Week 94 - Palmdale

 

This week was crazy. To start off, we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and I went with Elder Bankhead, a good friend of mine. 

   On Wednesday we had interviews with President Layton, and it was a great interview, and for part of it, we talked about Irma, an investigator we were going to bring President to a lesson with, and he said he probably wouldn't make it, so he gave a few pointers on what to teach to help her best. It was a great lesson, and we set her on fat for June 23rd. We set a date for 23 June 2018. She said she felt ready for it and even quoted old missionaries that had taught her in the past.
We focused on helping her to:
Accept the Atonement through baptism which will give power to forgive.
We taught that the Holy Ghost unlocks the Power of Christ, and that she'd forget and forgive hard trials through Him.
It doesn't matter what you're doing, the chains will drop as you seek this Spirit.
We shared the following to get the point across.
-John 16:21-22, 27
-Alma 36:17-20
Remember Christ and the pain will go away.
-3 Nephi 19:23-24
Make your thoughts His, be connected to Him.
-2 Nephi 1:13-15,23
Will you be baptized to receive the sanctification and help from the Spirit? And that will release those chains which bind you down.
It was a great lesson.
They've closed down a lot of the Nicaragua Mission because of the Civil War there, and an hermana was sent here name Hna Greenwood, or Hna Maderaverde. She's a great missionary, and only ever speaks Spanish, which is awesome! In district meeting we talked about a way to think of investigators in a way that helps us focus on baptism using a faith board. We also discussed going out of our bounds enough to stretch, but not have anxiety. It was really good. The ZLs taught the training.
Irma came to church and loved it, she said that she would try everything she could to make it from now on. From my studies I learned the following:

   In the story of the mustard seed, Matthew 17:20, the seed starts super tiny. How is it then that it can provide such miracles? Because of it's potential. When it is planted and nurtured, it becomes an enormous tree. Anyone's faith, no matter how small, has infinite potential if they just exercise it. 

   We helped the hermanas with an investigator they have who said they wanted a big miracle from God before getting baptized as a sign that he should.

If we want the big miracle and then baptism and faith, then we're doing the Gospel backwards.

The order is:

Faith in Jesus Christ

Repentance

Baptism/Covenants&Commitments

The Gift and the Manifestations of the Holy Ghost

Back to step One.

Nevertheless, we often expect it to be backwards:

The Gift and the Manifestations of the Holy Ghost

Baptism/Covenants & Commitments

Repentance

Faith

Back to step One.

Week 93 - Palmdale

 

This week was crazy. First, most of the day on Tuesday was spent at Zone Conference, and there were some very good things that we learned from President. First, always make sure you're in a positive trajectory. Never get into a negative. On an infinite scale, an positive trajectory leads to an infinite positive. Ask the Lord for direction with a pen and a pencil. That will help us talk less and listen more. And it works. It is a powerful promise that was fulfilled this week. Sadly, the next day Elder Hanchett was terribly sick. We couldn't really do anything. We talked to president about Irma during Zone Conference, and he said that he wanted to come with us to a lesson, so he'll be coming with us on Wednesday. We taught her the plan of salvation and went really well, she told us she felt like it was all true and made a lot of sense and that she really wanted to go to the celestial Kingdom, we talked a little bit about the gospel Jesus Christ and invited her to make sure she's living those things now so that she can prepare to live with her father in heaven again.  she also had some questions about the Bible, she felt like there wasn't a full true Bible the earth and so we testified about the Book of Mormon and how it helps us understand all the truth together with the bible, and she likes that answer a lot. It was a very powerful lesson. So, there was a YSA woman who called the Littlerock elders and said that she knew where they lived and that she wanted to be baptized. She said that she preferred Spanish, but she didn't know a single word of it. 

