This is Elder Lovey Dovey

     This is Elder Lovey Dovey! (nickname from one of the Elders here) Things have been going pretty well here. I must say that I really enjoy having a car now. hahaha We have been busy here doing the Lord's work. Something though that has upsetted me though is the disobedience of my companion with the facebook, other non authorized websites, not wearing nametag on pday, ukilele, not dressing up for studies, and sleeping in. I have tried to help him with some but then he will just snap at me. He also likes to argue, and he thinks he is always right no matter what. But I just need to keep being optimistic like I have. I will remain being obedient, and possibly be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help change my companion. Maybe this is why the Lord chose me to be his companion and to stay in the San Diego mission. It amazes me how many reasons the Lord wants me here in San Diego at this time. I keep recognizing different reasons. I am here for a reason.

      Julian is famous for their pies. I will probably try some of their pie sometime while I am here. Julian kind of reminds me of Duck Creek except that it is much more hot and is more deserty. haha It is still a really awesome place though.

      So I’m going to the San Diego temple again today! It will be the second time now. Since it has been a little over three months now, now I am able to go again. I’m pretty excited! The temple is such a wonderful place. It is so beautiful and so sacred. I can’t wait until I can be married in the temple. Every part of the temple is just amazing. Maybe sometime after my mission we should go as a family to the San Diego temple. You would love it!

      Things are going all right here.  I’m basically enjoying everything here except for the disobedience of my companion.  I can at least say that I am doing my best.  I am going to try to change my companion slowly but surely.  I hope that it will go well.  Whenever I try to correct him, (even in a nice way) he still snaps at me.  All I can do is continue on and be an example.  It is just something that disappoints me.

     So the weather here kind of reminds me of home.  It is pretty hot here, and it is a dry heat.  It is a little more moist here, but it is pretty hot.  I am used to it.

     At Abel’s baptism, I was able to see him, members of the La Mesa branch, Daniel, two other investigators, and my old companions.  It was a good reunion.  I was so happy to see everyone.  I got pictures with all of them.  It was also a really neat thing to see Abel get baptized.  I remember when I had first met him in the church building, and he was wanting to meet with us.  So it was an awesome experience seeing him change, and come unto Christ.

     This past week, I also got complimented on my Spanish.  We took a member named Luis, who is nineteen and is going to put his papers in soon, to an appointment that we had.  After the lesson, Luis looked over at me, and said that I had good Spanish.  He also said he felt the Spirit strongly.  It was really nice to hear that.  It really was nice to get that .  It was definitely what I needed at the time.  I have had a hard time being confident with the language, so it really helped out a lot.

     I can’t believe that in a week and a half, I will hit my six month mark.  I will have been one fourth done with my mission.  It is seriously crazy how fast time goes.

     In the last week, we also had the branch president’s wife in the Julian branch, thank us for the work we do in Julian.  She got pretty emotional about it.  Apparently we are doing a lot more there than previous missionaries.  So we are doing our best in both the Spanish and English branches.

    Remember that I love you. Stay strong, do good, and always be worthy of going to the temple. I love you.

I'm in Ramona

     How is everyone doing? Well I got transferred of course. I got transferred to the most northern part of the mission. I cover a Spanish branch in Ramona and an English branch up in Julian. We live in an apartment in Ramona.

     So my area is the most north of the mission. On Thursdays and Fridays we go up to the Julian area. It is up in the mountains. It reminds me of the terrain where Grandpa and Grandma B live along with the canyon there. There is quite a bit of wildlife up here in Ramona and Julian.  I have seen a lot of hawks and turkeys.  Apparently there are also a lot of snakes here.  Thank goodness the only kinds of snakes I have seen are the road kill kind.  It kind of freaks me out but I will be protected.

     There are also a lot of really nice views in the Julian area.

     It is pretty flipping sweet how I cover two languages. I hope you are happy to hear that I actually only have one companion. His name is Elder Franks. I wrote more about him in the letter Im sending home. I will also be talking about the areas a bit more. So it is fun and I am definitely participating a lot more with just being in a normal companionship. My Spanish I feel like just sky rocketed in only a week!!! So I am so happy about that. I can understand a lot more, and I can actually have a pretty good conversation now. Of course I don't understand everything yet, but there has been a TON of improvement with just being in a normal companionship for a week.

