Flat Tires and coyotes. (May 23)

hello outside world. This week has been one of the funnest yet. My professional tire changing skill came in handy this past week when we ran over a nail the size of Africa. We also had the Sister that we share a ward with leave a dead coyote on our front porch and Elder Rodriguez and I didnt allow that so we went and left it in their house. Good times in Valley Center. We had a Zone Conference with a couple of the zones. It was good to see some of my mission buddies i have served with. It was President Kendricsk last Zone Conference with us. Its going to be sad to see him leave. We got transfer calls on Saturday  and Elder Rodriguez is leaving Valley Center and is headed to Oceanside to finish his mission. Im gonna miss that chump we have had a good time together. I will be getting Elder Dowda.

This past week i gave a talk on "How can i strengthen my testimony". Its the best talk ive ever given which isnt saying much still. Speaking of testimonies, i have a strong testimony on the power of Priesthood. This past week we have given so many. Cancer, sickness, comfort no matter what the problem is the Priesthood will help. I love you all have a great week!

Hanging with the homies in Escondido

****Funny story from Laura Rush a great lady in their ward who takes good care of bay and the missionaries..

Elder Romney is much bigger then Elder Rod as you can see. We had hamburgers and polish sausages. Your Elder ate 1 hamburger, salad and fruit. Elder Rodriguez ate 2 hamburgers, 1 polish sausage, a ton of French fries, no salad lots of beans, fruit and a big bowl of ice cream. He ate for 1 1/2 hours while we all just watched with our mouths open!

My 6'6" elder (her son on a mission too) eats a lot, but not like our 5'5" elder Rod!

Crazy!

Yes Baylor is the same doesn't eat much!!

Meetings

May 16th

Hello world. This week has been an adventure. I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Ricks down in Esco. Their bikes are broken so we walked allll day long. Ive gotten soft in my truck so my feet were destroyed with blisters when we got home that night. It wasnt a fun time. We had an inactive member text us this past week asking for us to help him come back to chuch. That was a humbling experience. He has been an Atheist for the past year or so and finally came to the conclusion that he couldnt do it on his own. None of us can. WE ALL need help. We are working with him to help build his faith back up and eventually get him to where he needs to be. We ate dinner with the Jensens and Bro. Jensen is real tight with Pres. Uchtdorf so he asked "do you want to hear his voice?" and ofcourse we said yes so he gave him a call on speaker but he didnt answer. It was still sweet though and worth writing about in my weekly email. I feel like a Bishop or something already. I was in meeting on Sunday from 7am to 1:30 pm. Long day of meetings. We are a church of meetings. Sunday evening we had a nonmember family ask us for a Priesthood blessing. The wife is going through some pains and the doctors dont know whats wrong. We gave her a blessing and the husband asked if he could have one for comfort after. 

Life is hard. Valley Center is great. I love all of you!

VC

Divide and conquer May 2nd

The weeks are starting to fly. I didnt believe anyone when they said that they would. This week we had an 8 year old investigator, Cheke, come to a pine wood derby. Those things are alot more intense than i remember. I went on exchanges to Escondido with another spanish missionary, Elder Stewart who was my first District Leader back in Carlsbad. He goes home this next transfer so it was weird being with him again. But we knocked lots of doors. That man loves his tracting. Saturday morning our Bishop got a bunch of recent converts and non members come play basketball at the church so we went and had a dandy time there. I do have to say any athletic ability i had before my mission has drastically decreased. Im getting really close with alot of members and investigators here and its awesome. There is always people that treat you like family wherever you go. Ive been trying to figure out what i need to change or do better to be more successful. It always comes back to the Atonement. It applies to anything and everything. The more personal it becomes to me the better person I become. Have a great week ill talk to you all soon!

 

 

May the 4th be with you

Ghetto Escondido 

Blessings on blessings

This week has been a good one. Everyone is kind of running out of steam right now and struggling in my district so we have given alot of blessings this past week but they have been great experiences. All is well now and the work in VC is booming. I went on Exchanges with Elder Dressman this past week (fellow spanish missionary) and he served in Valley Center for 6 months before i got here so he showed me around a little and it was a super fun time with him. I made the trek back to Del Mar to see Dr. Dustin again for the same toenail that got destroyed awhile back but we are all good now. Hes a great guy. Me and E. Rod are teaching alot but nobody is really progressing so it all just seems kind of pointless but someday these people will all finally take the steps necessary. A cool experience though a recent convert in the ward gave his first talk in sacrament meeting and he told his families conversion story and it was a super powerful story. Its amazing how much the gospel blesses families and changes lives. I love converts. On Saturday we went to a ward service project and cleaned all of the grave stones in the Valley Center cemetary. Im all over the place but thats a brief overview of the week

Week something

Honestly I can't remember much of what went down this week. We did have a Noche Familiar with the Spanish members in the ward it was a blast! We have some hilarious members and they are all the most humble people ever! I Love being a Spanish missionary! Bishop Chapman came to teach the Garcias with us this past week. We are working to get them married then baptized as a family. Hopefully that all happens sometime quick!  The Priesthood is real. I have a real strong testimony of that. The more I learn the more I know this Gospel is true!

Happy birthday pops you aren't that old yet haha

I love you all

What u find in parking lots here

Me and E. Rod in our soccer unis ( that might be the only time I've ever seen him wear soccer clothes haha~mom)

Past 2 weeks

Hello again world I understand I forgot to send a weekly email last week haha so me and lil Rod are staying together for another transfer in Valley Center and we are pumped!! This past week has been crazy! We haven't been teaching as much as we usually do but we have a lot of investigators. We were expecting 5 at church yesterday but non showed up. It was super disappointing because we had our hopes really high! But everyone can chose what they do and we can't control that!

Spiritual thought cause it's been a while..."the only change that is of any worth is a change of heart!" That quote has stuck out to me this week we can change but if it's not sincere there's no point! I love you all thanks for your support and love!!

Conference

So my brother Matt lives in Temecula and decided to go search for Elder Romney to go watch priesthood meeting with him. He drove 25 min to Escondido and walked in the chapel. He saw the missionaries sitting in the back and sat behind them. A few minutes later Elser Romney turned around and saw Matt and started laughing! He went and sat by him then Matt took bay and his comp to dinner! I was so jealous but Matt assured me that Baylor is doing so well!! Matt lives in the mission so no rules were broken haha