Weekly letter:
2/8
Monday was pretty crazy.
All of the other missionary companionships had set other plans so again, we
were kicked out. We did our grocery shopping and that took a little bit longer
than expected. Some missionaries from another zone then called us and asked us
if we wanted to play ball with them. Because we didn't have any other plans, we
said yes. We played some basketball and some soccer too. During soccer I was
not playing at all basically cause my left shin is still swollen as ever.
During basketball everyone was just grabbing each other, so me and Elder
P (from another zone) were just going crazy on them, alley-oops, kicking
it out for a three, the whole whammy. It was cool. We ate dinner at the
apartment because we didn't have someone sign up on Monday, and then we went
out and just street contacted for the rest of the night.
2/9
Tuesday was all over the
place. We had some set lessons that we were really excited about. We stopped by
J R to see how he was doing. He is just going through a hard time
right now. He has some health problems, got laid off of work, became depressed,
and then started to drink. He slept from Friday till Sunday, and that is why he
didn't go to church. He just looks miserable. He told us of other problems that
are going on in his life that we need to help him with concerning the Word of
Wisdom. He said that the worst part about the experience of this past weekend
is that he can still hear my voice saying "J!". He told us that he
really wants to come closer to God, he just doesn't really know how. We had a
lesson with him and scheduled to go and do a church tour on Friday with him,
that way he feels comfortable at church when he comes. We then stopped by to go
and see E and the whole M family. Turns out that they forgot about
the lesson and E was still coming back from school. We talked to Hermana
Ml about the whole baptism situation and how her whole family can help and
support in the process. We rescheduled to have a lesson for Wednesday at the
same time. We then dropped our bikes off at the E's house and they came
with us to a lesson with A M. They did really good on starting a
friendship, you saw difference in A. The E's then took us back to their
house and we ate stir fry. We left to go and teach this lady named A C. This is such a small world we live in y'all. Remember the family that
helped me when my bike was stolen? Well, she is the wife and daughter-in-law of
the two members that got my bike for me! She is totally getting baptized. She
was a little quiet during the lesson, but little by little she will start to
feel the spirit more in her life.
2/10
Wednesday was just a rough
day. We had a training that we had to go to around 12:00 which is just the most
inconvenient time for everyone. The training was so that Elder L finally
got his IPad.. Thank you! The trainings were pretty good. It is always weird to
see old companions giving you training and then they call on you, it's like
having your best friend give a lesson and call on you... You just think
"again? I thought we were cool bro." It was so funny because Elder
W drove us there, and he sucks at driving. I know I am not perfect at
driving, heck I am from Utah, but this guy from Chicago drives like an Asian
grandma for crying out loud! We had to tell him everything because he was so
scared to do anything. We had a lesson set up with E and C, but
they weren't home so that really got me bummed out. We stopped by L's house
and talked with her a little bit. She is having a kidney transplant on Thursday
and Friday. We then biked down to the R family for dinner where we had a
pasta with 3 different types of sausages and it was pretty dang good.
2/11
Thursday was just an
intense day. We decided to get Elder L set up with his iPad early on in the
day so we went to the church and I tried to teach him everything about the Area
Book Planner app in one little bit. After he understood a little bit we had to
go back to the apartment for weekly planning. Of course we stopped by Subway
along the way. We made some good plans and finished weekly planning. We wanted
to swing by J R before we ate dinner with the P family (they are
from Peru). We saw him right as he was about to leave in his car and he was
holding a cigarette. He told us of all the bad things that are going on in his
life and this problem and that. We asked him if he had been praying or reading
his scriptures to which he replied 'no'... Gee there's a shocker. Why don't
people get the hint? We don't tell people to read their scriptures and to pray
just because it is a catchy thing that teenagers are saying nowadays! We told
him not to smoke the cigarette, but of course he did. It was heart breaking. We
ate dinner with the P family and it was really good, the kids in that house
are weird. Think about my most geeky moments about everything nerd related,
like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, anything, and you have only
half of one of the kids; they have 3 kids... Omg. We then biked down to the
jungle to have a lesson with a lady named F. She was a referral from the English
elders and we started to get to know her. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and the Restoration and set a baptismal date with her for the 13th of
March! We were on fire. We originally had a lesson planned with the F family, but then we remembered that the A family told us we could come by
on Thursdays, so we went to the F home and convinced them all to come with
us to the lesson! It was amazing! Literally the F family is the exact same
as the A family. The families both have 3 daughters, all around the same
age, they are from neighboring states from Mexico, and they live right around
the corner from each other. The youngest daughters even go to the same school!
Of course, we set baptismal dates with that whole family for the 20th of March!
That is a total of 5! That means 6 baptismal dates were set! I am so stoked for
them, it was just amazing to see the whole thing happen.
