May 2011 to May 2013

Monday, November 28, 2011

Moving to Modesto on Wednesday

This week has been a really good week. God is really helping this area. There are three good families who are getting close to baptism, and then some other investigators as well. It is great to see how the Lord works and guides His work. It is great to be a part of it.

Wednesday, I had one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever been a part of. The Spirit was pounding in the room. It was at a member’s house with a college kid, his member girlfriend, and her father. The testimony of the father was so powerful, and then the girlfriend bore her testimony as well. It was great to see how members help so much.

The beginning of the week was missionary work as normal, with no big excitement, but at the end of the week the fun came. For Thanksgiving, we had two dinners set up and then another family bringing us dinner when we got back to the apartment! The first family we visited was a cook; the food there was really good. They are also a way cool family to hang out with so we had a great time. We were kinda full after going there. Then, we went to an investigator family, a Tongan family, so we ate a lot more.  We ate some Tongan food, along with the traditional American Thanksgiving food. We came back to apartment rolling home. And we stayed full because the next night we ate dinner with another Tongan family in the ward. They fed us a lot again.

Friday was a really fun day because I got to go play in the turkey bowl with a lot of the Tongan boys. The Tongan boys and I have become good friends. I hope because of the example I have set that they will all choose to go on missions, because they see that it is fun and you get to learn a lot. The boys really look up to the good missionaries.  So back to the turkey bowl, we were playing with Polynesian's and they play Rugby, not football. So, we played Rugby in the mud out at the Church farm. They dumped tons of water on some nice clean dirt to make it really muddy. We all played Rugby. It was so much fun!! I tackled a Tongan, so I was proud of myself. They said I could pass for a Tongan because of all the mud on my face. Ha-ha.

Sunday, we got the opportunity to teach the Priests about missionary work, so I think I am leaving Patterson helping others to GO on their missions.

I am being transferred to Modesto on Wednesday. I am super excited!! I will be serving in the same city where my grandpa served his mission.  It will be an all Spanish area so that will be way fun!! My companion and I will be covering the whole city, with one more set of Elders, in Spanish. So I will just be speaking Spanish, which should help my Spanish a lot. It is a bit sad to leave Patterson and the people I have met here, but that is the way of the missionary. My new companion is from Mexico. So that will be good for my language training too! I am real excited.

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Work in Patterson is Booming!

Well, our lesson with the Chinese lady fell through this week and so Bishop had cooked too much food. Yet again, we had to eat a lot! I can tell you one thing, in the past 3 weeks I have not been going hungry at all. I think I have gained like 10 pounds.

Last Monday, I played basketball for the first time in a couple months. It was awful. I need to play more or I am going to be terrible when I get back home and my little brother is going to make me work for everything I’ve got. I then played basketball again later in the week. Elder Coleman and I were riding and we were a little ahead of schedule. We saw a few guys playing ball, so in our shirts and ties we took them on. It was a little better. They were impressed with our skills in a shirt and tie. Ha-ha.

I went on an exchange to Ceres again (it is my 3rd time there). It is super cool to go to the zone leader area because they have it working like clockwork. There was never a down time. It was lesson after lesson after lesson. It was super cool. I also got to teach a guy that I found my first time there; he has now been baptized.

So there might be a baptism in Patterson this weekend. We will see. There is a guy who is super ready and he just needs to decide to get baptized this weekend. He is super cool and he is pretty much a member. We get more help from him then most of the members that are around.

The work here in Patterson is booming. It is great to see. When I came in, it was slow. And now it is just about to blow up, if the members get involved and there continues to be good missionaries here. We are doing so well here that even the next door neighbor ward wants us coming over there to teach people. We have our fun ward mission leader in the Spanish Branch going with us all the time. It is cool to see him grow while being with us. It also leads to lots of funny stories because he is old and Hispanic, which just equals funny.

On Saturday, we went to a Hispanic Thanksgiving dinner with the whole stake of Spanish speakers. It was super cool. There are so many faithful Spanish members here in the Turlock area. It was so cool to see. The sad part was the missionaries had to leave before the dancing started.

Saturday night we stopped in at Burger king after going to Newman to do some missionary work there. They have a drink machine with over 100 flavors of soda. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen.  There are drinks I have never heard of.

Sunday we were super busy just teaching people left and right, even during church we were having a lesson. It was crazy.

Monday, November 14, 2011

In Fresno, We Teach the Gospel in Many Languages!

We met the coolest family. Mele, one of the investigators we have, has a date to be baptized.  She lives with her brother, who is super Catholic.  We helped him take in some groceries and we ended up talking to him for a bit. He thought we were cool guys and ended up inviting us to dinner later that night. We really got to know that family. They are super cool. We invited them to go on a church tour, where we talk about the Sacrament and about a few pictures in the church and then we finish by talking about Joseph Smith and baptism. It is super cool. They really liked it. They are still our good friends and invited us to dinner again, right during the Stanford/Oregon game, so it was really distracting. But we ate dinner with the wife in the other room. She is interested in what we have to share so that is really cool.

This week we have also ran into the Tongan boys all over the place. It is cool to be able to get to know them so well. I can tell that I am an example to them and that is accomplishing one of my goals of being on a mission.

On Monday, I also taught in Chinese. I taught with a translator. It was super weird, but kinda fun. One of our members married a Chinese lady, the funny thing is, he does not speak Chinese and she speaks very basic English. So that is weird. We are going to set a baptism date with her tonight.

Well sorry I do not have much time today. Today I am at a zone activity. I get to play basketball again!!! This week has been one of the best ones so far. We have been involved in lots of teaching.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Love Being Busy

Halloween was a very exciting day. We got locked up in the apartment for the night because we could not go do missionary work; it was really weird not doing anything for a night.

This week we also had a street contacting challenge. We met some really weird people, but it was good because it got all of us missionaries to talk to everyone. We met some really good people too.

On Tuesday night, we went on a team up with a new member. It was super cool. The team up was not going as planned, so the new member, while driving, started saying a prayer. It was definitely a testimony builder on prayer for me. The very next person we visited let us into their house. And we got into almost every single house after that. It was super cool.

Wednesday was the busiest day I have ever had on my mission thus far. We were booked from 10 am to 8 pm with appointments. It was great! I love being busy like that. It is so much more fun than trying to find something more to do because nobody is home, and you did not plan enough people to go and visit, and nobody is in the street to talk to.

Thursday was a day planned with almost no appointments and it became a day full of teaching opportunities, which was great! Those are the best days, where nothing turns into everything.

We had a surprise investigator come to church yesterday. It was great. We were not expecting this family to come to church, but one of the members brought them along!! Sometimes the members can do so much more then the missionaries.

My companion and I are getting along great. We definitely have our laughs and inside jokes. He is a great companion. Spanish is coming slowly, it has seemed like it is coming really slowly this week. I am waiting for it to just click. One day it will. Sometimes I understand so much and other times, I understand nothing. It is the same way with speaking it. I guess I just need to practice.