   Basically it turned into us hoping that bringing Bishop would help her be calm, just to see if there was anything that we could do to help. Since she doesn't speak Spanish, but she acts like she does, she acted like she couldn't hear us whenever we spoke Spanish to her, and then started up on Sign language. There was a 5 minute conversation with her and me of just sign language. It was weird, but luckily president said that we shouldn't talk to her, so of course we shall not. There wasn't anything we could do to help her and she's just not accountable. We went by a less-active family, who I helped a year ago in Little Rock, and when we went by their friend's family was there, so we picked them up. We'll meet at the member's house and help the friends. It was a great experience. We also had a lesson with Mirna at 8 o'clock pm, and it went super well. She understood us pretty well and enjoyed the whole thing. We shared a few scriptures about prayer and God revealing His truth. One God, but a lot of interpretations of Him can't be of God. We taught that because often people say that there's one God, so any religion is OK. I hope what we said helped her lot. She accepted the invition to read the Book of Mormón and to pray. 

   There is also a super cool family we are teaching who love having us over. They're always pretty busy but we can always share just a little something. Afterwards Seni texted us and said that she loved what we shared. 

   In my Studies I learned that pacience is having hope that lasts. It turns hope into faith. We have to have hope to endure happily. 

   We also had dinner with a member who served in Tahiti and baptized so many that Elder Anderson and Elder Christofferson came down and asked what he was doing. He harpoon Ed sharks, killed boars, and is basically a legend. He was pretty inspiring. 

But aside from all that, it was a fantastic week. 

   I love you all.

Week 92 - Palmdale

 

This week was a pretty big one. First, on Monday we went by Mayra and Kim, some people we saw selling tacos last week, and when we came by, we found out that Kim's parents had passed away, and she is about 20 years old. We asked her where she thought her parents were, and she said, "Well, they must be butterfies". We told her that there was so much more in store. We shared a few verses about the resurrection and left her to read some as well.

   We prepared Victoria, our recent convert, for the temple, and she has read the Book of Moses twice! She loves it. Her son will be going with us to the temple, and he'll be able to check out the visitor's center. We went by Esther, another investigator, and we read 2 Nephi 4:19, talking about how even the best of us often don't feel worthy. If we know in whom we trust we are blessed with strength and peace. We asked her what she imagined God thought of her, and she basically said, "I'm not sure, probably not much." We read Moroni 7:33, and explained how God can make us better than we are now. She can't read, and she doesn't feel very smart either. We testified that by faith all things are possible, even a change to make us better. We left her with the invitation of asking God what He thought about her. 

   In my studies, I learned from 3 Nephi 8:1 that because Nephi was a just man, his record was trustworthy. He could be trusted. No miracles could be performed unless they were cleansed every whit. It doesn't mean that he was perfect, but that he repented often. We need to make sure we keep repenting. 

   For district meeting we discussed church, and how we need the members to come with us or else the investigator won't have any reason to come. We also talked about how this is our time to serve, and this time will not be given again. 

   I also got to skype the fam, and I love them so much. It was a great conversation.

  Thanks for everything. 

   I love you all.

Week 91 - Palmdale

 

This week we knew that one of our biggest concerns was finding, so we prayed and we decided that every other person we would talk to everyone so we hold each other accountable, and it works great. We found the prepared. We found one family that we shared the restoration with. Amalia and her kids, Riberto y Isaia. They are awesome. We shared 2 Nefi 31:3, about how God wants to reveal the truth and does so clearly, and then we shared Alma 5:33-34, which says that God's arms are outstretched toward us openly. It was a powerful lesson. The kids and the wife loved it. The husband was in and out because there was a man there working on the house. It was a good lesson. Too often we focus on the pamphlets, but the pamphlets often just become unnecessary crutches. The scriptures are where it's at. 

   In personal and companionship study, I learned from Mosiah 24:14 that God doesn't always deliver us FROM our afflictions, but He visits us IN them. They trusted God and had such great faith that as they saw their burdens being made light, they had their faith confirmed. It says that "they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." Like in Mosiah 3:19. It isn't a painful experience or a sad experience to submit to the will of the Lord, but rather if we're patient, and we don't act out of fear, we have a cheerful experience, because His burden is light. 

   This week we really wanted to focus on the people that we already had, and yet we found the most than we had found in a very long time. The Lord's timing and knowledge is better than ours, and I think that by focusing on the people we had, the Lord blessed us with more to teach. 

I love you all, love Elder Sant