Week 21

Sounds like your doing great getting ready for all the Christmas activities and having everyone coming back into town. It was a fun week this week. We taught a lot of lessons and are seeing a lot of progression with our investigators although our baptism for the 30th got cancelled. The easy part is getting people to agree to get baptized but the hard part is getting them to church! We haven't been finding a lot of new investigators but we are working hard on getting people prepared to be baptized on Jan. 8. Right now we have one solid person but we want to have three people baptized that day. That would be awesome because I am pretty sure that I'm getting transferred on Jan. 11 so that would be a good way of leaving Reedley. This week Elder Malo was gone for two days at some leadership training so I had two elders come to Reedley for those two days. It was fun and we got a lot done but being in a threesome is just very awkward. So this upcoming week there is a lot of fun things happening. Tomorrow we have our Christmas party so the whole south of the mission is getting together (80 or so missionaries) and we are going to watch 17 miracles again and do some fun stuff. And then on Christmas Eve we are getting together as a zone and watching kung fu panda 2 as a zone and then were going to Diego's for Christmas Eve. Then on Sunday, we have just an hour of church and then were going to a few members homes so were well taken care of. Thanks for all the packages! I haven't opened any of them yet (waiting for Christmas) but I'm excited! Well thats about it with me this week, have a good week off and look forward to talking to you this Sunday!!

So the jacket that the member gave to me I think is for keeps so don't worry about sending money as I will not need it soon as the weather will warm up. Right now is long sleeved weather but when the fog comes in, its a lot colder. So with the phone call, it will probably be around the afternoon but I'm not sure exactly what time. Well, excited to talk to you this weekend, love you and miss you

Week 20

So don't have much time to email today because we got stranded at the mall for a couple hours. It was a good week and trying to keep busy all the time which has been hard because its too cold and no one is outside when we bike around. We probably only talk to 5-10 people every hour so the work has slowed down a bit. I can't really remember what happened this week but it was good. Today went shopping in Fresno but couldn't really find anything I liked, I only ended up getting one tie which was a disappointment but everything was too expensive. Nothing special really happening this week, our baptism got cancelled because the mom wouldn't give permission but we will see if we can reschedule her date. Still getting fed and have dinners lined up for Christmas eve and for Christmas so shouldn't be too bad. With the calling thing, I have 40 minutes to talk, so next Monday will finalize a time to talk but will probably be around late afternoon your time. So I don't know what the whole spam thing is all about, but just ignore them I guess. Sounds like you had a good week and a great ward Christmas dinner with a lot of people. We only had about 80-90 people but it was still good. Hope that your having a good week and hope that everything goes well with everyone being in town, it will be fun to play all those games especially the couple game night that is happening. I know there is other stuff that I wanted to talk about but don't have any time so will have to wait til next week. Love you and talk to you soon.

Week 19

So another great week. The work is really taking off thanks to the members. We are working with a lot of part member families right now and are hoping for another two baptisms this month. We also have Breise in January before the next transfer so were finding a lot of people that are ready to accept the gospel. We had Josefinas baptism yesterday and it went pretty well but it was kinda stressful because most people showed up late and then a person that said they were doing a talk didn't show up so no baptisms so far have been easy. Also, the elders we asked to fill up the font only filled it half way so Elder Malo had a challenge but he did it but after she came up so she was choking so Elder Malo and I don't want to baptize the next person because we nearly drown them! Sunday night we came back to Reedley and watched the Christmas Devotional. After that we had two dinners so it was a good day. This morning we played basketball with some elders and members so it was good to get a good work out but I can't touch the rim anymore so I think I'm going on a diet, I weigh like 175 now so I've put on about 10 pounds so far. So the weather around here has cooled down which is nice, it gets in the 30's at night but nothing below that. Oranges are being picked next week so were excited to get a bunch of oranges straight off the tree. I really hope that I don't end up like Laura and be in my first area for a whole year. I'm glad that I'm here another transfer for all the baptisms and we are treated so well by the members.

Only a couple weeks until Christmas, I'm excited to talk to you all. So I think that I have 45 minutes to talk so not much time and no skype I don't think. Have a good week and will talk to you next week. Love you and miss you all.

