The Best Christmas Present - December 30, 2013

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and remembered to think about the true meaning of Christmas during this holiday season! This week was so awesome because of being able to call home and being able to help administer in a baptism!

Tuesday, December 24th, 2013:

On Monday, we lost contact with Ruben because he was unable to pay his phone bill. However, he got the problem fixed, and we found him again today. Elder Porter and I told him that this week leading up to baptism will be difficult, and he didn't believe us. Guess what? He found some financial problems. During the day, Elder Porter and I taught him about the Law of Obedience and the importance of Honoring the Law. After our lesson, we went with Ruben to Hermano Montanez's house to have our weekly correlation meeting. It was really productive, and we planned out Ruben's baptism! Ruben was really excited to be able to help plan it. To celebrate Noche Buena (or Christmas Eve in White society), we went to the Moran family's home to join up with all of their family. One of the daughters of Hermana Moran has a daughter that just left on her mission about 7 weeks ago to Mexico, so it made me think of my own mother and how she must have felt. They sent some pictures home to all of our parents, which was neat. It was a really fun party, and it was Ruben's first time being in the home of a family that has good morals like that. He really enjoyed it. The Morans also gave each of us an In-N-Out gift card that is enough for two meals! They are so nice! The highlight of the night was when this family came over to their house and performed a dance outside. Apparently, they do it every year, but they go around to different houses and dance together as a family. They are LDS and it definitely showed.

Wednesday, December 25th, 2013:

Merry Christmas! It didn't feel like Christmas at all. It is another day in the mission life, and it was like 85 degrees. This isn't Christmas weather! I opened up all of my gifts in my apartment with Elder Porter, and it was so nice to see Christmas cards from so many different people! We went over to the Castros at 11 AM to call home, and we ended up spending the majority of the day at their house. Elder Porter called home first, and it was kind of awkward talking to his family; I had absolutely no idea what to say. I just hope I'm not becoming that awkward... After he called home, I waited for my family to finish serving lunch to the homeless to call home. In the meantime, we watched The Testaments movie with Ruben, and he loved it. I then called home, and it was by far the very best part of the week. It's amazing to think that it has been about five months since I have actually heard their voice or seen their faces. It made me so happy to see that they are all doing well. During the evening, we met up with some English Elders who serve in the singles ward in Chino to go carol again on the street by the Montanez family's home. It was a ton of fun! Elder Porter and I sang in Spanish while the English Elders (Elder Stevens and Elder Beau) sang in English.

Thursday, December 26th, 2013:

Because everyone in the mission is now getting Facebook (I got approved by President Becerra about a month ago), we finally had a training meeting. I never got a formal training, so I finally learned how to best go about using it. I rather enjoy zone meetings, and we are going to have another one next week or the week after. During this whole transfer, I think we will only have one district meeting out of six weeks. This time of year throws a wrench in the normal routine, but I love it. Elder Porter and I were unable to find anyone home during the day, prior to eating with the Caballero family during the evening. They are really nice, and their son just returned home from his mission about a year ago. They have switched over to the English ward from the Spanish ward because of more problems, but they are still strong in the Church. During the evening, we went to a Rosary service at the Catholic church for one of the people we have been doing service for. It was really sad to see how sad everyone was at the funeral. It really made me appreciate how valuable the knowledge about eternal families is. The family of Miguel Flores was so happy that we came to support them. It was just bad because they all wanted to hug us, and we kind of had to break mission rules and hug a couple of people. I felt so weird. After the service was over, the family invited Elder Porter and I to the funeral service and to lunch afterwards. They all know Elder Porter really well because he has spent about 3 months finishing up Miguel's family history work. Miguel had been working for 17 years to finish it all up, and we helped him finish the last of it about a week before he passed away. He has even worked at family history conventions in Salt Lake City with the Church to do his family history. We basically completed a dying man's wish.

Friday, December 27th, 2013:

Elder Porter and I attended the funeral service in the morning for Miguel. It was just so somber, and it made me sad to see how sad everyone is during a death. The service was very nice and a good way for the family to say their final goodbyes. We were even recognized by one of the daughters in the family for all of our service to Miguel over the past few months. They told us that we will probably never realize how much our service was appreciated by their father and how happy it made him. It was really humbling to hear that. Elder Porter and I then updated our Facebook pages before lunch, and it made me realize that I still had more stuff to clean up. We walked nearly an hour in our suits to get to the lunch. It was a good gathering, but it was awkward. I never know what to do at events like that because I don't know anyone; plus, no one there wants to talk to the missionaries. The family was still glad that we came, though. On the way back, we got a ride from an inactive English member who served his mission in Switzerland. Hopefully we were able to inspire him to come back to Church in the future. We then went back to the Church to meet up with our zone leaders so that Ruben could get interviewed by Elder chandler. Ruben said the interview went really well and that he is really excited to be baptized on Sunday. Elder Porter and I received a referral for a guy who lives in the bottom corner of our area, so we tried contacting him during the evening to no avail. We then biked about 45 minutes to Camilo Gomez's house to teach him. He hasn't been to church in like three weeks, so we needed to see what has been happening. Fortunately, he is planning on coming on Sunday. He had been busy with work and will be coming back this Sunday. I worry about Camilo because he needs more people to visit him on a regular basis.

