Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! This week has, once again,
been full of inputting records into the Area Book app on the iPads. We
are about two-thirds of the way done, so we will hopefully meet the
deadline of finishing by the end of the transfer on Sunday night. We
have also been blessed with some great success in teaching, too!
Tuesday, February 18th, 2014:
For the second time, Elder Knapp and I went to go visit Hermano
Ferrufino, who is a less-active member. He is the only member in his
family. We taught him about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon;
he says that he has read it and has never actually received an
"answer" of whether or not it is true. The thing that he really lacks
is actually applying its precepts. We cannot know of a surety of
anything in the Gospel, unless we are willing to act and apply what
the Gospel actually teaches. As the day continued, I realized how
unlucky we were today: every single appointment (all five or six) that
we had set up ended up falling through. We have been trying to teach a
couple of single ladies with the aid of a few Hermanos in the ward,
but our member present lessons ended up not working out. As a result,
we weren't able to actually have the lessons. Elder Knapp and I have
been averaging about fifteen records per day that we put into the
iPads, which takes about two hours. Today, we put in about
twenty-seven in the span of just shy of three hours. It is long and
tedious, but it is totally necessary. At night, we ate dinner at the
Castanedas to eat dinner. They are moving to Fontana, CA this Saturday
and seem to be quite stressed out; we offered to help them move, and
they gladly took us up on it. I am really going to miss them, and they
commented on how long I have been in Chino. I guess I really have been
here a while...
Wednesday, February 19th, 2014:
English class today was particularly fun because we were able to talk
about talking on the phone. That is one of Elder Knight's "Milestones
of Spanish." Talking on the phone is one of the most difficult things
to do in a foreign language, and it was so great being able to help
others with the same thing that I struggled with for about the first
three months here in the mission field. I have been working with the
same group of people there at English class. I love seeing their
progress and helping them learn! I talk to them in Spanish a bunch
when we have breaks, so I am also able to help my Spanish improve from
them. After English class, Elder Knapp and I were cruising and managed
to put in about thirty records in about three hours. The rest of the
day failed to yield any teaching appointments. I'm not quite sure why
we aren't seeing the same success as the first couple of weeks during
the transfer, but hopefully things will start picking up again!
Thursday, February 20th, 2014:
Every three months, we have the privilege of attending Zone
Conference. I was so excited to go to Zone Conference today! We have
the opportunity to listen to our mission president and the AP's for
about seven hours. It sounds like a long time, but it absolutely flies
by. We focused on the importance of the "Rock of Revelation" that is
referenced in the seventh chapter of Matthew in the parable about the
Wise Man and the Foolish Man. As we lay our foundation on Christ, we
are able to have the "Rock of Revelation," which refers to the
personal revelation that we can receive in our lives as we do the
three most basic things: read the scriptures, pray, and attend church.
They seem to be the three that people neglect the easiest, but it is
impossible to have that personal revelation if any of the three aren't
present. Elder Mostert, one of the AP's, also had an AWESOME analogy.
In D&C 8:3, it makes a reference to the Spirit of Revelation being the
same Spirit that led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground.
