Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone has been enjoying the longest days of the year and is
taking advantage of all of the extra sun! It has been steadily warming
up here in Southern California, and I love being able to enjoy the sun
nearly every single day of the year. There definitely seems to be a
happier vibe that people give off during the summer time, but it might
also be that the World Cup has commenced!
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014:
President Becerra now wants the district leaders to do exchanges
during the afternoon to help the district leader see how well the
missionary works during the tougher parts of the day. We did exchanges
today during the afternoon, so I went with Elder Turner to work in
Pasadena while Elder Merrill came to El Sereno to be with Elder
Barnes. Elder Merrill has helped turn that area around tremendously,
and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much momentum their
particular area has currently. Two of the appointments that we had set
up to teach during the afternoon and the evening ended up falling
through; however, we were able to have a lesson with the Meza family.
Myra was baptized on my third Sunday in the El Molino Branch, and her
husband, Israel, now has a baptismal date for next month, even though
he hasn't been taught any of the lessons yet (long story there). Elder
Turner and I taught him about the Restoration. It was a very spiritual
lesson, and I could tell that Israel could feel the Spirit testifying
to him to know of the truthfulness of what we share. Towards the end
of the lesson, he even commented that he knows everything we share is
true! Myra also shared a story about how she decided to be baptized:
she prayed at the bus stop one day, got onto the bus and then saw
Elder Steffen and I sitting on the bus! It was really neat to know
that I was in the right place at the right time to be able to help her
receive an answer. It will be wonderful to see the whole Meza family
together in the Church.
Wednesday, June 18th, 2014:
Elder Turner and I had a lesson set up in the morning, but it ended up
falling through. We tried contacting about five different people, but
no one was home, unfortunately. It was getting close to lunch time, so
we decided to go towards the church and grab a hamburger to eat. We
exchanged back companions after lunch. It was really interesting to
hear Elder Barnes talk about his exchange with Elder Merrill because
it would appear that we are forgetting to do a couple of minor things
that may impact our ability to find new investigators. There are a
million things to remember every day, which can make it difficult to
remember to do every little thing all of the time; that said, we are
in the process of trying to be more effective and efficient in
everything that we do. During the day, we went by the Luquins to eat
with them, and we really tried to be conscious of time. It felt a
little weird to be teaching in less than ten minutes again, but I
think that it will be better overall. We have been in the habit of
teaching for about twenty to twenty-five minutes per lesson, but we
should be trying to keep it down to ten, or at most fifteen. We then
went to talk with Hermano Velasco to commit him to invite his
neighbor, Rodolfo, to listen to us. Hermano Velasco has been doing
very well with trying to be a member-missionary, and it is wonderful
to see his testimony. During the remainder of the day, we managed to
set up a few return appointments to help us have greater potential for
new investigators in the near future.
Thursday, June 19th, 2014:
I always enjoy Elder Merrill's district meetings because he always
seems to know what is needed as a topic and always asks great inspired
questions. Today was also a little unusual in that the assistants came
to our district meeting; that was the first time ever in my mission
that the assistants have ever been in a meeting with me, aside from a
zone conference or mission conference. The meeting was very good,
however, and Elder Merrill chose to focus the meeting on teaching for
understanding. I find that my vocabulary and understanding often
hinders me in missionary work, so this lesson was beneficial for me.
After the conclusion of district meeting, our whole district decided
to stay after and begin planning for a pioneer activity that will be
coming up in the middle of July. Everyone was pretty tired, so it
wasn't the best planning meeting that I have ever been a part of. We
should be able to get everything figured out in the coming weeks,
though. During the remainder of the day, Elder Barnes and I tried to
begin to implement a few changes to help us do better with contacting.
Even though we weren't necessarily able to have a lesson with anyone,
we talked to a few interesting people during the evening. We are doing
better with our goal to try to talk to more people each day.
Friday, June 20th, 2014:
President Becerra will finish his time as president of the California
Arcadia Mission on July 1st, so he hosted a mission conference today
to say his farewell to all of the missionaries in the mission. It was
probably one of the saddest meetings that I have ever been a part of.