Saturday, December 28th, 2013:

Due to the funeral yesterday, Elder Porter and I had to postpone weekly planning until today. After finishing weekly planning, we decided to bike down to the far corner of our area (the corner of the mission) to try contacting a family that has (supposedly) moved into the ward. We biked down there for about 40 minutes and didn't find them home. It is terrible when their phone doesn't work and they aren't home. It was so much wasted time, but we had to do it. On the way back to the Church to teach Ruben, Elder Porter needed to fix his bike. We spent a while trying to fix it and ended up just taking it to the bike shop. Ruben ended up being busy tonight, so we headed over to the Church for ward volleyball during the evening. We had so many appointments fall through today. I also had to prepare my talk for Sacrament Meetingtomorrow morning. I'm not normally a person to procrastinate, but with so many things happening this week I couldn't help it.

Sunday, December 29th, 2013:

This was probably the most hectic and yet the most rewarding day of my whole mission, to date. I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting about the importance of baptism and personal conversion. As we become truly converted, we begin to seek the very same blessings for the rest of the world. Ruben was unable to make it to Sacrament Meeting, so Hermano Montanez and Elder Porter ended up heading over to his house to see what the dilemma was. Meanwhile, I stayed with Hermano Dos Santos to teach the 11 year-old primary class. Fortunately, Ruben was alright and he had just been out working all night (he didn't sleep at all!). They brought him to Church, despite the fact that he had zero sleep. During the third hour, Elder Porter and I were called on again to teach. Hermano Herrera was busy and asked us to teach the youth. We kind of broke their legs in a nice and loving way to try and get them to read their scriptures everyday. It gets so frustrating when people don't do the easiest things in life and miss out on the countless blessings that they can receive. After teaching that lesson, we went with Ruben to the baptismal font in the Chino Hills Stake Center to fill it up. While it was filling, we taught Ruben some more in-depth information about the baptismal covenant. The baptism went wonderfully, and Ruben later told us that it was Ruben's favorite day from his entire life. Elder Porter performed the baptism. I stood as one of the two witnesses, with the other being Hermano Castro. There was also a really good turnout from the ward for the baptism. Ruben bore his testimony after getting baptized, and it was incredible! He had never even heard a formal testimony before! He could seriously become an awesome leader in the Church. I will likely be performing the confirmation next week, but that remains to be seen at this point. Days like today are so rewarding, and it is the feeling that comes from today that makes the mission all worth it.

This week has been so rewarding and full of happiness. Elder Porter and I will be back to finding this week, and I'm sure Ruben will be a huge help in our efforts. I hope everyone remembers that the true meaning of this Christmas season is helping people realize that the Gospel has brought "good tidings of great joy" and that the Gospel is for all people. Gospel literally translates to "good news." May we all bring these "good news" to all of the world and help the Lord in his work. Thank you for all of your support and love! It was great to hear from so many of you this Christmas, and I hope you are all enjoying the best time of the year!

Love,

Elder Gabriel Valley

Gabe - Funny Santa Hat December 2013

Christmas Time In Chino - December 2013

Los Angeles Temple - December 20, 2013

Christmas is in the Air! December 23, 2013

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is getting ready for the happiest day of the year! This week has been really fun, especially because we have been able to teach our investigator to prepare him to enter the waters of baptism this coming Sunday! The true meaning of Christmas is all about those "glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." I can truly say that I am able to experience that this Christmas season because I am able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in bringing the Gospel to the life of Ruben.

Tuesday, December 17th, 2013:

Today was filled with doing work for the Bishop. He doesn't have a ward secretary, and his office hasn't been cleaned out in probably at least five years. Elder Porter and I have really been trying to work closer with him to help the ward have a solid footing to go forward in the future. As a result, we spent a lot of time cleaning out all of his drawers, cabinets, really old papers, unopened video cassettes from 2003 and really helped make his office a place that he can use to work. We have really been filling in as the ward clerks recently while there hasn't been one. Elder Porter and I were going to teach Ruben when Hermana Bardsley and Hermana Stohlton called us to say that they had both had flats in their tires at the same time. We went to go fix them, but found out that there were like five holes in each tire. We think they probably got popped by some person who was trying to cause trouble, so we told them to go to the bike store and get some new tubes. It's annoying when people mess with your stuff like that. After helping them, we brought Ruben along with us (sadly, we didn't end up teaching him) to go caroling to some less-active families. It's been really fun during this holiday season to go and carol to contact people. I find as a missionary that we have to get very creative in our finding efforts, and what better thing to do than sing Christmas songs during Christmas time?

