c I came home December 15,2010 //

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

New apartment (04/27/2010)

Well we have some new things going. Some big things going on! On the 16th of May, Leo is going to be baptized. He is such a good guy. We went over last night and we went with a kid named Manual who is just such a great kid who got baptized in September, anyway. We were introducing Manual to Leo and I said Manual got baptized about 7 months ago, and Leo turned to me and said what do I have to do to get baptized. I said do you want to, and he said yes, he said I felt so much peace and calmness at church yesterday, and I want that in my life. He is having a lot of troubles at work with co-workers wanting to get him fired and what not and he is actually afraid for his life so he said he hasn't felt so much peace in his life in a long time. He is just an awesome guy, he said “the only other time I somewhat feel that way is reading the Book of Mormon or the Bible”. So he is going to get baptized on the 16th. His wife wasn't there and when she came back I told her and it was almost like she saw a ghost and I told her, probably one of the most bold times in my mission, if he is going to get baptized, you need to turn your life around, and she said okay. So its going to be exciting, I can't wait to go back and teach him.

In other news. We had to switch apartments this last week with the big change in areas so I had to do a lot of cleaning. We have to clean up the old apartment so the church can get its deposit back and I have been cleaning the new one because it is a lot smaller so I have been moving things around to try and make it more spacious, while doing that, I have been finding a lot of dust and gross things underneath furniture (even toe nails). So the vacuum has been in full force. The other day I was cleaning out the old fridge, which was pretty disgusting by the way, and I was thinking how come ours was never this way, then I always remember mom cleaning it on a regular basis and it made me really appreciate all the times mom has cleaned my house and for anyone that stays at home or works and cleans the house.

We also had 5 people at church. There is a guy named Tomas that the other elders were teaching but now we are, that is awesome. He should hopefully be put on date for baptism here soon. Anyway, he brought a friend that was telling Tomas that he feels that the devil has entered his life and Tomas said, well you need to find a greater faith in Christ, come to the Mormon church and they will help you. It was awesome, so those 2 were there. Leo and 2 people brought friends to church and we have appointments to teach them both. It was so cool.

Anyway that’s about all I have. Heraldo is still doing good and looking better.

Have a great week

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

You may not believe it.... (04/20/2010)

But I am staying in my area with my companion. It is very unusual for me, but I am very excited. We have a lot of things going on, and there is a twist, we got a bigger area. Here in Yakima there has been 2 sets of Elders that have split the city in half and have worked together to cover the whole city. Well the branch president wanted single sisters because, there are a lot of single less-active women and a few investigators, and a lot of single girls that are thinking of going on missions. So he thought that would be helpful. So the other two Elders left and Elder Urbina and I are now covering all of Yakima for anybody with a male in the household and the sisters are covering anyone that is a single mom or single women in general. So I am looking forward to it. Our investigator total just about doubled. We will have a lot of work to do but it should be a lot of fun.

I finally remembered to write things down again for what I want to talk about in my e-mail. FYI, I just looked to my left and saw probably the tallest woman I have ever seen in person, she has to be at least 6'6", anyway....

Things are going better with our investigators. We met with Heraldo on Saturday and told him that he has to find out if the Book of Mormon is another scripture that he can use with the Bible. He has already said that he believes that book is inspired and written by prophets. But he still has his doubts, so we told him to ask if it was a book he could read to go along with the Bible.

We also found another man to teach named Leo Morales. Leo is married to a less-active member. He cut his finger on Friday at work on a table saw, so his in-laws had us come and give him a blessing. Leo only speaks Spanish and his in-laws only speak English so they had us do it in Spanish. Anyway, I guess his wife wants to go back to church and he is interested in getting his life back in order because he is having a lot of problems. He is a really humble guy, he has been taught before but he said it just wasn't right at that time.

In other news, Saturday we got invited over to dinner, not knowing that it ended up being a birthday party. Not just any old birthday party, but a birthday party with a clown. It was quite the dinner appointment. It was really good food though so it was worth it, I guess, and we got to see a magic show, it was exciting.

