Week 60

Weekly Letter:

Monday we really wanted to badly go and eat at Korean Barbecue. It's something that other missionaries have told me for a very long time is good and that I need to try it before I leave, kinda like a "right of passage" type thing. So basically that's all we did during the "Pday" time. Because at first we went to a place that was SUPER expensive and because the waitress didn't speak English, we had to slowly understand her and it was just awkward when we left because we don't have that kind of money (30$ per person). We ended up going to a place that is super good and I'll definitely take you all there after the mission. Basically it's 13$ for an all you can eat meat type stuff, super good. The only down side was because you cook it yourself, and we aren't very good cooks. It wasn't AS amazing as I would've liked, probably because we were all new at it. It took all day to do that because we ate for like 2 hours straight and then traffic in LA is just horrible. We did go and visit S, the 8 year old girl who is getting baptized and reviewed the baptismal interview questions with her. She is so shy it almost hurts. But she's awesome, she really wants to be baptized and she can't wait to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. When we went to pick up our laundry from the members who do it for us, and I almost got bit by their dog. Their dog is a pretty old, fat, girl dog and for some reason it doesn't like me. We were on our way out of the house/ yard and the dog, named Bree, charged straight for us, I pushed Elder S out of the way and tried to fall backwards through the gate, only running into Elder S and then Bree almost bit my butt! She didn't get a good enough grip and I slipped out. She was then going crazy against the fence, like growling and barking and everything. Elder S was oblivious this whole time and didn't even recognize what happened. He just thought that I shoved him and he didn't want to get mad at me.

Tuesday we decided to stop by and visit A and his family. The two kids were coming back from school and they let us in. Well, this family also has a dog. This dog is older, somewhat blind, but doesn't bite... So they said. Let's just say it wouldn't let us through the front door. It didn't charge at us like Bree, but it did not let us pass. Why don't dogs like me?? We talked with the A family (A's family) for a little bit and it was funny because they were making fun of their grandma who is super old and from Thailand. The mom, B, she is from Thailand as well and she is Buddhist. We are trying to slowly get the husband active so that she can start to feel the change in her life as well as see it in his. After we visited them we had the baptismal interview for A and S with the Zone Leaders. Elder C interviewed A and Elder M interviewed S. When they walked out I asked A if she passed and she said "no, you didn't teach me all the stuff" and then Elder C said "no she passed, she is now ready for her second interview" and my stomach just dropped. Elder S, who didn't know there are sometimes two interviews was looking at me all weird and even S, the fellowshipper and basically BFF of A who is a recent convert said "there aren't two interviews!" Elder C looked at me and I understood. We both played it off cool and were like "Yah, sometimes there are two for adults" which is true. S of course passed, so we were really excited. After everyone left Elder S was like "2 interviews?" And I explained to him that sometimes investigators may have answered "Yes" to question 4 in the baptismal interview and if they say yes, then they need to be interviewed by someone of the mission presidency. It's kinda like repenting on your own vs. going through the bishop. We texted President V who is one of the counsellors in the mission presidency and the only one who speaks Spanish. After that we went and visited S. We were also suppose to go and see M, but she didn't show up. S is super smart. We read in the Book of Mormon and her comprehension is spot on! She could explain the story perfectly (we were reading in 1 Nephi 3 and 4) and wow, it was amazing. She is planning on being baptized in June because that is when her father returns from working out of the state. Afterwards we went out to eat (we got into a really bad habit this week) and got some pizzas. To end the night we went and visited the C family and decided to invite them to be baptized. They accepted an invitation to be baptized on the 1st of May! They said that they are making plans to come to church every week and that they will plan for the baptism as well. It was a good way to end the night and we were very happy.

Wednesday we started out the day normal when we received a call from Elder B who is the mission Elder in charge of the apartments. He is an older guy serving with his wife and he called us. He told us that he was 15-20 from our apartment and that he needed to install something inside. Of course I am freaking out because our apartment isn't always as clean as other times, so I started to organize some stuff. He came to install and smoke detector and a CO detector. They are the same box looking thing and when he was installing it he asked for a screwdriver and I pulled out a little handy dandy pocket knife that we have with its tiny little screwdriver. He looks at me like "you serious?" But says "well, beggars can't be choosers" and started to put the thing in the wall. After that he invited us to go and eat with him at Subway. On our way we almost died because he is an old cowboy from Texas and doesn't know how to drive too well in LA, but we made it alive and well. We then went to go and see M G because she is really sick. She told us that she is getting better, but that they will get the results of the tests next week to see what she has. She told us a real cool story. She said that when she went into the hospital, the doctors that were taking care of her weren't exactly doing a super good job. She was then switched to a different doctor and she told us that she thought he was Mormon, so she asked him. This is how she describes the conversation:

M- "What religion are you?"

Doctor- "Well, I don't like to talk about it at the workplace because some people might get mad"

M- "Well, what are you?"

Doctor- "Promise you won't get mad?"

M- "I promise"

Doctor- "I'm Mormon"

M- "I'm Mormon too" (hold her hand out to shake his)

Doctor- "Well then, I guess we need to say a prayer before we go in then"

She then said that she knows that Heavenly Father put him in her path so that way she could feel comforted. So cute! 

