Week 29 - Delano

I am doing pretty well!

My companionship is also doing pretty well. My companion is doing better than last week. 

Our area is doing well. We are going to have a baptism on this Saturday for Crystal. Can you please pray that we will be able to discern investigators' needs? Also that Esther will come to church? 

Good? Lessons that have the Spirit strong in them, also that I found an elder who is from Germany. 

Bad? We haven't been able to contact Angel, Camila, nor Barbera this week. 

Challenging? Investigators who don't understand what we really offer.

Funny? There was this lifelong member who was like "Wait, I think the Nephites might be Jewish............"

New? My outlook on what having the Spirit with us continually means. I'll explain on the bottom.

The difference between me now and when I left? My trust in the Atonement has changed, also talking to people I don't know. 

So, this week was pretty good for us. On Monday we went out to Bakersfield to do emails, and that night we went to the bible study again.

On Tuesday in the morning we had a service project with the Tim family. They live on a farm and it is awesome. We laid sod for their yard, and afterward, they showed us an old viking game. It's called Kud or something like that. It just requires 6 sticks and 10 blocks with on big block. It was a blast. Afterwards, we did windows of heaven, and we found 2 awesome investigators and one potential who becomes one later in the week! We knocked on one door and a hispanic lady answered. We asked if she was looking for a message of peace in her life centered on Jesus Christ, and she said "Yeah, but I can't right now. Come back tomorrow." We asked if anyone else was looking for that message in their lives, and she said "Yep, my sister and her family live in that house over there." We went to them, and they're formers who were super happy to see us. We taught the plan of Salvation. They are pretty cool. We also went by Esther and taught her the word of wisdom. It went well.

On Wednesday we had an oil change and interviews with president. They went well, and president told me that now was the time to learn everything I could from Elder Canul. We went by the lady who didn't have time for us the day before, and she was getting groceries out of her car, and was worried that she'd miss our appointment. She refused help with the groceries. We taught the plan of Salvation and she liked it, and wants us to meet and teach all of her family. We went to Pixly, and taught Gael, a less active's grandson. He is the coolest kid I have ever met, aside from my own family. He is 11 and only knows Spanish. After the lesson, they took us to Denny's, which was really nice of them.

On Thursday we went to the doctor for Elder Canul's eye, and the doctor said that he would have the blurs and stains and floaters in his eyes for the rest of his life. He did also say though, that eventually his eyes would adjust to them and ignore them. We informed president of the update, and he said that he also had those stains and blurs, but that he rarely sees them anymore because his brain adjusted. We taught Crystal, who is in the photo below, and she is getting baptized on March 4th, this Saturday! We also had correlation. It was a good time to update what's going on.

On Friday we had exchanges with the zone leaders, and I was with Elder Casper. It turns out, his parents are from Germany, and he speaks German! We explained our equal love for the language and spoke some. It was awesome. He also lived in New Orleans for a year, so we also talked about Louisiana. He is really cool. Also, he is the English elder for Oildale, so we worked in my first area! I forgot how ghetto oildale is. We saw many drunk people and others just yelling and dancing and shaking.... I forgot. We went back and did some tabling on Main Street. We had dinner with sister Roq, who took us to Denny's. It was fun, and she is super funny.

On Sunday we had church. About ten minutes before it started, someone called us, and said he needed a ride to church. On Tuesday we talked to a man who said "Oh yeah, I'll come to your church." And we just kind of nodded our heads like "yep, so is everyone else...." But he was serious and needed a ride, so we got him a quick ride and he came to church. It was cool.

On Saturday, there was also a baptism for the other Spanish elders. After this upcoming week, the English, Spanish, and our Spanish will have had one baptism each. It will be awesome!

My outlook on the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost has changed. I always knew that He can guide us in the right path, and warn us of danger, and other things like that, but I never really applied it, that I can really beg for help in what needs to be done. As a missionary, sometimes I feel blindfolded on a thin trail, and I have never needed to rely on that small voice so much. The promise is there, that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. It's a promise, and God won't break His promises. I can truly testify of that, y lo hago en el Nombre del Señor Jesucristo, nuestro Salvador y Promesa de Proposito, amen.

Week 28

This was a good week! On Monday we had a nerf war for pday. That night we went to this man's bible study. His name is Adrian. It was fun to go there.

On Tuesday Elder Canul had to go to District training meeting, and I went to Shafter that day with Elder Holland. It was pretty fun. We went to Barbera, Angel, and Camila, and it turns out that their mom does not want them to get baptized. Angel and Camila do want to get baptized, but their mom wants their godparents to baptize them. It's super sad.