I never knew what it meant before Elder Mostert explained it. He said
that the Israelites left all of their trials and temptations behind
them in the Red Sea (these are the symbol represented by Pharaoh's
army) in the waters of baptism; they then arose from the depths of the
ocean (going into the grave) and were "reborn" as new people on the
other side with the Holy Spirit to guide their way (born of the
Spirit, as mentioned in John 3:5). It was so enlightening and made so
much sense! It also helped me understand a little bit more fully how
important the ordinance of baptism truly is. During the evening, Elder
Knapp and I taught Bertha, Jo-Jo and Arnaldo about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We were very bold with them in teaching. Bertha asked us if we
believe if her baptism "was valid," and we responded with asking her
if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. If Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then the Book of Mormon is true; if Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then the Priesthood was restored; if Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Are you sensing
a pattern? It is essential to have a testimony of the Restored Gospel
to be truly converted, and that is why we, as missionaries, place so
much emphasis on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friday, February 21st, 2014:
Elder Knapp and I had the potential to have an awesome morning, but
all of our plans fell through. It is really hard to find Hermanos in
the ward who are available to help us with teaching in the mornings,
and we weren't able to teach any of the single ladies that we set up
lessons with. It may have ended up being a blessing in disguise. We
were able to get going on weekly planning early before beginning to
input records into the Area Book app. We spent over five hours today
putting in records, and we still have way too much to do! It's crazy
how long it takes... At night, we went to the Dominguez family to have
dinner with them. Well, they kind of forgot that we were coming for
dinner, even though we reminded them. We shared a quick spiritual
thought with them and then went to visit a less-active member. Emma
Rodriguez is a member but is less-active. She ended up feeding us
after I sort of tried to lie to her and say that we had already eaten
(oops!). I just hate making people feel obligated to feed us. I guess
I don't lie very well... She is so nice and was very friendly. I just
felt bad that she ended up going out of her way to look after us.
After visiting her, Hermano Castro came with Elder Knapp and I to
teach Martha Segura, who is a new investigator. The lesson went really
well, but Hermano Castro ended up saying a little too much at the end
of the lesson. We don't want to spend more than fifteen minutes
teaching the Restoration; we ended up being in her house for over
thirty. It's hard when the members aren't familiar with our new
teaching method; we need to prepare them better. Hermano Castro did do
an awesome job of helping her understand the importance of baptism,
though. She was a little shocked that we were so bold about inviting
her, but she understands the goal now!
Saturday, February 22nd, 2014:
Elder Knapp and I woke up early to help the Castanedas move. We spent
about four hours helping them move all of their stuff into two
different trailers. It's really sad to see them go because I have
developed such a good relationship with them; I have been visiting
them ever since I was with Elder Knight about four months ago. Upon
returning, we ended up spending the remainder of the day inputting
records into the iPads. I think I sat in a chair in the church for
about five hours straight. It is so exhausting, but it has to be done.
I hope we meet our deadline of finishing by next Sunday! At night, we
went to ward volleyball, which had a surprisingly high turnout! Ruben
brought his nephew, and the Hermanas were able to get one of their
investigator families to come. It was really fun, and I love spending
time with the members here!
Sunday, February 23rd, 2014:
Church was pretty routine today, with the only exception being that
Elder Knapp and I had the opportunity to teach the youth with Hermano
Kirk. That class is so awkward... no one talks! As a teacher, the only
way to have a successful lesson is to get the investigator to talk; if
you are trying to listen and don't think for yourself, listening won't
profit you at all. Feedback is what a teacher has to be able to teach.
The rest of the day consisted of Elder Knapp and I trying to run
around to different potential investigators and set up return
appointments for the coming week. We were fortunate enough to find
Bertha, Joseph and Jo-Jo home to have a lesson with them. We taught
about the three fundamentals for receiving revelation: reading the
scriptures, praying and going to church. We also read in 1 Nephi 4
with them. They agreed to do a church tour this coming week! They are
making significant progress, but they definitely need time to adjust.
Elder Knapp and I were also able to meet with David Sierra during the
afternoon. He was apparently baptized when he was eleven, but he
doesn't remember anything; he has been inactive for a number of years.
He loved learning about the Restoration, especially learning it
through our new teaching method. We have gotten nothing but positive
feedback about this new teaching style; it's awesome! At night, we
talked to the Hermanas about the status of their area (something that
Elder Knapp has to do every Sunday night as district leader). They
told us that they talked to President Becerra during the day for an
interview, and he told them that he doesn't have any plans to make any
changes in Chino this coming transfer. That means that I will likely
be staying in Chino for my fifth transfer! That is almost unheard of
to begin a mission in one area and stay in the first area for more
than seven months. We will see what happens with transfer calls on
Saturday, but I will likely be staying!