Now I want to talk about being grateful. I know I bring this up often but I have truly become more and more grateful for things. There is that one saying that says,"you don't know what you've got until it's gone".  Lots of people don't realize what they have until they lose it, and then it isn't even there anymore. I have one experience with that, that just happened this past week. I absolutely loved La Mesa. I loved the area, the members, my investigators, the branch council, and the missionaries in the area.  Yes I loved that all when I was there in La Mesa, but as soon as I left there, I became that much more grateful for all of that. I didn't see me getting transferred anytime soon. I thought I was going to stay there longer, so I feel like I didn't completely bring in all the gratitude I had for La Mesa. I guess you could say that I didn't know what I had until it was gone. Yes I was grateful when I was there, but there is always room for improvement. So on Sunday, I had the opportunity to go to a mission president's fireside which was held not too far from my last area. I was in the missionary choir and I was up in the stage, and I kept seeing more and more people from my last area come in. I had only been gone a little less than a week and it was super hard seeing people again. At the end of the meeting, I went over to the people and I teared up. I truly came to love everyone that was in that area. Daniel, my old investigator, was there. My recent convert David was there. A few member families from the La Mesa 3rd branch were there too. I had such a strong love for all of them and I gave them hugs and I thanked them for everything that they have done for me. Doing service really is a great way to love people. You love those that you serve.  So I guess I ended up talking about service a bit too, but service and gratitude are big things and will help you to love life and the people around you. I am excited to love the people in my two new branches. I know from personal experience now that what I have said is true...that you love those you serve, and you love everything around you when you have the attitude of gratitude. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

     I am not sure quite yet why I haven’t gotten my VISA.  I believe that the Lord wants me to bless more people in the San Diego mission, and more specifically in Julian and Ramona.  The Lord wants me here.  I’m sure there are other reasons too.  Maybe if I were in Mexico right now, then I would be in danger, and He is protecting me.  We never know.  But the thought and feeling I got this past week was that I felt as if I was meant to come here to bless someone here and to protect me from some type of harm in Mexico.  I truly believe it.

     So we went shopping today at Costco for groceries with my companion’s card.  We got about all the food we need for the month with only sixty two dollars.  It is rockin!  Costco was the greatest place to go.  Now I have like sixty more dollars.  Now that is what I call being thrifty.  I thought you would be proud (pleased with) of me.

    

     I love you all so much, and I appreciate the support! Stay strong and do good. Do things that you would do if the Savior was there beside you. I love you all so much!!!

I'm getting transferred

     Well got a lovely call this morning from the zone leader saying that Elder Higbee and I need to pack our bags because we are getting transferred!!!! Transfer meeting is tomorrow, and I am freaking out right now! I was not expecting this at all!! You can just imagine how mind boggled I am right now... I’m getting new companions, going to a new area, leaving all the people I have grown to love, here in La Mesa, and now going into another foreign place. New everyone!!! I am truly going to miss everyone here..I did not see this coming. But on the bright side, I will get to know more about the San Diego mission and I will get to know more people. I am pretty terrified and nervous for tomorrow, but I will pray that things will go well. Ahhhhhhh!! haha So I don’t know any of the details until tomorrow at like 10:30ish. I will let you know everything next week in the email.

     Oh and my address is still the same no matter where I go in the mission so that is the same.

     I also went to the dentist, who is a member, last week and got a new upper retainer for $50. I had to since my other two retainers broke. I was pretty sad about it. Just another trial and I have got to push through just like with everything else.
     Nothing on visa yet.

     Thank you all for the emails and the support that you have given me. I really do appreciate it a lot. I love you so much, and I pray for you all the time. I love you.

     So my scripture study right now is Helaman 5(Spanish), Isaiah 44, and Alma 31.

