Week 107 - Palmdale

Hello everyone! This week has been pretty fantastic. We taught Patricia and she committed to being baptized on the 1st of September, but the only thing was that she was going to be out of town that Sunday, so we fasted this Sunday that her trip would get cancelled. Nevertheless, we were not specific in our petitions and she did not make it to church because of her son with autism. Thus she would be unable to be baptized on the 1st. But we'll see what happens. It's still a possibility. The Lord blessed us to find and talk to a lot of people, like walking up to cars backing out of the driveway to talk to them (safely, mind you), and other such things as that. It was a lot of fun, and sure we got rejected every once in a while, but there was something that we learned. Many people actually listened to the message, and at the end said it was because we were bold, they said they could tell that we had something important enough to be bold. It was a good lesson. We also talked to this one guy who was actually on Facebook live, and we didn't know until about halfway through the Restoration when he said, ":So, I'm on Facebook live, and someone's telling me to tell you guys that I believe in Jehovah, but I don't. I believe in Jesus Christ and God the Father." He then got questions on it like "Was Tupac a prophet?" So our restoration message is somewhere out there. Elder Simpson taught me something. He said that sure, the scripture says "Don't run faster than you have strength", but then he basically said "That doesn't mean we should just walk. We are still expected to work til we drop", and I really liked it.     This week was also my last district council, because next week I'll be going on the departing missionary temple trip. It was good, and in the end I bore my testimony. I just have this last week, and I am excited to see the miracles that come from a final week of a mission. I love you all, and please pray for Patricia. Love Elder Sant

Week 106 - Palmdale

This week has been an extremely fast week. The end is drawing nigh, and I am pushing forward with all my heart might mind and strength. Elder Simpson is legendary as always. He's a great guy. We had a special Zone Conference in the which we had a visit from a general authority. This man is extremely savage. I loved it all. He was just like "Oh, you're sick? Do you think anyone cares? God cares more about the salvation of souls than how you feel." He said that lame missionaries become lame Latter-Day Saints. The Lord will match you with what you give Him". And he's from Germany, named Elder Jorg Klebingat.
He taught us a lot about the premortal life, basically about how we were sent into the most wicked world (Moses 7:35-36) and that we are sent into the midst of it all at the end of the battle. It shows the trust God has for us. We were probably the closest to Him, and when He said "come down to earth" we may have doubted until He said, "But Jesus will come and be there with you". Then we felt for sure that we could do it. He was just our best friend. We trusted Him fully. He then said in essence "I imagine it was the same for Jesus. He saw all He'd have to do, and maybe hesitated until He saw all of us, that we'd go down as well. He then felt confident, thought 'OK, my friends will be there.' It shows us the responsibility that we have to gather scattered Israel. I was thinking about it, and Jesus sometimes calls people His friends. To Joseph Smith He said "You are my friend", and so on with others. What I imagine is that when He calls someone His friend, or when we are His friend, He starts to see a little bit of who we were back then over here. He sees the diligence and obedience and faith that we had there with Him, and He says, "That's the Joseph Smith I know (or the Elder Sant). That's my friend. He's got my back". Elder Klebingat explained that to gain His trust, to be His friend, it is through obedience. It says that there were those who God said would be His rulers (Doc. and Cov. 138:55-56). He says that these rulers are not general authorities or prophets: the rulers are those who keep their covenants, who magnify their office and calling. They're the obedient ones, who do what God says without delay or doubt. Those are His rulers. I could spend pages on these notes I took, and the thoughts that came of what I learned, but nevertheless I will go on explaining the week. 

   There was a lady that we found who accepted a baptismal date, and it was a powerful lesson. She is among the sweetest people I've ever met. I was asked to do a baptismal interview for someone who is trying to get a home in Palmdale, and is living in a hotel for now. I did it in Spanish because the husband, who's a member, only speaks English, but the wife speaks Spanish best. She was super sweet and super prepared. We were on exchanges that day, and my companion Elder Allinson said that he entered the hotel room when we first started, and he didn't feel right about the place, and that they came back after the interview, and he said there was a clear difference in Spirit. I did another baptismal interview, actually, and it was really cool as well. The Lord blessed us with a lot of miracles. We went down this one street, and Jehovah's Witnesses had just passed by, and we felt like it would be redundant to walk through where they just had been, but we felt like we were supposed to talk to the people there, and we did. We got rejected a few times, but then found an amazing family who actually asked us for a Book of Mormon. It was great. The Lord also blessed us when we went tracting, and we started talking with a family, and the husband instantly gave us his number and asked us to come by the very next day. We did, and he asked how many times a week we could come by. It was really cool. 

