Invite the missionaries

How is everyone doing? I hope everyone is doing well. It sounds like you are noticing some blessings. Well my reading right now is Alma 26(Spanish), 2 Chronicles 30, and 1 John 5. My goal is to finish up the New Testament by Sunday and then start reading the Book of Mormon in English again. Im super excited:D 


And I can't believe that Ashley saw Wes!!! Holy Moly! How lucky are both of them!! I heard that they got a picture. I thought that they would have seen each other, but San Antonio is pretty big! (His best friends)

So I'll start off with a quite interesting story. So we rode our bikes pretty far to this one members house. The dad only knows English and the mom only knows Spanish. Don't ask me how they work everything out...because I have no idea and neither does anyone else. hahaha And they have been married for a few years and have two little girls. So we went and talked to Sister Patterson to see if we could help out with anything. The girls were really trying to get our attention. All the sudden the youngest girl which is probably a year older than B, brought out their pet ferret. She comes over and asks us, " You want to see something disgusting?" and before we could answer, she puckers her lips and goes strait to the ferret's body parts and totally kissed the bottom half of the ferret. Sister Patterson got really embarrassed! It was hilarious and disgusting at the same time. We tried to turn around as quickly as we could. It was definitely an interesting experience. What can we learn from this? Well that we shouldn't ever do something disgusting like that. hahaha That was probably the craziest experience. Other than that, it wasn't as much as an eventful week as last week.

But we did end up getting our investigator Daniel to church!!! The one I told you about in the letter. He is so solid and I am so happy to be able to be here till he gets baptized. He is keeping all of the commitments and is ready. He just needs to come to church two more times and then it will be time! Ill keep you updated on him.

I know that you have all noticed that I give commitments to the family quite often. Giving commitments are really good. People are less likely to act when they are not invited to do something. People also change and grow from doing commitments. Well at least commitments that are given from missionaries or authorities. I invite you to do these things and hope that you commit to them. I do this because I want to help the family as much as I can while I am out here on my mission. I want you to receive blessings and notice them. By doing some of these commitments that I give you such as reading the Book of Mormon or coming up with things that you are grateful for, you will receive blessings. Something that we have been taught in the MTC and in the mission is that we have the authority and can give out commitments. And we can promise blessings, even specific blessings to people if they follow through with the commitment. If a missionary gives you a commitment, I want you to take it. Elder Bednar said in a talk at the MTC that us missionaries are apostles with a non capitalized "a". We do what the apostles do. We are worthy also. We recieve revelation and inspiration all the time because of this. What I want you to do is to invite the missionaries of the ward to come over to the house. They also better leave a commitment. If they don't, then they should have. Because missionaries need to leave commitments, or people won't act. Whatever commitment they give you, I want you to do it.

Stay strong, and BE steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works.

I have such a big smile today!

!?Como estan?! Guess what!? I got a call from president Clayton today! He said that when I get my visa, they won't send me to Mexico until the Guadalajara transfer. So I get there with everyone else at the same time. And the next Guadalajara transfer is on May 21. So that means I am here till May 21 for sure. If I don't get my visa till then, then I will leave 6 weeks later if my visa comes in after. So now I have dates. So it is soooooooooooo nice to know I won't be leaving within 48 hours all the time. I will also be spending Mother's day here too!

Today is just so great! I got your package and I absolutely love everything in it! The taco time sauce, takis, my favorite candies. I loved it! Thank you so much! :)

My reading right now is Alma 15(spanish), 1 chronicles 19, Galatians 2. So it is coming well! :)

I have such a big smile today! Also the refund from taxes too! :) So it's been a pretty crazy week. I have two stories to tell.