     !Hola familia!  ?Como estáis?  Pues, el tiempo aquí en La Mesa está muy bueno.  Está nublado y hace fresco.  Aprendí y hable más español en la semana pasada.  Estoy creciendo mucho.  No sé si vosotros podéis entender astas palabras.  Voy a hablar en ingles.

     So the past weekend…we still didn’t get Daniel to church because he was sick.  I’ll just let you know when he comes to church.  We are pretty upset with him.  Haha

     We did get Hector and Myra to church though!  It was their first time going, and they are a middle aged couple.  They are the ones with the mint plant.  Last Tuesday, I gave them the mint julep recipe.  I hope they can make it right.  We are probably going to get some mint from them tonight at the appointment tonight.  Last week we talked about the Ten Commandments with them, and tonight we are probably going to talk about the law of chastity with them.  Also, we followed up on their reading of the Book of Mormon and Myra basically summarized the first five chapters perfectly.  I was very impressed with how much she knew.  We were all really shocked.  So I thought it would be cool to tell you all of our two new progressing investigators.

     We helped a family in the branch get everything out of their apartment in the past week because they were getting evicted.  They did a terrible job of planning and they stressed out a lot of people in the branch.  I feel bad sort of for the family, but except that they aren’t smart with money.  They haven’t ever owned a car, and they don’t have a priority of getting a car.  They eat out too much and they buy expensive worldly things like clothes, phone, televisions, etc.  People need to learn where the priorities are.  Being smart with money is something I am definitely learning on my mission and it will help me for the rest of my life.

     This past week, we also actually got some dinner appointments.  They were pretty good and one of the appointments was at Fuddruckers.  I got a  2/3 lb. burger which was super good.

     I’ve begun making a mormon.org profile.  It will probably be up in about a month.  Mom and Dad…I want you two to make mormon.org profiles too.  I also want you and the rest of the family to check out the site.  It is a wonderful website to look at and see people’s testimonies and a whole lot of other stuff.  Also, if you familiarize yourselves with the website, then you will be able to shave more confidence to pass out mormon.org cards.  So that will be the challenge for the week.

     Ahhhhhaaaaa!  I can’t believe I’m getting transferred!  I have no idea what is going to happen!  The transfer meeting is tomorrow.

     Anyway, I love you all so much!  Thank you for the prayers and fasts.  I’m feeling them and I appreciate them so much.

I have gained a testimony about writing in a journal

     So my studies up to date are Isaiah 18, Alma 15, and Alma 62(Spanish) It’s still coming along.

      So something pretty crazy happened this past week. One day we were riding this past week, Elder Heredia full on crashed twice in one day. The first time, he didn’t notice a higher curb, so he goes off of it and completely does a front flip and was lying on the ground. The second one was even crazier. I was riding behind him and we were cruising down a hill to get to an appointment. Then Elder Heredia tries to get up on to the sidewalk, but hits the driveway thing wrong. All of the sudden, I see him flip over and his bike starts sliding on its side for like 10 feet, and he flies off. His head goes through a bush, while he is tumbling in circles like four times. Then by the time he gets out of the bush, his helmet comes off. So his head was in the bush getting scraped up while his body is tumbling and going crazy over the sidewalk. Of course I was freaking out. hahaha I gave him some room to breathe and tried to help him as best as I could. His hand hurt really bad. We thought it was broken. We went to the urgent care this past week and the doctor said it was a sprain. They said the radiologists will check the x-ray better and call us within the next few days to see if it’s broken. His hand/wrist/forearm are still hurting pretty badly. We are keeping him in our prayers. So that was our interesting tid bit this past week.

      San Diego is still doing well. The weather is good. We had a couple random days of freezingness and then it went back to hot toasty days for biking.

     So we were still unable to get Daniel to church this week.  He said he isn’t going to rely on his son anymore for the ride, and that he wants a ride from someone in the branch.  So we are going to set up a ride for him this Sunday.

     This past Sunday though, we got one investigator, Abel, and a less active, Luis Gutierrez, to church.  So church was still a success.  I also gave the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting again.