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013:

During the morning, we did more clerical work for the Bishop. We have really helped him get on his feet and start cleaning out all of the old names on the ward list. There are still people on the list who moved more than five years ago; Elder Porter and I have been busy trying to visit them and update all of their contact information in order to send the information off to the proper location. After helping out Bishop, we went to help out at English class for the final time this calendar year. It was a small turnout, but they always appreciate our help. They also invited us to their end-of-the-year party tomorrow morning! We will resume teaching English class on the 8th of January. After English class, we went by the Caballero family to see if we could update some of their information. They have moved to an English ward, even though they don't speak English. At night, I took Elder Porter and Ruben to Subway before our lesson with him and got the $2 meatball marinara sandwich. Elder Porter and I taught Ruben about the importance of tithing and fasting, and Ruben was very receptive to it. He progresses so fast; it's insane. I love teaching him because we can actually use all of our Gospel knowledge with him; he wants to learn all of the in-depth stuff, as opposed to the usual things that we teach that just brush the surface.

Thursday, December 19th, 2013:

In the morning, we went to the party for all of the English class students. It was really fun to see them get up and sing a Christmas song in English and receive their certificates of advancement. It was also funny that I was the one that kept getting pulled off to the side for pictures by all of the Iranians and Latinos. After the party, we had zone meeting in Pomona. I GOT TO DRIVE A CAR!!! I was so excited to get to drive for the first time in nearly five months, and I miss driving a car so much. My driving skills are just as good as when I left, too. It was also my first time ever driving a "car." I have only ever driven trucks, SUVs, or mini-SUVs. Zone meeting was really good, too. We talked about our new method of teaching with the pamphlets and doing shorter lessons. I like the old teaching method much better because the new method seems like we don't talk at all or use any scriptures. It's more like how Jesus taught, which is the right way to do it, but I'm just not used to it yet. President Gutierrez came to join us on a lesson with Ruben during the evening. He didn't think he would be able to come because he felt sick, but he said a prayer to receive health; he immediately felt better when he stepped out of his car. Guess what our lesson was about? That's right, prayer. It was a really cool example to share right during the middle of the lesson. We were going to have Ruben read Ether 3 about the Brother of Jared's prayer to the Lord to have the Lord touch the stones, but Ruben had already read it! He is the most awesome investigator anyone could ever hope for, and President Gutierrez was even floored by how prepared Ruben is.

Friday, December 20th, 2013:

I think today was my favorite day of my entire mission, thus far. We got special permission to leave the mission to go to the Los Angeles Temple Visitor's Center with Ruben and the Dos Santos family! Hermano Dos Santos is less-active (technically) because he coaches soccer all the time, so we figured it would be good to bring him with us. (Side note, he is also the uncle of world-renowned soccer star, Giovanni Dos Santos - I got to see a couple of cool pictures). We got to the Visitor's Center and went through the tour with the Dos Santos family and with Ruben. We concluded by watching the longer Joseph Smith video because we wanted to tailor the tour to the Restoration of the Gospel. Ruben absolutely loved it. It was also really neat to see the giant Christus statue at the beginning of the tour. Also, one of the Hermanas that was conducting the tour for us is friends with Elder Mask! It was really cool to see someone who is a friend of one of my MTC companions! We also viewed the Christmas lights around the temple before heading to dinner. The Dos Santos took us to the Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills - I NEVER thought I would be there on my mission. We saw two Bentleys, three Ferraris, a Rolls Royce, a Maserati and countless BMWs, Audis, and Lexus. The day was so much fun and so spiritually uplifting.

Saturday, December 21st, 2013:

In the morning, Elder Porter and I had to finish up weekly planning. Going to Los Angeles yesterday was almost two hours each way, so our weekly planning kind of got thrown out the window yesterday. We went to contact a referral on the very edge of our area, so we ended up riding the bus for about an hour each way to go contact the person. To our dismay, he wasn't home and we ended up just contacting on the bus on the way back. We weren't given a phone number to call; this referral may be difficult to contact, but the text we got said he is interested. Later in the day, Elder Porter and I got dropped by the Martinez family. It's kind of funny how when a missionary is planning on dropping an investigator that the investigator almost always drops the missionary before the missionary can even say it. After stopping by their house, we went to the church to go set up for the ward Christmas dinner. 

