said I don't know, defintiely not going to be baptized. At another lesson, we brought members with us and they were recent converts themselves, after that lesson he started reading like crazy from the Book of Mormon, he came to church every sunday and he started going to institute as well. He told us later, that one night he was walking to his house and he stopped and had an overwhelming feeling come over him that brought him to tears, and he said at that moment he knew it was all true and that he needed to be baptized. He has such a strong testimony!! It was interesting because from the first time we met him, I knew he was special, I could just feel it, despite the fact it wasn't easy.
I also got word this week from an investigator I taught named Tony. We found him a while back also while I was on exchanges and we taught him everything and passed him off to different missionaries back in his hometown because he wanted to be baptized where all his family could come. He was baptized this saturday!!!! There have been so many miracles out here. I am in awe at how much the Lord really loves each and every one of us. I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary out here in southern California! I hope everyone is doing well.
We have a new mission president! President Bowen is absolutely amazing! We had the opportunity of having him come with us to teach one of our investigators named Jocelyn. I admit, we were pretty nervous to go teaching with the mission president, but it was one of the best lessons we have ever taught, the spirit was so strong!
This past week and few days have been some of the best of my entire mission so far. It started out with a lot of knocking and finding but we saw amazing miracles. Our investigator Michael was baptized on sunday!!! He asked me to baptize him so that was the first person I have personally baptized on my mission. It was such a beautiful baptismal service. He has such an amazing story. When I was on exchanges with another missionary we saw a young man playing basketball, so I walked up to him and started talking to him. He eventually walked over and sat down with us at a bench. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel, at the end we invited him to pray but he wouldn't pray with us, so I told him to pray silently, and he did. He said afterward that he felt tingly and pretty happy, so we scheduled another meeting and left. At the next lesson we asked him if he had been reading and praying and he said he tried but didn't do much. We focused on helping him know the only way to receive and answer is through reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. We struggled the next couple of lessons but then at one particular lesson, I had a strong feeling to tell him "Michael, I know that you already know it is true. What are you willing to do to show your faith?" and he just said I don't know, defintiely not going to be baptized. At another lesson, we brought members with us and they were recent converts themselves, after that lesson he started reading like crazy from the Book of Mormon, he came to church every sunday and he started going to institute as well. He told us later, that one night he was walking to his house and he stopped and had an overwhelming feeling come over him that brought him to tears, and he said at that moment he knew it was all true and that he needed to be baptized. He has such a strong testimony!! It was interesting because from the first time we met him, I knew he was special, I could just feel it, despite the fact it wasn't easy.
I also got word this week from an investigator I taught named Tony. We found him a while back also while I was on exchanges and we taught him everything and passed him off to different missionaries back in his hometown because he wanted to be baptized where all his family could come. He was baptized this saturday!!!! There have been so many miracles out here. I am in awe at how much the Lord really loves each and every one of us. I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary out here in southern California! I hope everyone is doing well.
July 1, 2011
Hello everyone!!
Today is my P-Day because we get to go to the temple today! So I will not have a P-Day this upcoming monday, but it will be the following one. Anyway, I guess I can a short little recap on what has happened in the past couple of days so far. My companion and I have been trying to find new places that we can find the college aged people, and it has been a lot of knocking and talking to everyone we see. We were a little sad this week because we had lost contact with one of our investigators for a little bit but we got back in contact with her last night and taught a lesson with her. She had a family emergency that she had to take care of and that was why she was out of town and didnt respond. She wants to be baptized and has been telling all of her LDS friends that she will be! She is a standup comedian as a hobby, and she is pretty funny and very fun to teach. We have also been teaching two other investigators, named Michael and Andrew and they are both loving the lessons and coming to church. We are working with them on setting a goal to be baptized and it seems like that time is very soon now! Please include them in your prayers if you can! This week they have been renovating our apartment and we have to be out of our apartment from 8am-5pm everyday. They have almost finished the kitchen and they will be giving us a washer and dryer which will be awesome!
Today our new mission president, President Bowen and Sister Bowen arrive!! It is sad to see President and Sister Watrous leave but I am excited to work with the Bowens as well! I don't have much more to add to this, I guess thats what happens when you end up with two P-days in one week ;). Well I love you all! I hope everything is going well!
Today is my P-Day because we get to go to the temple today! So I will not have a P-Day this upcoming monday, but it will be the following one. Anyway, I guess I can a short little recap on what has happened in the past couple of days so far. My companion and I have been trying to find new places that we can find the college aged people, and it has been a lot of knocking and talking to everyone we see. We were a little sad this week because we had lost contact with one of our investigators for a little bit but we got back in contact with her last night and taught a lesson with her. She had a family emergency that she had to take care of and that was why she was out of town and didnt respond. She wants to be baptized and has been telling all of her LDS friends that she will be! She is a standup comedian as a hobby, and she is pretty funny and very fun to teach. We have also been teaching two other investigators, named Michael and Andrew and they are both loving the lessons and coming to church. We are working with them on setting a goal to be baptized and it seems like that time is very soon now! Please include them in your prayers if you can! This week they have been renovating our apartment and we have to be out of our apartment from 8am-5pm everyday. They have almost finished the kitchen and they will be giving us a washer and dryer which will be awesome!
Today our new mission president, President Bowen and Sister Bowen arrive!! It is sad to see President and Sister Watrous leave but I am excited to work with the Bowens as well! I don't have much more to add to this, I guess thats what happens when you end up with two P-days in one week ;). Well I love you all! I hope everything is going well!
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