Week 35

Great to email you and this time I have plenty of time and not in a rush so thats nice. So not much to report on between when I emailed last Thursday and till now. We've been very busy every hour of the day and doing a lot of teaching, but no one is making steps to baptism right now so its a little frustrating. It seems as if every investigator we are teaching has a problem or issue with at least one thing, for one person it might be prophets, for another it might be law of chastity, but all our investigators have a problem right now that we need to work through. The weather is quickly turning to summer here and its getting me excited for when it gets real hot. I got my first signs of a tan so will do a lot more biking. We got a few member referrals this week that we have appointments at members homes so hopefully those go well, will let you know what happens with those next week. The priesthood meeting was great, we had tri-tip which is a type of meat, its really popular here in California but I had never heard of it before I came here. It's a lot better than the sloppy joes! The ward treats us so well, we get fed more than once a day here and they always are inviting us over and are very involved with the missionary work and the missionaries so I'm lucky to be in this area. I'm not sure if I told you but we have D. Todd Christofferson coming for stake conference on April 15th but we also found out this week that were having another all mission conference on the 14th with him so the mission is very excited about that. This week we are free of meetings so hopefully we will have a good week of finding and teaching. Also, looking forward to conference this upcoming weekend, feels like conference was just a month ago but that was 6 months ago already! We also have transfer calls this upcoming Saturday but with the new training program, it doesn't matter because I know that I'm staying here with Elder Villa Quevedo at least another transfer so don't have to worry about leaving for a while.

Well, I better get going but I love you all and miss you. Have a great week, and talk to you next week!

Week 34

Sorry its taken me so long to reply. I went to email on Monday and the libraries were closed and then the internet at the family history center was broken and then couldn't do it the past two days because I was in Fresno at a Leadership training for the past two days. So it took me til today to email so I will keep it short. Last week I had trainer trainee meeting in Fresno so that was fun, it's just that I've be going to a lot of meetings so it's a lot more sitting and a lot less missionary work. So that's pretty much what has been happening, the work has slowed down a lot because we haven't been able to work here for a while so we don't have many investigators so its slow right now. Tonight were going to the stake priesthood meeting and there is a dinner before so that should be fun. My companion is struggling right now, he doesn't really connect with anyone, none of the missionaries in the district really like him because he's kind of different and has nothing in common. I'm trying to help him but he won't open up and doesn't give me much to work with. He seems miserable a lot of the time and never smiles so that is something that I'm going to try and do...make him smile! So we've been working with sergio the past couple months and he has been going to church every week and he goes to mutual and all the other church activities but we asked his mom if he could be baptized but she said no so that was unfortunate. Were working with a few people but none of them are coming to church so we got to find those people that are actually looking for the truth. Well today is Thursday and I get to email you this Monday so won't be long til I email next.

Well I better get going but hope that everything is good and let you know that I love you all and miss you! Get to speak to you in less than two months, time is really flying!

Week 33

Thanks for the emails. So we had a great week this past week, we are extremely busy and the weeks are really starting to fly by. We had a lot of meetings this past week as we had L. Tom Perry and Elder Maynes. He talked about Mitt Romney surprisingly and how it gives us a great opportunity to share the gospel because so many people are wondering about the church. He talked about the priesthood and how the church is the only church that is organized. It was a long meeting, but it was good and the whole mission was together so it was fun to see everyone. Were struggling right now with people with a solid baptismal date so we need to find people who are actually interested. We are working with Sergio to get him baptized this weekend so pray for him to get permission from his parents. Besides from Sergio we don't have anyone who is really solid. This upcoming week we have trainer trainee meeting which is all day so that should be fun. Were just going to try new people to find this week. So last week we went to the Ramate, which is just a flea market, its like china town where there is a lot of cheap clothes and glasses.

Thats good that so many youth went to the youth trip, it sounds like the youth is really growing in the ward, more than just the 3 priests that we had when I was there. Sorry my emails are getting shorter it just seems the preparation days are getting shorter and shorter because were so busy on them but one of these days I will send some pictures. Well I gotta go but I love you and will talk to you next week.

Week 32

So today we went to the Remate and we just got back so don't have any time to email, but everything is good with me. We had an excellent week as we had 28 lessons taught and we normally only get about 20 and we were able to find 6 new investigators so we are doing really well. Alma was confirmed this Sunday and that was really special. This upcoming week we have L. Tom Perry coming to the all mission conference so looking forward to that.

Sorry my email is so small, next week won't be so crazy and will have more time to update you on life, but I'm loving everything right now so don't need to worry about me.