Sunday, December 22nd, 2013:

Church was filled with people from out of town, which was to be expected with Christmas coming up so soon. Elder Porter and I taught the oldest primary class, like usual. It's really fun to mess with Tito Guzman because he can be clumsy at times but isn't annoying like most Deacons. He tripped and fell and broke his arm about a week ago, so we tease him about it. He's a good sport and enjoys humor. After church concluded, we taught Ruben about the importance of scripture study and following the counsel of the Prophet. Our job is to teach the simple doctrines of the Church, but we got into some very deep doctrine. It was really fun to talk about, and Ruben is ready to hear it. Elder Porter and I are pretty well-versed with some deeper doctrines, and Elder Porter has all of the thousand-page Institute manuals to study from. It's fun to talk to Ruben about everything. After teaching Ruben, we went to the Montes de Oca family's home to teach Ana's boyfriend. His name is Juan, and he believes in God but doesn't believe in organized religion. The weird thing was that Hermana Bardsley and Hermana Stohlton also showed up to teach their neighbor. As a result, we organized the lesson into one big group and had four missionaries teaching one lesson on the Restoration to two investigators and a less-active family. It wasn't the best lesson just because of how difficult it is to split up the talking among four people. We also used the new teaching method, so it was a bit choppier than normal. After the lesson, Elder Porter and I helped Javier (the son) start working on his family history so that he can take his father's name to the temple to get the ordinances done. To conclude the evening, we went by the Aguilar family, who have been less-active recently. We taught them about the importance of faith and how our faith in Christ can help us overcome all of our weaknesses. They haven't been to the temple together to be sealed yet, so we are going to see what we can do to make that a reality.

This week has been really exciting, and I love teaching Ruben. We are trying to be with him every single day, in preparation for his baptism. I am also really excited to talk to my family on Christmas. I would encourage everyone to read Elder Holland's talk, "Christmas Doesn't Come From a Store," which explains the significance of the Christmas story. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and I can't wait to hear how everyone's time with their families is. Thank you again for all of your love and support!

Love,

Elder Gabriel Valley

We're Having a Baptism in December! - 12/16/13

Hey Everyone!

 

I hope everyone's week has been as exciting as mine has for the sole reason that we are having a baptism in December in the Chino Spanish Ward!

 

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013:

 

Our district met with Hermano Montanez in the morning to go over plans for the missionary work here in Chino. Our plan is to begin hosting bigger family home evenings in the homes of members. People don't ever do family home evenings here, the leaders included, so we need to help them realize the importance of living the Gospel to its fullness. In the afternoon, Elder Porter and I helped out Miguel with the last of his family history work. They still weren't interested in listening to our message, even after over 100 hours of service that Elder Low and Elder Porter did for them. They did invite us to Misa at the Catholic church in the morning on Thursday. We were really excited to go to it and see things about the culture, but it ended up getting canceled after we arrived on Thursday morning. We ended up having an appointment with the golden investigator that Elder Low and Elder Porter were able to find last week. His name is Ruban Torrado, and he is Cuban. Hermano Sazo joined us for the lesson that we taught, which focused on the Doctrine of Christ and about our missionary purpose. Ruben had read all the way through 1 Nephi and into 2 Nephi in the six days or so since he was found. He is such a solid investigator. We then extended the baptismal invitation for the 29th of December, and RUBEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! He has had at least three different instances of answered prayers telling him that the Church is true, so he is really excited to be baptized. Elder Porter and I were jumping around with joy and excitement after the lesson. That one lesson has made the last two months of searching for people to teach totally worth it.

 

Wednesday, December 11th, 2013:

 

I always love going to English class, but there was hardly anyone who came today, sadly. It is also really strange having such a small district here in Chino. There are some districts that have between eight and twelve missionaries, but ours only has four. Elder Porter and I went to go teach an investigator named Jose who should be getting baptized, but he just isn't willing to act on anything. Elder Porter has been teaching him for six months, and Jose told us that he doesn't want to continue learning. It was really sad to see him be dropped. However, it wasn't his time that he was ready to hear the message of the Restored Gospel. During the evening however, we got to teach Ruben again! Hermano Montanez joined us in the lesson as we taught Ruben about the Plan of Salvation. Ruben keeps telling us that we are basically giving him scooby snacks and that he is waiting for the giant steaks. Ruben is so knowledgeable and intelligent that he is ready for the deeper doctrines, but the deep doctrines aren't what we teach. Needless to say, Ruben is ready to progress at a much faster rate than we would have ever expected.

 

Thursday, December 12th, 2013:

 

Elder Porter had a monthly district leader training meeting with our zone leaders in Pomona, so I ended up staying with Elder White for the day in Pomona while Elder Porter was at the meeting. Elder White ran into a parked car with his bike (yes, it is as funny as it sounds) and may need surgery. I had to stay in his apartment with him and help him keep his sanity while he was resting. It made me realize how much I absolutely hate dead time; it was so boring. During the remainder of the afternoon after meeting back up with Elder Porter, we focused a lot of our time on cleaning up our apartment and putting everything in order. It is a nightmare trying to combine two different areas, but still keep them separate. We have to have everything combined so that we can cover the work for both areas, but we have to keep them separate so that if missionaries come back into Chino East they are able to hit the ground running. President Gutierrez, the first counselor in our mission presidency, wants us to have daily contact with Ruben, so we had another lesson with him. As a result, the lesson was about the Restoration. Ruben is ready to hear everything, including all of the scriptural evidence about every point of doctrine. Our lessons, therefore, go longer than expected, but Ruben is ready to hear everything and is progressing. It was also really exciting to hear him say that he now wants to convert all of his family to the Church! That also means that Elder Porter and I will have some more teaching ahead of us! Ruben is now to the point of being one of our really close friends: Elder Porter and I can talk to him about anything in life, from sports and hobbies to future plans.