   The Lord pushed us to our limits this week, and I was very glad to feel that strength come into us. A lot happened this week. We went by Irma, and she apologized for not coming to church, and said she would "make it up" by taking a day off on Wednesday so we could talk. We're not the ones she needs to make things up to, but it's God. If anything she should make it up on Sunday. It was sad to see, but nevertheless, the Lord prepares people in His time. 

   I love you all, and usually I'd have a bit more information on the week, but our area book app shut down, and it makes it a little difficult to write more info.

   Love Elder Sant

  

Week 105 - Palmdale

 This week was huge and just full of things. First, we read the introduction to the Book of Mormón with Ruben and he loved it, wanted us to give an English copy to his son. On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and they were not the examples we needed. They didn't talk to anyone and after dinner ended exchanges. It kind of weakened us in our area.

   On Wednesday we went up to Tehachapi for a meeting with President Layton. We then went by Irma because she needed to have the baptismal interview again, and she wasn't answering for about 20 minutes, but then I remembered a story about when someone needed something, a submarine to surface to save him from being stranded, and then he realized "You have the priesthood. Command it to submerge." I did that and not 5 seconds later someone opened the door. After 20 minutes of no one answering, 5 seconds after a light knock someone did.

    But after that, we visited George and Agripina. It was a big mix of the Plan of Salvation and the restoration. George at one point in the lesson said, "so, what church do you guys think is the most correct, the closest to Christ's church?" And we were like "Well, let me tell ya." We're doing English classes, and hna Victoria came, and we were teaching how to pray in English, and she would always say "Heavy Father", which was super cute. We taught the law of tithing to Patricia, and she loved it. She committed to live it. We did service on Saturday, and found that the man we were helping was a part-member family. 

Sunday was a pretty sad day. We called Irma, who still hasn't been confirmed, to make sure she was coming, because she had been sick the past few weeks and was unable to come. If she didn't come this week she would have to be baptized again. It was about 20 minutes before church, and she said "Yes, I'm coming, without a doubt". But then she didn't come. After we took the sacrament we called her three times, and the phone was off, went and visited her, and someone else, who is one of the wives of a polygamist, answered saying she would see if Irma was there. We heard Irma's voice, and the woman came back and said that Irma was sick. We asked if we could just talk for two seconds with Irma and she said we should come by the next day. It was pretty heartbreaking. We then went tracting, and people rejected us left and right. Sunday was just difficult. Nevertheless we talked with everyone that we saw. It was a good day because we gave it our all despite all the rejection.

   In my studies I learned the difference between trusting that God can do all things, and trusting that whether He does or not all will be well. In the story of getting the plates from Laban, Nephi knew that God both could and would provide. I feel like sometimes we think "Oh of course God CAN, seeing that He can do all things", but we doubt whether or not He will. That's when we must learn the Character of God. It's not His character to let us fall. 1 Ne. 2:12 says that Laman and Lemuel didn't understand the dealings of that God who created them. They didn't understand His character. So they couldn't comprehend that He would perform such miracles. It's something that I'm learning, still trying to apply. 

   I also finished My Plan, which was definitely eye-opening. The Lord has big plans for my future. I love you all. This week was full of miracles and trials, a great week overall.

Week 104 - Palmdale

 

Hey everyone! This week was great as always when in the Lord's service. So, to get started, we went by Ruben, who last week when we met him loved talking to us, and as we walked away, asked us to come back and teach his daughter and family as well. We came back this week, and he explained that he had a lot of family problems going on, basically that he and his wife were considering divorce after they both lost trust in each other. He said that they argue a lot, but that ever since we started coming by, he had lost any desire to argue. Anytime his wife yells at him or gets angry he just takes the situation calmly now. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and explained that one day we would stand before God to be judged of our works, and we invited him to be baptized so he can be clean from that. He accepted a date, and when he offered the closing prayer he started to cry. He said he hadn't felt that way in a very long time.

    We also taught Patricia who has her autistic son, and she committed to baptism and coming to church. She actually did, and she loved it. She also accepted a Baptismal date. I was very glad that she came, because just a few months ago, she came to church, and her son was making a lot of noise. Everyone around her was like "Shhhhh!" and "Callense!" But she still decided to come to church. This ward has some judging problems. They tell everyone a dress code that runs off investigators and recent converts.