Hopefully everyone is enjoying the week and enjoying the last few days
of February! It's amazing how fast time flies; I can't believe that
it's almost March. Thanks again for all of your love and support! I
appreciate all that you do for me! Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
Monday, February 24, 2014
iPads Have Arrived! - February 17, 2014
Hey Everyone!
So first off, like the title says, we have received iPads! I don't
have access to my list of contacts on here...
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014:
We went to Arcadia to go to the iPad training meetings in the morning.
It was quite the experience because the top three people in the entire
missionary department of the Church were all present for the release
of the iPads for our mission. Our zone leaders and a few other select
missionaries in the mission have had the iPads for about a month now,
and they were able to teach all of us how to use the devices. We are
in the process of moving our entire Area Book over to the iPads to
make everything digital. It is quite a tedious and lengthy process,
and it will not be done until the end of this transfer (two weeks from
now). I was counting down the days, hours and minutes until that
meeting, and these iPads are awesome! After finishing up with the
meeting there in Arcadia, we went with the zone leaders to finally
finish closing down the old apartment on Oaks and Riverside. It felt
so great to hand the keys over to the landlord and just be done with
cleaning that old apartment. Elder Knapp and I were able to find a new
investigator named Maria Rodriguez today. She has quite the Christian
background, and we ended up having to explain things in more detail to
her than we would have liked to help her understand the difference
with our message. It was a good lesson, just longer than we would
like. It's tough to help people understand that we don't want to sit
down and talk for an hour. As for the remainder of the day, we spent a
great deal of time trying to find new investigators; it seems like we
have gotten a little bit unlucky with finding people home.
Wednesday, February 12th, 2014:
After stopping by a number of different times, we were finally able to
visit with Hermano Ferrufino, who is a less-active member. He is the
only member in his family and has a fairly weak testimony of the Book
of Mormon. We are planning on paying a few more visits to his house to
work with him and to hopefully also work with his family. After
visiting him, Elder Knapp and I went to English class, as is usual for
Wednesdays. There were a ton of people there. Thank goodness, we had
ten missionaries (four Spanish and six English) to help out. I love
being able to do service for people; it is one of my absolute favorite
parts of being a missionary. Later on in the day, Elder Knapp and I
went to the Church to begin inputting records into the Area Book app
on the iPads. It will be an EXTREMELY long process. We can do about
twelve records per hour, and we have two Area Books to go through,
each with at least a couple hundred names total of investigators,
potential investigators, etc. During the evening, Elder Knapp and I
discovered that Martin Ramirez apparently moved from his house about
two or three days ago. We have been trying to find him and teach him
again, but we have been unable to find him for about two weeks. The
really sad part was that he had a baptismal date for this Sunday. I
feel like our teaching pool is quickly shrinking in size. We seem to
be finding investigators that will listen to us for two, three or four
lessons and then lose interest when they finally realize that they are
expected to make the effort to actually do something with what we
teach them.
Thursday, February 13th, 2014:
I think you may find a pattern with inputting stuff in the Area Book.
In the morning, we had our weekly district meeting about (you guessed
it) putting stuff into the Area Book. It was interesting to hear
everyone's perspectives on the process of inputting information; we
all love having the iPads as a teaching tool, but the time that we
have to sacrifice from actually teaching to be able to sit down and
input names and lessons into the iPads isn't exactly desirable. It is
a necessary process and will prove beneficial in the long run,
however. After finishing district meeting, (you guessed it again) we
put in more names into the Area Book app on the iPads! Since there are
only four of us in our district, we all decided to have an "Area Book
Party." We all pitched in a few bucks and bought some pizza to eat
while we inputted names. I would love to say that it was fun, but that
would be a lie. It was the most uneventful party I have ever been a
part of. Needless to say, the pizza was the best part of the party.
Elder Knapp and I got about 27 or 28 names into the Area Book, though,
so it was quite productive! As far as teaching goes for the day, we
were unsuccessful with finding anyone. I'm a little bit worried about
our numbers because of how much time we have been sacrificing to try
to get everything into the tablets. It is a slow process and takes
time away from finding and teaching.