The first story is.... I ate three fresh habaneros in twenty seconds, and I didn't drink for ten minutes after! The district leader said he ate one and a half habaneros and he didn't believe I liked spicy food. And he challenged me to eat two. Then I was like pshhhhh, I'll double what you do. I said if you get me three habaneros, I'll do your challenge. So then the next day, he got three habaneros, and his companionship and the zone leaders companionship came to our apartment during lunch hour. They circled around me with their cameras and they bagan to video. I ate one per five seconds. I popped them in and ate them. At first they tasted like bell peppers and then the spiciness came! I actually handled it very well! Just my face got red! Nothing else! Everyone was really impressed. So now I have bragging rights in the district, and I can tell members about that story so they believe that I can handle hot foods. They don't believe me but I sure do and they all get super surprised. hahaha It was awesome. Oh and let me say this...the mad dawg sauce at firehouse subs is hotter. My next step on the scale is the red habanero and then probably the ghost chili pepper(the hottest pepper in the world) haha

So we were riding our bikes at night. We are going around looking for some hispanics to teach on this one road that I felt inspired to go up. So we go up into this neighborhood, and we are trying to listen for Spanish speakers as we ride slowly by the houses. Then up ahead, I see like a black blob blur thing in the middle of the road. Im thinking it's a dog or a cat just laying in the road. So we get up close and about ten feet away, we shine our bike lights at the animal looking thing. And all of the sudden we noticed it was 8 SKUNKS huddled together. We were freaking out! I was like " Whaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" The skunks got up and formed a formation. They got in a line and turned around. And we were trying to get away as fast as we could! I couldnt get a grip on my pedals so I was freaking out more. Elder HIgbee was like " GO GO GO" and I was freaking out like I would with bugs. Finally we got far away enough, and luckily we didnt get sprayed. We were soooo close to getting sprayed. We flew out of the neighborhood. Boy was it crazy. Lets just say that I will be telling this story for a long time... hahahaha :)

So for the Spiritual thought this week in email is 1 Corinthians 10:13. I came across it in my studies this week. I love how it says that there is no temptation that we can't overcome, and it says that God prepares a way for us to escape sin. It's so true! We can overcome any temptation that comes our way. Some temptations can be tougher than others, but we can all overcome them. What are some things to help us overcome temptation? We can pray to help us overcome it in our morning prayers, read scriptures, sing hymns, or write a missionary ;) hahaha But really, I challenge you all to include overcoming temptation in your prayers more often. I also want you to remember this scripture, and know that God prepares a way to escape it and that we can overcome any temptation that comes our way. Whenever you have a bad thought, sing a hymn. Whenever you have the desire to sin and you are near your scriptures, pull the scriptures out. Sins dont just effect us, what we do effects other people too. But even if you do happen to fall into temptation, remember that there is the Atonement. Christ suffered for all of our sins, temptations, sicknesses, and afflictions. Repentance is a wonderful thing. I love you all, and I want you to always to remember Christ, the Atonement, and His teachings. I know you will be blessed by doing so. Peace and joy will come to the family. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

"I don't have a name!"

How's it going?!

My reading right now is 2 kings 7, Romans 14, and Alma 7(spanish). So I've been keeping up my reading.

So you wanted to know about the laundromat, and my shopping. Well we go to our apartment laundry room and we do our laundry every pday morning and for shopping, we ride our bikes to Walmart and get the food and supplies that we need. Today for shopping, Im getting eggs, milk, and ramen. I already have enough stuff this week from what I bought last week.

Something crazy happened this week. We were walking out of a members apartment and then we see a black guy walk out of his apartment. Then he starts cussing at us and told us to get out of the apartment complex. And he says that he will usher us out of there. We asked how he was doing and he said "I don't believe in Brigham Young!" and he still cussed as we were walking out with him. We introduced ourselves and then he said "well you guys are full of 'beep'" and he said "why y'all harrassing people?" and we said that we were at a member of our churchs house. Then he was like oh really. And we said yeah. Then he was like " get!" and then we asked him what his name was after we
introduced ourselves and he said, "I DONT HAVE A NAME!"  and we were just being really nice to him the whole time. We could tell he wasn't going to have a change of heart so we just rode off. hahaha I was just cracking up in my head while this was all happening. He probably has short term memory loss too. Because we would tell him something and then he would forget like a minute later. So that is my interesting story this week.

I'm opening up more in lessons now! I am understanding the language more now, so I can put in more input. It makes me happy to finally be able to voice more. I am so grateful for the support and the love that you have given me. If you want to send a package or mail this week it is probably still okay to do so. I just won't be able to reply about it in the email that I send to the family next week because I will be getting the mail later in the day and after I had already read email.