   There's a new family who moved into the ward, and they invited us to have dinner at their home. They live far out in the desert, but they're super awesome. They have two children who served their missions. We had tinfoil dinners, and baked cakes in an orange peel with the inside carved out. It was amazing.

   We also taught a lesson to Remundo, and he realized that he had to read some of the Book of Mormón before knowing if what we taught was true. He also came to church. The Lord has blessed us a lot in the work. We started testifying to everyone we met with, and it brought success. People who rejected us could at least feel the Spirit, and we could tell. I also learned a lot in personal study. 

    In Alma 60:25-26,28, Moroni did not care what others thought because he knew what was right. He said he would do what he would do and wouldn't yield to another.

    In Alma 57:1-4 Moroni didn't want a city, he wanted his people, the prisoners. He didn't yield, but said he could accomplish his desires. Then, the enemy yielded to him. 

   Alma 43:11-13 and 56:8 They saw it was more important to keep their Covenants than to break them. We often make excuses not to obey, but while obeying the true spirit of the law, we can obey and trust in the miracles of God as we yield not to our enemy. 

    For an activity on P-day, we went to Devil's Punch bowl, and did personal study for the day on the mountaintops.

Week 103 - Palmdale

 

This week has been glorious so far. I said goodbye to Elder Hanchett, and received Elder Simpson. He is an awesome elder, and I have a lot of respect for him. The first day together we went with the youth to visit people we're teaching. They did a really good job. We taught Remundo the Plan of Salvation. The youth did a good job explaining things as well. We also talked with one man who has a cousin who served his mission in New York. He also gave us a referral to go by.

We went by a man named George on Wednesday and taught the Plan of Salvation, and we invited him to be baptized. He was very cool. On the mission, I have learned a lot about moving furniture. We did a ton of service this week. We helped a family move out and we cleaned out a garage.

We had a Plan to go by Patricia, and we weren't sure what we would do. We decided we would go by to find her need. We just went by, and she totally just started telling us all her needs. We immediately taught according to her needs.

We had a lesson with Carlos, and he had a question: Why does God let bad things happen to good people? We read Mosiah 23:21-24, how the Lord wants us to gain patience and faith. We then read from chapter 24:13-17. We said that God doesn't always free us FROM our afflictions, but that He visits us IN them. And then He strengthens us, lightens the loads upon our shoulders until we carry them with patience and joy, and then frees us. He was on the verge of tears. It was good. We invited him to baptism, and he said he would read the Book of Mormón to find out.

Irma was baptized last week. The promises we made to Irma have come true. She had someone that had totally been evil to her almost al her life. She could not forgive him, and we asked President if she could still get baptized with the grudge. He said that the ordinances would give her power to allow the Savior to forgive him through her. This week we came by and she said she had a dream where she just let the evil man go. She just forgave and forgot. She explained how this man had raped her and her brother, and that her brother commited suicide after that happened. She couldn't do it. It wasn't possible. But the ordinances unlocked the power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

I know that the Covenants we make with God are not just light promises, but vows that when honored, open the blessings and powers of God. It was awesome to learn this.

I love you all, love Elder Sant

Week 102 - Palmdale

 

 Hello everyone! This week has been a crazy and busy week. To start off, on Tuesday we traced a lot and talked to a lot of people. It was a great day. On Wednesday we were going to have Irma's baptism, but then as Satan does, he wouldn't let it happen without putting up a fight. You remember the house that we worked on with Irma? She still hadn't finished it, and she called us an hour before the baptism and said she couldn't make it to the baptism because she had the deadline of that night to finish it. We at first were like "we understand", but then we got bold, called her back, and promised her Temporal and spiritual blessings for coming. We also said that before and after the baptism we would help until she's done. So we worked with her on the house in proselyting clothes, and raced over to the baptism at 7 pm, and had a beautiful baptism. She came in and asked where all the other people being baptized were. She apparently imagined that she would be one of many others getting baptized. We said, "No, it's all for you". And she started to cry. It was an amazing baptism, and right after we gathered as many members as we could and we went to her house, called our mission president and then worked on the flip house until 11:30. We taught a lesson with a family who loved the Restoration, and also we taught Remundo, who is on date for August. We read some of the Book of Mormón with him and he said as we left "You guys better keep coming back". It was pretty awesome. He also came to church and loved it.