Friday, February 14th, 2014:
I guess you could say that I spent Valentine's Day (or "El Dia del
Amor y la Amistad" as they call it in Spanish) with my new best
friend, my iPad. What that means is (you guessed it again) that I
spent a great deal of time inputting records into the Area Book!
Weekly planning was quite interesting using the iPads. It's kind of
difficult to keep track of all of the investigators because we aren't
using our whiteboard to write down everyone's name in one place with
all of their needs and lesson plans. I improvised and decided to use
the "Notes" app on the tablet. After weekly planning, Elder Knapp and
I spent more time (yep, you guessed it) putting in names into the Area
Book. I can seriously now understand why people get tired of desk
jobs; it is quite a drag. I think we are about one-third of the way
done with putting in just the former investigators, so we still have
quite the workload ahead of us. The rest of the day consisted of
trying to visit people and have a lesson but setting up return
appointments. I think most people are lying to us when they tell us
that they don't even have fifteen minutes to listen to us. It was also
really funny when a lady started yelling at me when I asked her if she
was sure if her tenant was home or not. People can be really rude, and
it's actually kind of funny to laugh at how ridiculous they sound
sometimes. At the conclusion of the day, I definitely found myself
thinking of my parents and sister more than usual, seeing that it was
Valentine's Day. I like the name for it in Spanish better because it
translates to "The Day of Love and Friendship." True love should
create the best friendship, and the name of the holiday in Spanish
recognizes the importance of friendship, too.
Saturday, February 15th, 2014:
Guess what I did again today? You're right. I put in more records into
the Area Book. As the day progressed, the optimism that I had coming
into the day began to wane. We had everything set up to have a
successful day with many return appointments, but everything that we
had set up fell through. Canceled appointments seemed to be a
recurring problem today. At night, we went to go play volleyball with
the ward. To our dismay, only about four other people showed up: the
Mendoza family, Ruben and Mauricio. We had a ton of fun playing
three-on-three, though. I played with Hermano and Hermana Mendoza, and
Elder Knapp joined up with Ruben and Mauricio. We played four quick
games to 25 and split the games 2-2. It was one of the more fun times
playing volleyball, even though not very many people showed up.
Sunday, February 16th, 2014:
Church was quite fun because I realized how much we can do with the
iPads. Elder Knapp and I taught Gospel Principles about the topic of
the Spirit World, and the iPads proved to be such a great teaching
tool. It's awesome to be able to pull up my notes, scriptures, manual
and pictures all on such a small little device. We went to Ward
Council after church ended. I don't really think we needed to be
there, but Obispo Arriaga covered many important points of discussion.
After Ward Council, guess what we did? We spent another hour and a
half entering information. I think I will be out of conference talks
to listen to by the time this is all done! As the day continued, we
were able to find a new investigator named Idie Ortiz. She has been a
member of several different Christian churches, and she has great
faith in God. We brought Hermano Montanez with us to teach her, and it
was a pretty powerful lesson. I think she can definitely progress.
While we didn't teach or find as much as I would have liked, I am so
very grateful for the opportunity to be able to use the iPads in the
lessons that we do teach. They will prove to move missionary work
forward quite possibly more than any other tool in recent history
(with the exception of Preach My Gospel). If everyone can use these
iPads in the way that the Church intends, the efficiency in our
teaching and finding should skyrocket.
This has been quite the exciting week! I think I have already
belabored this point, but putting in information into the iPads has
taken priority of much of the week. I hope everyone had a wonderful
Valentine's Day and that you continue to think about the people in
life who matter most. I am grateful for all of your love and support!
Have a great week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
So first off, like the title says, we have received iPads! I don't
have access to my list of contacts on here...
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014:
We went to Arcadia to go to the iPad training meetings in the morning.
