Halloween

Hey fam!! What a week. To start the week off we had our temple trip. So we drove down to the San Diego temple and got a great session in. After we got some super good fish tacos. Just a great day haha. On Thursday went on exchanges in Vista. Vista is a sketchy place haha but back in Spanish work for a couple days. It was pretty fun speaking spanish again actually. Overall its just been a really great week and we have been really busy.

Our 82 year old investigator Norma Jeanne Haynes was baptized this past Saturday. I had the privilege of performing the baptism. It was one of the best experiences ive had on my mission. Norma has a pretty cool story though. She has been looking for "home" her entire life. She has been praying to find the truth her whole life and nothing ever felt right. Until one day two 19 and 20 year old kids knocked on her door and brought it to her. Its been a process over the past couple of months teaching and helping her but everything finally clicked. Since Norma was baptized she has told us over and over again how full of gratitude she is and how much peace she feels. That right there is what makes all the long hard days worth it. I love that sweet old lady. We actaully have the entire day off today for halloween. Its gonna be weird not going out to work! This will be my first day since ive been out on my mission that i dont go out and work. I might not know what to do. So we are just gonna hang out with missionaries and members. We are gonna go to the Norris's and carve pumpkins. Yep transfers are next week and Major is probably for sure out of here and i might be out as well but i guess we will see next week

I love you all hope you have a great week and are being missionaries!

I have a lot of pics for you guys this week

Kennys Baptism

Hey everyone! This past week has been a super good week. To start the week off we went down to a zone conference in Del Mar, my old stomping grounds. We did some car inspections down there so that was a fun morning. On our way back up to fallbrook we drove up the coast highway. Sometimes i forget im in southern California but the weather and beach do a good job of reminding me. On Friday our ward had a Fall Festival dinner/party. This ward is awesome. We had a couple investigators and non members show up to that and they had a good time and got to see we are normal people haha.

So our boy Kenny Smith got baptized and confirmed this past Saturday. Kenny is 32 years old and his mom is a less active member and his dad in not a member. He has been taught for about 7 months now. When i got into the area in July he had an accident and has been in and out of the hospital since then with lung and heart infections. While he was in the hospital he was reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. He told us he had an experience one night while he was in the hospital where he got just and overwhelming feeling that the book was true and this is what he needed to do. He has no doubt it was the Holy Ghost telling him. He is still working on getting 100% healthy but he didnt want to put off his baptism any longer so we got it figured out for him to get baptized that day. Kenny had family come in to town from utah and colorado and his uncle came in to baptize him. The baptism meeting was one of the most spiritual meetings i have ever been in. Everyone was crying and his family was super impacted by the decision kenny has made at this point in his life. Im just thankful i was able to be a part of it. 

Thats all i got for you guys, love you all have a great week!

Quick One Oct 17th

Hey fam, it feels like i just talked to you all yesterday. Weeks are going by quick!! So ill give a quick run down of how my week went. Thursday me and Elder Major put on a meeting for out zone. We gave a training on social and spiritual conversion. It was a super good training and will really help all of our missionaries help their investigators be converted. After our zone meeting we had interviews with President Thomas. He does a good job staying in touch with all the missionaries. On Sunday we had 4 investigators show up to church. it was crazy!!!! Thats the most ive had come to church on my mission. We werent expecting all of them so it was a really cool experience. This ward is awesome.

Kenny (our investigator) has decided to get baptized this coming Saturday. So the past couple days we have been figuring out his program and got his interview done and are getting everything ready for him. He has been through alot and changed so much since the time i first met him. 

Thats all i got for this week, hopefully ill get some more to you guys next week. If you want to know specific stuff ask me some questions in your emails. Love you guys!

Here are some pics from the week

Major, me, the Fallbrook STLs after our zone meeting

my bois

Go and Do Oct. 11

Hey guys! Its been a super busy week over here. But its also been a fun one. So last Tuesday we dropped off Elder Dressen (our mini missionary) and he is in Guatemala now. So it was back to the dynamic duo. Major & Romney out fighting crime and preaching the word in the streets of Bonsall. Not so much fighting crime but this week we taught a lot more than we have been. We have been teaching our investigator Kenny and its powerful to see where he started and where he is at now. He is changed and you can tell just by looking at him. We are also teaching Norma. That sweet old lady. This past week she has been telling us over and over how much peace she feels in her life because she has been feeling the Spirit on a regular basis. To me as a missionary seeing those changes and blessings in other peoples lives makes it all worth it and makes me happy.

