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.