They put two great tastes in one lollypop

Todo esta bien con la obra misional! We had an awesome lesson with J. last week. He is the 11-year-old. He is the only person we are teaching that has been excited about the Book of Mormon. He read Alma 17 and got super excited. He LOVED Ammon! We began teaching the Restoration but ran out of time, so we will be finishing it this week and inviting him to be baptized! Hope all goes well. We will keep you as up to date as possible.

We had an awesome lesson with A., too. He told us what he learned in his reading and then applied it to his life! He basically taught us, which we felt would get him more involved. It worked pretty well. We discussed it and then tried to hit the home run even farther with the Spirit. Sadly, he did not come to church this week. Sacrament attendance was pretty sparse in general, though. I guess Easter is a good day to stay home? Not! Go out and help people like the Savior did! :D

We taught a referral named Be. who really wants to read the Book of Mormon and learn about the Plan of Salvation. We will be seeing her tonight.

We had a church tour with Br. and her younger brother. She really enjoyed it. We had a priest-aged young man come with us so we could actually do the tour in the afternoon. She did not come to church either, sadly.  Her family always goes out on Sundays and we think she doesn’t want to come to church alone. We need to talk to the parents and get them involved. We want to involve them all!  A visitor's center trip is in the plans for this next week. It is spring break and Br. does not have school, so this is a great time to "convert" on the play if I may.

We had a good lesson with C. & M., too. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with a focus on how we are blessed by baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. They saw a TV special on the LDS church and really liked it. We have another lesson with them on Wednesday.

Interestingly enough, whenever we drop by to see C. & M. and they happen to be gone, their neighbors come home and talk to us for a bit. Their names are D. & V. and they are from Argentina. They are very nice. This last week we had a good conversation with them and cleared up some doubts they had about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We hit it off very well. We took it as a sign that maybe they are there for a reason when the others are not. :D I love  the Spirit!

We had a good lesson with a family that a member brought to dinner last night. They said the missionaries could come see them, and the wife says she is going to read the Book of Mormon! They live outside our area so we won’t get to teach them, but someone will!:)

I have learned a little sign language from the ASL elders who give us rides. It came in "handy" yesterday when we talked to a woman who signs. I am also picking up some skills on the rubix cube :) I have been re-reading all of the conference talks and I am so pumped for this next weekend! Santa Mapache -- I cannot wait! Invite everyone you know to watch conference, because most people’s minds are blown when they realize that they can see and hear and follow a prophet today. They can also see how worldwide the Church is. I love you! Stay safe and make sure to do the little things. They are usually the things that matter most!

P.S. The scorpion in the sucker is real. It was a gift from a Texan sister who went home a few transfers ago. It tasted like crickets...which taste funny. :) The G. family is going to conference this weekend in Salt Lake and offered to take some things home for me, so I may take them up on it.

What are you serving at table one?

Hey everybody! It was an awesome week this last week! Our planning and goal-setting have transformed! We get so much more done and accomplish our goals, too!

Lots went on this week and it went very fast. We taught two lessons to 11-year-old J. He has already read the intro to the Book of Mormon and 1 Nephi 1. :) We left him the story of Ammon to read because he loves scripture stories. He is so smart! He was finishing our sentences and showing his understanding with questions like, "So when we obey we are blessed in the land, but cursed when we don't? Dang that stinks for Laman and Lemuel..." We have another lesson with him tomorrow. 

We have done more tracting lately, and trying our hand more often at street contacting, which I have been pretty poor at in the past.

I started re-reading through the Ensign again and the spirit of conference is BACK! Boom baby! I love it! I am going through all my notes and studying my favorites. :D I am SO excited for conference!!!! I am going to be the most ready ever. I am preparing to be edified to the MAX!:)

We had a member come with us to teach B., and we set a baptismal date with her for the 28th of April! She did not come to church, though, which is a bummer. We are not sure what did not click. She may not have the best support from her parents, although they seem gung ho when we are there.

We had a good visit with A. the other night. We talked to his wife a lot; she is not a member. He later told us that she wanted to buy a dress for their daughter for Easter and he replied, "Awesome! Does that mean we can go to church?" It was hilarious! I love him!

D. came to sacrament meeting! He liked church okay, but afterward we introduced him to a lot of the members, several of which are from Peru, too. That’s when he seemed to get more excited. The ward mission leader is Peruvian and they hit it off right away -- instant friends. They left the building with their arms around each other! Bishop even talked soccer with him for a few minutes :)

Later that day we talked to a couple from Argentina. They are really cool. We found several potentials, too, but I will tell you more about them as they progress. I love you! Be safe and don't forget to smile, even when things are hard!:D

He's singing his own theme song?

Well, for those of you who have been wondering, we have several 18-year-old missionaries here in Los Angeles now! We have three in our zone. Crazy times!

Yes, Elder H. and I are still running in the morning. (It got a lot harder to wake up after daylight savings!) Elder H. never gets tired, it seems -- he has great stamina and endurance. He pushes me. Hopefully this will help me not get too chubby. ;)
       
I cannot remember if I mentioned the symbolism I found with the prison walls falling down in Alma 14 (which I read this morning in my Spanish Book of Mormon). Prayer helps us to break down walls and be free of sin and sorrow. :)

It was kind of a tough week because most of our appointments cancelled on us. The last three days especially. We took the opportunity to find new people. We have a few return appointments for the coming week, but I will report as they progress farther. :D

An experience that made me smile was when this little girl stood staring at me as I walked past her in a restaurant. I couldn't help but smile and say hi. She looked as if she got all she ever wanted on Christmas. :D It was pretty funny.

