El Segundo / W3 (week 5)
Monday was kinda a weird day. We were cleaning and I noticed that
we didn't have any paper towels so we really couldn't do a deep clean like I
wanted to do. We did our laundry and only had to buy a handful of items from
the grocery store because we have a bounty of food in our fridge. We picked up
some elders that are in a bike area and we had lunch with them at our apartment
so that they could share in the joy of the bounty. We played some games with
them and then headed to the church gym to play some sports. We played soccer
and my companion kept falling and hurting himself, it was really bad. Another
companionship showed up and we played with them. It was pretty fun but it got
old fast. We left there to drop the elders back off at their place and to rush
to a members house for my haircut. Basically the member just shaved all my hair
off... It is super short, but I like it. We then went to go and visit this less
active member named T S. He is super cool and a total classic Tongan.
We are starting to visit him and he is starting to change his life to come back
to activity in the church. He told us about his wife and her family. They are
Methodist's and they (her parents) are the people in Inglewood that have the
most anti Mormon stuff, so this might get interesting in a bit here. Well, he
decided that he is forever going to attend the Mormon church and he told her
that he is going to go to that church, and if she doesn't want to go, then they
need to get a divorce. Well, in the Tongan culture, if your husband isn't there
with you at church, people start talking. So she ended up coming to our
church... (Woo woo!) He told us just how crazy that actually was and how
everyone in the RS was taking pictures with her. We were actually told from the
RS that she (D is her name) really liked RS because they talked about the
For Strength of Youth pamphlet and how to raise kids in the gospel. So we set
up that we are going to stop by every Monday at 8 to visit with T and his
family.
Tuesday we tried to stop by and see J M to see if he
really has desires to change and actually know if the things we share are true,
but he didn't answer his door when we came by. We had a nice scripture reading
with the S family and it was a fun time. They are doing really well, and I
hope that the husband keeps going spiritually, because he is awesome. We were
able to meet with A and J S and they are super fun. A was
telling me her story about how everything kinda happened. Basically they went
to go visit family down in Mexico City and her dads side of the family are all
active members. They somehow got their bishop to sign that A could go to
EFY down there (she was only 12 at this time) because they really wanted her to
go. She says that she got away with it because she looks older, but I don't
believe that. Anywho she really liked it and her and J also went to an open
house for a temple somewhere, I don't know where, maybe it was the re-
dedication of a temple down there or something, but they went to it and loved
it! Long story short they were baptized and now both are very happy about
everything and want to eventually serve missions! We had some Tongans take us
to Five Guys (my first time!!!!!!) and so that was fun, quite the experience
let me tell ya. We then went out on splits with the El Segundo ward and that
was fun. I went to go and see Brother B the cool guy who took us to go and
get the Greek food last week and his family has gone through a lot this last
week. He had a nephew pass away and the grandmother of his wife also passed
away. We talked and got to know him a little bit more, I was with Brother
M who is single, and over 30 years old. It was so funny because I was
showing them how all the missionary info is on an app and I forgot that they
served their missions over 10 years ago... Wow. Anywho, we got back to the
church to switch and Brother P went out with us to go and visit this lady
named B. She is super crazy. She does extreme sports, lives alone with her
husky wolf dog, and is part Latina, Micronesian, Native American,
Hawaiian, crazy huh? Long story short her parents are Mormon and she herself
chooses the Mormon faith, she just isn't baptized yet. SO hopefully we will be able
to make progress with her and help her realize just a part of her
potential:)
Wednesday was a pretty intense day. So it was J's birthday and so
obviously we went to McDonalds for lunch and got a kids meal. I don't know
about your local McDonalds but ours is doing some fun Justice League stuff and
my companion and I both got Batman masks which is super cool. We took some
funny pictures with them on too:) we did that and we also cleaned a little bit
because I keep getting a lot of bug bites and so we have tried to find flea
traps because the senior missionary who takes care of housing told us to get
flea traps and to check a couple stores, but the stores don't have flea traps,
and we aren't even sure if they are fleas because we set off a flea bomb and we
still have gotten bit since then. We also set up a visitor center trip for
R hoping that this time it wouldn't fall through. We went to go and visit
with K and W, but K wasn't home from work yet and W was knocked
out. Our WML for the Tongan ward lives at that house so we talked to him for a
bit and W eventually woke up. We shared a quick message with the both of
them before we had to go and meet with R and M to head to the VC.