   Something I've learned is that from each of my companion's I have learned Christ-like attributes. From Elder Hanchett I've learned trust. He trusts everyone, and therefore he trusts God. They were a great set of  2 1/2 transfers. I am now getting another companion for my final transfer, and his name is Elder Simpson. He seems like an amazing missionary. The Lord blessed us in this work and I learned that if we put our effort to not give up when Satan pushes us, the Lord's miracles are accomplished.

Week 101 - Palmdale

Hey everyone. This week has been fantastic! Full of miracles. We had walked down one section of town, and decided that we would go to the car to grab some Tupperware to return to a member. We decided to walk to the member, even with the Tupperware, and we found a man who had lost contact with the missionaries 6 months ago because he moved to Oregon, but had come back just recently. We talked a little about eternal families, and the restoration, and we had a lesson in the area that was great, and we were going to go somewhere before heading back to the man's return appointment, but we saw him sitting outside so we came back to him. When we came back we taught the full restoration, with the importance of Families and Temples. He loved it, and we set him on date for the 25th of August. It was a big miracle. He was very prepared. The other lesson before him we had that day started on Tuesday when we found a woman standing outside. We explained a very quick plan of Salvation and gave her a pamphlet, and got a return appointment, when we came, we were late, but she was sitting outside waiting for us with her kids, and had read the pamphlet. She was prepared, and we taught the Plan of Salvation, first speaking a few sentences in English to the kids, and then a few sentences in Spanish to the mother. She loved it, and when we invited her to church, she agreed to it.

We also did more service for Irma, but things got pretty sketchy when we found all sorts of things in the backyard, and we decided we had to go. The house had once been a trafficing center and a drug house, so when we saw these things we left. There were kids' school IDs and social securities and things like that, and needles. There were really old VHS tapes and many backpacks. We figured it'd be best not to get any diseases after finding out about the needles. 

We went by a referral the English sisters had given us, and when we went by, the family let us in and we taught a quick summary of the Book of Mormón. When we explained that Jesus Christ came to the Americas, one member of the family got excited and told us that he had gone to college, and studied Mayan history. He said he wouldn't be surprised if the great white God was Jesus Christ. He asked for a copy, and then he said he worked for an olive oil company, and gave us two big bottles of very nice olive oil.

   Irma and Remundo both came to church, which is awesome. They loved it. In my studies I have learned a lot. If we give the Lord our plans, and Covenant to the person we will become, He will open doors for us. Finding out who we want to be will point us in a straight direction.

I love you all. And I hope you have a good week! 

Love Elder Sant

Week 100 - Palmdale

This week was an extremely long week. Super crazy and busy and we just had so much going on. First, we went to Patricia and brought Hna Villagomez, a councilor in the Relief Society. It was a great experience, and we taught about having the faith to obey all of God's commandments, even when we don't understand them all. Hna Villagomez also fed us about 4 days in a row. She is a super sweet lady and a fantastic family. There is a kid living with them named Ernest, and he gives out Book of Mormons to kids at school. We also went on exchanges with the other Esperanza elders, and they are fantastic. I was with Elder Bermudez and I learned a lot from the man. He is a great elder with a great heart. We at one point decided to talk to a family outside, and they weren't interested, but then we were on our way back there was a man walking into the same house and at first we thought, "oh, it's the same house, we'll probably just get denied again." We turned around, and started heading somewhere else, but we decided we had to try by. We went by him and taught a full Restoration. It was very good, and it gave me a lot of motivation to try harder and harder. We also visited Irma and did service for her. It was crazy because she's flipping a house, so we sanded all the walls, filled holes in the drywall, put on primer, painted, and more. It was a big project, but it was fun. We also started teaching the rest of the family of Irma, so we'll see how that goes.    For the fourth of July we had to be in our apartment at 8 pm. We were to use that time to start our weekly planning. It was pretty grand, but after we spent some time watching the fireworks. It was pretty cool. We set a few people on date this week, and invited a lot of people to be baptized. We were also able to find a lot.

   For church on Sunday Irma came, and so did the second councilor to our mission president! They talked for a little bit and he got her excited about baptism. She had her interview this week, and she's ready. It's a really big miracle. 

