I'm an Oldy Moldy Missionary!

What a weekend!!!! Did y'all eat Swedish pancakes? I sure did! Can't let that one go. So the minute President Monson began talking about the missionary age, I knew it was about to  change. The thing I did not expect was the sisters' age at 19!!?! That is crazy. I bet every young man and woman of those ages are now frantically trying to fill out their papers. I would! I want to know how soon they will be getting out here? The MTC has been making preparations for more missionaries, and now we have them. This coming year will have a huge impact on the world. SO COOL!!!!  I had too many favorites, but I loved how bold every one of the talks were. I loved President Uctdorf's talk, Elder Oaks' and Elder Holland's. I loved the focus on families and becoming who God wants us to be. I cannot wait until I can read the Ensign and get it all over again!!! Woo hooo!!!!

We received a referral from Bishop H. the other day and we got to contact S. She came to church once and liked it so we hope to continue teaching her. We have met several people but they have a bad habit of dropping out of existence when we go back again. We work hard and that is all that matters, so we hope that we see the fruit soon.:) We have started a push on involving the youth in our ward to come out with us to the lessons we teach. I remember how big a difference it made when I went out with Elder Fafai and Johnson. It helped me make my final decision to serve a mission. It is even more important now that they can serve right out of high school! SO exciting!

Well, I am almost out of time, but we had a cool experience last night. We had a dinner appointment at a member's house, but there was no adult male there when we arrived.  [Mission rules stipulate that an adult of the same gender as the missionaries must be present in a home before the missionaries can enter.] We want to be obedient so we told her we couldn't come in. It was a bit awkward, but she ended up inviting her non-member neighbor over and we got to teach him a short lesson about the Book of Mormon. They also got to talk and get to know each other better (no one here knows their neighbors very well). It was cool to see this immediate blessing from an act of obedience.

Well I love you!! Don't forget what you learned in conference, okay? I hope and pray you will all have a greater desire and ability to share the gospel in your respective missions. Have you made your mormon.org profiles yet? If you look hard enough you may find me! ;)

New Companion!

Well, this last transfer was a bit crazy! My new companion is Elder K. He is from Rexburg, Idaho but was born in Korea. Wow, I sure have had a lot of Idahoan companions. :D We are both really excited to "tear it up!"  We have already worked a ton and are looking forward to seeing a baptism soon! No new people yet, but they are being prepared! With the new changes in the stakes, the mission has also changed around. Half of our zone was taken to create the new Coliseum Zone and we received part of the Griffith Zone. The area boundaries changed in some places and now part of my old area in Silver Lake will be meeting in the same building as us. The 3rd ward is in our zone now, so I will be in my old area on splits next week!?! Isn't that crazy?

I finally made my German chocolate cake for my birthday!! You may ask which German I used...;) We ate it the night before transfers at a member’s house for dinner. It was "soo good!" Thanks so much!

We have been revolutionizing the Mobile Area Book and Area Book by searching all the potential investigators and former investigators. We can feel the excitement building, which is super cool!

A member gave us a pizza and brownies the other day, and another member gave us a lasagna. Our fridge is pretty full. I hope that is a sign that the members are beginning to trust us! Yay! We even got a referral from our bishop! Woo hoo!

Our new zone goal is based of the Adams family and we will be presenting that in 40 minutes. I will be the one who always shouts "BISMARK!" It should be pretty silly, so I will try to get a video of it!

There is a member in our ward who wants to write Michael B. because her kids are in Uruguay. Mom and Dad, could you check where he is right now? I will look back through the missionary missives too. We sent the referral, but I guess they want to say hey!

I was able to give a Spanish blessing ayer and it was super cool. I was a bit rusty, but grateful to brush up. I hope you are excited for conference. I cannot wait! I want to say Feliz Cumpleanos to Dad this week! He is almost 30, so give him some spankings from me and a big hug! (Mom, you can do the honors ;) I hope you have a great week!

Mi casa su casa!

Well, transfers are high tide and we have no clue what is going to happen. I am really excited though, because I get to do the transfer call and let the entire zone know who will be staying and who will be leaving! That should be fun! It looks like Elder A. could be transferred, but we don't really know.  My toes are almost healed; they feel fantastic! 

Last Monday we had a lesson with a man named C. who is very intelligent. He "believes in science" ;) and loves evidence. We began sort of rocky, but smoothed out and he accepted a Book of Mormon and a mormon.org card! We need to follow up with him again to see how he is doing. That afternoon we also played basketball with many other missionaries and it was a blast! I had not played in a very long time! One of the Elders brought a watermelon and it was marvelously tasty after a long hard game.

We were trying to contact a less active member when a man named B. came out of the apartment complex and asked us to give his grandma a blessing, so we did. He tried to give us a ton of money afterwards, too.