     I also have been speaking more Spanish this week, and I have been leaving my comfort zone a little bit.  So I feel like I have progressed a lot more in this past week.

     I’m sorry this isn’t a great letter.  I guess I’m not really in the mood set for writing right now especially since I burned the inside of my right ring finger while cooking.  So it is hurting quite a bit right now.

     A lot of good has happened this past week, but when there is the most good there is the most evil.  So we were doing good work, but we have also gotten a lot of opposition too.  We had more people from their cars cuss at us, and say messed up things to us.  We even had someone throw a slice of bread at us.  We also had a lot of rejection.  We had lots of different interesting talks with people, when we contacted people on the street.  People ignored us completely, a person called us a cult, and some people were fine talking with us until they found out we were Mormon.  So many people are ignorant about our church.  A cult is two or more people together in a religious group that believes in a higher being.  So we are a cult, and so are every other Christian church.  It’s just sad to see people reject us.

     For the good though this past week, we contacted some good people on the street, had good lessons, and our companionship has grown a lot.

     Transfers are coming up next week, so any of our companionship could get moved, and we could get someone in their place.  I’ll let you know next week if anything happens to our companionship.

     I’m not sure if I have told you all yet, but I have been writing in my journal everyday so far on my mission.  I didn't believe I could do it, but now I’m in such a habit.  It is neat that I will be able to look back at any day and know basically what happened that day.  I have gained a testimony about writing a journal.  Yes, there is room for improvement to write more in detail, but I am getting better at it.  Now I am realizing why it is important to write in a journal.  I wish I wrote in my journals more before my mission.  I am definitely wanting to continue this habit after my mission.  I want to challenge all of you to write in your journal at least once a week, maybe more if you can.  In the future, you and your future family will wish you had.  So that will be my challenge.  Oh, and also be as detailed as you can.

     Thank you for everything. I really appreciate the emails, packages, and support. I love you all so much and I want you to know that you are in my prayers all the time. I pray for you daily. Stay strong and do good.

Six more weeks in San Diego

     How is everyone doing?  I hope you are happy you got a letter from me!  Most missionaries don’t even write their families through mail, and lots of them barely write anything in email too.  So please be grateful!  Haha

     Daniel didn’t come to church again… We will set up a ride for him to go next week since that seems to be what his problem is.  We had another lesson with him this past week though.  He is still very interested in the church.  We taught him the Law of Chastity.  We found out he has a girlfriend and that it will be a little tough for him.  He believes in the Law of Chastity, but he doesn’t want to leaves his girlfriends; because he doesn’t want to feel alone.  I guess the only two people that he has are his girlfriend and his son Jair, who is 17.  No worries though.   We will change him, and get him ready.  He has already accepted everything else really well.

     I guess it is also looking like I’m going to be staying here in San Diego for another six weeks!  If I ever do end up going to Mexico now, I will now only spend less than ¾ of my mission there.  This next transfer, I will have been here a  ¼ of my mission.  That is so crazy to think about.  In just about a week, I will hit my five month mark.  Is it going really fast for all of you, or is it just me?

     With the Elder thing, I would do it.  He is right, in that you should pick a date in your mind, and pray to Heavenly Father, to feel the Spirit and see if it would be the right day.  Just keep praying about it and don’t just wait for the Spirit to come to you with it.  Sometimes we need to act first and do the part before we can feel the Spirit.

     Before I end this letter, I want to talk a little about testimonies and an experience I had this past week with testimonies.  So during exchanges this week, Elder Higbee switched with an English missionary for a day.  So I spoke and contributed much more on that day in everything that we did.  I loved that day, and I was so pleased with how I did that day.  It truly was something that I needed.  So we had a dinner appointment with the Marquez family.  Which the food was really good, and they had a great habanero salsa!  Anyway, after the dinner, we got together in the living room and had a lesson.  We were talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ for a little bit, when we shifted to testimonies.  It was fabulous!  We had a lot of participation from the family too.  Then right before we were going to end, I told them that I wanted to bear my testimony.  So I bore my testimony.  Everyone was paying very close attention, and the Spirit was so strong.  While I was bearing my testimony, Sister Marquez was tearing up.  I bore it with power to the family, and everyone could feel it.  I once heard that, “if we share our testimonies, often, then we will keep it.  But if we keep our testimonies to ourselves, then we will lose it.”  It is so true!  We need to bear our testimonies often or else we will lose it.  We also need to share what we know to be true in our testimony.  That is what a testimony is.  Testimonies are powerful, and will touch people’s lives.  I want to challenge all of you to all bear your testimony in a family home evening, so that it can be written in heaven and that you will keep it.  I know that if you bear your testimonies more often, then you will be able to keep your testimony, and continue to grow it.

