April 30, 2012

Well it seems like this last week was relatively tame. Not too much happened. We realized that none of our investigators were progressing so now we're still going hard, knocking doors, trying to find the humans. Not too much success, but I'll keep you informed if anything sweet happens. I guess the big event of the week was the Mormon Helping Hands service project on Thursday. I don't know if you've ever seen one of those, but its really a sight. The whole stake gathered at Santiago Park to help clean up the river/drainage device thing. They threw an embarrassing yellow bib on each of us and sent us off to work. It was pretty fun. The whole stake went to help, so all the missionaries in the Spanish program were there as well. It was a real ball haha. Its not very often that all the mishes get to see each other. And a lot of the older guys are going home at the end of the transfer, so it was nice to see them all again.

Other than that, all is well. Can't complain really.

How are things progressing with Daniel's baptism date for May 6th?
Eric always mentions in his letters that people have to attend church 3 times before their baptism. Is that the rule in every mission?  Daniel's comments about just needing a towel and a change of clothes to get baptized was amusing.  What did they decide to do about getting married?  Isn't he the one that wanted you to teach him English? 

We actually didn't get a chance to see them this week, so they won't be getting baptized for a while. Yes they should go to church at least twice, I believe.

I am glad you had a chance to spend a bit of time at the mall.  How far is it from your apartment?
I will have to search for it on my google maps. 

Pretty far. We had to hitch a ride with a member.

What exactly does it mean to be a district leader and why do you think that is going to happen next transfer?

District leader is esecially the leader of the mission in each ward. A lot of missionaries are going home next transfer, so I think that I'll get the call up.

How are things going with Kevin?  You mentioned that he is super shy.  Does he feel comfortable around you?  Did you say he does or doesn't speak any Spanish?  Did you mean English?

He does not speak Spanish.

3 good things about the week?

1. Did a big service project with the whole stake at Santiago Park in Santa Ana. It was our Mormon Helping Hands thing.

2. Can't think of anything bad.

3. Um, can't think of anything else.

April 22, 2012

Well this week went fairly well. Good way to start off the transfer. I think a lot of things really improved for us here. We taught a pretty good number of people. Given, they didn't all ask us to come back, but still, its a start. We think we might have a couple baptisms this week, if we're lucky. Our one invstigator, Daniel has a baptsm date for the 6th of May, but first he and his "girlfriend" of more than 20 years have to get married haha. That is a very common occurance around here. Some people have grandchildren even though they aren't married to their partner. Its kinda weird, but I think that its just part of the culture. So we've got to find a solution for that, real quick. Hopefully, it all pans out good in the end.

The Spanish took a major spike upward this week. I found myself talking about stuff that is way beyond the missionary vocab. I explained to this one family, why the U.S. doesn't care about soccer, and whey we will never be a competitor on the international level, and they looked at me like I was a sports analysis expert. It was pretty awesome haha. I'm still not very satisfied with where I am, so I'm going to keep working my butt off.

So all in all, it was a good week.

3 good things about the week?

1. On Monday, during transfers, me and Elder Prieto went to the mall in Tustin and walked around for a few hours. It was pretty sweet. I bought a new dodgers hat. I think I mentioned that in my letter last week.

2. Taught a part of the lesson at District Meeting on Wednesday. That was pretty fun. I think I'm going to be called as a district leader next transfer, so that was cool.

3. The new district seems to be fun.  

mething funny that happened this week?

Well we commited Daniel to be baptized this week. It was really funny. When I asked "Will you prepare youself to be baptized on the 6th of may?" He answered,"Of course, all you need is a towel and a change of clothes right?" haha it was hard not to laugh.

The other thing, we found this guy named Pablo on the street. He was just chilling there sipping on a 40, doing his thing. We started talking and he just kept bashing on people who drink alcohol and what not. After a while, we got up to leave and I asked him if I could throw away his drink for him and he esencially responded by saying "Get the hell out of here, this cost me 2.50!" haha it was pretty funny.

Investigators?  (remember name and positive comment)

Kevin-12 years old. super nice kid. doesn't speak a word of spanish. lives with his grandma, who has been inactive for more than 10 years. They both are starting to go back to church. but he is super shy and quiet and doesn't say more than a couple words when we try to teach him. poor kid. he gets super scared of all the people at church and has to leave right after sacrament meeting every week.

How are things going with Daniel and Martin?

Daniel-Pretty ok.

Martin-Wife asked us to not come back.

Did you make any contacts knocking on all of the doors at the large, noisy apartment complex?

a few, nothing too exciting.

Did you melt this weekend with your very warm temperatures?  We are warm now, too.  In fact, Dad turned on the air conditioning.  ARRG!  Too early and too expensive.

luckily we have AC too. but it was really hot in the streets. we always stop at the dollar store for gatorade throughout the day.

Did Elder Zamora go home?

nope, he stayed.