 

Friday, December 13th, 2013:

 

I found it ironic that we decided to have our mission Christmas party on Friday the 13th. It was a mix of one of the most inspirational messages by President Becerra and some of the most humorous talents in the talent show. We have 266 missionaries in the mission, in addition to all of the office staff. There were about 300 people all in the same room for nearly two hours listening to President Becerra teach us about our new method of teaching with pamphlets. I don't feel comfortable with the new teaching method at all, but Elder Porter and I will adjust pretty quickly. The missionary moms from Glendora made everyone lunch. It was so awesome! They decorated the place so that I felt like it was my home. It is so nice to feel like people care about you as much as they do when you are away from home doing the work of the Lord. The talent show was really awesome, too. Two acts in particular stood out: there was a skit about the story of Samson in the Old Testament done with a lot of humor and a magic act in which the district made a bowling ball fall out of a paper bag with nothing in it. At night, Elder Porter and I taught Ruben about the Ten Commandments by using hand signals as a way to remember each of the Ten Commandments. The lesson was really easy, and Ruben is receptive to everything that we teach. He also told us that we can go to his house to call home on his computer on Christmas Day! He will get to meet our own families, too! We are also going with him to the Los Angeles Temple Visitor's Center next Saturday!

 

Saturday, December 14th, 2013:

 

Elder Porter forgot his bag at the Glendora building at the Christmas party yesterday, so we borrowed the car that the Hermanas have to go grab it in the morning. On the way back, I was able to get some new pedals for my bike and a screw to put on a little bike rack above the back tire. Doing everything on bike is very arduous, and it will be really nice to have a way to carry stuff on my bike now, in addition to having new pedals so that my shoes don't continue getting holes dug into them from metal spikes on my old pedals. Due to the mission party yesterday, we had to do weekly planning today. We also made a new map of our area made at Staples and updated all of our whiteboards with information. We are finally now fully organized and ready to work at maximum efficiency. The only lesson we were able to get in during the day was with Ruben, in which we taught about the Word of Wisdom. He has a lot of knowledge about health and had no problems with the Word of Wisdom. I still find it incredible how ready he is to receive the Gospel. He text us later in the evening to say that this is the best decision he has ever made in his life and that he is so grateful for our help. People like him are the reason I am out here right now. After teaching him the lesson, Ruben joined us to play volleyball with the ward. The ward is doing an excellent job of fellow-shipping him and making him feel welcome. It's really awesome to see.

 

Sunday, December 15th, 2013:

 

Church was really positive, and ward counsel was very productive. I can feel a different emotion in the building; all of the members seem to be happier and more enthusiastic about their respective callings. As we were planning things in ward counsel, all of the leaders seemed to have a desire to do service. During the afternoon, we went to visit the Montes de Oca family and had the chance to teach Ana's boyfriend about the Plan of Salvation. It wasn't the best lesson I have ever taught, but it went fairly well. Upon finishing that lesson, we went back to the church to go teach Ruben again. It was a lesson about the Law of Chastity, and thank goodness, it wasn't awkward. That's one of my fears with that particular lesson. However, Ruben was good with everything. He is so ready to be baptized on the 29th. I can honestly see Ruben becoming a bishop or stake president in the future because of how ready he is to receive the Gospel and how strong of a testimony he already has. During the night, we joined Hermana Bardsley and Hermana Stohlton near the home of Hermano Montanez to set up a free hot chocolate stand. There are a ton of Christmas lights (and even more people) in that area, so we decided that caroling, hot chocolate, pass-along cards, and Christmas lights were a good match. Elder Porter, Ruben and I all sang Christmas songs to attract attention to our free hot chocolate stand where the Hermanas gave out pamphlets and pass-along cards with the hot chocolate. It was pretty successful and a ton of fun. We just need to come up with creative finding ideas like that one that are just as fun.

 

Overall, the week has consisted of a lot of organization and teaching Ruben, which has made it quite successful, in my opinion. I still can't believe Christmas is in a mere nine days and I will be able to talk to my family via phone for the first time in over four months. I hope everyone remembers the true meaning of Christmas during the season: the Gospel is a message of joy to the world that is greater than any material gift. I am grateful for all of your support and love.

 

Love,

Elder Gabriel Valley

Done Training! - December 9, 2013

Hey Everyone!

 

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! Today was kind of a monumental day because I am no longer in training and am considered "fully up to speed" on everything. I also found out that half of my district was leaving, we are losing two missionaries from Chino, and I will be with Elder Porter, my district leader, to cover two areas at the same time! Due to transfers this morning, I am short on time and will have to be rather brief in my description of each day.

