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
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