Elder H. and I have made a lot of progress on our teaching skills. We had a very enlightening companionship study the other day where we discussed how our testimonies can bring the Spirit and power to our words. We decided we need to bear testimony more often to our investigators so they can know our words are true. We then applied it during our lesson last night with D., the referral. We had an awesome lesson about the Restoration and I began to bear testimony of how I know the Book of Mormon is true. I began to cry, which does not happen often. I was filled with the Spirit and the Spanish seemed to be flowing flawlessly from my mouth. It was not like me! I recognized it as the blessing it was. Being an instrument and feeling the Spirit work through you is one of the greatest joys I have felt while being out here. In this lesson, D. committed to be baptized on the 28th of April! We now need to do all we can to make sure he is ready. He feels so familiar, like family. I pray and hope he continues to work to receive a testimony of his own.

We met a young man named K. who had been kicked out of his girl friend's apartment. We helped him carry his bags most of the way to his destination on the other end of the area. He told us he was about to give up and stop when we came up behind him to help. He thanked us so many times and told us that no one had ever done anything like that before in his life. He said he would never forget it, and neither will we. We hope one day down the road he will remember us and look into what we believe. :)

At church yesterday we had a very unsuccessful turnout, or so we thought at first. We rode around all morning, trying to get people to come to church, but no one was home. Then while we were in sacrament meeting, I looked around. To my surprise I saw A.!!! He is a member we have been working with for the last transfer. He came to sacrament!!!! I had been feeling a bit sad, but my attitude changed immediately when I saw him. I told Elder H. and we both sat there, amazed. It did not end there, either! Five minutes later, J. ran in.  G. came to church, too! As I took these three miracles into account, I felt really good. I was so grateful to Heavenly Father that they came. I could feel how happy and thankful He was, too. The Spirit helped me to feel his love. No investigators at church, but three less active members came! It was a fantastic day!:D

Today we have a zone p-day and I really want to play basketball.  I have not played a real game since December first – just shot around a bit.

I love you all and hope you do all you can to invite the spirit more fully into your lives. "Take it easy!"

No Buzz! I AM your father!

Elder H. and I both stayed put for transfers, but we lost half of our area to the new Hermosa Beach area (sisters). This means that D. is no longer in our area!!! Nooo! We had a few good lessons with her so we are sad to not be able to go back. We “handed her off” to the sisters on Monday and will hope for the best. Maybe the sisters are what she needs right now to progress. We'll see how it goes and I will keep you posted.  I also found out that there are sisters in Fox Hills now! Woah, weird! Lots of crazy changes in the mission. The Baldwin Hills zone leaders are both training and living four elders to one apartment!? So crazy!

We had a tour of the church with I. and his son last Wednesday, and they both came to church on Sunday!!!! He really liked it and is praying to know if he should be baptized on March 31st :). We have another lesson with him tomorrow!

C. and M. have opened up a little bit more, but not too much.  They are not progressing yet. Actually, his aunt told him that he was baptized into the Church when he was eight. What? We will find out soon.

We contacted a referral named D. from Peru and he has some potential. He committed to come to church this Sunday and hopefully he will come. :D

I love you all! I hope you are doing great! El fuerzo los acompane!

Mustache March!

So, first of all, Elder H. and I are both staying in Centinela. Second, I looked up Centinela in my Spanish dictionary when I read the word in the BOM. It means sentry or guard. :) We are the watch in this area, after all!

We have lots to do with the transfers. New areas have been opened, people need bikes and the zone leaders are both training new missionaries, too! There are also nine new ZLS who are being trained. Crazy times!

We have a new investigator named D. and her son H. They are awesome! We invited them to be baptized, but they say they are not ready yet. We did our best and they still want to meet with us, so that is good. This last transfer has been a deja vu transfer for me. It seems like everyone I meet is SO familiar. I really think I met D. and H. before coming here. I was praying the other night for them, and I could see them in white. I was also given the names of two women to fellowship her. More to come this week. We are meeting again tomorrow! :D

Something interesting I learned from Elder Holland's talk about the Atonement is that everyone here on earth already acted upon their faith in the premortal world and overcame Satan's plan. If they did it once, why not again!:) As we share and they listen, these things echo in their hearts and mind. They are remembering their own testimony as it rings true. That is why it seems so familiar to them. I love the apostles. They rock!

Temple service was great! I was able to work on the Birds of Paradise again! Woot! This time there were lots of us so it was more enjoyable.

This week was very busy and it went by fast. We won the clean house award/runner up! We don't know which because we had a meeting during the award lunch :( We have been focusing on members and they help a lot! Our new zone goal is all about them, too. Whenever we have a member present at a lesson, we take pictures with our mustaches. That is part of the game (Mustache March)... :) Well, I love you a lot and hope this week was a great one. If not, you can make it so!  Cuidate!

P.S. Tomorrow, 34 new missionaries arrive in L.A. Nine are full field sisters speaking Spanish! Our area is being changed and some sisters are coming to Hermosa Liahona! Now there will be five companionships in the ward!