It was quite the experience because the top three people in the entire
missionary department of the Church were all present for the release
of the iPads for our mission. Our zone leaders and a few other select
missionaries in the mission have had the iPads for about a month now,
and they were able to teach all of us how to use the devices. We are
in the process of moving our entire Area Book over to the iPads to
make everything digital. It is quite a tedious and lengthy process,
and it will not be done until the end of this transfer (two weeks from
now). I was counting down the days, hours and minutes until that
meeting, and these iPads are awesome! After finishing up with the
meeting there in Arcadia, we went with the zone leaders to finally
finish closing down the old apartment on Oaks and Riverside. It felt
so great to hand the keys over to the landlord and just be done with
cleaning that old apartment. Elder Knapp and I were able to find a new
investigator named Maria Rodriguez today. She has quite the Christian
background, and we ended up having to explain things in more detail to
her than we would have liked to help her understand the difference
with our message. It was a good lesson, just longer than we would
like. It's tough to help people understand that we don't want to sit
down and talk for an hour. As for the remainder of the day, we spent a
great deal of time trying to find new investigators; it seems like we
have gotten a little bit unlucky with finding people home.
Wednesday, February 12th, 2014:
After stopping by a number of different times, we were finally able to
visit with Hermano Ferrufino, who is a less-active member. He is the
only member in his family and has a fairly weak testimony of the Book
of Mormon. We are planning on paying a few more visits to his house to
work with him and to hopefully also work with his family. After
visiting him, Elder Knapp and I went to English class, as is usual for
Wednesdays. There were a ton of people there. Thank goodness, we had
ten missionaries (four Spanish and six English) to help out. I love
being able to do service for people; it is one of my absolute favorite
parts of being a missionary. Later on in the day, Elder Knapp and I
went to the Church to begin inputting records into the Area Book app
on the iPads. It will be an EXTREMELY long process. We can do about
twelve records per hour, and we have two Area Books to go through,
each with at least a couple hundred names total of investigators,
potential investigators, etc. During the evening, Elder Knapp and I
discovered that Martin Ramirez apparently moved from his house about
two or three days ago. We have been trying to find him and teach him
again, but we have been unable to find him for about two weeks. The
really sad part was that he had a baptismal date for this Sunday. I
feel like our teaching pool is quickly shrinking in size. We seem to
be finding investigators that will listen to us for two, three or four
lessons and then lose interest when they finally realize that they are
expected to make the effort to actually do something with what we
teach them.
Thursday, February 13th, 2014:
I think you may find a pattern with inputting stuff in the Area Book.
In the morning, we had our weekly district meeting about (you guessed
it) putting stuff into the Area Book. It was interesting to hear
everyone's perspectives on the process of inputting information; we
all love having the iPads as a teaching tool, but the time that we
have to sacrifice from actually teaching to be able to sit down and
input names and lessons into the iPads isn't exactly desirable. It is
a necessary process and will prove beneficial in the long run,
however. After finishing district meeting, (you guessed it again) we
put in more names into the Area Book app on the iPads! Since there are
only four of us in our district, we all decided to have an "Area Book
Party." We all pitched in a few bucks and bought some pizza to eat
while we inputted names. I would love to say that it was fun, but that
would be a lie. It was the most uneventful party I have ever been a
part of. Needless to say, the pizza was the best part of the party.
Elder Knapp and I got about 27 or 28 names into the Area Book, though,
so it was quite productive! As far as teaching goes for the day, we
were unsuccessful with finding anyone. I'm a little bit worried about
our numbers because of how much time we have been sacrificing to try
to get everything into the tablets. It is a slow process and takes
time away from finding and teaching.
Friday, February 14th, 2014:
I guess you could say that I spent Valentine's Day (or "El Dia del
Amor y la Amistad" as they call it in Spanish) with my new best
friend, my iPad. What that means is (you guessed it again) that I
spent a great deal of time inputting records into the Area Book!
