Letter 92 New Area

Hey Everyone!

It was an amazing week! Holy cow this area is amazing! I got transferred on on Tuesday and my area Sunland is right above Glendale so I got to see all the Armenian Elders at Zone breakfast which was super fun. There are tons of Armenians up her too so I get to practice speaking again. 

On Wednesday we brought Elder Stucki to the office to go home and that was crazy. He got picked up by his mom Thursday morning and they stopped by to see us and get his stuff that he left behind so that was fun. I can’t believe he is home now it’s so weird, he has been there my whole mission. 

My new companion Elder Pate and I got right to work though and this area just has tons of prepared people. They have some pretty cool people they have been working with and we will definitely see some baptisms in May. I haven’t met everybody, but we got to teach a lady named Mayra this week and she has tons of potential. We invited her to pray about a Baptismal date this week. She doesn’t want to be pushed, but at the same time she has been loving everything we teach and so we want her to think about baptism. 

We set another guy on date named Robert this week and so we are excited to keep meeting with him as well. Another great thing about this ward is the bishop is amazing! He has us over for dinner every week and is super missionary minded! He comes to each if our lessons with Mayra and he is just awesome! I don’t think I’ve had a better bishop so this is just awesome. I’m just so pumped it’s crazy. This is gonna be a fun way to end the mission! (Pictured: Elder Stucki and Elder Pate)

 Farewell to Elder Stucki!

Letter 91 Transferring to Sunland

Hey Everyone!

Ok so a ton happened this week. First, we got dropped by Valerie and Chloe unfortunately so that was a huge bummer. Same day too but it’s ok, seed planted and I think they will come around later. 

Second, Elder Bentley and a couple other past missionaries came and visited the mission and so we got to talk for a little bit. Elder Bentley was like one of my favorite missionaries to hang out with and we were together for like a year of the mission so that was super fun, I can’t believe he got home almost 6 months ago now. 

Third, we got our transfer calls. What in the world. So I thought I was gonna finish my mission here but I guess I was wrong. I’m really sad to leave this ward because I’ve loved this area so much, but I am excited to go to my new area which is surprisingly not Glendale. I will be going to Sunland and taking Elder Stucki’s place because he is going home. My new companion will be Elder Pate. I’m excited for it because Elder Hansen is going to be my zone leader in one of the Armenian areas with Elder Hathaway, one of my current zone leaders.

I can’t wait to go on exchanges with them in Glendale and also, they have the other Armenian Elders in an area as well so they have 2 Armenian areas again which is awesome. I’m super excited to see all the Armos again. Also, there are quite a few Armenians in Sunland and so I’m taking Elder Stucki’s spot to contact them and refer them down to the Armenian Elders which will be fun because I will get to use my language. 

Elder Boulette also got transferred. He is going to Alhambra and the Heritage ward is getting Sister missionaries. Yep we got Pinkwashed! It’s only a little bit shameful, haha, but I actually recommended they put Sisters here because this ward hasn’t had Sisters in like 20 years and there is a lot of potential. I think they will do a great job. Anyway, we don’t have transfers till tomorrow now so you can see a pic of my comp next week. I’m excited to finish strong in Sunland and can’t wait to start working there! Have a great week everyone!  

Dinner with the Walker family! 

 Elder Bentley -- back from the dead...

Our Zone

Letter 90 Rain!!

Hey Everyone!

This week it rained. A lot. California needed it but I didn’t need it. I remember when it rained a lot last year, running back and forth from the car between visits and referral contacting. I feel for all of the missionaries who biked during that time of year. When it rains pretty hard we usually walk and so on those days we don’t get a whole lot done because of how long it takes to get places and nobody is walking around in the rain either so we can’t street contact. However, in the middle of Saturday it started to pour. Luckily we just got where we need to be and so we parked our bikes and walked with our umbrellas the rest of the day. The ride back home though, that was an adventure. We don’t have rain guards on our bikes and so the water flicks up from the back tire and anyway, we just got wrecked, end of story. That was pretty much our adventure for the week. I’m glad to see the sky clear again.

Well we have still been doing tons of tracting and it’s actually going pretty good which is weird to me because normally tracting is like the least effective thing to do in my book, but not here clearly. We find lots of people to teach each week and they aren’t super solid but occasionally one of them is super awesome. For example, we met Chloe last week on exchanges with Elder Reimer. We shared a quick message and set up and appointment for next week and got her phone number. This is where most people flake is that return appointment, but we texted and reminded her and she was really excited to meet with us.

Chloe is 21 and so we will need to pass her off to the YSA sisters, but that was seriously one of the best lessons ever. She said her best friend is Mormon and so she was thinking about looking into it and then we talked to her and so she decided this was her chance. It was a great lesson and the spirit was really strong the whole time. She is so honest and truly questioning and has some pretty big and difficult concerns to deal with, but I think she has a lot of potential. She was even nervous about meeting with us again because she still felt like she wasn’t sure if this is the path she wanted to take, she was just kinda interested in checking it out. However, we think the Book of Mormon is what really made her decide that it would be ok to meet again. She isn’t sure about a lot of things right now, but I would very much rather teach someone as sincere as her and struggle through it than just baptize someone in a couple weeks who isn’t sincere at all. A lot of people in my first area would say they would be baptized but didn’t really care or didn’t really know, but Chloe is really wanting to search which makes her better than those others who just wanted to get baptized to say they did it.

Anyway, that was pretty much it for this week. Sorry this letter was kinda long! I know that the gospel is true and that we can find answers to our deepest questions and concerns by reading the Book of Mormon and I’m so grateful for that book. It has helped me through so many of my own struggles, trials, concerns, questions, you name it. It is always there when I need it and I’m so grateful for the Book of Mormon in my life. I hope and pray that all of you will take the time to read just a little bit each day. Even just a little bit can make a huge difference. Have a great week everyone!

Letter 89 Tracting

We had a great week of finding! We weren’t able to meet with the Aguilera family this week because they were sick, but hopefully next week we will. We spent a lot of time tracting, walking, and doing all sorts of other finding activities and it was really good! We were able to find and talk to some pretty cool people and so we hope to meet
with them again. Walking isn’t as effective here which is unfortunate. I guess there just isn’t as many people outside as Glendale but that’s okay. 

Overall we have pretty much just been putting in a lot of tracting time searching for those prepared for the gospel. We found a really cool lady named Mary this week and she shows a lot of potential and so we are excited to teach her especially. That’s pretty much it for this week, I hope you are all having a great week as well!