One thing ive been trying to work on lately is following the Spirit. It seems easy enough but i struggle with it. On Sunday our Bishop shook things up a little. We had our regular sacrament meeting but second hour it was all combined. We watched a talk from Elder Bednar about going and acting on promptings. So after second hour the ward went out and acted on promptings. We visited less actives or non members that we were prompted to go by. It was a really cool experience for everyone. Not just because we only had 2 hours of church but that people were actually inspired by the Spirit on who to go by. The more we act on inspiration, the more promptings we are going to receive from the Spirit and the more clear things will be to us. 

Hope you all have a great week, love you guys!

This is the squad. Love these guys

Conference Weekend

Hey guys so like most weeks we have there was good, and then there was bad,.So this whole week we have just been knocking doors like there is no tomorrow. We picked up a kid, Elder Dresen who got set apart on Thursday and is flying out to Honduras next week for his mission but is spending a couple of days here before he takes off. We literally picked him up, let him drop his stuff off, and knocked from basically 10 to 5 haha, he didnt even know what hit him. Thrown straight into the fire. I honestly wish that i could say that we saw a crazy cool miracle, that we tracted into an elect family, but honestly it hasnt come yet. But one thing I can count on, is the fact that it will come. We just gotta keep working like we all do with everything else in life. The talk the President Uchtdorf gave in the saturday morning session definitely helped out a lot, he talked about how the more you become familiar with something, the easier it is to treat that thing as commonplace or take it for granted, its easy to forget about the blessings of being a missionary, its easy to look past all the added strength we are promised, because its always there, its like being a fish that doesnt know he is wet. Another thing that stood out to me during conference is that "The Restoration is a process not an event". We are all part of bringing forth the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its our responsibility and blessing to share it with everyone. God ALWAYS has a plan for us and for others, so through patience and perseverance, blessings and miracles will come.  

I love you all, have a great week

- So this picture is actually pretty cool, so this is Brother Dawson, he is 98 years old and he made this wind mill for his "Darling wife Annie" who he was married to for 68 years, he has been working on this for two years and we got to help him put it in this past week! (thats Elder Dresen on the left, he is leaving tomorrow to Honduras)

 

September 26

Hey world. So we got transfer calls this past weekend and me and Major are staying together for another one. This will be our 3rd transfer together and that rarely happens that companions stay together for 3. Im pretty pumped about it. So Major & Romney will be in the Fallbrook 5th ward for another 6 weeks.

This past week not too much happened. We had a couple lessons. Our 82 year old investigator came to church. It finally rained here so that shook things up a little. It wasnt clear blue and 72 for the first time in like 5 months. I had to go back up to Murrieta this past week and do a baptismal interview in spanish. Its nice speaking spanish cause i get to tour the mission to do baptism interviews for investigators that dont speak english. 

General Conference is coming up this weekend. Im pretty excited. Conference is different as a missionary, its a really cool time. I hope all of you take questions that you have to conference cause they WILL be answered.

Thats all i got for this week, if you want to know more email me questions you have.

I love you guys.

Me, Major, Phillips, Ruhl and all the Norris kids. 

 

 

 

 

***September 18th he didn't write a group letter but heres an experience from that week.

 

So My brother Matt got a text from Elder Romney saying their dinner apt fell thru and he had a Spanish interview over in Temecula by Matts house that night, he wondered if Matt could make them dinner.  Matt just laughed and said well if you don't care that Grandma allen is here!  Matts wife Shannon had gone to New York to visit her brother for the week so my Mom was there to help with the kids.  My mom fixed Baylor and his companion dinner and was so giddy when she told me she got to feed and hug Baylor!  Hes having lots of different experiences on his mission that most missionaries don't get! 

September 12

Hey fam, this is gonna be a short one. This past week has been really fast and really busy. Me and Elder Major put together a zone meeting. I gave a 45 minute discussion on obedience and hard work. I had an interview with my mission president, President Thomas. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. Something is missing from us if we don't read it everyday. Ive seen how my days are better when I read from the Book of Mormon. There is something special about that book. I encourage all of you to make it a priority to read it personally every day. It WILL make your day better.

That's all I got for this week but here are some pictures. Love you guys!

September 6

Hey fam, im inspired to be a surf bum. This past week one of our favorite families (the Wallaces) found the video of me when i was a teacher doing that one direction video.... They wont let me live it down. It has caused some serious PTSD haha. I hear its football season. The most wonderful time of the year. This past week we had meetings on meetings. So many meetings. We had Zac Wallace , a priest in the ward come on a 24 hour mini mission with us. It was a blast. Zac is a stud.

Other than that its been a tougher week. Things either are going great or tough in this area. There isnt much in between here. If there are any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to email me and get some more information. But other than that here are some pictures from the week

Matching companion ties from elder majors mom

Tracking in our usual neighborhoods with a usual sighting of a lambo

Us with Zac