It feels like P-Day was just yesterday! Having a P-Day on a Wednesday
like last week makes the time fly by. As you saw in the title of this
email, I will begin training tomorrow. I do know who my trainee is
going to be but that is because I am the only Spanish Elder that is
training this transfer. I will be training an Elder from South Jordan,
Utah who is named Elder Barnes. I don't know anything else about him
than that, so I'm excited to meet him tomorrow morning! I am quite
intimidated at the thought of being a trainer; hopefully all will go
well!
Thursday, April 10th, 2014:
At district meeting, we focused on the relationship between members
and missionaries, specifically how we can inspire the members to
become better missionaries and help us in the work of The Lord. We
talked a lot about a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard from the April
2003 General Conference. The name escapes me right now, but you should
look it up and read it. On Palm Sunday, the Church will be releasing a
video called "Because of Him" that will focus on the Savior's atoning
sacrifice and why we need to remember it this Easter season. It will
be a huge initiative. Our district is planning to do a ward family
home evening on Monday night to introduce the video. In the afternoon,
I had to go to the mission office for the meeting for all of the
trainers this transfer. The assistants to the president (AP's) taught
the majority of the meeting and talked about how important being a
trainer really is. President Becerra picks all of the trainers before
anyone else, including zone leaders or AP's. I was a little shocked
that he picked me to train because I do not feel ready at all. The
meeting was good, but I wish they had gone over procedural stuff for
incoming missionaries more. I still have no idea what I am even doing
tomorrow! During the evening, Elder Steffen and I trimmed a tree for
Silvia Recinos, one of our investigators. We got her birth certificate
from her, and we later gave it to an Hermana from the Belvedere 1st
Ward in East LA who is going to translate it into English for us. We
will shortly thereafter be able to help Silvia get married and then
baptized! When we got to the church to meet the Hermana there, a film
crew was making a commercial for kosher hot dogs. We tried contacting
a few people to ask them if they wanted a tour of the church building
that would be in their commercial. They weren't too interested in a
tour, but they gave us all of their leftover food and drinks. I now
have more rice and beans than I know what to do with!
Friday, April 11th, 2014:
Silvia Recinos needed a little bit more help with cleaning up the
branches that we trimmed at her house yesterday; we went by in the
morning to help her clean it up and talk to her for a few minutes. She
is really funny and extremely blunt. She made Elder Steffen and I both
want to retire in El Salvador; she said that you can buy a really nice
house there for less than $100,000 and live like a king! We later went
back to the apartment to do our weekly planning. It consisted of me
doing almost everything because I will need the experience of running
this area by myself when my trainee comes in. I thought that I was
able to make some effective plans for this upcoming week, so we will
see how the first week with a new missionary goes. After weekly
planning, Elder Steffen and I went over to the church to meet up withthe rest of our district to plan the family home evening activity. We
planned a little bit more for the family home evening lesson and also
had correlation meeting with Hermano Monzon. Everyone was making
predictions about what is going to happen with transfer calls tomorrow
night, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Saturday, April 12th, 2014:
It seems like a lot of our plans have been falling through over the
past couple days and weeks; today was another one of those days. I
think we went by at least fifteen different people during the best
time of the day, and we weren't able to get inside to have a lesson
with anyone. Days like today are the tough days as missionaries, but
they are necessary if we are to find success. During the evening,
Elder Steffen and I went to go talk to Alex Varela and his daughter,
Samantha. It is really good to see Alex really making the effort to
have a better relationship to his daughter; he is trying to spend more
and more time with her. We talked to both of them about the "Because
of Him" video that will be released on Sunday. After the short visit
with Alex, our whole district went to the church to continue planning
for the family home evening activity. We planned out the activity
thoroughly, and we will focus on the three main parts of the Atonement
of Christ. Right at the end of our planning, Elder Steffen got a call
from the AP's who told him that he will be heading to Covina - West.
It wasn't a surprise to see him go because I found out on Tuesday that
I will be training. He hasn't been here very long, though. No one else
in our district got a call, which means that it will remain the same
core group of missionaries. We later found out that Elder Thomas will
be his new companion. On a side note, Elder Thomas has been in Covina
since before Elder Low got there (he will have been there nearly eight
months by the end of this upcoming transfer). It will be a huge
difference training this upcoming transfer, but the district will
really help my trainee progress.
Sunday, April 13th, 2014:
The "Because of Him" video was released today, and it was way better
than I was expecting. You can find it on YouTube or on the youth
section of lds.org. I would strongly advise watching it; it is
extremely powerful. There are no audible words, but the music, text
and pictures are inspiring. Our district promoted the family home
evening activity today while we were at church, and it should yield a
high turnout. After church ended, our district stayed after to plan
even more of the family home evening activity. Our last one that we
did was nearly perfect, so we have to make this one inspiring, too.
Hermano Monzon had our whole district over for dinner after we
finished planning. It was really fun to spend some more time together
and enjoy each other's company. After leaving the Monzons, Elder
Steffen and I were able to catch Alex and Lucy Varela at home together
for the first time in a little while. We shared the "Because of Him"
video with them, and it had a huge impact on them. I haven't seen Lucy
that in favor of Chris getting baptized since I have been here; Chris
will hopefully get baptized very soon! I am definitely developing
greater love for the people here that I teach.
Today should be pretty fun spending the day with Elder Knight and
Elder Turner. We are going to go to Chinatown and then down to the
mercadito to buy some gorditas. Gorditas are probably the best food
that I have ever eaten in my life. They are the Mexican equivalent to
the American hamburger, but gorditas are so much better than American
food. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this Easter season! I
appreciate all of the love and support that you all show me! Have a
great week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
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