Week 18

Hope that you had a good thanksgiving holiday. So we got news about transfers on Friday night and I'm staying in Reedley again with Elder Malo. Wasn't really expecting to stay another transfer here, especially with Elder Malo, but will be here for at least another month and a half. So I have yet to experience what getting transferred feels like and what a different area is like. The good news though is that we have a lot of planned baptisms that I thought I wouldn't be at that I will now. This upcoming Sunday we have Josefinas baptism, she asked that either Elder Malo or I baptize her and the other do the confirmation. I don't really want to be the one baptizing her because she is a bigger lady and she is pretty afraid of drowning so it's a one shot deal with her and I take a couple times to baptize them. So this week I need to learn how to confirm someone in Spanish! On Thursday we went to play at the turkey bowl and that was a lot of fun we had 7v7 and we played for two hours, but I have never been so sore in my life, I'm still feeling the effects of it! At 1 we went to a families for dinner and then we had another dinner at 5 and 7 so we got fed really well. Also got to watch 17 miracles, it was really good but I think that I liked it because I haven't seen a movie in so long. So, still a little surprised that I'm staying in Reedley another transfer but were going to make it a white Christmas (of baptisms!!).
I heard about the Ravens game cuz I was getting trash talked all week about how the 49ers were going to kill the ravens but everyone is quiet now that they lost.

Week 17

Great to hear from you, sounds like your getting ready for the holiday season. My week was good! We are starting to teach a lot of new investigators and are teaching a lot more lessons each week. I feel like this week has been the turning point for my Spanish, it's gotten a lot better recently because I refuse to speak English anymore, it's hard but it will be worth it. This past Saturday we had our ward thanksgiving dinner and it was really good, they were a lot of people (a lot more than at church) and we got three investigators there. Josefina is looking good for the 4th of December which we are excited about. Diego was also there but he kept on asking where all the young people were, we are still struggling to find a friend in the ward for him, I don't think he's going to progress unless we get someone young to fellowship him. Last night we got a surprise visit from President, when we got dropped off he appeared out of the woodworks and ambushed us. He was doing a BYD for our ward and he came after that. So from 9-11 last night we were talking about the area and then he interviewed us individually, it was good to talk to him about some things, my interview with him lasted a little over an hour but I got some really good instruction and advice. This week is going to be a lot of fun. We have some promising investigators to teach and then on thanksgiving we have the turkey bowl in the morning and then we have three families feeding us on thanksgiving so were set. That's cool that you watched the movie 17 miracles, it's funny because thats the one were allowed to watch for thanksgiving. We can't go out on thanksgiving unless we are at a members so we will just be eating all day which will be fun. On Saturday we have transfer calls so will be finding out if I am leaving. I think that I'm leaving so it's sad to leave because I love the members and our investigators but at the same time I think I need a change of scenery as I have been here for 4 1/2 months. Well, thats about it for this week! Well thanks for all the emails and support that you give me. Hope that you have a good thanksgiving and black Friday. Love you and look forward to hearing from you next week and talking to you in a month! Miss you all.

Week 16

Great to hear everything is going well back home. Things are going good with me. On Tuesday, I went on an exchange to Selma with Elder Cruz which was really fun but it was super cold. They are in an all bike area so we were just biking all day. I didn't think that California got cold, but it unfortunately does not just have palm trees and beaches! On Saturday we had an emergency exchange because there is an elder in our district who hates his companion and is considering going home so he came to Reedley with me. I get along with him but he is lazy so that would be frustrating dealing with that all day. On Sunday we had a couple of investigators at church. Breise was there again, so that is 5 straight weeks of coming to church but our lesson the other night backfired on us. We told her to pray for a date to be baptized and we were thinking she would say next week or in two weeks but she said January 8 so that was kind of depressing because shes set on that date now. Now I know in the future to never try that again, it sucks because we've been working with her so long and I probably won't be in this area in January. We also had our other baptismal date for December 4 come to church so she's looking solid for that day. Besides from that we've just been talking to everyone we see and teaching our other investigators.

Week 15

So the weeks are really starting to blend together and I forgot all that has happened this week but last Monday we weren't able to to missionary stuff so we went out of town with Diego to a really good Mexican restaurant. It was a lot of fun and he was excited to take us because he was bored since his wife was stuck in Connecticut because of the snow storm. On Tuesday, we had an exchange and I stayed in Reedley with Elder Castillo who I've already been on exchange with twice before so it was awesome. We committed two people to be baptized for the 27th of this month so hopefully they are ready for then. The weather has really cooled down and its jacket weather, I didn't think California got cold, so that was a surprise to me. All I had was my rain jacket so a member gave me a really nice jacket so hopefully he doesn't ask for it back. We biked during the days this week and we talk to everyone but its been really tough because we have had no luck with that at all. So its been a bit discouraging considering we've talked to about 100 people and not one has even shown a bit of interest. On Saturday, we went to the funeral for the sister in our ward that passed away, it was the first funeral I have ever went to so that was interesting. On Sunday, we only got one investigator to church but she went up and bore her testimony and said that she is no longer waiting for her dad and wants to be baptized. We went over last night and she prayed about a date to be baptized and she told us to come back tonight so I'm excited to see what she says. I hope its before November 30 because I think that I will be transferred at the end of this transfer and I want to be at the baptism. That's about it for last week.