Weekly planning was quite interesting using the iPads. It's kind of
difficult to keep track of all of the investigators because we aren't
using our whiteboard to write down everyone's name in one place with
all of their needs and lesson plans. I improvised and decided to use
the "Notes" app on the tablet. After weekly planning, Elder Knapp and
I spent more time (yep, you guessed it) putting in names into the Area
Book. I can seriously now understand why people get tired of desk
jobs; it is quite a drag. I think we are about one-third of the way
done with putting in just the former investigators, so we still have
quite the workload ahead of us. The rest of the day consisted of
trying to visit people and have a lesson but setting up return
appointments. I think most people are lying to us when they tell us
that they don't even have fifteen minutes to listen to us. It was also
really funny when a lady started yelling at me when I asked her if she
was sure if her tenant was home or not. People can be really rude, and
it's actually kind of funny to laugh at how ridiculous they sound
sometimes. At the conclusion of the day, I definitely found myself
thinking of my parents and sister more than usual, seeing that it was
Valentine's Day. I like the name for it in Spanish better because it
translates to "The Day of Love and Friendship." True love should
create the best friendship, and the name of the holiday in Spanish
recognizes the importance of friendship, too.
Saturday, February 15th, 2014:
Guess what I did again today? You're right. I put in more records into
the Area Book. As the day progressed, the optimism that I had coming
into the day began to wane. We had everything set up to have a
successful day with many return appointments, but everything that we
had set up fell through. Canceled appointments seemed to be a
recurring problem today. At night, we went to go play volleyball with
the ward. To our dismay, only about four other people showed up: the
Mendoza family, Ruben and Mauricio. We had a ton of fun playing
three-on-three, though. I played with Hermano and Hermana Mendoza, and
Elder Knapp joined up with Ruben and Mauricio. We played four quick
games to 25 and split the games 2-2. It was one of the more fun times
playing volleyball, even though not very many people showed up.
Sunday, February 16th, 2014:
Church was quite fun because I realized how much we can do with the
iPads. Elder Knapp and I taught Gospel Principles about the topic of
the Spirit World, and the iPads proved to be such a great teaching
tool. It's awesome to be able to pull up my notes, scriptures, manual
and pictures all on such a small little device. We went to Ward
Council after church ended. I don't really think we needed to be
there, but Obispo Arriaga covered many important points of discussion.
After Ward Council, guess what we did? We spent another hour and a
half entering information. I think I will be out of conference talks
to listen to by the time this is all done! As the day continued, we
were able to find a new investigator named Idie Ortiz. She has been a
member of several different Christian churches, and she has great
faith in God. We brought Hermano Montanez with us to teach her, and it
was a pretty powerful lesson. I think she can definitely progress.
While we didn't teach or find as much as I would have liked, I am so
very grateful for the opportunity to be able to use the iPads in the
lessons that we do teach. They will prove to move missionary work
forward quite possibly more than any other tool in recent history
(with the exception of Preach My Gospel). If everyone can use these
iPads in the way that the Church intends, the efficiency in our
teaching and finding should skyrocket.
This has been quite the exciting week! I think I have already
belabored this point, but putting in information into the iPads has
taken priority of much of the week. I hope everyone had a wonderful
Valentine's Day and that you continue to think about the people in
life who matter most. I am grateful for all of your love and support!
Have a great week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
Monday, February 10, 2014
Nineteen Hours Until iPads! - February 10, 2014
Hey Everyone!
As you can probably tell from the title of this email, I am anxiously awaiting 9 AM tomorrow morning! At that time tomorrow morning, my zone will be receiving iPads to use as missionaries! It's really exciting! We will no longer be using paper planners, area books, paper dictionaries, or paper books, for that matter. The head of the entire missionary department of the Church will even be there in that meeting. It's quite a step forward and really marks the point at which missionaries will be entering the "technological age." I am also excited to say that, even though next week is a holiday (meaning the library will be closed), we will still be able to email from our iPads next Monday on P-day!