I loved general conference

How is everyone?  You can go ahead and send a package if you want and letters. If it gets here and I leave they will just forward it to me and I have a feeling Ill be here a couple more weeks. The one letter is longer because I didnt have as much time to email. Anyway, Im still in San Diego. Im starting to pray for an answer now whether I stay in Cali or go to Mexico so I dont have to live in a life of where I dont know where Im going. So I loved General Conference this week! Something that really stuck out to me was the fact that they really hit on families in all five sessions. That was the main topic. The family really is the most sacred and important unit in this life and in eternal life. They kept talking about loving one another, supporting each other, and how important a family is. We also need to keep in mind what Quentin L Cook said how parents praying with the children is possibly the most important thing for them to do together. He also said religious observance in the home blesses families. I believe that is true. I wouldnt be where I am today if we didnt have religous observance in the home. Also Cheryl A Esplin said that parents are to teach to understand the doctrine. I really liked that. The doctrine of christ is also the missionary purpose. It consists of five things... They are 1. faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement 2. repentence 3 baptism 4. gift of the holy ghost 5. enduring to the end. If these five things are put into fhe and many other things you do, you will see miracles and it will be a more Christ centered home. I noticed it in a few talks how we must teach and become familiar with the "gospel or doctrine of christ" I really liked how they really talked about families in the talks this conference. It kind of made me homesick but then I realized that im blessing my family while Im out here so it is all good! I also loved President Uchtdorfs talk about not judging, loving our enemies, Depending on the mercy of God, and forgiving all men including ourselves. Its so true. Yourself can be the hardest person to forgive, but we have to do it after we repent. When we repent, we need to forgive ourselves. Forgive and forget. I just love his talks. He has a powerful voice and is really good at giving talks. Also people arent perfect so we must forgive. I really love the story of Christ when they talk about stoning the lady because she was caught in adultury and they asked christ if they should do it like it said in the law of moses. And Jesus said that he who is without sin, let him first stone her. And all of them had left there because they all sinned. Its true, we all sin differently so we shouldnt judge other people. We should love other people. God loves us just as much as anyone else. He can just be more disappointed in others. I love you all. Stay strong and Im happy you are being blessed and doing the things I suggest. They will help out a lot. I love you.

"I don't know if you are coming to Mexico"

How are things going!? Hopefully all is well! I’ve been keeping you all in my prayers day and night. So my reading right now is Ruth 2, John 19, and Mosiah 15 (Spanish). It’s been so nice reading these three books. I haven’t read the Old Testament or the New Testament, or the Book of Mormon in Spanish. So this is all new for me! I love it! So California is going pretty well. Still here in California. I got an email from my mission pres in Mexico and he said he still hadn’t heard any news about my visa. He said “I don’t know if you are coming to Mexico.." in Spanish in the first sentence of the email so I’m kind of freaking out. It will probably be some more decent time, but once again I have no idea when I leave. I wish I could know so I could let you all know. People can still take chances of me being here and send me something in the mail and then have it either sent back or forwarded to me in Mexico. So whatever people prefer. Email will be safe though no matter what I think so it’s all good. I am still with my two companions. So we are still in a trio. It’s tough stuff but we are making it work. Riding bikes this past week was better than the week before. Even though I still had to pay out of my own funds for a new tube for my tire that popped.  Oh well. The bike is working now.

So this past week I also saw a straight up drug deal. hahaha It was at this one corner of a street. There was this big white nerdy guy talking with this one shorter gangster dude. That was just different in itself. Then I straight up see the shorter guy with a bag of drugs hand the drugs over to the big white guy and the white guy give the money to the short gangster. They traded really quickly. Then they acted like nothing happened and they started talking about the weather. In my mind I was like what in Sam? hahaha Nobody talks about the weather, that’s just weird. Also those are like two people you would never imagine talk to each other or what not. So that must be a drug deal. That was the first legitimate one I have seen. I was pretty shocked to see that happen so closely to me and my companions and in such a public place. Plus the police station was like a block away.  Whatever. That’s not my problem.

