Miracles happen!

Hey familia!
    Another awesome week here in the CLAM! I failed to mention last week about some of the milagros (miracles) we saw last Sunday. It was a special Sunday! P passed the sacrament for the very first time and he was so excited to do it to. Later in a lesson he told his mom proudly that he got to pass the Santa Cena.  The M's also taught the Gospel Principles class! It was incredible to be in their class and listen to them teach!
     A is still progressing. He is so friendly and enjoyed the two lessons we shared. When we asked about baptism, he said he would like to wait to be sure. He loves that baptism can be his choice and that it is like how Jesus was baptized. We are going to invite him to the visitors center, too!
      The other day we passed a famous people party and saw flashing camera lights. We like to pretend that we hung out with Justin Bieber...he he he!
    By the way, I love Preach my Gospel! If any of you have a copy lying around unused...use it please! It has so many great lessons in it! I love the stories, too, because they are real missionary work in action! I love pg. 157-158 about the taxi driver, and there are many other great stories as well!
    We had a missionary fireside last Sunday and a lot of people came. We wrote our testimonies and then everyone read another Elder’s testimony out loud. Our focus was that it doesn’t matter who is reading the testimony -- the Spirit still talks to those who hear it (that is why the scriptures are so universal...:) Then we passed out cards and got the names of those there, and who they would like to give a Book of Mormon to.  Later in the week we passed out Books of Mormon to the members; they wrote their testimonies in the front and we are going to deliver them with the members!! It was really cool! We also got a cool referral, contact and return appointment at the farewell of one of the young men leaving our ward for the MTC. It was way fast and took us by surprise!
    Lately we have been biking around, too! This morning we biked to soccer (about 3 miles ida y vuelta) and on Saturday we biked almost all day using only 8 miles on our car! We want to save miles and "years on the hips" ;)  We have been eating healthier now too. It takes more time and money, but hey... we are paying ourselves right...:)

     Update on other investigators: We hope to set a date with J tonight, and Y has kept progressing! They both came to church with C yesterday, too! Funny story: C was on the phone when we got to their house last lesson, so Elder D. and I had a mini light saber dual when she left the room, which was really fun. She came back and we immediately stopped. She didn't seem to notice, but then asked us if we had been having a light saber battle. We gave her the "huh?" expression and shook our heads. Then we all started laughing. It was really funny!
    J, the older brother of P and M, came to church and has been listening when we come over. We hope that this contagious spirit will spread to the entire family eventually! Last night, we contacted two former investigators who let us in right away to talk a bit. They are a really awesome family! They said we can come back on Wednesday night. I know that when we are obedient we receive the Spirit. And the Spirit gives us power (Alma 18:35). I love you all and hope you are well!

I Bear Lots of Animosity to Bell Hops . . . [Phineas & Ferb]

 . . but I love being companions with Elder D! We have so much fun together! [Above: they recently cut each others hair.] We work really hard and have had a lot of success lately. Some nights after planning, we just laugh together. I think we would have gotten along really well in high school! 
    We did make pancakes at the C's! Hermana C loved them because they fill you up and are not too sweet, but D (her daughter) I think expected something more extravagant. I had fun making them and eating them, too. I also want to ask members if they will teach us how to make the food they make us. It may take longer, but it sure would be fun! Our new zone leaders are really great too! They really inspire me to work harder and be a better missionary. Can you believe I have almost been out for 6 months??
     We plan on setting a date with J this week, and Y says she believes her faith is growing, too! She has read the assignments we gave her and we will finish up the rest of what we can teach her this week! A's lesson went well and we are going back again on Wednesday. When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he started reading before we asked him to!  When younger he had been training to become a priest, but stopped because he wanted to get married. Family is important to him and he has several nietos (grand children).We hope he continues to progress! 
   I had an experience the other day with the definition of a successful missionary.  Most missionaries start out believing that you need to baptize to be successful but, of course, it is actually based on our commitment to find, teach and baptize. I had training on it in DDM last week and I learned a lot. Thursday night we returned to our apartment after a really long, hard day of work and we hadn't seen too much success. We knocked a lot and taught quite a bit, but we got rejected "out of our minds". When I got out of the car, though, I felt so good and at peace. It was the oddest, most nonsensical thing after what had occurred that day. I have found that as we work hard and be obedient, we are successful in the Lord's eyes and that is all that matters!

First Week With My New Companion!