President Becerra invited a former mission president from Salt Lake
(where President Becerra served as a member of the mission
presidency), Brother Miller, to speak to all of us before he and
Sister Becerra said their final goodbyes. Brother Miller spoke about
the importance of reading the Book of Mormon to try to find the hidden
meanings behind it. Sister Becerra followed him and spoke about always
being happy and positive. It was sad to see Sister Becerra so
teary-eyed. We were all pleased to hear President Becerra speak to us
one final time before he begins his service as a General Authority. He
spoke about his role as a member of the 5th Quorum of Seventy, the
"Ideal Growth Cycle" in the Church, and the changing of the mantle
(see 2 Kings 2:1-15) when President Villanueva assumes the position as
mission president of the California Arcadia Mission. To President
Becerra's knowledge, President Villanueva is the first mission
president in the history of the Church to be the mission president of
a United States mission and not be from the United States. President
Villanueva will be coming to Arcadia on July 1st from Oaxaca, Mexico.
When we all began to sing "Arcadia United" at the end of the meeting,
nearly everyone in that chapel, including President Becerra, began to
cry. Elder Barnes and I returned to our apartment, and I began feeling
a little under the weather. We had to postpone weekly planning because
I wasn't feeling well. Hopefully, I start feeling well soon.
Saturday, June 21st, 2014:
Because I was a little under the weather, we had to do weekly planning
today. We were pretty efficient with it before we had to get out to
work. Elder Barnes and I have been making a big effort to try to
contact more and more people every day, but it seems like people just
don't ever want to talk to us in our particular area. We went to teach
Santiago about revelation and how praying, reading the scriptures and
attending church are all methods in which we can receive personal
revelation. Santiago seems to know that the Church is true; he just
won't act on anything that we share with him. Hermana Gonzalez said
that she is working on getting the marriage process going, so we are
hoping that they will be motivated to get married, which will then
motivate Santiago to act on what we share and get baptized. He has
felt the Spirit and received an answer, so we aren't totally sure what
to teach him at this point. During the afternoon, we had correlation
meeting with our district and with Hermano Monzon. Our whole district
is making progress, and this branch is growing consistently. Hermano
Monzon then took us out for burgers at In-N-Out. It was a fun little
bonding time. Hermano Monzon loves working with the missionaries, and
he is really helping us to help the branch.
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014:
It seems like the branch always starts on time whenever anyone from
the stake shows up. Today, President Esquerra, the stake president,
was there, so they decided to start right on the hour. I was a little
worried when only twenty people were there at the start of church;
after the administration of the Sacrament, however, about one-hundred
people showed up, raising the total attendance to over 125 for the
day. Even though most Latinos tend to show up a few minutes late, this
branch is on the verge of becoming a ward! I was asked to share my
testimony and a short experience of why I decided to serve a mission.
Hermana Lopez and I both talked for about five or seven minutes, and
then we had the second counselor in the stake presidency talk about
the importance of missionary work. That Sacrament Meeting was one of
the better ones that I have been to in quite some time. Church was
really powerful, and Hermano Monzon taught a wonderful lesson on the
gift of the Holy Ghost in Gospel Principles. When we have everyone
unified with one purpose, the work of The Lord will progress faster.
Elder Barnes and I had to stay and talk with President Muriel to
discuss how we will go about teaching a few less-active families, so
that used up the better part of our afternoon. We have been struggling
to work with our less-active families because it seems like they have
zero desire to even listen to us, let alone come back to church.
During the evening, Antonio and Angie came with us to teach Erika and
Hector about the Word of Wisdom. They seemed to understand it very
well. Antonio Perez shared a really powerful testimony of how the Word
of Wisdom has helped him change everything about his health before and
after he came back to Church after being less-active. Erika and Hector
are doing really well, and I love teaching them.
Today for P-Day, we met up with some English Elders and some
less-active members, in addition to some non-members to play a lot of
basketball. It was a really fun, tiring day with some good
street-style basketball. Everyone had a great time, and the best part
was that there were no injuries. I still can't believe that I have
been out on my mission for nearly one full year. Time absolutely flies
when you are having a wonderful time and doing the work of The Lord!
Thank you for all of your love and support! I hope everyone has a
wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Monday, June 23, 2014
Happy Father's Day! - June 16, 2014
Hey Everyone!