So I definitely will pray for you, mom, and Gail for this next week. Gail and Clay need to start hearing about the church and need to be being taught. Even if they don’t accept, it is still worth a try. Eternal life is on the line. That’s how I have to put it.

I sooooooo can’t wait for General Conference! I have been waiting for this for a while now. General Conference is just that more exciting being a missionary. It also gets more exciting as we get older. I wonder what kinds of things will be brought up in this conference. I’m excited to hear the President Monson, Elder Uchtdorf, and Elder Bednar. They are probably my three favorites if I had to choose my favorites. I will definitely be taking lots of notes and I sure hope all of you do too. I want to hear about one thing people have learned in the upcoming conference and one thing that they can apply to themselves from the conference.

And mom thank you so much for all the support, and time you put into doing my assignments and things and pondering about the things I send home. I really appreciate it and I love reading your thoughts about those certain things. Like reading the Book of Mormon, studying the atonement, studying the role of Christ in God's plan and on Earth, etc.

I love you all so much and I really appreciate everything that you have done for me, whether it has been on my mission and before my mission. I include you in my prayers.

Wow, these weeks are really flying by now.  I’ve been in San Diego since a month ago, this day.  Also, tomorrow I will hit my three month mark.  I don’t know if time is going as fast for all of you, but it really is for me.  I’m now one eighth done now.  It’s hard to believe that, since I have been waiting for my mission for a long time.  My mission is going to be over before I know it, so I need to continue to work hard.  I think these next 21 months will go quicker for me than you all, but that’s good.  I heard that if a missionary thinks time is flying by and that he hadn’t believed he had been out that long, and it seemed short, that he was a hard worker.  So I’m going to continue to work hard and keep improving.

Tell Carter I wish I could be there for the baptism, but tell him I need to be where I am.

We receive the Liahona and Ensigns so I’ll make sure to look for the parts that you want me to read.  I know the March Ensign had a good thing about preparing for a mission.  Maybe something mom and A can read together.

I love you all so much, and I appreciate all the love and support.  I miss you, but this is where I need to be, and it really isn’t that much time till I’ll be home.  I love you.

My first baptism

Guess what!? I'm still in San Diego! I haven't left to Mexico yet. So I guess when it comes to letters,I prefer email still. Just in case I do get my visa. You might be able to send me letters and they might send them to me in Mexico. Anyway, things are still going well. Some big things happened this past week. We rode bikes, we had a baptism and we found a new investigator by just following the Spirit and just knocking on this random door. 

And where I'm reading now are Joshua 9, John 1, and Mosiah 3 (Spanish). If you don't care where I'm reading, then let me know so I don't keep including it if you don't want to know or even care. haha I got an email from my mission president in Mexico and it was in Spanish. He says he is looking forward to meeting me, and that there is a lot to be done down there. And he wants to help me feel welcome into the mission for when I go. Man, I sure hope it goes well when I do because Ill be the only one that he will be picking up probably at the airport and Ill probably be with him for a whole day. So ill be my real self with him and leave a good first impression, since first impressions are really important.


So with the bikes this week.. Lets just say it was quite the adventure. Our area is really hilly. And we were reading one day and it completely poured rain on us. We were drenched, and we went back to the apartment.So that was an interesting experience which reminded me of the Del Web Priesthood Encampment cam pout thing a few years back when it rained like crazy and we were on bikes. Also the next day when we got our bikes, I got a flat tire so I had to buy some patches and fix it up. Its working though now.


We had our baptism last Saturday and it was a neat experience. We got a lot of the branch members to come and be a part of it. I wouldn't consider it my first baptism but my companions say it is my first baptism because I helped out with two lessons with him. So according to my companions, I have my first baptism!!! hooray! hahaha

So one night we were out and about heading to appointments and what not, and all the sudden we had a feeling that we should go knock on this one house which looked Hispanic. The guy named Saul opened the door and we ended up leaving leaving our number with him. The next day, he calls us and says he want to hear our message and want to know if our message could help him with is gambling addiction. We told him that it could and we set an appointment. We had to appointments the last four days. We taught him the Restoration and I have felt the Spirit strongly in that lesson. It was so neat to meet this guy like that. He seems like a solid person. We teach him again tomorrow. We noticed that we are receiving more blessings ever since we lost our car and got bikes. We have been noticing all of these tender mercies.