     I love you all so much, each and every one of you.   Stay strong, do good, and know that I love you all.  

Fresh Salsa by Carranza

5 Roma tomatoes

2 Serrano peppers

½ bunch of cilantro

1tsp chicken bouillon

1 pinch of salt

Excited to get some good stuff (food)

It was so nice being able to talk to you over the phone this week!

And as for the fruits, veggies, and proteins. I got apples and carrots today! and
some jalepenos... :) hahaha Im also going to probably get some chicken
that will last for a whole month. Im excited to actually get some good
stuff in me besides ramen, pancakes, toast, macncheese, and cheap pizzas.

There is a primary song that we sang in Zone conference that I
absolutely loved and it is called, "If The Savior Stood Beside Me." I
love the lyrics to the song. I hope you all can have the chance to
read the lyrics and maybe sing as a family. The first verse says in
the song, " If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true? Would I
follow His example? Would I live more righteously if I could see the
Savior standing nigh, watching over me?" I love this! I love the
questions that it asks. We should make sure to do things that we would
feel comfortable doing around the Savior. We all need to realize or
imagine Christ being in our presence, and ask ourselves these
questions. I love all three verses and I want you read them, sing
them, ponder over them, and try to change somethings or one thing that
would make you feel more comfortable in the presence of our Savior.

Stay strong, do good, and remember I love you.

It needs to happen

How is everyone? Well I'm sure doing pretty well. My scripture study has increased a lot recently. I finished the new testament and started the Book of Mormon in English in place of it. So I'm in Alma 32(Spanish), Job 16, 1 Nephi 15. So the scripture study is going pretty well. I wonder if you liked the salsa recipe I included. And just to let you know. I actually blended 3 habaneros into my salsa. It was mmm mmm good!

Anyway, yesterday we had a couple interesting moments. So we were riding up the most ghetto street in La Mesa called Schoolridge, and we saw that there was a woman needing help moving furniture into her house. So we went and offered our help. We moved the dresser into the house. After that we talked a little about the church and handed a pass along card to her. Then she says,"Oh I'm a non denominational Christian, and you know how that goes.." and we said "Well we are Christian too" and then she said, "Well we believe differently. We actually believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah." and we said, "That's exactly what we believe too" then she sighed. Then she said, "Well it's just different." hahahaha Well obviously lot of people are misinformed about our church if they dont even think that Christ is the Messiah. It is so sad that some churches will just dedicate all of there teaching in their congregations to persecute, bash, and avoid Mormons. So sad! But it needs to happen. That was one of the prophecies of the Book of Mormon. If that didn't happen, then the Book of Mormon wouldn't be true. I love the Book of Mormon.

Also we received a referral for a less active. So we go over to the address and knock on the door. The door opens a tiny bit with a really old lady poking her head out. She says "hi" before she pokes her head out and then she looks out and sees us. Then she says "not interested" and closed the door on us right there and then. All of this happened in a matter of one or two seconds. We didn't even have time to say anything. We think we just got the wrong address or something. haha So yeah...yesterday was a pretty new day. So many things happen while on a mission! So many experiences! hahah

Thank you for all the support and love that you give me. Look for those opportunities to share the gospel. So many people need to hear the gospel. It is signs of the times. We need to get it there quicker. hahaha I'm having a good time being a missionary even with having a few trials here and there. It's all good and makes me stronger. Stay strong and know that I pray for you!