November 4, 2012

Well in a shocking turn of events, we had a baptism this week. Believe
it or not, but its true. We have been working with Miguel for quite a
while and he had already had a lot of experience with missionaries
before I got there, but he just made some great strides this week and
decided to come to church and get baptized on Sunday. It was really
great.
That kid has been so sparatic, its been a roller coaster. Some days,
he is awesome, really good, really happy, understands and accepts
everything, then other days its the opposite; he's bummed out, he's in
la-la land, he can't remember anything about Joseph Smith or the Book
of Mormon or anything he's been taught. So weird. But he is a good kid
and has had a pretty tough go in life. He lives in a crappy little
apartment in a bad part of town; never lets in the place, we always
teach outside. Also he dropped out of high school and goes to some
weird vocational school. But he has great faith, but sometimes doesn't
have the guts to act.
Some of the mistakes he made in the past necessitated an interview
with President Bowen, and it was a great experience for him. PB has a
way about him. Really helped Miguel feel good and feel ready.
President also come to his baptism yesterday, so we had the baptism of
week, as President only attends one a week. So that was really cool.
So that was just one of many things that happened this week. Elder
J messed up his foot and got put in a boot, so now I'm driving.
Garcia family is doing good as well. So all
is well. I'll send picture of the baptism along as soon as I can.

October 28, 2012

Little progress so far on the Garcia family. The dad works everyday, so he doesn't have time to go get the marriage license. Not even 30 minutes haha. They close at 4 and he works until 6. So we are trying to think of a solution for that as well. The kids are awesome. Their ages are 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 18.  The 5 year old little boy, Arturo is the funniest kid in the entire world. I love him to death. He thinks we are just the greatest. Every time we knock on the door, he always says "what took you so long?!?!" haha.

Thanks for the pillow. I am now swimming in pillows haha. Elder Smith gave he his pillow before he left, a nice big memoryfoam guy, probably an $80 pillow haha. Both are huge improvements from the nasty, filthy pillow I found when I first got to the mission.

Um, I think I'd like to apply to Utah State, Utah, and maybe Weber St. Not so sure about Weber St. But the other two for sure.

October 21, 2012

Thanks for the quote Christopher. Again another solid week. I think
Elder J and I have acquired enough knowledge during this whole
Garcia family debacle to be able to pass the BAR exam and serve as
Orange County marriage lawyers. Its ridiculous how easy it is to get
married in this country. After trying to concoct a bunch of plans to
get Hermano Garcia some form of photo ID, he finally decides to let us
know that he still has his driver's license from Mexico, complete with
all the necessary info; photo, name, date of birth, etc. Still valid
too. For some reason he didn't think that it would be accepted at the
register's office, and he is too lazy to go find out for himself, so
Elder J and I drove all the way up to Fullerton just to ask them
regarding the matter. And the verdict: A-OK! So all the pieces are in
place. We told them the good news and they were totally pumped. They
are such a great family. Probably one of my favorite families that I
have met on my mission. The kids are so funny. They remind me of the
cousins haha. I love just playing around and joking around with them,
much like I do with my blood kin. I'm so glad we are in a position to
help them be an eternal family. Hopefully everything works out and we
can get them married by the end of the month. As you probably were
aware back home. It was UEA weekend for at least half of the state (or
so I was told by a visiting family we talked to just outside
Disneyland). So the place was crawling with Mormons. It was fun to see
all the Utah license plates. I was rolling down my window, holding my
tag out for all the world to see, just repping that LDS stuff. Pretty
fun. The Jazz were also in town on Monday to play the Lakers at the
Pond. I really wanted to go, but P-Day ended at 6 and tip off was at
7. Rats. Can't wait to see the Notes tear it up when I get home.
Speaking of which, I'm going to need a sports update.
Well that's it for this week. Love you guys so dearly! Nos vemos en nueve meses

3 good things about the week?
1. Figured out that the Garcia family already has all the
documentation necessary to take out a marriage license.
2. Saw a bunch of Mormons in and around D-Land for UEA (where were the Facer's?)
3. Got the so-called best pillow in the world in the mail.


Something funny that happened?
I purchased a Cuban sandwich for district at this sweet little market
place kinda by the ballpark. It was so big! Haha it was seriously the
size of my cabeza. It had every kind of meat imaginable in it. It fed
me for the next 4 days, so it was a very economical purchase.

Any luck getting ID for the Garcia-Lopez parents?
Turns out the dad already had a Mexican drivers license, but for some
reason he thought that they wouldn't accept it at the register's
office, so Elder J and I drove all the way up to Fullerton to ask
them concerning the matter and they said it was totally cool. So they
are all set. Which is really cool.