Cartoon courtesy of Elder D's parents

     Hey everyone!! It has been a fantabulous week here, minus the on and off rain showers. I received my new companion, Elder D. from Nampa, Idaho. First thing we took care of was our goals for the transfer and our companionship goals. The second order of business was how well he knew Star Wars. He passed very well! One night we ate dinner quoting the movies and having a grand time. Turns out he is a Star Wars lover and a LOTR lover as well! Needless to say we have had some fun so far. Our first night together, we got chased by a very big dog out of a harmless-looking yard. We both laughed to ourselves as the adrenaline wore off. I have never moved so fast on my mission! We were also offered a job at Panda Express after District Developmental Meeting. Earlier in the day at DDM, someone asked the definition of integrity and (thanks to Mr. Downs' repeated questions) I answered exactly how he would tell me:."Doing what you know is right even when no one else is watching!" in only the way he can.:)
      On Friday evening we had an appointment to teach Y, the daughter of J. She committed to be baptized on the 19th of February! We are so excited! We had challenged her to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and we both felt like we could promise her she would get her answer that night. When we followed up the next morning, she had received it! She said she felt that it was true and that she needed to continue reading. I have never been so led by the Spirit in a lesson before. It was incredible how it happened.
      It didn’t end there, though. After a no-show appointment we drove past a man walking his dog and I thought I recognized him, but I drove by. Elder D. very soon after said he felt like we needed to go back and knock the door two doors down from where our appointment fell through. We said a prayer in the car after we parked and then got out of the car. As we walked towards the house, the man with his dog was passing the house. I immediately knew I had to talk with him and with the most confidence I've ever had in a street contact, we began talking. Conversation in Spanish came very easily and somehow it kept going on until we had covered several point of the gospel including temples, church and missionary work. His name is A and he was very interested. His dog even sat down and seemed to be listening. It was incredible! He lived one street over so we set up an appointment for Wednesday and said goodbye. It was the most heart-warming experience I’ve had thus far while looking for people to teach! I have no doubt that we were led by the Spirit. He seemed almost to be waiting for us to talk with him. It was basically a bomb day and we were so grateful for it!
        At the R home after dinner, I had planned on sharing a scripture in 1 Nephi about prayer, but Hermana shared one in Enos that was almost exactly the same -- I’m sure it wasn't a coincidence. We must have been on the same brain wave. M, the mother of K (who was baptized in December), had started reading the Book of Mormon even though we hadn't taught her yet. Now of course we’ve started. She remembered an incredible amount about the beginning few pages. We also met a man named H on Sunday who seemed semi-interested until Elder D. pulled out a money example about prophets. He ended up giving us Arizona sodas and setting up an appointment for Tuesday. Our original goal had been to find four new investigators this weekend and the Lord blessed us with exactly four, it was so crazy!  I can testify that when we are strictly obedient we will see miracles in our missions and in our lives! I love you all! I pray you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers!

Hey From Mini Mexico

       Good news from the Central Zone of the CLAM! My zone was the highest baptizing zone for the month of December!! Woot! So the other day on splits, I was at a member’s house and they gave me one drop of this hot sauce that contains 4 million schoval units!! Tabasco sauce only has 66 thousand. This one drop burned me bad! I am used to hot stuff, but santa vaca it was incredibly hot!
       I have really been studying my area book lately and I made a list of all the former investigators who I felt good about and I recently made contact with them. Two of the eight I tried said we could come back again and teach. Both women had a previous baptismal date, too, so hopefully they’ll be prepared to listen again!
      Our last visit with the C&H family was crazy. Miraculously all the adults were there and we were discussing what they had read about the Restoration from the pamphlet we left. I began asking questions about the changes they had seen in the lives of the kids. As they responded to me I felt the Spirit so strongly. M, the mother of K who was baptized, said she saw an incredible difference! She even said that she wanted to follow the same decision that her daughter had made in her choice of religion! Boom shaka laka boom! I also told them how much I had seen and felt since they had been baptized. I started to cry!  It was so sudden, the fastest it has ever happened before in my life! This work truly is a labor of love. The love I feel makes up for all the other crazy and hard things that happen out here.
       It has been a pretty crazy two weeks and we have been teaching a TON! This is due to the fact that I have been in a trio and we have been working both our areas. Transfer calls are tonight so everyone will find out who stays and who leaves. Luckily I already know what is going to happen..:) I had an interview last night with President and I will be training a new missionary in my area! I am really excited! I hope that he has the same fire that I had so we can get down to the "nitty gritty" and work hard!
      Please don't forget to smile! I have come to realize that smiling even when you don’t feel like it, makes everyone happy. I try to say hi to everyone and smile even when it has been a hard day. I don't want people to have an image of missionaries being sad, somber people. I love you all and am excited for you all, especially the Richardson family! Come on Jonah! We can't wait for you to be here with us!

P.S. I played soccer the other day at the park and didn't do too shabby. I was super sore but we had fun! The local players thought they would crush us gringos, but we put up a great fight. I even scored twice ;) In tennis shoes too :) All my years playing are coming in handy!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    Sorry for the delay in e-mails – the libraries were closed a TON these past two weeks!
    My first Christmas in Los Angeles was incredible! It was topped off by our baptism of M, K and P on Christmas Day! I had the privilege of baptizing P which was SO cool! Being my first baptism in Spanish, I was a bit nervous but the Spirit took over and everything turned out well! I also confirmed Pedro this past Sunday in sacrament meeting. This was really hard for me. My mind seemed to stop working and I had to pray for the words to come in Spanish. I am pretty sure I repeated myself and it was not the best blessing, but several members complimented me afterward. They said it was beautiful and they felt the Spirit. They must have heard a different blessing than the one I actually gave!

     A few Mondays ago I was on splits in the YSA English ward here, and I ran into two guys who knew some missionary acquaintances of mine. I met Spencer Fieeki, who served in the Atlanta mission with Elder Joshua Crandall. This was hilarious! He promised to send a picture and video of the night to Dad, but I don't know if that has happened yet or not. I also met Elder Moala who served in Honolulu with Elder Keita Katanuma!! It was another comforting experience to testify that the Lord loves us! At this Activity, Elder R and I won a rap contest with Spencer and some other YSA members. It was very fun and made me wish I was in their ward more often!
      The Christmas devotional was also a blast!! I got to see all the missionaries in the our mission and it was so joyful! I was reunited with E. Richards from the MTC and E. Rosales as well. It was pretty strange sitting in the chapel with Elders Cressman and Matheson. I never would've believed we would all be here together. We even got a picture with Santa. I believe Elder Cressman sent it to Coach Robison, but I don't know. I was also on splits with a biking elder which means I got to realize how out of shape I am! I have not ridden a bike since my junior year I think...Santa Vaca that was forever ago! Don't worry though, I was at about 197 after Christmas, so I lost a few pounds which was nice.
     Our teaching pool has shrunk due to being dropped, dropping or baptizing those in our pool. I really want to find more people because I very much dislike the lag in teaching. Thanks for all your letters, prayers, gifts and love this past holiday season. I felt so loved and I hope I have given some of this love back to you all! Until next week!!!