August 29, 2016 translating

Hey fam, its been another great week as a missionary. This past week we had a General Authority come and visit our mission. Elder De Hoyos from the 70 and his wife. We had a zone conference with them and they dont speak very much english so i was their personal translator! I didnt know translating was so tiring. I translated all of the english talks to spanish for them and when Sister De Hoyos gave her talk to all the missionaries i translated from spanish to english for everyone.Translating is a tiring job, It was a super cool experience and a great meeting!

So as you found out from the grape vine we had a baptism this past week and this wasnt my first one. I appreciate mom shredding me in a loving way through via email. The reason i havent shared my baptism experiences before is because words dont do it justice and they are pretty sacred to me. But this past Saturday Parker Wallace got baptized. He is a 10 year old from a part member family that is coming back into activity in the church. Coolest family every. I love them all!! Ive grown super close to them over the past couple of months and seen them all progress in the gospel as they have come back to church. One of Parkers older brothers Zac got the priesthood recently and was able to baptize him. Me and Elder Major were put in the right place at the right time to be able to help this family out. 

Love you all have a great week!

***Yes I had heard thru my brother Matt that he had a baptism this week, we were excited that finally the work was progressing, but our knucklehead missionary kind of overlooks things that happen in his mission as he writes us each week.  ITs good to know he is out there serving not just for the stats :)

 

 

Elder major me Zac Parker elder Anderson elder wight

Major, Zac and i

The Wallace fam

Fallbreezy

Hey fam, its been another busy week here in the Fallbrook 5th ward. There was a fire on the Marine base that is close by and it started raining ash. The fire nation was upon us (i hope my siblings get that one). But that isnt something that happens everyday so it was cool. Me and Elder Major were doing our daily morning run and we saw a chicken in our neighborhood and it crossed the road. We welcomed all the new missionaries into our zone, we have 5 greenies in the Fallbrook zone!! Its crazy. Im not that old mission age but im one of the oldest here. We were out knocking doors Thursday morning and got shredded by a grumpy dude and kicked out of an apartment complex. He wasnt a happy camper. One of our investigators BBQed for us and made us every meat imaginable. If you can think it he made it for us. He spoiled us. I have pictures to prove it. LOTS has happened this past week and its something new everyday. I wake up in the morning not knowing what kind of craziness is going to happen that day. I love it though and im learning and growing so much.

We have an 83 year old investigator named Norma. She is the coolest. She loves texting us and its awesome. We talked to her son on the street and he said to come by. So we went by and Norma answered the door and said come on in so we started teaching her! Its been about 3 weeks since we have started teaching her and she is so solid!! She eats the gospel up and loves to learn. What she tells us that she believes in is the same doctrine we believe in and its just so cool to see everything click with her. She has been jumping religions her entire life but has never found the place to call home and the place that feels right. Yesterday was her first time coming to church. I have never seen anyone so sensitive to the Spirit. She cried and cried and cried again. After church she told us how much she loved it and how much she felt at home. She told us she loves us and is adopting us as her grandkids. There isnt much that can beat the feeling of an investigator expressing their appreciation and love for you. Its the coolest thing ever to watch someone grow and progress in the gospel. 

Its hard to complain where im at right now. Yeah its hard and yeah its tough, but its worth it. To all you chumps that are thinking about going on a mission or arent sure, do it. Itll be the best decision you will ever make. I love you all have a great week!

Morning hike 

The food Kenny sent home with us

Monday morning hike 

Elder Phillips caught a crawdad 

Another morning hike under our local bridge

Brother Dawson. He is a 98 year old dude that we read the BOM with every Friday 

Transfer Week

Hey outside world. Another week in Southern California. Wednesday last week i had to go get another ingrown toenail out at the doctor. So me and Elder Major decided to take advantage of it and drive down to Encinitas on the coast highway right next to the beach. My mission is sweet. So yeah i got my toe all cut up and taken care of and got to see the beach while i was at it.

We got transfer calls this week and me and Elder Major are staying together for another 6 weeks. We are both pretty pumped about that. We are having a blast. You have all already heard but Uncle Matt and his fam were in my neck of the woods and took me and Elder Major out to get some icecream. The kids barely remembered me but it was fun.

We had alot of lessons fall through on us this week but it happens. Lots of flaky investigators right now. But we have some solid ones too. Not much else to write this week. It goes by so fast i dont remember what happened. But i hope everyone is being member missionaries and INVITING!

I love you all. Have a great week and to my butterfly brothers get better and stay healthy!

Ya we still knocked this door!

Pdays in So Cal

Ice cream with matts fam

amother week in paradise Aug. 8

Hey family, its been a great week here in Bonsall. So much has happened. I don't have much time but ill just share a quick experience that happened that sums up the week.

Wednesday morning we were sitting in our apartment doing our daily studies when we heard someone knock on our door. I went to the door and answered and thought it would be nothing. But a lady was at the door and told us that she had been reading the book of Mormon and she asked us if we could go by later that day and answer some of her questions and teach her more. HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!! We had someone KNOCK ON OUR DOOR and ASK US if they could learn more. Her name is Diana and she lives right above us. We went over later that day and taught her the Restoration.

Miracles happen every day. Its up to us to figure out what they are. Love you all have a great week. Good luck to Gunner and Tate cause football season is here!!!!!!

Bumpin and grindin

Hey peeps. This past week has been a tougher one. Elder Romney was having too much fun doing missionary work so some humility was sent his way. Me and Elder Major counted it up and we had 9 lessons cancel on us.

