Hello everyone!
Today we had a fun p day activity of playing pool at the local bowling alley (we tried to go bowling but they were all full) I decided I really love pool haha. Elder Franson was kind of stressed out planning his first P Day activity as a District Leader but it all went smoothly! We were going to go to Denny's and have a nice deep doctrine discussion (haha) but we decided because of the ASL program being in our district it would be too hard to translate with the deaf elder in the district... After that we played basketball at the Spanish ward building that I went to downtown that we sometimes play- the invite is open to the whole mission... Anyway that is what I was up to today.
Now for the past week:
Our new area is going really well, kind of different without the extra companion now that Elder Weber is home but it is still going very well nonetheless. Elder Franson has a lot of meetings (especially with the meetings for the new curriculum every day this week), baptismal interviews (always a good thing!) splits and just general duties of a District Leader to attend to so that always keeps us on our feet! I love teaching in Spanish even though a lot of the people we teach prefer to be taught in English but still go to church in Spanish because of their family.
Our Investigators:
-Jamson Chuc: Yesterday as you know because you were there, Jamson got baptized! There were a lot of people from the ward there and everything went fairly smoothly. I know that Jamson and his family felt the spirit as us as missionaries spent most of it running around making sure it goes ok. I am glad that Jamson has taken the first step in following Christ and I know that even though he might not show it because his personality is reserved I know that his life has already and will continue to be changed because of that decision. Brother Chuc in particular was so proud of Jamson! Now all we have to do is get some Home Teachers over there!
-Sergio has a baptismal date set for Aug 15 because he did not pass his interview with Presiden Guiliani because of his involvement in the Crip gang from ages 12-14 and because he sold marijuana two weeks ago... Sergio unfortunately did not come to church last week (and neither did the two less active Archundias girls didn't attend either...) We checked up on them and we found out that Sergio stole money from his mom and she grounded him- which included church. We think that maybe it has something to do with her dislike for our religion, but we thought that we had sorted all of that out. She is fine with having him be baptized but we still should clear all of this up before his baptism. Right now we are just keeping him on track for this Sunday with an increase in his daily Book of Mormon reading and introducing him to the bishop... We love working with teenagers because they are usually more honest with you but sometimes you have to pay the price of them making bad decisions and not following through on some commitments.
-We might be picking up Alex Ortiz as an investigator again because he says that he is willing to get baptized but we are still not sure if he is only saying that because his parents are pressuring him to. We will work with him to figure out his motives and to strengthen his testimony that he is not willing to admit he has about modern day prophets/Joseph Smith. He is being very very stubborn but we think he might be turning a corner with his testimony etc. This has been a struggle for about 6months with the past Elders.
Less-Actives:
-the Monge family went to church last Sunday for the first time (besides the active adult daughter) in twenty years! We were just checking up on them last week because they were on our lists... It was a normal everyday thing except that the daughter came up to us and starting balling. She said that she had just finished praying, asking God to bring in 3rd party help to assist in reactivating her parents. I love witnessing miracles like that, it strengthens my testimony of God's hand in aligning His children's paths of life to do His work. It is always random like not leaving right away and stopping to talk to the guy on the bench that stalls us enough to fulfill His purpose of us being there. I know that we are nothing but instruments in His hands when after one contact two people come to church for the first time in twenty years!
-the Archundias girls are still reading their Book of Mormon and besides this last Sunday are really showing that they have made some HUGE changes in their lives... I love seeing people overcome the pressures of the neighborhood they live in to live the Gospel.
My studies are going well, I have started to put less focus on finishing the Old Testament by the end of the summer so that I can dedicate some of my study hour to reading PMG because I feel that is the most effective use of my time instead of pushing to reach my goal that I have no adjusted to match my plan...
Also, I cannot wait to see the new visitor's center! We are trying to get some investigators a mode of transportation to go see it! I know how helpful the VC is in conversion!
Love!
Elder Myers