2/12
Friday was just up and down
the whole day. I woke up with that sick feeling that you get in your throat. I
took the echinacea, vitamins, drank water, but nothing helped. We had district
meeting and I was HOPING to get the package, but no, nothing has come yet. We
biked quickly home so that way we could go with our elders quorum president to have
a church tour with J. It was a cool experience. It was my first time giving
a church tour and it was cool. We had planned that after the church tour that
we were going to the VC with a family, but they canceled on us, so that was
sad. We talked to some people on the streets and then had a lesson with E and his mom. His mom didn't accept the invitation to be baptized because
"you don't joke with God, this isn't something to joke about"....
Exactly! This isn't a joke! This is your freaking salvation! Stop messing
around and just get in the water, ok? We then had a really cool lesson with
A C and set a baptismal date with her for the 13th of March! She
also asked us if we could start teaching her son... I think we can do that;)
2/13
Saturday was a pretty cool
day because we were able to meet with Elder Ls' family! We got special
permission from president. The reason was because the whole mom side of Elder
L is full of non members and the grandpa of Elder L wanted us to meet with
him. So we set up a time to meet and then right after we went to the VC. Bishop
Segovia took us and he is just an amazing man, he's a school teacher! We ate at
In & Out and that was good, they talked for a bit and the whole time it was
super hard for me to understand them! They talk super quiet and super fast with
a bunch of slang, basically like Peruvians and Mexicans having a baby and they
called it El Salvador. We went to the VC to watch Meet The Mormons. That was
the first time I saw it! Weird huh? It's weird that the first time I saw it was
as a missionary, in Spanish! The coolest part about the movie... I understood
it! I'm not gonna lie a couple parts made me a little "trunky"
because of certain airplanes and people that I saw in the last clip from Salt
Lake, but Meet The Mormons is definitely an amazing movie! After that we went
and did service for the R family. Their backyard canopy type thing got
demolished by the wind. So we undid all of it and then helped them put up a new
one, super easy. We then had dinner with B M, but she was a little
late, like 40 minutes late on dinner. We ate sopes which is like a thick small
oval-shapes tortilla with meat, cheese, salsa, anything in the middle, SUPER
GOOOD! We had to hurry and eat because we had a lesson scheduled with L.
Because the dinner was late we missed the lesson. We then tried to swing by
another investigator/ family and they weren't home either. On our way back home
we were "not confronted" this Rasta guy (dread locks and Jamaican religion
that believes in a black Jesus and that whites are the devil basically and they
smoke weed like nothing) asked us who we were. He started to yell at us because
we park our bikes around a pole and apparently "we need to ask permission
because it's in HIS neighborhood". He went off on so many things that I
just wanted to bash him on, but you would be so proud... Neither Elder L or
I bashed him or contended with him. We kept telling him how our Heavenly Father
loves all his children and wants all of them to return back to him. The
conversation looked like it was going to end on a good note, but then he
wouldn't shake my hand. He then told me that I DIDNT want to shake his hand so
that means I'm a white supremacist/ racist. So we left 'with haste' back home.
2/14
Sunday was just crazy. We
woke up early again to go and get out investigators to wake them up to go to
church. We first swung by J R. We called out his name and knocked on
the door. One of his roommates opened the door and said "He's sleeping! Go
away!" So we looked at each other and then left. We then went to try to go
and wake up L. She is in the hospital right now. Her kidney transplant was
switched for a different day and then Saturday night her dialysis didn't work
so she was rushed to the hospital. So that wasn't such a good start to the day,
plus I stepped in dog poop along the way, ugh! We went to church and we asked
Hermano O if he could come with us to try and wake up Juan one more time.
So we went and the exact same thing happened. We knocked and called out his
name, and the roommate answered and told us to go away. We then went back to
the church. Weird fact: a guy in the Portugese Ward (1st Ward Mountain Shadows)
served his mission here in LA and was in the same Ward I am in right now, so I
saw him. He said hi and took a picture and he said he would get it to you guys.
We had A and C and the most of their family show up to church!
It was a complete surprise and I am extremely excited for them! We attended a
baptism after church and A and C liked it. We just really need
to get some of the Relief Society over for A so that way she feels more
comfortable. We then went after church to go and see why J didn't show up.
He told us that he was awake and was on top of the apartment building fixing
the garden stuff up there. We told him basically that Hermano O is going
to help him and befriend him cause we had to let J go because he wasn't
keeping his commitments. We then stopped by to see A M. She is doing
better. We shared a quick scripture with her because that is all the time that
we had. We then visited the N family because they haven't been coming to
church. We showed them the video "Only a Stonecutter" and it was
good. I love that video. I hope that they can start coming back to church. We
swung by the F family because only the Dad ever shows up to church. We
talked to the daughters, M and D. We tried to get them pumped about
the A family and about the mini missions that are coming up. They gave us
spaghetti and that finished off the night.
This made my Valentine's
Day
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