 

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013:

 

Elder Knight and I spent most of the day trying to contact potentials, but we ended up finding some new potentials as we contacted people in between visiting potentials. Our area has really been hurting from a lack of referrals, so we need some new people to teach. I feel like other people don't always have to work as hard for referrals as we do; we have only received three the entire transfer, despite asking every single person we run into for people that would be interested in listening to us, people that need service, people that have experienced a recent death, etc. We try so hard to get referrals, and yet we never are fortunate with receiving them. At night, we taught Enrique and ended up dropping him. He can't progress unless he lives in accordance with God's commandments, so he was actually the one who suggested that we stop meeting with him every week. It was a really friendly and mutual "parting ways," if you would like to call it that. Enrique told us that he knows the Gospel is true and needs to be baptized, but he told us that we can't do a whole lot to help him fix his situation - that is his job.

 

Wednesday, December 4th, 2013:

 

Today I was on exchanges with Elder Porter! We do exchanges once per transfer, so today was my chance to spend the day in my area with the district leader (who is now my new companion). It was a day in which we had numerous appointments set up, but nearly every single one of them fell through. I was really excited to go caroling with the Dos Santos family, especially her less-active husband who was a former professional soccer player and is the uncle of Giovanni Dos Santos, but that didn't work out either! Days like today in missionary work are the days in which we show the Lord our willingness to work for future blessings.

 

Thursday, December 5th, 2013:

 

We had district meeting in the morning, like usual. District meeting is a great opportunity to be able to learn and grow as a group of missionaries. Our lesson was about missionary health, and no one could take the lesson seriously. Lessons about health and stress are one of those things that are pretty much common sense and useless to the average person. Needless to say, I didn't really take a whole lot from the particular lesson. None of us know exactly why the mission presidency and APs wanted all of the district leaders in the mission to teach that lesson. All of the missionaries here work really hard and are actually very effective at handling stress. With so many things to do as a missionary, it can get demanding at times, but the important thing to remember is that we cannot work effectively unless we are happy and working with the proper amount of stress. The remainder of the day consisted of trying to contact a large number of people with little success.

 

Friday, December 6th, 2013:

 

Weekly planning was quite the burden today because of how discouraged Elder Knight and I were with the potential in the area. We really set out to change the people we go by to visit because it seems worthless to go by the same people ten and eleven times when they tell you to just come back another time. We cleaned out our area book and found old potentials in there from as long ago as seven years. It is really important to keep records up to date and organized so that we are able to work at maximum efficiency and not waste time sorting through old names that should have been removed long before. At night, we went to a ward activity that was hosted by the Elders Quorum and High Priests for all of the adults in the ward. It was actually really fun because they made sure to plan games and activities. The better part was that Elder Low and Elder Porter were able to find a golden investigator and bring him to the activity! His name is Ruben, and he has been church-hopping for two years looking for the truth. He even read about 15 chapters in the Book of Mormon during the first week. He had an awesome time at the activity, and Elder Low and Elder Porter were able to teach him more about the Church after the activity.

 

Saturday, December 7th, 2013:

 

Pearl Harbor Day made me think about all of the veterans and active military from our country and how blessed we are to live in this great land; despite the problems we may think we have, we are truly blessed to live in the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Elder Knight and I once again devoted most of our day to contacting potentials. We had a lesson set up with the Martinez family, but that fell through again. It's annoying when people tell you to come by but don't call you for three weeks in a row to say that they're unavailable. At night, we spent a little bit of time talking with Camilo Gomez, the only recent convert in the ward. We are helping him through the repentance process, and he is really growing as a result of his actions. I also got the alarming news at night about transfers: Elder Knight is leaving to the El Malino ward in Pasadena to be a district leader, Elder Low is leaving to Covina West, and Hermana Connelly is leaving to Arroyo Central. We will also be getting Hermana Stohlton to be with Hermana Bardsley. The craziest part was that Elder Porter will be with me here in Chino, and we will cover Chino Central and Chino East by ourselves. It's going to be tough, but it will be exciting!

 

Sunday, December 8th, 2013:

 

Church was great because Ruben came and had another awesome experience! He is seriously one of those magical three week investigators that should have heard the Gospel a long time ago because he is ready to hear it. All six of us spent time with him and taught him about different things that happen at church. Elder Knight and I then met with the Sazo family to let them wish Elder Knight goodbye. All of us went to the Christmas Devotional in Spanish at the building, and I caught about half of it. I can understand Spanish almost perfectly, but my mind gets exhausted after very long segments entirely in Spanish. In English, the difference in tone of voice helps me focus better, but it is harder to focus in Spanish when the translators sound monotone most of the time. At night, we all went to the farewell testimonies of all of the missionaries in our mission at the Foothill building in Arcadia. It was so weird to see some of the missionaries I know well departing to go home. Elder Mahoney, for instance, has been my zone leader since I got to the field and has been a great friend for me. It just goes to show how short the course of two years is.