Also yesterday we got to do some service, and I have a major role. We were installing sprinklers for a family. They ended up not knowing what to do whatsoever so thankfully I that experience before my mission. It felt weird being out there doing it; I also got a nice little sun burn on my neck. It was fun though.

That’s about all I have. I realized for about four straight meals, not including breakfast, we had carne asada. That is probably my favorite Mexican food so it is fine by me. But I just thought that was interesting and that I might throw that in there.

But I gotta run. Have a great week!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Just another day in paradise (04/13/2010)

I was thinking the other day about life. I was watching and thinking of people in general. There are people in school, working, sitting around doing nothing, in jail, sick, afflicted, and I thought to myself, I have none of those things. I get to go out, and talk to people. Sixteen months ago, I would never had done that, 10 months ago, I wouldn't think it would be fun. I go back to what my brother-in-law Chad told me when I got my mission call, he said "we look at our missions and think, wow two years, that’s a long time, but in reality, it is like entering a machine which takes every care in the world away from you". I second that.

Things are going well here in Yakima. The transfer is almost over. We will find out what happens on Saturday. I hope I stay, but at the same time, I will go wherever. Things are going well though.

We are still working with the same people, but there still aren't too many updates. We have been trying to get out and walk more with the weather being so nice. Yesterday we walked from when we left the house at 12:00 to about 4:30. At the end of the day I took off my shoes and the toes on my left foot were all black. I couldn't figure out why but then I realized that I had a big hole on the bottom of my shoe. I could pretty much stick my whole figure through it. I guess I won't be wearing those shoes walking anymore.

We actually did a little bit more service this week. One day, we finished painting a room. Another day we helped this lady with her yard. And other day, a guy had gutted his house and so we helped him throw all of the garbage in a trailer so he could take it to the dump. I enjoy doing service. It changes up the day and you get to get out and use your body. It is quite nice.

Well I really can't remember too much of what happened but I am going to start writing this down again to tell you. One thing I have to say is that the power of prayer is real. I testify of it. There is no other way we could get through our lives without it. I invite you to use it often, but use it sacredly, use it like a conversation, but use it respectfully. Moroni 10:5 says “that by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of all things", it doesn’t' say something, or things I want to you tell you, it says ALL things. I testify that is true.

I love you all and appreciate all you do for me and my family

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

It snowed again!! (04/06/2010)

So Friday morning we woke up and went for a bike ride for our exercises and it was pretty cold and it was just kind of misting, nothing major...so I thought, I looked down at my lap after a little bit and there was snow sitting there smiling back at me. It was definitely interesting. We ended up get about 3 inches or so. It melted away as quickly as it came though.

Things are going well here. I thought Conference was amazing. You know it has to be good when the Prophet of the world gets up and says this has been one of the best Priesthood sessions that I have been to. It is probably pretty good. I thought Elder Oaks' talk on the healing power was awesome along with Elder Uctdorf's talk on patience. It was all good though. A lot of talk on getting families prepared and everyone has a part in it.

Well a quick look at the investigators. We didn't get to have a very good week with conference taking up most of our prime time on Saturday and parts of Sunday. But this is what happened.

Maristle- she is the granddaughter of the member I talked about probably a month or so ago. We finally got with her. It went really well. We were talking about the fall of Adam. The spirit was really strong because I know we didn't explain it very well but she understood it. It was amazing. She also asked what the steps were for becoming a member of the church. That is always a good sign when that comes up.

Jacinto is good. He has really started working hard so it is hard to meet with him. But he is doing well. I think his interest has tapered lately from not being able to meet as much but he is still doing well.

We were unable to meet with Heraldo because he was working way too much. But he is doing well also.

I think that is about it. Things are going really well. I am having tons of fun. I don't really know what else to write these days. I know my e-mails haven't been as good but I just don't know what to write for some reason, that’s why I just talk about the investigators.

But I gotta go. Have a great week.