Yesterday when I was home alone, I found your apartment on google maps and walked down McFadden, crossed the freeway.  I saw the Subway, der Weinerschnitzel, and Stater Bros (is there an AutoZone in the parking lot?).  Is that how you get to your area? 

yep you called it dude.

Do you mind sharing your goals with me?

well just one of them is to help me with spanish. right before bed and right after i wake up, I read a chapter of the book of mormon while holding a pencil in my mouth. it helps a little bit with the accent.

April 15, 2012

Another transfer down. I'm not doing a good job keeping track. I think
it was the 5th one right? It was pretty good, a little rough, but not too bad. This last was somewhat humorous. Elder Prieto fell victim to a bicycle seat theif and had to ride around standing up the pedals most of the day in order to avoid a painful rear end injury. It was kinda funny. Luckily, the theif decided that my bike didn't look quite as comfortable, so I was spared the loss. We are trying like crazy to
meet new people but its really hard. We found this really huge, really loud apartment complex on 2nd street and we are going to try to knock every door there. In fact it was in front of that very complex that the seat was stolen. I think thats enough about bike seats. Anyways its a new transfer. New planner. New district. Black slate. Anything
can happen and thats pretty cool.

3 good things about the week?
1. Interview with President Bowen. Not my best interview, but it was
pretty good.
2. Set good goals for myself.
3. Found a really cool Dodgers hat at Dick's for 8 bucks today. I was pretty pumped on that.

 Something funny that happened?
 Some stole Elder Prieto's bike seat while we went knocking. Haha we
 locked the bikes to a stop sign outside of an apartment complex and
 went to knock doors. When we came back an hour later, his seat was
 gone haha. He had to ride standing up the rest of the day until the
 mantainance Elders came and brought us an old one they had found in
 storage.
 Is your cold better?
Still a little snotty

Investigators? Daniel-Old guy who lives in this tiny house next to this really loud
recycling center. He told me that my Spanish was perfect and he was
really excited about that. But now he wants me to teach him English instead of the gospel.
Martin-pretty cool dude. has a really huge parrot that lives in his
garage. parrots are actually quite disgusting. it was pooping
everywhere.

I saw some crazy rain in Southern California on the news the other
day.  Did you get a lot of rain this week?  We had some pretty good on thursday i think.

I have a few Walmart gift cards.  Would you be able to use them if I
sent them to you?
I haven't seen a Walmart in the ward boundaries yet, so i'd hold off.
I think there are a few in anaheim, so when i go there send them down.

Anything else you need?
cant think of anything right now.


What did you think about the missionary peeps we made?
they were nice. the ap's came over to study with us on tuesday, and i
gave them a few and they went nuts.

April 9, 2012

Well Easter Weekend was pretty sweet. We had a nice little surprise on Friday. They called together a big mission conference and the reason for such was pretty hush hush all week. But then out of the blue, in walks Elder Bednar of the Twelve. It was pretty cool. I guess he and the Bowen's are pretty good friends, so he decided to chill with us during easter, which was way sweet. He did a really good chat with the whole mission for a couple of hours in the mission conference.  It was really casual, which was nice. At the start of the conference however, he took the time to shake all of our hands one by one. It was a neat experience. In the conference he really didn't do anything too flashy. He just took time to talk with us about questions that we had and just pretty much made us feel like great people. He is a truly a servant of the Lord and he knows his stuff. I guess on Sunday he went over to the Santa Ana 11th ward, which is a Spanish ward, and he totally blew some minds over there. So pretty cool that an Apostle came and spent Easter in our mission. Something that I bet doesn't happen a lot. Everyone in our stake was super excited on Sunday. I guess he came in to sacrament meeting over there, unannouncied, which was really a thrill for everyone. Via text messaging, the word spread quick, and a lot of people ran over there to see Elder Bednar.

On Easter Sunday, I didn't do a whole lot. I woke up totally sick and barely made it through church. I spent the rest of the day trying to recover, but I had a really runny nose and a bad cough all day. So I took my first sick day in the mission. Sick days really aren't that fun. If there's one thing I hate, its being sick. But seeing Elder Bednar was definitely a cool experience.

3 good things about the week?

1. Elder Bednar spent Easter Weekend in our mission.

2. Found some new investigators seemingly out the blue.

3. Went to the temple on Thursday.

Something funny that happened?\

Not that I can think of.

Dad is curious if you get any notes or letters from people in our ward?

Everyonce in a while. About every month or so.

Investigators?

No one really of interest. They are all super similar to me.

I think transfers are coming up soon, but imagine you will stay with Elder Prieto?

Yes, I have to be with him for at least 2 transfers, as part of the training.

How are the two of you doing?  How's the training?  You have a big responsibility. 

Good. He drives me crazy sometimes, but its alright.

