We are family!

We played volleyball last Tuesday for our zone activity (my last in West Wood zone). We are also going to be playing today in South Bay zone, so fun day today! I am on a bike now, I cannot remember if I mentioned that before. It is really different, but my area is not too big so it is very bike-able. After 1.5 years in a car, I feel a little out of place.  My new companion is Elder H. He is from Kamiah, Idaho and is brand spanking new. Kamiah is a very small town (only like a thousand people live there) so LA is really different for him, but he is doing well. It is fun because he asks me a lot of the same questions that I asked when I was a noob. It is also very weird because it was a year ago that Elder D. came in. It must be a good time of the year to train. ;)

I am sort of going through withdrawals from my old area (which is normal, I guess). I miss Westwood zone and funny enough, I miss being a zone leader. I never thought I would say that, but I do. Everything is so different now. I think I could say almost every aspect of my mission life did a 180. I'm back in Spanish, flush training, on a bike, a normal missionary and in a new ward! Wow! I am learning to love it, though. It has been a slow start since neither of us has been here before. Now that we are beginning to know members and some former investigators, it is picking up. After six months in English, my Spanish took a bit of a hit, but in a week or two I should be back to normal.

I saw a few Inglewood 2nd ward members on Saturday, which was fun. This area is directly south of Fox Hills, with a bit more going east. Rosecrans was my south border in Inglewood, and now it is my northern border here. So funny! Three of my four areas touch boundaries! :D Elder M. also served here.

 Elder C. was in this area right before me; he is a ZL in a Spanish area by the temple now. They dropped most of their investigators right before they left and not too much was going on, but we have met some former investigators and some awesome members! I don't know what I would do without them. I appreciate them tons more now that we have no clue who anyone is.

We had two big service projects yesterday and I am beginning to love the zone. Time to make this zone/area the best that I have ever had! I love you all! Be safe!

Good-bye Baldwin Hills

Well, it has been an awesome four transfers (casi seis meses) in Baldwin Hills. I was notified that I am being transferred tomorrow! Yikes! Santa Mapache! I will be back in a Spanish ward training a new missionary! Wohooo! Time to brush up on my Spanish! I will find out my companion on Thursday. On to the 4th area I suppose. I am very excited! Since we are flushing out both missionaries (both companions are being transferred out), everyday will be an adventure starting from ground zero with everybody. I am a bit sad, too. I LOVE Westwood zone! I don't know if it was because I was involved with all the members or what, but I will honestly miss being a zone leader.

It was a crazy, hectic week with everything going on! I loved having Elder M. with us. We sang several songs on  Elder H’s voice recorder and laughed a lot everyday. We gave three blessings in one day and none were planned the night before. We used a lot of miles. We had an AWESOME lesson with A. again on Sunday evening. Brother H. came again. I am sure A. will be baptized, but I will not be here. I hope I can come back for it.

I need to go pack and we have a zone activity in less than an hour. I apologize it is a short one! I love you all! Les extrano mucho!

I need to borrow your sweats!

Well, it was a pretty hectic few days! Transfers are a week away and life seems like it is about to get rocked! Things will be changed up big time in the mission. We found out that we will be in trio for the next week because an Elder is going home a week before transfers.

So, down to the nitty gritty. We had a great lesson with A. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ using a tea bag. At the end of the lesson, you light the tea bag on fire (HG) and it rises to the heavens (Endure). He loved it and so did his grandma. Yesterday we set up a lesson with a member they trust and went over. The Spirit was there and it was an AWESOME lesson! Brother H. was great! A. really respects him and listened intently to his words. We want to do it again next week.

S. went to the visitors center twice with us this week. The first time he had to leave early because his dad was called in to work. We had the second visit last night!:D He LOVED it! The sisters (two of the sisters in our zone) smashed it! It was really good. He wants to go back by himself to think and explore. We have another lesson with him on Wednesday.

We had a Philippine dinner at the B. home. I thought of Elder Wood. We ate adobo, biko, and sarang hi lumpia! It was all quite good! I will be writing Elder Wood about it as soon as I can. Sorry it is a bit short this week! Life is crazy good!!! I was excited to hear about the young Elders and Sisters beginning to flood the MTC! Woot! You can't stop the work of the Lord!  Love you!

We are ready to go pro!

Hey Everyone!

For those of you who think we are basking in amazing weather, you need to know that it has been freezing here! When I say freezing, it is not as cold as Utah or Ohio, but 38 degrees in California is kinda cold – especially when you are tracting in it. We had fun with it, but we are praying it is an unusual spell.  The members who live behind us loaned us their space heater for the bedroom and I wear my nice coat basically every day. When it warms up, I will probably send some winter stuff home.