Tuesday, February 4th, 2014:
Elder Knapp and I have been extremely fortunate to find great success over the past couple of weeks. The only bad part about that is that we are bound to run into a roadblock in the near future (as seems to always be the case). In the morning, Hermano Dos Santos came with us to help us on a lesson. He is one of my favorite people in the whole ward, so I was excited to have him join us. The lady ended up canceling at her doorstep, so Elder Knapp and I ended up going with Hermano Dos Santos back to his house to take down his Christmas lights. He has been having back problems and hasn't been able to do it. He took us to Taco Bell afterwards. I'm not really sure how I ever liked fast food before the mission, especially fast food that tries to imitate Mexican food. I can make authentic Mexican tacos that are homemade in the apartment for cheaper that are way better. Regardless, it was good spending the time with Hermano Dos Santos, and I definitely view him as one of my best friends in the Chino Ward. During the remainder of the day, Elder Knapp and I visited at least twenty different people. We taught Lino about the Book of Mormon; he is progressing ever so slowly, and it seems like a lot of what we tell him goes into one ear and out of the other. The other bright spot of the day after working so hard was receiving not one, but two referrals from the Walnut Park English Elders! Elder Morgan is a visa waiter to Brazil and was able to talk to two different Hispanic people using Portuguese to get us two referrals! Like my zone leader, Elder Trauntvein, told me, "When we do things that need to be done, even if they aren't directly related to our missionary purpose (I will talk more about that in a second), the Lord will bless us in other facets of the work." There are just so many enlightening lessons to learn on the mission.
Wednesday, February 5th, 2014:
Today felt kind of like a wasted day. My whole zone went to Azusa to have our interviews with President Becerra, which were the make-up interviews from about one month ago. I told President Becerra that my biggest "weapon of rebellion" on the mission is probably the fact that I like to talk. He told me that "whenever we are talking, He [referring to the Holy Ghost] isn't." It was a concise statement that illustrated why I need to talk less. As you probably can tell from the length of my emails, clearly I have a long way to go. After finishing interviews, Elder Knapp and I went with the zone leaders to Arcadia to pick up a moving van. Remember when I quoted Elder Trauntvein about doing stuff unrelated to our purpose? Here is why: Elder Knapp and I have to help out the zone leaders with cleaning out the old apartment in Chino. It isn't something that we particularly want to do, and it won't help with finding new people to teach; however, it is something that has to be done, and the Lord will provide. The whole day ended up being used to start moving out furniture and continue cleaning. I enjoyed the time getting to know the zone leaders, though. I found out that Elder Trauntvein lived in that same apartment (the same one that I was in for three months) during a transfer about one calendar year ago. Our zone leaders are great examples, and it was a wonderful opportunity to learn from them.
Thursday, February 6th, 2014:
In the morning, we all went to Pomona for zone meeting. Elder Chandler and Elder Trauntvein are exceptional teachers; they instructed us on the importance of incorporating the "Ten Points for How to Begin Teaching" into everything that we do as missionaries. There is a page in Preach My Gospel that contains a list of ten points. Those ten points were direct revelation to Boyd K. Packer one evening and immediately put into Preach My Gospel when Preach My Gospel was being written in the early 2000s. When Elder Knapp and I returned to Chino, we had to use the better part of the afternoon to help the Hermanas with their bikes, which ate up more time than we wanted. After that, the zone leaders came to Chino to do round two of cleaning out the old apartment. I now understand why people dread moving. That apartment was DISGUSTING. I don't know how I lived there for three months, and I can't even imagine what other apartments must be like behind the beds and in the back of cabinets. Suffice it to say that I have a new found motivation to be even cleaner than I was before. At night, Elder Knapp and I got to work trying to contact the seven referrals we had accumulated over the past couple of days. It was a record high for me ever. I probably had seven referrals in my whole first three transfers in Chino. We were unable to get any lessons, although we did find some solid potentials and return appointments.
