Hey Everyone!
This week has been full of some spiritual highs and lows but also full of food. It seems like whenever we catch a break here, another stumbling block arises. It is exactly what the Savior must have experienced during his mortal ministry; we cannot physically experience joy beyond words without also experiencing the grief and struggle that Christ felt all throughout the process of the Atonement.
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013:
I created a Mormon.org profile in Spanish today! It's a good milestone; I have finally come to realize that I can communicate with almost anyone in Spanish now. I haven't really stressed about the language too much, but I didn't realize how much progress I have made in the three-and-a-half months since I left home. I'm by no means fluent, however. As usual, at 5 PM, we had our weekly lesson with Enrique Olvera, our eternigator. It was an awesome lesson, but it is hard to tell if Enrique is really progressing how he should. Elder Knight and I really pounded the importance of baptism into him and how baptism should be his ultimate goal. His problem is the one of God's fundamental commandments from the Old Testament, and he is just too afraid to actually repent. He won't receive any answer, however, until he lives that fundamental principle. Elder Knight and I also visited the Morans to help Hermana Moran set up her own Mormon.org profile, too. I think we can help the members share the Gospel through Facebook and Mormon.org now. Most Latinos use the internet way more than they should, so maybe we can help them see how they can use that internet time effectively.
Wednesday, November 20th, 2013:
I'm not quite sure why I enjoy English class so much, but it is seriously so much fun! We taught a lot about Thanksgiving today. I taught the very beginning class about the pilgrims coming over from Europe and how they gave thanks for the blessings that they have. It was a very subtle reminder for myself and for them to be thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord in our lives. After English class, Elder Knight and I stopped by this place called "Huarache Veloz" and the lady gave us some free huarache because she is a member in the Ontario Spanish ward! Her son is also getting ready to serve a mission and will likely leave around June or July. It was so awesome to see how well people treat us! Unfortunately, good food must come with a price. We were unable to find anyone home after eating before going to the Church to assist the ward on visiting less-actives in the ward. My group was only able to find Hermana Verom home, but it is good to see the High Priests group more active with doing their home teaching. Prior to these past couple of weeks, I think the home teaching percentage was down somewhere around 15%. After these couple of weeks, I think we are up in the neighborhood of 65% among active members. It is progress!
Thursday, November 21st, 2013:
Due to Zone Conference tomorrow, all of the missionaries began to fast in order to receive revelation at the meeting. Elder Knight and I decided to do our weekly planning today, instead of on Saturday, in order to maximize the time for proselyting on Saturday - more people are home then. I also helped Elder Knight really clean out and organize his stuff; it was fun to really help him be more organized. As much as I hated how strict my parents were about keeping my stuff organized as a kid, I have really come to appreciate how cleanliness leads to greater revelation. Elder Knight and I were able to contact quite a few people after weekly planning, and Hermana Dos Santos even met us at the home of one of our investigators to invite them to the ward Thanksgiving party on Saturday for lunch. It's so exciting to see some of the ward leadership taking the initiative to reach out to us about how they can help us with the missionary work. During the evening, Elder Knight and I taught Camilo Gomez. It was funny when he showed us his paper that is like eight years old saying that he needs to go back to Nicaragua. We don't ask for proof of citizenship, but I honestly wonder how many people we teach do, in fact, have their green card or citizenship. Regardless, the message of the Gospel should be available to all people.
Friday, November 22nd, 2013:
Zone Conference focused entirely on the faith that all of us, as missionaries, need to have to set high expectations here in the California Arcadia Mission. Since implementing about five new rules, the mission has experienced about double the number of new investigators per week, on average. It's good to see the mission doing well; it remains difficult, however, to not see the same results in my own numbers. After finishing Zone Conference, I went with the Pomona district (due to lack of space in the Hermana's car) for a while while the Hermanas and the other members of our district swapped out the car for a new one - the Church sells any cars over 50,000 miles. I went with Hermana Minchin, Hermana Quezada, Elder Perez and Elder McIlwain. It was a great car ride; I got to know all of them very well, and they are all great missionaries. While waiting for everyone at the mission office, I went with Elder Perez and Elder McIlwain to teach a lesson to an investigator in Pomona. It was supposed to be about the Plan of Salvation, but it wasn't the best lesson that has ever been taught. It really made me appreciate how well Elder Knight and I teach together. Companionship unity in teaching is vital to teach with the spirit as much as possible. We all ended up going to the Pomona ward Thanksgiving dinner to finish off the evening. I was apalled at just how many more people they have that come to their activities. It was more than double the number of our ward. We have got to get some people reactivated and some others baptized to help Chino grow.
Saturday, November 23rd, 2013:
Elder Knight and I had to get to the ward Thanksgiving party at 11 AM to help set up and ended up staying until 7 PM to help clean up, too. It was a marginal turnout - better than most of our ward Family Home Evenings, but it could have been better. It was just a really long activity without any actual activities, other than eating. Hermana Bardsley taught the Plan of Salvation to one person. There was one family that was ready to be baptized, but we couldn't baptize them because they don't live within the boundaries of our mission. I just wish they understood the Law of Obedience better. As a result of the party, Elder Knight and I missed out on the chance to teach an investigator that evening. I was so upset. To finish off the evening, we talked to the bishop and really saw his change of heart. He has been really stressed because there are so few active members, and the active members don't even do the things they should be doing. As a result, our Priesthood in the ward is almost nonexistant. We worked with him to see how we can help him do his job and get the Priesthood to be more active. It was a great end to a rather disappointing day.
Sunday, November 24th, 2013:
Bishop Arriaga has been trying to get the ward to pay its tithing, so he decided to give a two-part talk during Sacrament Meeting about the importance of the Law of Obedience. It was a great talk; I just worry that the people who needed to hear it weren't listening or weren't present. During the third hour, Elder Knight and I began teaching a Preach My Gospel missionary preparation class to a couple of future missionaries. One of the Guzman girls is getting ready to turn in her papers any week. It was a great lesson as we talked about the missionary purpose and how our missionary purpose is central to everything that we do. During the day, we were unable to find anyone home to teach, but we were able to visit the Mercado family at night. We have tried to visit them about five times, and they are less-active; however, we were able to get in with them tonight and have a really good visit. Through less-active members, we are able to find more people to teach and work on reactivation efforts in the ward.
I'm hoping that by establishing the better relationship with the bishop that we can really come to have the ward love him, even if that means hating us as missionaries. I often feel that people rejected Christ because they didn't understand how much his efforts were blessing their own lives. I have had that very same feeling during this entire week because I feel like the ward doesn't understand how much we try our very hardest to serve them. It is easy to see the faults, but we must always push forward in life by clinging to the successes. On a brighter note, we do have Thanksgiving coming up in which we have the opportunity to look at all of the successes and blessings we have in this life. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to thank God for all that He has done for us, despite the fact that life isn't always easy. I love all you and am thankful to have met each and every single one of you in my life. I appreciate your love and support in my behalf!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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