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.

Week 31

My new companion is Elder Villa Quevedo and he is from Glendale, AZbut moved there when he was 10 from Mexico, so he speaks both Spanishand English so that is good. He is a lot different than my lastcompanion and he is pretty quiet, but I don't mind that. We get alonggreat, so nothing to complain about that. He is a good missionaryalready and really wants to learn and be better. I'm going to takeadvantage of being with a fluent Spanish companion more than when Iwas with Elder Malo. We are going to have a lot of success togetherthese 3 months I think. We only had 1 investigator at church this weekso that was disappointing, but we did all we could to get peoplethere. We went to go see President Gelwix speak at a youth firesidelast night as we had an investigator go and it was a really good talk,he is fantastic public speaker, I need to ask him how he does it! Sothis week, nothing too big is happening, just going to bike all dayand find new people to teach as our teaching pool is down right now,as we dropping faster than we can find. Can't think of much elsehappening this week. We have L. Tom Perry coming on the 9th so lookingforward to that. So the new training program is really good, I'mlearning just as much I think from it, the extra hour of study isdefiantly worth it.

Thats great news about the baby, its a boy!! Well, thanks for all the emails, sorry I can'treply to them all, but I do read them all, and I will try and reply nextweek or write a letter. Thanks for everything, love you and miss youall.

Week 30

Well it has been another great week and very exciting. We had a baptism yesterday (Alma Mata) who has been taught by missionaries over a year and finally decided to be baptized. It was a great service as we had a lot of people there and it was only 30 minutes so it was quick and people like those better than the hour long ones! There is no better feeling than leaving a baptism, if only all the time we could feel that way. We also had a couple other investigators there and we are working towards getting sergio baptized, he wants to and he has been to church for 3 weeks now, but his parents haven't given him permission so we will work on that. This week we really need to focus on finding new investigators, that is the most important thing, so that is what we will be doing this week. This past Wednesday, we had president interviews so was able to talk to him for about 5 minutes, don't get to see him or talk to him much because of how big the mission is and how many missionaries there are so it was good to talk with him 1 on 1. After the interviews, had an exchange back in Reedley with Elder Covey, who replaced me in Reedley and was with me in the MTC so that was a lot of fun. So we had transfer calls on Saturday, and I got a call from President Gelwix on Saturday afternoon asking if I would be a trainer, and I said yes so the next 3 months I will be training in Kingsburg. So I don't know who my new companion is until Thursday, but I am really excited for it, but at the same time I'm nervous because I still feel like I'm learning. Also we have L. Tom Perry coming next Friday for an all mission conference in Fresno, haven't had one of those yet, but everyone from the mission is going to be there so it will be fun. Then a month later we have Christofferson coming to our stake conference so we will have our fair share of apostles coming to visit. So this upcoming week I will be in Fresno staying at some other missionaries apartment on Wednesday and then on Thursday we have a meeting and then go back out and work. The new training program is a little different as you have 2 hours of companionship studies every day so will have 4 hours of study instead of 3 and then you stay with your trainee for 3 months so I know that I will be here in Kingsburg for at least another 3 months which is awesome because I love this ward and we have such a big potential in the work right now.

Thats great news about Don Jr. giving his first kick, is everything good with them? But, I gotta get going now, I love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week and talking to you in May!

Week 29

Well, not too much exciting happened this week. We were busy this week with a lot of meetings and activities so we weren't able to do a lot of finding or teaching, but it was still a fun week. We were able to have some good lessons with our investigators and we have a baptism this Sunday and its super solid so were excited for that. We are struggling to find new investigators right now so we need to focus on that this week. The hardest thing about missionary work is no doubt finding, we struggling with that right now. We had a church activity on Saturday, it was a valentines themed thing and it was a talent show, not much talent, but it was entertaining. This upcoming week we have president interviews and then we have transfer calls on Saturday night so it will be exciting to see what happens. I'm pretty sure that I will be staying and Elder Hardy is leaving since he has been here 6 months, but anything can happen. There is talk around the mission about our mission being split because it is one of the biggest in the church, we have over 230 missionaries compared to most in California that have about 120, and Elder D. Todd Christoffeson is coming in April so we will see what happens, just speculation right now. Well, I can't really think what happened this week, but everything is well with me and loving it.