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
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