I went on exchanges into Vista with Elder Emerick this past week. Back to spanish work for the day! Vista is super sketchy but it was nice being back in some rough places haha. We talked to this woman on the street who we thought spoke spanish but she spoke a Guatamalan dialect called mum so we tried our hardest to communicate with hand signals and very slow talking. It didnt work but it was still fun.

Thursday of last week we had a zone conference, so we got to meet up with two other zones to get trained. We talked a lot about how to work with ward and stake leaders, later in the meeting we got to have a small testimony meeting for some missionaries that are going home soon, the spirit was incredibly strong. So we had that meeting for most of the afternoon and then for the rest of the night we had teaching appointments, so we were really looking forward to that night. But when we got to the evening, all of our lessons cancelled on us. So we just sat there in our car and thought "Well God, we are trying our best, we have the truth, we have the investigators, why aren't you helping us out more?" So we decided to go and stop by some of our ward leaders and apply the training we got on how to more effectively work with them, we decided to start with the Young Mens and Young Womens since we have so much youth in our ward. When we got done with the Young Mens President, we stopped by the Young Womens President, and when we got there, their daughter had her boyfriend over. He didn't have much of any religious experience or any relationship with God, but he told us if its important to Olivia (the daughter), then its important to him. So we taught him the restoration and the spirit just filled the room. He told us he would read and pray, but his parents are very atheist, and dont want him really pursuing religion. So we were afraid he wasnt going to be able to take the steps to really progress, but later on during church on Sunday, he showed up and stayed for all three hours! Its so easy to get frustrated and shake your fist at God when things dont go the way you want them to, but there is so much that we dont see that God does. He really does have his hand in all things, and thats something that I have come to gain a HUGE testimony of. (credit to Elder Major for that paragraph)

Things always work out. Most of the time we just dont see the how and why behind everything and its not always the way we expect it to be. I was able to give a talk in church yesterday. I talked on member missionary work. It made me realize how much this gospel has changed me over the past year but more importantly how it has changed the people that i was able to bring it to. We should be sharing this gospel with everyone we see!!!! 

I love you all, have a great week and make the most of every opportunity!

Elder Romney and elder schow one last visit before elder schow went home. 

Pioneers and surfbums

Hey folks. Still grinding it out here in paradise. Well this week has been another quick and fun one. The biggest part of the week was the stake pioneer day activity. It was huge! We had a couple of investigators there and it was lots of pie and corn and cobbler. Good times. 

This area and ward is blessed. Its pretty spread out (kinda like Valley Center) so we are visiting members alot and they are all super down to do missionary work. It is easier to get referrals from the members than it is to talk to people on the streets here! Im loving this area.

To go off on some random things this week. We had a zone training meeting that the assistants and president didnt show up to, we visited one of our investigators in the hospital and got called out by another member to give her mom a blessing, hit some golf balls off the side of a hill during a lunch break, almost got murdered by some black widows while we were knocking doors, we were "ghostbusters", saw a huge wild fire in some mountains nearby, made some pumpkin cookies, and became some members favorite missionaries. Lots more happened but thats all i can really remember. 

Well this week me and Elder Major gave up all of our junk food and committed to eating healthy and working out twice a day. We are so committed that we blended all of our junk food together and took a sip of it to start this off. It was disgusting and yes I puked.  we hate junk food now and have no desire to ever eat it again. 

On a more spiritual note our investigator that is in the hospital is Kenny. He is 32 years old and his mom is member but hasnt been active since she was little and his dad is not a member. He is such an example of being unselfish. We visited him in the hospital and all he could talk about was how his friends were doing and how he needed to help them. He is all ready to take the step of baptism but had some health issues come up recently and has to be in the hospital. Super pumped for him though.

I hope everyone has a great week. Love you all!

One Year Old

Hey civilians. This week has flown but been super fun. So much has happened!! My days are really long and busy but im loving it. Ill break down my week..

Monday: Got a couch and ate some icecream.

Tuesday: Met an older German couple that let us in the door and we had a deep life talk. They had both been through tons and are getting married soon. That was our first time meeting them both but they gave us hugs when we left. They werent interested but it was cool to find nice people haha.

Wednesday: Taught a bunch of Restoration lessons. I love that lesson. Super powerful message. 

Thursday:Taught some more Restoration.

Friday: Was in a meeting from 9 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon. Yay for meetings. I got to see a couple of my mission buddies, Higginson and Horton, who came out with me. So we were together on our year. I celebrated with cake pops and a cream soda that night.

Saturday: We went on Camp Pendleton (the marine base) to visit some members. That night we went to a wedding reception at our stake presidents house because people invited some non members and it was our dinner. Super weird being there. 

Sunday: Went to church and visited our favorite family the Wallaces. 

There are lots of in betweens but that is the summary. This is probably my most detailed email home so i hope it makes some people happy. Im loving it here in Fallbrook with Elder Major. We are working hard and having a blast. We have alot going for us in our area right now! Love you all have a great week!

 

***. Im super busy all day every day right now but i love it. I just really love where im at right now. We are getting shredded in all the rich neighborhoods but thats ok its just part of the missionary life hahaha. "you havent been a missionary till you have been shredded by a guy getting in his mercedes benz" -E Major

Me and elder higginson and elder Horton on our one year mark

Our entertainment center with surround sound. But we can only watch the 2 missionary videos we have haha

Me elder major and elder dressman