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.

Week 97 - 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.

Week 96 - Palmdale

 

Hello everyone. This week was a great one, full of growing experiences and miracles. We taught the Restoration to Mirna, and she liked it a lot. We invited her to read. Something we learn from it though, was the following: On Sunday we went to Israel. His mother, Victoria, is the recent convert who recently went to the temple with us, and she is an amazing member present. Israel is paralyzed from the neck down, but we asked our mission president, and he said we should do anything possible to get anyone on the path. We taught the Restoration extremely clearly, going through each step. We asked him "If God's church was on the earth, would you follow it?". He said yes. We then invited him to be baptized. He said yes again. We also talked about Temples, and his mom testified so powerfully of them. It was a great experience.
It was a good week overall. We also went on exchanges, and Elder Vedia and I visited Irma, and she said during the lesson that God had no gender, and was just love. But we testified of the nature of God, and she said "how do you know?"
We just said that it was revealed by a prophet, and she was just like "OK."
Elder Vedia is a great elder. We got a lot of work done.
This was what we talked about during District Meeting:
We want to teach by the Spirit. How? By making sure they are given full and complete agency.
The Spirit of the Lord is the Spirit of Freedom. We must bring the Spirit into lessons. Make them want to act by their own free will and choice. How? Through pure doctrine. Sometimes we hide doctrine about Joseph Smith or whatever it might be. Being bold is declaring doctrine, not telling someone they're wrong.
If we follow the Spirit, we do not hold them on a leash, we trust Heavenly Father, since it's by faith that things are done.
Do we trust God's answers will come to them as they act on the knowledge they receive?
As they act for themselves, they will come by choice to repentance. Teach pure doctrine that will make them choose to act on the truth. They may not know for sure, but the truth, even if they don't know it's truth yet, will cause them to at least know it is good, and to ask God.
Until they ask God, they cannot know of Spiritual truths. Sometimes we scare the Spirit away without knowing.
Just let them act. God works little by little. Don't complain that everyone has agency. That's the only way the truth comes. Just teach do they want to use their agency to know more directly from God, not us.
I love you all.
Elder Sant

I'm sorry I don't have a lot of pictures, but here you go.

Week 95 - Palmdale

 

 This was a good week. On Tuesday we went to the temple with hna Victoria. It was an amazing experience. She just loved all of it, and when she found out that she had to wait a year before participating in other Covenants there, she got pretty sad. She wanted everything and she wanted it now, like a kid in a candy store. There was a strong Spirit as she performed baptisms for her mother and for other people who needed the work done there.
After going to the temple, since it's in the middle of Los Angeles, we went to a pretty famous shawarma restaurant. It was amazing. It was a good day overall.
We visited Irma, and she is super excited for her baptism. The Lord was able to show us the things that we would have to teach to help Israel, a paralyzed man, to get baptized. We're first going to teach him, and then see where he's at. He can use his chest up and his brain works completely fine. We had exchanges, and I went with an elder who wasn't very talkative, where though being in his area, I had to do a lot of the teaching. But we taught a pretty good lesson of the Restoration. We used 2 Nephi 3:24 to explain how God would call another prophet in the last days, and then Ether 4:13-14 about how God has so much to reveal to us, but we just often don't have faith.
There was a day in the week where we didn't feel like doing anything, but we decided to go and tract in an area. We went by one person, but she wasn't home, went by another, and she wasn't either. Went by many other people, and none were home. We were already discouraged, and nothing was happening, so we decided to go by the first person we tried by one more time. We knocked on the door and she answered and we were able to help her out. It was great. This ties in with the district meeting topic.
We taught enduring to the end. Summarized, here's what we talked about.
Jesús Christ endured to the end. It's the VERY LEAST He expects of us. Think about this. He suffered SO MUCH in Gethsemane, still honoring and loving His Father. Then betrayed by Judas. Still held on tight. Beaten in the house of His friends. Tightens His grip. Was crucified. While crucified, He could free Himself, but He held tight. The Spirit left Him, He did not let go. He wouldn't lose trust in Heavenly Father. He endured from all eternity and more, even beyond. Immortality is a free gift, but exaltation is only possible by enduring. Arise from the dust and do as He commands. As you hold to Him, He will hold to you. That is the promise. You want a blessing, find the commandments in connection with it and hold tight in faith. Just endure to the end despite all that impedes you. Be a man, the one He wants. And from 1 Nephi 3:15.
Too often we want to let go too early, but we will not go back until we've accomplished what the Lord commanded.
I love you all.
- Élder Sant

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.