Real fast... time is running out. We got a bogus referral for Walmart one day this week:)  Saturday we went to a Belizian wedding for the parents of some member kids; everyone was Belizian except us. We helped set up and prepare the party favors, watched the toast and talked to the kids. The bride and groom even took a picture with us. We left before the dancing.:) It was a really cool experience!

I gave a training on President Benson's Beware of Pride talk at district meeting and I loved it! It made me realize how pride is the root of many of my sins and mistakes. Christ was even crucified because of pride! If you haven't read it recently, I highly suggest it!:) 

At church I realized how great a blessing it was that the children of Israel were scattered! Missionary work was so much easier once they were all over the place!

D. and her sons came to church yesterday!!! They were discussing the stake change and seem to like it. They left before sacrament meeting, unfortunately, but seemed more excited than last time. The boys loved the cultural hall and want to play basketball on Tuesday nights. (I don't know if I've every told you how amazing our building's architecture is.  I love the building!) They even began flirting with some of the member girls. Have you ever heard the term "flirt to convert"? Well it just may be true. We were unable to get a hold of J. this week but we talked to A., the referral from SLC, and she is awesome! We are planning to go to the Visitors Center and Family History Library with her on Thursday!!

I gave a talk in the 6th ward (Spanish-speaking) on Sunday and was super nervous. It was the first time in a transfer that I've taught in Spanish. After the first minute, though, it began to flow back and I was grateful. The gift of tongues is incredible!!! I felt right at home. Sorry to be brief. I love you all!!! We have the power to change things in our lives through the Atonement! Please do if you need to! Have a great week!

Boom Shaka laka boom!

Olo! Life keeps moving along and it can sure get crazy! So, yesterday they dissolved the Huntington Park West Stake (the all-Spanish stake) in order to combine the youth classes. It is quite a great idea. Now, all the English and Spanish wards will meet in the same buildings, just different hours. It is a drastic change, but I am excited! I may get to see former Spanish contacts at our stake conference now!!! Elder Richards, my MTC companion, is going to be the next assistant to President Baker, which is cool! I will get to see him even more often.:D

We received four referrals last week and contacted all four. We have return appointments with two of them. One of them, A, just moved here from SLC and could be awesome! J is the other one and she originally didn't answer the door. We called later and, since the answering machine was in Spanish, I left a message in both English and Spanish. Half an hour later she called back and scheduled a day for us to come back. Updates to come in the future! We were actually allowed to call SLC to talk to the Elders who taught A while she was living there, so that was fun! I also got to meet a member, Brother A, who travels back and forth from Utah (UVU- area) on business -- he is the bomb! We made a few referral boxes to leave in the church and other areas so that people have more opportunity to refer friends and neighbors! Hope it works!

We went to the Temple on Wednesday; I am attaching pictures.  We have half of the visitors center sisters in our zone -- the Marina zone has the other half.  Not all were in the picture because they were working. We went to the Getty Center after the Temple and it was pretty cool and very inexpensive. You might see a few pictures from it in a bit ;) I saw a member from Inglewood in the car the other day and it made me happy. They still remember who I am!:)

The last bit of news was the baptismal interview I did yesterday. I had the opportunity to interview M. and he is 11. He is incredible! I am so excited for his baptism on Friday. The Elders in his area were blessed to find him there! The Church is true! My testimony of that grows every hour out here! I love this work! I love you loads and pray you are safe! Thank you for all your prayers!

"You become who you want to be by consistently being who you want to become" - Elder Richard G. Scott

 

 

Time is cruising!

Time is just cruising right along and I cannot keep up! We had another crazy week and I don't know where to begin. We tried to visit a less active member, but no one was home. As we were leaving, a man came out of the other apartment. As soon as he stepped into the hall, the Spirit fled. This man was creepy. He yelled at us to get out as I was trying to hold the door open for him. It was an interesting experience to see how the Spirit reacts to evil! I won't forget how that felt. This guy gave me the willies – beyond Free Willie-sized willies!

At zone leader conference we had a great discussion about the Atonement and I understand more about the Condescension of Christ. Elder Tad R. Callister has a good book/talk on the Atonement. I highly recommend it.

We had a zone activity last Monday and it was fun. We announced our zone goal, Finding Nemo, and had a BBQ-like party with sports. The bball hoop was at 8.5 feet – it made me feel like I was in the NBA. That was fun!

D. and A. are coming along. We have a great relationship with them and have another lesson with them tomorrow. A. said he wants to come o church and I have a great feeling about it. I pray he’ll follow through.:)

We had stake reports where we report to the stake leaders and with President on how our zone is improving. I quite enjoyed it!:) It was a unifying and exciting meeting. 

We did a surprise service to Brother B. two days ago and it was cool. The three companionships in the ward got together and pulled weeds in his yard.  He would never ask for it himself. :D

Well, I hope you are all safe and that the weather is cooling down. Can you believe it is already half way through September? I cannot keep track of the time! I am getting worried – it’s going too fast! Sorry it was a brief one. I love you!