Is Miguel still going to get baptized soon?  No. He kept getting drunk
throughout the week and totally fell off the map.
Did you make contact again with Lizbeth? Yep we sure did. She is so
golden. She even is starting to ask us when she can be baptized and
expressed a desire to be baptized ASAP
Any other investigators or interesting lessons taught this week? Not really.


Life with Elder J? Its alright. He is pretty easy to get along with.
How exactly do you say his last name?  Jan-E


Did you enjoy the temple?  Did you do an endowment session or initiatories?
Endowment.

October 14, 2012

Well I think we have a couple of big miracles in the works here. I
should probably explain the antecedents first. We are working/teaching
this one family in our ward, the Garcia-Lopez's. They are super cool
and super dysfunctional. The kids are all members and are all pretty
solid. The parents however, are not married and subsequently have not
been baptized either. Evidently they have been listening to
missionaries for 4 years, ever since the kids got baptized. Throughout
the whole time, the missionaries have been working with the family to
find a way for the mom and dad to get married and baptized. The
problem is that neither one of the parents are "legal"  nor have super
reliable documentation, so its kind of a sticky situation. However
Elder J and I have been pulling out all the stops to try and help
them out. We heard that a lot of people around here sign up for the
free English class at Santa Ana College just to get the student ID

just for the purpose of having some good solid photo ID to use to do
things just like taking out marriage licenses and what not. So Elder
Janne and I have been making trips all over the place to the college
and various branches to try to figure out just how wide this loophole
really is. Seems like it could work, so we're going to try to get this
thing going. But if all else fails, we might take him to go get a
Costco card, and use that as his photo ID haha. But either way, I have
a really good feeling about this and I think we are super close to
really seeing a big miracle in the lives of this family. Stay posted
for more. Love you guys!

3 good things about the week?

1. Miguel came to church. Evidently, according to Elder J, that is like a super big miracle because he had never been to church before this last Sunday and he has been meeting with missionaries for like 4 months, with little progress. But then this last week, something happened and he whipped himself in shape and is now a serious baptismal candidate for this weekend. Stay posted for further updates.

2. Feeling oh so much better.

3. Didn't have to pay to do laundry at some greasy filthy laundromat. So nice.

Something funny that happened?

Oh I can't really think of anything in particular. Its so frustrating. My humor is wasted with Elder J. He probably just isn't used to me quite yet. He hasn't picked up on my zaniness nor my wit. Don't worry, I'll get him to crack.

Life with Elder J?
I thought he was from Kansas, but you said he sold cars in Utah. Explain.

You are correct. He is from Kansas, but he moved to Utah to go UVU.  It didn't work out for some reason, so he stayed and sold cars at Miller Chevy in Provo. Something like that.

Investigators?
Are Miguel and Lizbeth still planning baptism dates?

Miguel yes, but Lizbeth took a trip up to San Francisco, so we didn't get a chance to see her this week. But she is still golden as far as we know.

We actually have another family who nay be getting baptized really soon. The Garcia-Lopez family. The kids are all members, but due to legal complications the parents haven't been able to get married therein making them ineligible for baptism. Evidently they can't get married because the dad doesn't have any ID. However we found a sweet little scheme to get him some photo ID. We are going to take him down to Santa Ana College and get him enrolled in an free English class. They should give him a photo student ID, which can be used to take out a marriage license. Its ridiculous how easy it is to get married in this country. We are really excited about this little loophole we found because evidently they have been looking for a way to get married since the kids got baptized 4 years ago. So this is like a pretty big miracle in the works right now. We are going to the college today to do some more investigation.

You mentioned money last week.  Do you need some extra?

Um, a little bit. My Spanish scriptures kinda fell apart, so I need to get some new ones at Deseret Book. There may be some other necessary purchases as well, but I can't say any off the top of my head right now.

Did it get cold down there this past week?

a little bit. i had to go long sleeve one day, I think.

How's the new ward? They seem alright. Its really really big. The bishop is cool. Like the bishop in Garden Grove he is Chicano, so he speaks English and gets American humor, so I think a made really good impression at dinner the other day.
Are they feeding you? Yes indeed.
How long has Elder J been in the area?  This is his second transfer here. 