On Wednesday we went to a lady we found last week, and it turns out she's a really less active member. We also went to Ana Gloria and went tabling at walmart, and you really can find anybody in walmart. We went to the Rubalcaba family for dinner, and they just got sealed the night before. They're an awesome family. W

e didn't have much that we could do on Thursday because, and I continually forget to say, Elder Canul has floaters in his eyes, where he always sees shadows. He also has retinal tears, which create lightning flashes. We went to Bakersfield to get a doctor's look at what's going on, and they found the floaters and the retinal tears and took him in immediately to laser eye surgery. We're coming back this Thursday too.

On Friday we had exchanges, and I was with Elder Parsons. We went knocking from 2-3 in the rain, and we tried potentials. We went to Esther, the woman who has been looking up anti-Mormon things, and we went over the restoration. It was definitely the Spirit in that lesson. It was pretty awesome, and we shared 1 Nephi 1:11-12 when one of the apostles gives Lehi a book and asks him to read it, and as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. She said "That's what I want." She said she's willing to sincerely find out if it's all true or not.

On Saturday the English Elders had a baptism, and it was an amazing baptism. As he came out of the water, he was crying and he just fell into Elder Parson's arms and said "Thank you, thank you". It was awesome.

On Sunday we visited Leonor, and we taught about Church, Pray, and Read. It went well. We also taught Crystal. This week I've taught the law of chastity twice to a 9 year-old, and a 10 and 11 year-old. It's pretty hard to do. That was my awesome week. I love you all and thanks for your continual prayers. I know that this church is true. The Lord is opening the hearts of people, and His gospel is what does that. The atonement is real. I testify of that in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Week 27 - Delano

This week was really good. On Tuesday we went by Angel, Camila and Barbara. They are doing good and will most likely get baptized on Feb. 25. At least Camila for sure. We have been unable to see Esther, one investigator, and we found out why on Friday. We were on Exchanges, and Elders West and Canul went by Esther, and she answered, and as they talked they found out that she had been reading anti-mormon stuff online. On Wikipedia of all the places! We've been talking to her and saying that all the other stuff doesn't matter, all that matters is whether or not the Book of Mormón is true. Because if that's true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, he did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and the gospel is here just as it was when Christ was on the earth and so forth. On Thursday we went to Zone Conference. It was legendary! I learned so much! "We're worried about what we're going to do for the day, but not who needs us."

On Friday we had exchanges with the Spanish elders in McFarland. I went with Elder Tolman and we visited a few people.

It was good, and we got 2 new investigators who are super old named Maria and Ramón. We had a Valentines day party that night. On Saturday we did tabling. And we talked to Esther and tried to clear up any problems she had. On Sunday Angel, Camila, and Barbara came, along with their two youngest brothers, Mateo and Solano. They are the cutest kids and everyone loved them.

That was my fantastic week. The Lord has blessed me beyond what I thought, and blessed my investigators. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve. I see miracles of people who need us and we come by and people who pray to God and we knock on the door. It's even hard to remember specific instances. Also, it turns out our area borders the Fresno mission, and there's a town that's basically untouched by missionaries. We went there Sunday. That was my week. I love you all!!!!!

Week 26 - Delano

This week was pretty awesome. On Tuesday we went by Esther Cardenas and taught the restoration. It was pretty good. She understands it all, and just needs to keep reading and coming to church, fingers crossed. On Wednesday we found a guy named Jose, and we taught the plan of Salvacion, and on Sunday we came back and he came outside and listened to the restoration even though the super bowl was on inside. We did tabling, where we stand outside on a busy street corner with a table of pamphlets, book of mormons, and cards, and such in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. It was fun. On Thursdday we went by the pizza parlor in Mcfarland, and we had a good time there. We visited Crystal, the investigator who was supposed to be baptized last year as a member, but never happened. We taught part of the Plan of Salvacion, and on Friday we went on Exchanges, and I went with Elder Greenhalgh. We visited a few people, and found a lot of potenciales, but one new who asked for a bible, and let us teach her. We also went by Camila and Angel, the kids who went to sacrament meeting. Barbera was working. It was a good day. When we asked if they wanted to go to church, they got excited and jumped up and down, which was awesome. On Saturday we went by Sergio, a recent convert, who is reading a lot. It was a good day. On Sunday we went by Leonor, who is doing pretty well. She loves us. We also went by Crystal and finished the plan of Salvacion. It was a good lesson. Elder Canul and I are doing pretty well, having fun in our area. I have stopped snoring, and something good that happened this week was 5 people at church today! Esther Cardenas did not come, though, because she was out of town, but Ana Gloria came. She is doing good. We did not see Mario Tinajero even once this week. I think he's out gambling again. Something bad that happened this week was when Esther never came to church. It's been raining pretty hard lately here, and on our pdays, we've been planning on having a nerf war, but we haven't had time. There is nothing much here, but my favorite food right now is Tamales. They are super good.