 

Today was a little hectic with moving everything between apartments, but Elder Porter and I raided the apartment I was in for stuff to use. If it's going to sit vacant for at least a transfer, we decided to take some of the wall decorations and cooking utensils for our use. I'm really excited to serve with him; he is a great missionary and leads by example. I am even more excited to see some more improvement in Chino. The only reason I am still here in Chino is because the mission presidency trusts me, and I want to do all that I can to make Chino the "promised land" that it once was for missionary work.

 

I love you all and am appreciative of your continual support! I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and remembering that Christmas is a time to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world. The Spirit of Christ has been given to every man, and it is our job to help those who are searching for the truth come to know their Redeemer.

 

Love,

Elder Gabriel Valley

Service & Food - November 2013

December 2, 2013 - First week of December

Hey Everyone!

 

There have been some very exciting events taking place during the past few days since Thanksgiving here in the Chino Spanish Ward! I'm finally beginning to see some results from our continual efforts of working with the ward leadership to help get this ward on its feet.

 

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013:

 

Elder Knight finally got the right amount of money put onto his card after like two weeks of nagging, so we were finally able to go buy groceries. Once again, we got held up later in the day doing service for the Sazos for much longer than we would have anticipated (or wanted). Upon finishing service, it was time to go visit Enrique Olvera and teach him about the Plan of Salvation. It was a great lesson. To our dismay, however, Enrique did tell us that he is waiting for a major event to happen before he is ever going to get baptized. He doesn't live one of the basic Ten Commandments, and he will never receive an answer unless he truly chooses to repent. Sadly, we will likely be required to drop him soon. After teaching him, we went up to the church to meet with President Gutierrez, the first counselor in the mission presidency. He lives in the area that Elder Knight and I cover, which is really awesome. He is one inspiring man. He is also extremely intelligent; he sells implants for the human spine as a living. His practical and charasmatic approach to things make him an excellent asset to have in our mission presidency. During our meeting with him and our district, President Gutierrez told us that the ward will not become inspired or be as inspired as it needs to be unless we are able to baptize by our own accord. It was funny to hear him describe our ward as a foreign country because of the numerous problems that we are trying to patch up at the moment. He was also very encouraging by telling us that, unless we are having fun, we need to repent. I think I was getting too caught up in the stresses of the mission and how to fix all of the problems that I wasn't as happy as I could have been. He also instructed us to do more service people during this time of year, and that also means doing service as a priority over contacting people on the street. Basically, we need to change our image from being "finders" of people ready to hear the Gospel to "servants" of our fellow man. To finish off the day, I grabbed my stuff and went over to Chino Central to spend the night with my buddy, Elder Low! I will be going on exchanges on Wednesday!

 

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013:

 

Elder Low and I made a concerted effort to work really hard in his area for the day. We put A LOT of miles on the bikes. To begin the day, our district met up with Obispo Arriaga at his house for breakfast and to talk about how we can help make his job easier. We found out that he has been very stressed out lately with all of the problems in the ward, so we began throwing out ideas of things that he can assign us to do in order to help him make his job easier. A bishop has numerous responsibilities and doesn't have enough time to fulfill all of them all of the time. Bishop Kimzey, I would like to personally thank you for being such a great example of a bishop to me. I have learned from your example of leadership how to help the leadership here in Chino. We are all finally beginning to be on the same page with missionary work. Upon finishing the meeting, Elder Low and I went to Miguel's house to help him do more of his family history work. I'm not going to lie, it was really boring. Elder Low and I later went out contacting potentials and less-active members. We didn't have much success during the middle of the day, but during the night we were able to talk to the Montes de Oca family, a less-active family in the ward. I talked to them the last time I was on exchanges with Elder Low, and it was wonderful seeing them again! Hermana Montes de Oca even remembered me by name and all about me! It made me happy that I had at least made an impact like that on someone. We convinced them to try coming back to church this Sunday, so it was a good visit, too.

 

Thursday, November 28th, 2013:

 

Holidays feel so weird on the mission. We can't really go "bother" families that aren't members, so we have to focus all of our attention on the members of the ward who are around. We had district meeting in the morning, which was very productive. Our district is full of some rock-solid missionaries with even firmer testimonies. At the end of the meeting, Hermana Bardsley brought up the problem that we haven't been talking to enough people. I hadn't realized it was as big of a problem that we, as missionaries, needed to fix -- it stemmed all the way back to the ward Halloween party. We will do better in the future. After finishing district meeting, we went to go play soccer at the park against the Pomona ward. It was so much fun! I'm so bad at soccer, but I love sports, as I'm sure you are all very well aware. Upon getting back, Elder Knight and I decided to bake some brownies to help the members trust us again. If there is ever a conflict of interests, the best way to resolve the conflict is through service. Therefore, we decided to serve our members. The Montanez family, especially, was very grateful for our small act of service. For Thanksgiving dinner, or should I say for the TWO Thanksgiving dinners, we went to the Sazos and to the Morenos. I missed the traditional American Thanksgiving with turkey and potatoes. We had a few dishes from El Salvador and from Guatemala which were good, but they weren't turkey and potatoes. I don't mean to be picky, but that's what Thanksgiving consists of! It was probably the first time in the mission field where I would have rather had American food than Latino food. It was funny to see how much I missed turkey and potatoes. While at the Morenos, we were able to talk to a few non-members about missionary work. We never have a day off from being a missionary, and the joy that comes from sharing the Gospel is greater than anything else.