I had a lot of crazy things happen this week so I hope this letter is coherent. We finally met with Mi. He got some time off on Sunday, but went to a different church to "see what fits him". We then proceeded to remind him about his answer and how he felt last month. I have been praying that he will remember and see the right path.

The V. family wants to come back to church. We want to help get them there, including having their two boys come on splits with us.

We had a service project where we bagged wigs for cancer patients. It was really fun and I was able to catch up with an Elder on how Fox Hills was doing when he was there. I have asked the current elders about the M. family and I hope they go to the temple soon!

Our lesson with S. went well! He began to cry when we talked about the spirit world. The Atonement allowing all to have the chance to be forgiven really touched him. Sadly, he didn't come to church. We still have an appointment to go to the visitors center with him on Wednesday, though.

Elder H. and I are getting lots of experience training our zone in the fundamentals of missionary work. 

We had another miracle. We talked to E.!!!! Hopefully we can try again and help her come to Christ and be baptized!  We also contacted D. again, and she received us just like old times! Hopefully we can see her again on Thursday. We have been trying to help a young Atheist man, and the other day he prayed! For him that is a HUGE step!

I also had posole with pig feet the other day. I literally held the foot and ate what little meat there was, right off the foot. It was kinda weird. Running is good. I am trying to work up to a longer time, but my running companions are not as eager. I still love it, though.

I will end on an awesome note. I think I mentioned that we had a contest a few weeks ago, to see who could give out the most BOMs. This Friday we didn't beat it, but one companionship gave out 17 in ONE day!!!! That is CRAZY! It was super cool! We felt good with having given 2. Ha ha! Well, we are about to head to the Hollywood sign since not very many people in our zone have gone. I love you!!!!!

P.S. I am one of the oldest in the zone, which is scary. I have been in the zone the longest and my companion is the only one who has been in the mission longer.... Yikes! Time flies!

LA's gonna have a bobsled team!

We had an awesome New Years. I awoke promptly at 12:00 am, thanks to the rockets and other loud noises!

At a recent zone activity we presented our new zone goal: NEWB Runnings!!! "You want to kiss my lucky egg?" It was the most fun zone goal presentation I have ever done! It is a bobsled race and we were a few of the characters from Cool Runnings. We used a table rack from the cultural hall as our bobsled and we synchronized our turns and crash. We had a blast coming up with it and we hope that everyone else enjoyed it. 

At the New Years devotional we were able to share our testimonies about the Book of Mormon. We were also notified that we will be receiving 35 new missionaries in March! So exciting! Congrats to sister Julia Bham for training! That would be amazing to train some of the new 18-year-old missionaries;)

We began “Fundamentals of Missionary Work,” which means we get to train our zone twice a week and improve our skills, too! Woot! After our first training, we had an awesome experience with a new investigator. One day when we went to a dinner appointment with the P. family, they told us about Brother P's son (who used to be separated from them), who has decided he wants a change. His dad challenged him to read the Book of Mormon, and we had a lesson with him! He is excited and very willing. We invited him to be baptized on Jan. 27th and he accepted! He then asked us to come teach him again the next day because "he doesn't have any time to waste"! The family came to church together for the first time since September! The dad is so happy and so is the son! This is one of those miracles where a family can be restored through the gospel! Yeah! Boom baby! I love it!

We have been searching for a family of five to teach. We finished a prayer before going into a lesson and when we looked up, we saw a father and his three kids. I talked to him in Spanish and  asked if he wanted to build a relationship with Jesus Christ. He responded that this is exactly what he was trying to do. He accepted a Book of Mormon and we gave his information to the Spanish Elders. So they may now be teaching a family of five!!!:D

Yesterday was the loudest my stomach has been in a fast and testimony meeting. It was mostly attributed to the fact that we had a taco-eating contest at a member’s house on Saturday night. Elder B. and I were seeing who could eat the most. I ate 18 tacos!?!  I think I could have eaten more, but by then I was pretty ashamed of my gluttony. I will not be doing that again! My competitive side came into play when I was told I would lose. I knew I could win and I was too confident in that fact. Thankfully we can repent and ask for forgiveness.:)

My companion, Elder H., has been out for 14 transfers; he goes home in May. We are doing well. We are becoming more effective and more organized by the day. I hope you had an awesome New Years and that everyone was safe. I took a sneak peek at your email and saw that Sister Shurtleff  passed away. I am sad. She was an incredible woman! I am grateful that she is home now, though. I will pray for them, but especially for Elder Shurtleff. Hope your life is as crazy awesome as it has been in the past. I love you!!!