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.