Friday, February 7th, 2014:
Elder Knapp and I have very similar personalities, and I love working with him. We both love sports, being neat, working hard and are very easy-going. During weekly planning, we spent a little bit of time reorganizing a new bookcase we got from the old apartment. President Becerra always admonishes, "You cannot expect to receive revelation if you aren't organized; God is a god of order." We were able to contact a few of our referrals today, including Carlos Balandran. We taught him the Restoration lesson outside his house because he wouldn't let us inside. It was a good lesson, and I can definitely see him as one who will progress. After the end of the lesson, I got the distinct impression that I need to invite him to be baptized on March 2nd during the next lesson we have with him. We will see how that goes when we teach him next. The second new investigator that we were able to find is named Hiberto. He seemed a little skeptical of what we were sharing, but he did invite us back to meet again. Hopefully he blossoms into something, too. The time that was spent working in the old apartment seems to be paying off. Speaking of cleaning the old apartment, Elder Knapp and I also spent about an hour in there today mopping the floors. I swear, cleaning is a never-ending battle, especially when you don't even live in the place where you are cleaning (I'm still trying to figure out how that one works).
Saturday, February 8th, 2014:
Elder Knapp and I worked extremely hard today to get even a single lesson in. By 7 PM, we had gone through all of our triple back-up plans for every single time slot of our day. It was literally insane how many people we visited that were not home or were unavailable. Despite the struggles, we did manage to find one new investigator on the day! His name is Joseph Rodarte, and he is the son of one of the older ladies we are currently teaching. The lesson with him went well. Joseph claims that he doesn't want to change at all, but I believe that he is really beginning to understand why the gospel leads to changes in the lives of everyone who hears it. At night, we were able to teach Ruben for the first time in almost three weeks. Ruben says that he is struggling with vanity because he seeks after a nice house and a nice car. We were able to talk to him about the importance of goal-setting and always putting the Lord first in our goals. It isn't bad to seek for material wealth, as long as we have the right intentions and goals behind it. After finishing the lesson with him, we played volleyball with the ward. The Mendoza family even invited a few people from Pomona to join us! It was a great activity.
Sunday, February 9th, 2014:
Church was fairly routine, except that Hermano Moran invited us to help him talk to Ruben about cutting his hair. It was kind of funny that Hermano Moran wanted us to help him with it, but he explained it extremely well. We look very professional because they are standards or rules to officiate in Priesthood ordinances. It isn't a requirement, but rather a standard. Elder Knapp and I also worked extremely hard today to try to find new investigators and more lessons. We were very fortunate to be able to teach our new investigator Joseph and his mother in the early afternoon about the importance of the Book of Mormon. His mother, Bertha, was pretty shocked when we showed her the passage about the Book of Mormon being the keystone of our religion, in addition to all of the implications of that one simple idea. They both committed to start reading it, so we will see how they do. Later on in the day, we found a new investigator named Augustin. He is Catholic but doesn't attend church regularly. He was really funny because he seemed like he was trying to argue his doubts but didn't really have anything to back anything up. We kindly turned the conversation back to the prophet, Joseph Smith, and invited him to pray about it. He invited us back for another appointment; I think he took it well. As the night was getting ready to end, Elder Knapp and I decided to stop by the Martinez family to see how they are doing. I didn't realize that it had been over two months since I had last gone by (when I was with Elder Knight). We shared a message about the Restoration with Juan, but he still doesn't seem like he is ready to change. It was interesting to hear that his views are that there had to be a restoration with a new prophet called and a retranslation of the Bible, but he didn't believe our message that all of those things have already happened.
This week has been filled with lots of cleaning and anticipation of the coming of iPads to missionary work! I hope everyone has a great week and continues to put God first in all that they do. As Valentine's Day approaches on Friday, remember to think about all of the people who you care about in life. Don't just think about that "significant other," but rather think about the close relationships that foster true love each and every day, such as those in the family. Thank you for all of your love and support, and I hope to hear from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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