October 7, 2012

Sorry couldn't think. This week was not too exciting. Driving around
is so weird and foreign to me. It feels like a completely different
mission. I can't believe it. We just drive around all day, chewing
sunflower seeds and listening to MoTab and we end up teaching twice as
many people as we do on bike, even though it feels like we do half the
work. Crazy. My companion Elder J is alright. He is a big hick boy
from Kansas, but he is very articulate and smart. He was a car dealer
back in Utah, so he really knows how to lay on the "charm" you might
call it. It's kinda funny. This week was consumed by a lot of
conference stuff. How about that announcement? That was something huh?
I feel like that was a savvy move by the church. I think it was kinda
hard for some kids to kinda have that limbo year between high school
and the mission. Now I think it will be a lot easier for a lot of kids
to be ready to go. Also I think you'll see a lot of other positive
effects all the way down the board. Good call Church.
So there really wasn't anything too interesting this week. Just a lot
of driving and thinking and chilling. My back still hurts so I think
I'm going to go to the doctor sometime soon. And that's about it for
this week. Another week in the book.

September 2, 2012

YES just scored a 15 minute extension on the library computer sweet! I
hope I can use it well. Anyways, it is now Tuesday, and I am emailing.
As you can probably guess, the library was closed yesterday on account
of Labor Day, the most fictional holiday of all time. I don't
understand it. Anyways, last night was crazy. I had a big time Holy
Ghost protection moment. Last night, I was totally knocked out, just
sleeping away, when all of the sudden my eyes just popped open and I
had the strangest impression to walk into the kitchen. I did and I
walked in to see that Elder Walker had left the oven on at 350 and it
was still going hard at 2:30 AM. So I shut that thing off real fast. I
don't know if its super dangerous to leave the oven on all night, but
I know that its probably not a good thing, so I was glad that I had
that weird impression. Kind of an interesting experience at the least.
 Well this last week was pretty OK. We slogged our way to 20 lessons
on the week. I don't know how, because we were constantly feeling
super tired and hot. We are going to try a new strategy. Instead of
riding all over the town and getting sweaty, tired and disgusting, we
are just going to put all our eggs in our progressing investigator's
basket. Juan is the man. He is so funny. He is super old and is always
interrupting our lessons just to tell us a story about the time he got
ran over by a bus or something like that ha ha so weird. But he
understands everything and really wants to give us a fair look. He
came to church with us on Sunday and he was just the absolute star of
our Sunday school class. He was telling stories, cracking jokes,
standing up, providing visual aids with the use of hand motions, the
works. It was a riot. He really enjoyed himself (obviously) and I
think he might just get baptized in a couple of weeks. Maybe even this
week, who knows? That would be crazy. I hope it all works out. But
anyways, time is almost up. That's pretty much it for me this week. I
love you all have a great week!

> It looked like you had another bike repair.  What happened?
> I put a little more money in your account.
> I popped my tire while we were out and about. We actually had to leave
> the mission and walk the bike down to the nearest bike shop. The labor
> itself was 10 bones and then I bought some other stuff for preventive
> measures.
>
> You mentioned doing your laundry at a member's house.  Who lets you
> use their washing machine?
> The Garcia family. They are super cool, and we have dinner at their
> house at least once a week. Super nice.
>
>
> Are they feeding you more often?
> Yes, we actually got a full schedule this week.
> What do you eat when you are at home?
> Lots of bread type items, like PBnJ, grilled cheese, bagels with
> spread, hot pockets, stuff like that.
>
>
>
> 3 good things about the week?
> 1. Juan came to church this week.
> 2. Switched my bike to full fix, risky business.
> 3. Taught a bunch of lessons.
>
>
> Something funny that happened?
> Just a bunch of little things. Nothing I can put my finger on.
>
>
> Developments with Carlos, Juan, or the lady(What is her name?)?
> Any other contacts?
> Juan came to church on Sunday. He was the star of our Sunday school
> class ha ha. It was great.
>
>
> Do you know that I don't read Spanish?
> I don't know what the lady said to you and haven't seen Scott to help
> me translate.
> Ever heard of google translate. the device used by junior high Spanish
> students worldwide.
>
>
> What exactly do you do at a temple tour?
> Just take the people around the grounds and explain the temp. a little bit.
>
>
> What is the Mexican Mormon colony?
> Colonia Juarez. Look it up Broski.
>
>
> How was the weather this week?
> really steamy.
>
>
> Do the people at McDonald's know your name? not yet.
> What do you usually get to drink?
> Dr. Pepper or Hi-C
>
>
> How's Elder Walker?  He is good. I think.
> What did he think about us trying to meet his parents?
> He thought it was cool. He seemed kind of indifferent, but I think
> that's just his personality.
>
>
> Any Labor Day plans?
> Not emailing, that's about it.
>