Anything special you did on Easter Sunday?
Got sick, stayed home haha. First sick day in the mission.

April 2, 2012

Ugh this was a very frustrating week. Other than Conference. That was good. I especially liked the talks by Elder Holland and Pres. Uchdorf. I watched it in Spanish, and I think I did a pretty good job with the understanding. I think I picked up probably about 85% of what was said, so that was cool. It was pretty fun to see all the Elders at the chapel as well. Thats the good thing about the small mission, you pretty much know everyone. It was even fun to see a few of the members from Santa Ana 5. Hopefully a few of them remembered me haha. Probably as the kid who never ate his veggies haha. So Conference was a good break from an otherwise frustrating week.
As far as the frustrations go, I just cannot figure out what could possibly be in these people's brains. Last week, we thought that we locked up a couple of real promising baptism candidates, but one by one, they all starting dodging us this week, and eventually asked us to not come back by giving us lame excuses. One guy even said "If I become a Mormon, would that mean that I would not longer be Catholic?" Duh! When I responded by saying yes, he decided that that would just be something unthinkable. Its crazy. I honestly can't figure out how the people can't make the connection. Hopefully we find someone soon who can connect the dots haha.
QUESTIONS?
Did you go to the church in Costa Mesa to listen to conference again?  Actually I think I mistakingly said that that church was in Costa Mesa. It is acutally in Santa Ana. Did you listen in Spanish?  I did. Was it easier to understand? I think I understood about 85% I tried to watch or listen to most, but dozed a bit.
3 good things about the week?
1. Conference was nice.
2. No rain.
3. Didn't get too frustrated.
Something funny that happened?
Can't remember.
How are things with the investigators that you mentioned last week?
They are all hiding from us.
What happened with your bike again?
I bent my back rim, so I had to get it replaced.
Did you still all load up in the van to go to church?
Of course.
Any pictures to send me?
Unfortunately I left my camera in the apartment.
Have you had anyone harass you?
Actually 2 black guys on 2  different occasion confronted us about the blacks, the priesthood, and the Church. It was really intimidating and kinda scary. I didn't really know what to say, so I just bore a quick testimony and ran away haha.

March 25, 2012

So this week was pretty rough. I was really upset about a lot of whack stuff going on, so I had a nice chat with President Bowen and I felt a lot better. If nothing else, I'm going to go ahead and say that I have the best mission president in the world. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Anyways, as far as weekly events go, my best friend in the mission field left this week. His name is Elder Stevenson, from Valencia, Caifornia. He actually was assigned to a mission down in Mexico, but he had to spend a couple weeks waiting for his visa, so Salt Lake sent him here. It kinda sucked to see him go. It was nice to talk with someone who has actually seen the same movies, listened to the same music, and actually followed the NBA as well. Now its back to Spanish sense of humor, which is far, far less humorous. But oh well.

Yesterday it was absolutely pouring. I have never seen such rain in quite some time. It was kinda funny. As we were making our way up the bridge into our area on our bikes, completely exposed to the elements, I actually thought to myself "Wow can you imagine how many blessings we are going to get for going out in the rain like this?" However, as we made our way down the other side of the bridge, I decided that I would really much rather not die of hypothermia, so we turned around and went home haha.

But the week was good. We have found a bunch of really good investigators. The problem seems to be that the people are more than willing to listen to you and even accept the baptism invitation, but as soon as we get out the door, they immediately forget everything that we just taught them. Its frustrating, but hopefully soon things pull together.

3 good things about the week.  

1. Talked to Pres. Bowen.

2. Got absolutely smashed in the rain. Kinda funny.

3. Finally had some lessons.

Does your new home feel cleaner, safer, newer, etc?  Oh absolutely. No doubt about it. We don't have any ambigious dark stains all over our carpets like we did in Villa del Sol.

Tell me about some of the members in your new area.  Who has been feeding you?  Have you communicated some of your picky food habits? 

Now the members are goofy. They think its funny to give us way too much food. They just absolutely stuff us. I have expressed my hatred towards certain foods and they just laugh and accomodate me. Its pretty nice.

Are you bonding with your companion?  Yes we get along pretty well. What do you like most about him? Fluent Spanish speaker for sure. Do you have a favorite companion now that you have had 4 different ones? Um honestly, probably still is Elder Kohler, who went to Arkansas. He was in a threesome with me and Elder Tueller at the MTC. I realize that he probably isn't someone that you would count as a comp, but I'm going to count him. But out of the 4 in this mission, I'm going to say Elder Zamora.  Have you seen Elder Zamora recently?  Yep, at least twice a week. When does he go home?  He got a ticket a couple weeks ago, so he can't afford to stay the rest of his mission, so he is going home at the end of the transfer. So like 3 weeks.

Anything you need?

Nothing else that I can think of.  maybe some fast food gift cards. we have pretty much everything in our new ward. even wiener-town.