Week 99 - Palmdale

 

Hello! I feel like it was just 4 days ago that I wrote about my week. Thursday night we visited this street that Elder Hanchett felt was revelation from God to tract at 7, so we did and we found some cool people. On Friday we visited Patricia, and we taught the plan of Salvation, drawing everything out, and we invited her to be baptized. She said the only block was her autistic son, who doesn't handle things well in public, so she says she is unable to come to church. Nevertheless, it was a great lesson, and we decided as a companionship that we would invite her to be baptized this next week again. On Saturday we helped move the hermanas and the elders to new apartments. The elders moved into the hermanas' old apartment, and the hermanas moved into a new complex. We also visited our ward mission leader, whose had meningitis for the past while, which isn't fun at all. We've given many blessings the past few weeks, and as always that is fun. We also went with our Elders Quorum President and his councilor to visit some less-actives. It was a great experience. The Lord blessed us with many miracles throughout this busy week,.

We visited Maria, who came to church with her less active sister, the restoration. She at first said that she would be cheating God by switching religions after already joining one, but we taught the restoration and she got pretty excited. Her sister came halfway and somehow temples came up so we taught about them and she was very interested. The big thing is that her mother is in Mexico dying of a sickness, and Maria just knows that her mom was always happy when talking about church. We taught Mirna about families and temples, and especially baptisms for the dead. It was a powerful lesson with many scriptures. 

I love you all and have a great week.

Week 98 - Palmdale

 

This week has been a pretty good week. Except that on Monday, I threw a volleyball to Elder Vedia, and broke his finger. Totally 45 degree angle sideways. On Monday night we were visiting some people in a section called Casa Verde, and the other elders in the district called, saying that they had a referral for us. We went by, and it was in a member's home with an investigator we had talked to the week before. It turns out the member decided to invite our investigator to a dinner at her home, and to bring us with her. Our investigator has a son with autism, so he's not always on his best behavior.

We shared a scripture about charity. It's something that I've been studying a lot about recently. In Moroni 7:47-48, it explains charity as the pure love of Christ. I took that before to mean that Charity is the definition of Christ's love, which is true. But I learned something more. I always thought we had to gain this love, somehow have that love, and it's all our own. It says, though, that charity is Christ's pure love, not mine. Sometimes it can be hard to love some others, but as verse 48 says, we have to ask our Father that He fill us with Christ's love with all the energy of our heart.

We taught one of our investigators the word of wisdom last week, and at first, she said she would be unable to go cold turkey. She said just one drink every once in a while wouldn't hurt. But we read Alma 47:11-18 and talked about how even lowering just a little bit can have bad consequences. She then fully committed to live it. She was really grateful! However this week, we came by and she explained her whole personal dilemma, of how her husband doesn't want her to go to church and literally beats her when she does. She said she couldn't keep going, progressing because she was done. She had been beaten and abused most of her life, and she's just so close. If she just makes the Covenants with God, all will be well.

We explained about the Atonement. I realize that often we go into 2 Nephi 2 whenever people have questions about why we have opposition, but I have seen that that chapter is for the ones who know about the blessings of life and struggles. There are those who just want to know if it's all worth it, or what God does during their struggles and oppositions. For me, Mosiah 24 explains it best.

Anyway, we were going tracting, and there was a door we saw a car trunk open, so we knocked the door. A black woman answered and we said "HI. We're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ. She answered," oh, ok. Come on in!" We came in, shared a message, and she said, "My name is Chok-o-lat-ay, but you can call me chocolate". She was a really cool referral for English elders, but it turns out that her son had been invited a few weeks earlier to go to church by a member, and went. Great miracles happen.

On Thursday we gave a blessing to a member, and also had Zone Conference. It was a good conference. Since I'm extending, all the missionaries I would have gone home with bore their testimonies. It was weird and sad to see. But I am glad to have a little extra time here. I also finished the Book of Mormón in Spanish! It was an eye opener. We decided that we would have a meeting with bishop to discuss some plans, so we put our presentation together Friday, and then on Saturday we presented it to bishop, and then after Stake conference we all got blessings from him and the Elder's Quorum President. Hno Aguirre, the EQP, is amazing. A great man.

The notes I received from Stake conference are these:

Jesus ministered by letting them know the Atonement is real. Feel and see and know.
Tithing is in place of consecration today. Concecration is the higher law.
Now we're at the higher law of ministering. We are being asked to live a higher law.
Ministering is an attribute of Christ.
As he focused on helping those around him on the hill, his own hill disappeared*
**Higher laws allow more agency, and more direction from and freedom to follow the Spirit. It only works by turning outward. **

It shouldn't be a commandment, but just nature.