 

Friday, November 29th, 2013:

 

Weekly planning took a little longer than normal just because of how focused Elder Knight and I were on changing things about the area to promote greater success. Upon finishing weekly planning, we went to go do laundry (yes, it had been 11 days since I had done laundry - due to the money situation with Elder Knight's card - and I was almost out of clothes!). We were able to contact a guy in the laundromat and talk to him about our beliefs. He talked with missionaries for a long time, but eventually decided not to be baptized. It was sad to hear that he never wanted to, but it was a good contact. On our way to contact a referral, we stopped at some other people who invited us to eat some chicken with them. They were in town for Thanksgiving visiting their family and invited us to come back next week to share a message with them! To conclude the evening, we went to go eat dinner with the Ramirez family. To our surprise, we found a former Elder from our mission there! His name was Elder Parry, but he finished his mission in August of this year. Elder Knight knew him, and we were able to hear all about his mission experiences in the Arcadia mission. It was also cool to learn that he, like me, was trained in Chino and covered many of the same areas. When we got back to the apartment, Elder Knight and I called President Gutierrez to tell him about our meeting with Obispo that we had on Wednesday. President was really excited to hear how well it went, and he told us he will be coming to the ward on Sundayand also attending ward council. Things are really falling into place!

 

Saturday, November 30th, 2013:

 

In the morning, all of the Elders in our district went to go help Hermana Herrera (no relation to the other Herrera family in the ward) go move to another apartment that is still located in our area. Overall, today consisted of visiting many different members of the ward to check up on them and see how they are doing with the basic things, such as reading scriptures and doing their callings. Elder Knight and I decided to ditch the bikes and walk everywhere today, in hopes of finding people on the streets to talk to. Unfortunately, as is usually the case in Chino, there was NO ONE at all on the streets walking around during the day. It is difficult to find new people here. We are trying to do everything we can to find some new people that are ready to listen to us, but it is just tough. On our way to ward volleyball at night, we went to a taco stand and contacted a very nice gentleman who is Catholic (like most Latino people). Our major problem is that the initial contact is awesome, but people are just too skeptical to give us their address or phone number to contact them later. They love talking to us, but then they always say that they are too busy to talk to us. That taco place had some of the best tacos I have ever had, though, so that was the positive part of that stop. To finish off the evening, we played volleyball at the church with the ward.

 

Sunday, December 1st, 2013:

 

President Gutierrez joined us in ward council in the morning, in addition to coming to Sacrament Meeting. It was so awesome having him in ward council because he was able to help us help the leaders keep everything focused and on track. He has a tremendous spirit about him. We did a ton of work with Obispo Arriaga after church, especially with helping him update the almost five year-old records that are very out-dated. One other exciting thing that happened at church was that we had three less-active families all return to church! During the afternoon, we met with Hermano Montanez because he finally received the "special assignment" from Obispo to act as our ward mission leader, indefinitely. The problem is that our active Priesthood all have stake callings because they are all so good, and then they can't have ward callings as a result. Our Priesthood in the ward isn't big enough to fill the basic callings, and the stake president won't release any of the stake leaders. Hermano Montanez is now serving as a high councilor, in addition to serving as our ward mission leader by special assignment. We had a great meeting with him, and I can tell he has the drive and fire to get this ward baptizing. Our numbers for key indicators for the week were very low, but our efforts have been focused on different things during the past few days. Our progress at the moment is coming in the form of ward progress, not baptisms in the ward. It's not our true calling, but it's what we have to do to help this ward stay afloat. President Gutierrez basically described the situation as trying to use buckets to keep the titanic afloat. It will take time; however, our buckets seem to be getting bigger.

 

All in all, this week has been very exciting and eye-opening. I have learned so much about the workings of the Church from the view of leadership. It's really neat to see how the different Priesthood keys work together to fulfill all of the various responsibilities that have to be fulfilled. We have transfers next Monday, so I will know if I'm staying in Chino on Saturday night. No one in our district wants to leave here because we are really beginning to understand how to tackle all of the complex problems in the area that have arisen over time -- it would be a step backwards to replace any of us. I definitely feel like I was placed here to utilize my problem-solving skills.

 

I want to thank all of you for your wonderful support and love! I miss you all and appreciate all that you all do for me!

 

Love,

Elder Gabriel Valley