As we drove to the VC we talked and laughed and had as much of a good time as
someone can have while driving in the heat in LA traffic. We got to the VC and
started off with a prayer. It was really cool because M is a RC and she
was taken to the VC as an investigator and had a really spiritual experience in
the room with the Cristus. She told us that the missionaries invited her to
pray about her baptismal date to know if that is when she should be baptized
and she told us how she heard her answer. M is a tough cookie, but she
was emotional during the visit. I think R also liked the visit too. There
were some cool videos that the Sisters put on so that helped out a lot. At the
end of the visit, the sisters invited R to say a closing prayer, and that
if we could say a kneeling prayer too. Well, he cramped up! It was kinda funny
and so he sat on the ground and was starting to prayer and his leg cramped up
again... But he prayed and his prayer was really nice. Afterwards M was
showing R a couple pictures that she likes in the VC and that was really
cool to see. We drove back and talked about the trip and it was good. We had to
leave immediately because we were late for a dinner with the J family (yes
they are Tongan). We got there and talked to the family for a little bit and
they had KFC for us (we have been eating KFC a lot lately) and so we talked
with them, got to know them a little bit more, even answered an institute
question that one of the sons had, it was good. Junior had just come back from
football practice and so he was there in time for the spiritual thought that we
shared with them. It was pretty cool. They have a son who plays football at
UCLA and so they are UCLA fans, and BYU fans, but when UCLA played, they were
really happy of the result. Later on, K (the ward missionary/aunt of
M/the lady who helps us with everything in w3 basically) told us how
much R loved the temple and how he wants to go back there soon. She then
told us basically to invite him to be baptized as soon as possible ahahhaha, oh
we will:) it was a good night.
Thursday we went to go and find flea traps. Elder B or the senior
missionary who helps keep the housing approved and awesome for missionaries
told us to specifically go and get some flea traps to find out if we really do
have fleas. Well we went to target, Walmart, pets mart, all these places that
he told us to go to, but nobody had them. I think we are going to keep looking
because I keep getting bit. Long story short we also wasted a lot of miles in
the car. We then came back to the apartment to do some weekly planning and to
clean up the apartment a little bit. We threw out a lot of bad food, it was
gross, and all we were left with was some good ole KFC. We were trying to set
up exchanges with our WMLs in the two wards, but it just didn't work out
unfortunately. We did go and have dinner with K. She had M go and
buy some food because the food that K was making wouldn't be ready by the
time that we had to leave to our next appointment. R was there and we
started to talk with him. He really liked the temple. We asked him about his
experience and we also asked him about the question that he took to the temple.
He told us that the question he had was about converting to Mormonism (that's
how he phrases it). He told us that when he was in front of the Cristus statue
that he really prayed and then he felt a powerful warm feeling in his heart
(this is when missionaries are wanting to leap out of their chairs you know!)
and that when we were listening to a video from Thomas S. Monson that he felt
hands on his head just comforting him while looking at the pictures of all the
apostles (still wanting to freak out, but you can't just DO that as a
missionary). We had prayed during weekly planning for a day to invite him to be
baptized and we extended the invitation for the 23rd of October, and he said
yes. R is awesome. We then went to go and visit A and J S who
are the 2 recent converts in the El Segundo ward. Their home teacher is the
former Stake President, President A, who now works in the deacons quorum.
We set up to be able to go with him to visit with them and go over the NMLs
with them. It was such a cool experience because he is a former stake
president, a recent one at that, and he is just awesome. The lesson was super
cool and A and J remember a lot and are doing good. J still hasn't
gone to go and do temple baptisms yet, but President A let him know that if
there was any issues with finding names or anything, to let him know. We then
asked President A if he would be a let to go with us to go and visit one
more family, the V family. He said yes and we headed over to them. It was
a really good experience. Back in the day Brother V was the home teacher for
President A and so he told them it was about time that he paid them back.
It was a really cool lesson. We read in the scriptures and shared what we
thought about the chapter. The entire time the spirit was felt. I was praying
that we could leave the lesson at a high spiritual point and I kept looking at
my companion to see if he got it too. President A was talking and then he
said "could we end with a prayer, I have some stuff to do" and that
answered my prayer. It was so awesome because he said it abruptly, but it was
at the spiritual high which was the perfect time to end the lesson. It was
super awesome. I think I figured out where the fleas were coming from, my
blanket and pajama pants! I put them on and immediately I wanted to start
scratching, even more with the blanket. So I threw the blanket off, changed
into shorts, grabbed a different blanket... And no scratching, no new bites in
the morning either!!!