Im working hard out here and Im focusing on the work. Please don't worry about me being focused out here. I'm very focused out here and I'm working as hard as I can out here. I'm living by the motto, "No Regrets". I love you all so much. I love you.

When people try to make changes in their lives and make drastic changes in there lives, they think they have to do big things in order to change. Not true though. Small things make all the difference in everything that we do. Reading scriptures, and praying are simple and small things, and they shape us to be better people. I also remember in lacrosse that the coaches always said to master the basics and keep practicing the basics. Because we had to have the basics down before we could go on to more advanced things. The scripture Alma 37:6 it says, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." So if we want to make great things happen we need to do the small and simple things in order to get there. Make smaller goals to help you eventually reach the greater and big long term goals. I make smaller goals out here in the mission to help me reach my medium sized goals to help me reach my big goals. These goals can be for growing spiritually, workout goals, social goals or even small goals that will help us to reach our final goal in being together forever in eternity. By making all these small goals, it will lead us eventually to our final goal of making it to exaltation and living with Heavenly Father someday. So I challenge you to start doing the small and simple things and make the small goals that will help you to reach the longer term goals. I know that if you do this, you will notice miracles and that your long term goals will come more in sight. I'm learning so much out here and growing so much in many aspects. 


Love,
Elder Loveland (the big bro)

I'm the only visa waiter

How are you all doing now?? I’m in La Mesa by the way. Guess what!? We now have to go on bikes!!!... This will be a big change. We have a big area and it is going to be hard to get everywhere now. Also, the other three people that came with me to San Diego that were visa waiters, they all got their visas and left like 5 days ago to Mexico. So I’m the only visa waiter now waiting for a call from President Clayton saying I got my visa. Apparently I can be sent out within 48 hours of finding out. So for this next week only send me emails and tell other people that too or else I probably won’t get them if I do end up leaving this week. So email me! I could be leaving soon. When I go to the airport whenever I will be able to call again so that will be pretty exciting. I also got the package, so thank you so much for the glasses and all of the food and the missionary moments. Those are . It was a nice lucky surprise to get! :) This past week we did service for a less active. This guy is a little loco.. haha He had us move most of his big furniture down from his second story apartment down to his truck. We had to load all sorts of stuff onto his truck. Furniture got so high on his truck and it weighed a whole lot. I think it was illegal in weight. Craziness! We also have had lessons with investigators. We found two more investigators so it’s going well. were plateauing for a little while and then we picked it up. But now that we are on bikes, we will be working much more and the work will slow down too. So this will be very interesting tomorrow. I’ve keeping up my working out still. Now I’ll be getting lots of exercise with riding the bikes. It will all be fine though. The Spanish is also coming along pretty well. I’m understanding a little more every week but it still is really hard. I’m really struggling with listening and understanding Spanish but my speaking and reading are doing a lot better than them. Today I decided to fast to help out with my listening and understanding. It’s really tough to contribute to lessons when you have no idea where they are in the lessons. I still contribute but I want to contribute more, so that’s why I’m fasting. Anyway everything is going well here. The weather is nice. I know Heavenly Father wants me here longer, so we'll see how long I’ll be staying here. I’m getting familiar with the members a lot more. There is a great member in our branch. His name is Jaime and he has been great including me and what not. Where I’m at in reading right now is Deuteronomy 12, Jacob 5 (Spanish), and Luke 2. Just in case anyone wanted to know or follow along with me. How is the March madness and the Book of Mormon March madness coming along? I absolutely love reading the scriptures now. I have learned to love the scriptures and it will do me so much good in my life. My days are much better when I read. When we read each day, it brings the Spirit into our lives. I notice the spirit everyday in my life and it is a wonderful feeling. So keep up the reading in the Book of Mormon and I know it will change your days, lessen contention, and that you will feel the Spirit, and your testimony will grow.