We then stopped by to go and visit the F family to make their program with them. We figured out who was going to say the prayer, give the talks, everything. Then the most important question came... Who would they choose to baptize them? We asked A, "Who do you want to baptize you?" She replied "The person who can".... Meaning Elder S because I'm a toothpick ahahaha. S then asked if I could baptize her... Of course I will! After we planned the program, we went to the chapel to meet with L. She is progressing and reading and everything! We went over the Word of Wisdom with her and she doesn't have any problems! She told us that she used to drink coffee, but that she was so addicted to it and that it was hurting her stomach so she stopped. We explained more about the Word of Wisdom and basically she's like, that's a commandment? I would think that's common sense! Oh my goodness I love her, she is hilarious! Coordination was right after that and Elder D wasn't too excited about the baptism for A. He used to be in my area and when Elder J and him taught A, she didn't like Elder D because he was too pushy with her. It was really funny because after Coordination one of the branch presidency members was asking us how everything is going and we told him that there was going to be 2 baptisms this week, he was like "awesome Elders! (Pointing toward where L was sitting) Now when is she going to be baptized?" Almost in a way saying that she never will be. We told him that she also has a baptismal date for the 24th and his jaw dropped and we were all like #dropdamic #boom it was pretty funny.

Thursday was just crazy. I'm going to try and explain everything as simply as I can. President V, the only member of the Mission Presidency who speaks Spanish told us that he would not be able to give the interview to A because he was busy with work. He told us to talk to President W, the other counselor and someone who does not speak Spanish. President W told us that he would need a translator during the interview, but he could only give the interview on a certain day and time because he was also working. Then we texted President W. We told him what was going on and asked if he could give the interview, he said yes. We worked it out that Elder C and I would go on mini splits during the hours right before and after the interview so that way Elder C could be the translator for President W. Elder S went with Elder M. The mini exchange was kinda crazy. Two missionaries, from the same stake, both "seasoned" in the mission on a raining day... We saw miracles. Elder C is just an amazing missionary. We had doorstep lessons and street lessons and I'm just thinking "man! Talk about representing the stake!" Naw, just kidding. But it was really fun. We arrived at the chapel and neither President or A were there. We called A and she said that she was on her way and President called us and said that he was 10 minutes out. Everybody arrived and President W was introducing himself to S (friend of A) and because she speaks a little English, she was talking with him. When he turned to A, who doesn't speak English, she said "Hola" and he said "hola, cómo está?" Me and Elder C then went "oh snap!" Meaning that President knows some Spanish, but then President gave me a look like "don't ever do that again." I was like.. Yikes! But it all worked out. During the interview President left to go and get tissues.... And when they finished I ask A "¿Ya pasó?" Meaning if she passed and President then replied for her "sí pasó". He shook my hand a looked into my eyes and basically said "this was a good one". I wanted to cry! We all left and Elder C and I went to go meet up with the other Elders. They were taking a little while so we went to this place that we always wanted to go to called Elizabeth's Bakery. It was so good! Definitely going there again. We then were walking to our car when a random guy stopped us and it looked like he was wanting to bash with us. He started with a prayer and offered us pizza. He told us that his daughter is Mormon and he wants to "help her get out of it". He asked us questions that were meant to trick us, but man, it was so intense! He asked us "how is it that we go back to heaven?" And we said by the Atonement of Christ, or by the mercy of God. He then said "are we saved by grace" to which we said yes. He then said "so we don't need to do anything then?" To which we replied "but faith without works is dead" and he nodded like... These guys are good, they got it. He then asked us if he could trust us with his daughter in the church. The reply from Elder C "you can trust her with Jesus Christ, this is his church" BOOM! He thanked us and we walked back to our car... Man! That was so cool!

Friday we had District Meeting, but when we got there people were cleaning the carpet and all the rooms, so we called President and he said just to reschedule the meeting until Friday. Well we had a mini ZTM because this last week we did something as a mission that was called Miracle Week and everything just exploded in the mission. So everyone was sharing miracles about what happened, it was cool. It was still raining and so it was pretty miserable. We stopped by to go and see A and kinda have one last lesson before their baptism. She said she was nervous, but she said it with a smile, so that was good. Later that night we went to go and see the C family, but they had family in town so we decided to leave. The rest of the day was just a lot of walking in the rain, pretty boring.

Saturday was the District meeting and it rained, so there really wasn't much that happened because nobody is home when it rains. Brother L and his wife took us to a burger joint called The Habit and that was good.

Sunday was a crazy long, but awesome day. We started out with a meeting in the Samoan Ward at 7:00 am and I just basically sat there bored because they talk in Samoan the entire time so I don't understand anything. We then had sacrament meeting and that was good, but some of the testimonies were in Samoan, so I still didn't understand anything. A returned missionary who served in this mission came back and visited. He 'welcomed' us to the Ward, how nice was that? Anywho he then asked if either of us was able to learn the Samoan language yet. I kinda just looked at my tag, you know, the one that says:

Elder Roberts

La Iglesia De 

Jesucristo 

De Los Santos 

De Los Últimos Días 

And thought.. Uh no I don't know Samoan yet. Elder S just then gave him a look like "for real bro?" It was pretty funny. The Elder spent 15 months in this Ward, and he was an English elder, not Samoan. 

Church was good in the Branch, we had the BAPTISM! Elder S basically had to tackle A into the font. I baptized S and she was just all smiles the whole time.

Transfers are next week, I don't know a haka yet, yes I'm white and I did get a haircut

Love,

Elder Roberts