Friday was a really short day for some reason. We had district
meeting and it was kinda fun. I got the package that y'all sent me from Dear
Elder, THANK YOU!!! I think I might just finish it before you get this letter
:p. Anywho after that we went to go grab some pizza rev because we have a bunch
of gift cards to go there. We then tried to go and visit a member family to get
to know members in the ward a little more, but the mom wasn't there and the dad
and daughter were a little hesitant to let us in. So we ended up having a nice
conversation at their door for about 30 minutes and we were all laughing and
having a good time, so I think that still counts. We then went to go and visit
M. He has a drinking problem and he also feels ashamed because
he use to be "the golden boy" at church. He feels supported by the
ward because everyone always emails him and asking him when he is coming back
to church. We made plans with him to come to the priesthood session of
conference next week, so we will see what happens. We taught him about the
Atonement and about Grace and it was a good lesson. His girlfriend is not a
member and I guess they talk pretty openly about religion, except that she
criticizes his. We told him that he could start inviting her to church
functions and to conferences and that would be good for her, so we will see
what happens. It was kinda weird cause the family that we were going to eat
with canceled on us! That is 2 times this week that the Tongan ward hasn't been
up to par... Which is like SUPER bad for Tongans but normal for anyone else
hahahaha. Anywho we had some leftovers which were good. We also stopped by a
circle K so I took a picture of that.
Saturday was a crazy day. We started out with reading in the Book
of Mormon with C and she is doing awesome. We then went to go and read
and talk with K and W. It was really funny because I had told K about putting jam on grilled cheese (you know, how WE do) and she said
"what?" So I had to explain to her and she told me that it sounded
super good (mind you she is also pregnant so it just makes this all more
intense right?) and so because I have this handy dandy jam, we told them that
if they make grilled cheese, that we would bring the jam :) . So they tried it,
and so did my companion and they liked it! I think it's just because of how
good Mom's homemade jam really is AND K wants your Facebook mom, so that
she could maybe get some jam, she was asking if you sold it. Not gonna lie, you
could totally start a business here, just with the Tongans here in this ward...
It could be some nice monies comin in. But enough of that. There was this white
old guy neighbor who came to just grab some food and he was being really racist
and prejudice towards all the Tongans. They were talking crap about him in
Tongan and I wanted to say something, but I held back and so did my companion.
We read in the scriptures and had a spiritual thought and then we went to go
and give some service for a former investigator in the El Segundo area who
needed help taking down her swing set. Thankfully some members helped us out by
loaning us a bag of tools (kind of like dad tools) and so taking the swing set
down was super easy and quick but boy, were those screws rusty! It was actually
fun to work with our hands and to use tools, it just helped me realize just how
important tools are for everything (spiritual ears here). We then went to go
to.........
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... A FOOTBALL GAAAAAAAAAMMMEEE!
Yes, we did go to a football game.
Yes, President Haynie told us we could go.
Yes, we were told only for an hour and that's how long we were
there for.
There reason why: our investigator Junior J plays for the
junior college El Camino and has been asking us forever to come and watch a
home game, so we got permission to go!
Yes, nobody else has done this in this mission for a SUPER long
time.
Yes, El Camino lost
Yes it was super productive cause 3 of our investigators and a
bunch of less actives were at the game so we hung out with them and took some
pictures, but not too much ;)
SOOOO basically that was legit and I loved it.
We then went to go and have dinner with Kiola and it was super fun
cause Robert and Michelle were there.
Sunday we woke up a little late because our phone was charging in
another room, silly us. We went to ward council and then sacrament. We were
able to have the normal people show up to church, and the S gave talks
which were really good, I love the S family, they are so cool. We then went
to the Tongan ward and R CAME!!! It was awesome. Junior also came to
church so that was really fun, we were able to teach Junior about the
Restoration during one of the hours because he asked us to teach him during one
of the hours. We invited him to be baptized on a date and he said that he would
pray about it and let us know, so fingers crossed!! It was a little rough at
the end of day, but we got through it. We ate dinner with the S and Sister
S made really good food. Basically they are an awesome family with the
cutest kids. We then went to go and visit some people, but they weren't home.
We then went to go and visit with Will and Kirsty, but they weren't home, so we
ended up talking to our WML and his family for a little bit.
Well, next week is transfers! Try and guess what is going to
happen!!
Love,
Elder Roberts
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