August 27, 2012

Wow being on bike is so not fun haha. I think we are two of the most
> frequent McDonalds $1 beverages customers in the entire world haha.
> This week, at the beginning was a little slow and very tedious.
> Transfers were on Monday and they pulled the sisters out of our ward
> and threw in a training companionship, Elder Aguilar and his greenie
> Elder Vincent. So Monday we had to go to transfers to pick up Elder
> Aguilar and all his crap, sit through the transfer day rah rah pep
> talk and move all of Elder Aguilar's stuff into his new apartment. It
> was not the most exciting p-day of all time to say the least. However,
> we did go bowling at Tustin Lanes afterwards for dollarmania. And I
> had a great game, a zone best 218. It was awesome. Elder Walker is a
> good little bowler as well, so we were just putting on a show in our
> shirt and tie (Lance Storm lightning bolt tie for me, needless to
> say). Elder Aguilar spent the night in our apartment, and on tuesday
> we went to go pick up Elder Vincent. He is an alright kid, super
> hyper. Doesn't speak a word of understandable Spanish haha, but he
> loves to practice. Its really funny haha. Kinda like Elder Calhoun
> from The Best Two Years. But anyways, the rest of the week was full of
> sweaty necklines and trips to McDucks to cool off. We didn't have a
> lot of success during the week, just a lot of miles put on our bikes.
> But then on the weekend we had a really interesting series of events.
> We were riding down Harbor when as we were flying past a
> semi-transient car dealership, the owner flags us down and tells to
> come get a hot dog off their barbeque. Who could resist right? So we
> stopped and started to talk and turns out that this dude grew up right
> next to the Colonia Juarez in Mexico, so he knows all about the
> Church. His name is Carlos. We invite him to the our temple tour in a
> couple of week, he is thrilled. We teach him and the two kids working
> the grill. Get return appointments. Justice. Then another old Mexican
> dude pulls up for a hotdog and Carlos starts to do a missionary
> contact on our behalf. Crazy. The old guy his name is Juan. He seems
> pretty excited and invites us back to see him the next day, which is
> Sunday. So after church, we go to see Juan and this is where it gets
> pretty interesting. We go and teach him a pretty solid lesson, then as
> we are finishing up, this lady walks in the room and says "oiga elder,
> deme su tarjeta ya ando con prisa" Wait hold up. I ask "como sabia que
> yo era elder" because people don't usually refer to us by our correct
> title so naturally. She responds "porque soy miembro. Hace 2 anos que
> no estoy activa. Cuando vivia en Chicago daba a comer a los elders
> todo el tiempo" Woah no way. What a weird chain of events. By the time
> we left, the lady was super interesting in listening to us, coming
> back to church and having us teach her kids. Crazy huh? No doubt we
> were right where we were supposed to be. Pretty neat.

>> 3 good things about the week?
>> 1. Bowled a 218 last monday after email. SCORE!
>> 2. Made some ridiculous contacts this weekend. So cool. I'll tell you
>> more later.
>> 3. Got rid of the sisters. Now we have another companionship of elders
>> in the ward. Elder Aguilar from Mexico/Arizona, and Elder Vicent the
>> greenie from Brigham City.
>>
>> Something funny that happened?
>> Elder Walker took a tumble on his bike this morning on our way to a
>> member's house to do laundry. He went down, and I followed up with an
>> amazing Anchorman reference "wow that was a terrific little spill
>> there!" and he just cracked up. It was funny.
>>
>> Any luck pawning your extra typewriter and bike on some other poor Elder?
>> I did manage to sell the typewriter for 40 to Elder Curtin. He was
>> thrilled. The bike has a few interested customers. I think I'll just
>> sell it for $100 just to get rid of it.
>>
>> Investigators?
>> Juan-I'll tell you more about him in my letter.
>> Yesenia-Done. Not interested anymore. Not sure why. Oh well.
>> Carlos-From the mexican mormon colony in chichihua. Never got
>> baptized. Super interested. We'll see what happens.
>> bout it.
>>
>> What does President Bowen usually talk to you about in your
>> interviews?  You said he does the talking and you listen.
>> A lot of stuff. He mostly wants to make sure that I am ready to come
>> home in a year. He has told me multiple times that "we really are here
>> to get ready to go home" so its kinda interesting.
>>
>> Why did you think that you and Elder Walker might get separated and
>> that you would be a trainer again?  Are you happy you two are still
>> working together?
>> Oh of course. I just thought it was a possibly. He has been here his
>> entire mission.
>>
>> There have been several news shows on TV lately about Mormons because
>> of Mitt Romney and the convention being this week.  Have you had any
>> curious people because of that?
>> I haven't heard anything about that this week. But I have heard
>> plently about Bro. Romney.
>>
>> Was the weather any better for you last week?  It looks like it is
>> going to be warm for you the next few days.  Make sure you stay
>> hydrated!!!!
>> Oh yes it stinks so bad haha. Thank goodness for McDonalds' dollar
>> beverages
>> haha