I hope all of the fathers out there had a wonderful Father's Day
yesterday! It kind of saddens me that we are able to call home on
Mother's Day, but we don't get to do anything special like that for
our fathers. I thought a lot about the role that my father has played
in my life, and I am very appreciative for the countless life lessons
that I have learned from him.
Tuesday, June 10th, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I were very successful with making sure that our
schedule would be filled with appointments today. Out of six teaching
appointments that we had set up, five ended up happening, which made
for a busy and productive day. We went to the Luquins for lunch to
begin our day. I ate about nine enchiladas; Hermana Luquin really
knows how to cook! We shared a message about the importance of
inviting others to be baptized and about how they can join us in the
Hastening of the Work of Salvation. After leaving there, Elder Barnes
and I made our way over to Silvia's house to eat chilaquiles. It was
one of my favorite foods that I have tried so far on my mission; I
just felt bad that I was already stuffed from eating with the Luquins.
Silvia really wanted to make something nice for my birthday yesterday,
so she went out of her way to make some really good food. She is still
waiting on her ID card to arrive from El Salvador, but once it comes
she will be able to get baptized right away! After visiting Silvia, we
stopped by Alex Varela to see how he has been. Alex has been working
on finding a job, and he is looking to work as a security guard. He is
such a wonderful guy, and I really want to see him succeed. To
conclude the evening, Antonio Perez joined us for our lesson with
Erika and Hector. We stressed the importance of reading the Book of
Mormon, praying and going to church in order to receive an answer
about the Church. They are making tremendous progress towards baptism,
and I hope that we can help them get there!
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014:
After not being able to meet with Fernando and Gloria for a little
while, we were finally able to meet with them in the afternoon. They
seem to disagree with a lot of the Book of Mormon and the basic
doctrines that it teaches, which made me think that they must not have
a firm grasp on the Bible. The Book of Mormon does not contradict
anything that it states in the Bible; they are to go hand-in-hand and
be used together. We tried answering more of their questions, but they
were constantly saying that they are way better off than most people
and that we should be focusing our efforts on the people who don't
even have God in their life. I appreciated that they told us that they
weren't interested, rather than the typical Latino response of "si
Dios quiere." I was really sad that they weren't interested, but it
will help us focus our efforts on finding people who are more
interested in listening to us and are willing to act upon what we
share with them. We stopped by the Luquin's house again to help them
paint their kitchen after our poor lesson. It was a really fun service
project, and we are building a strong relationship with their family.
They have a daughter who will be returning from her mission in just a
few weeks, so we are trying to motivate them to engage in missionary
work as much as possible.
Thursday, June 12th, 2014:
Elder Merrill had us all study a talk by Elder Callister entitled
"Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" for district meeting. He gave a
great lesson that focused on that particular talk and how it can help
each one of us become a greater and more effective missionary. It was
quite a powerful talk that made me feel like I'm not doing enough to
give every ounce of energy that I have to trying to proclaim the
Gospel. The most incredible part was that Elder Callister stated that
two consecrated missionaries are actually better than one-hundred good
missionaries. Elder Barnes and I then went to visit the Silva family
and share a short message with them about our vision to baptize. It
was a good lesson, but Hermano Silva talked a little too much to make
the lesson as powerful as it could have been. We then went to go help
a lady named Gloria move out of her house. The Gonzalez family from
Arroyo came to help us with moving all of the boxes down to the moving
truck. It was some good, tiring physical service, and it left me
feeling very sleepy after finishing up with everything. I don't know
where Gloria is moving to, but hopefully she decides to investigate
the Church more in the future. To finish off the day, Elder Barnes and
I went to go visit a former investigator named Laura Burgos. She is an
elderly lady and was very nice and sweet. Her son, Javier, kept
interrupting our lesson, and I couldn't tell if he just didn't want
her to learn anything about what we had to share. I'm not sure how far
either of them will actually progress, and that is always the
difficulty of working with former investigators. We are trying to find
more investigators, but finding quality investigators is always the
difficult part.
Friday, June 13th, 2014:
Elder Barnes had worn through his shoes completely, so we needed to
run to the store to go buy some more for him. We had to finish up
weekly planning really quickly so that the Hamilton family at the
mission office could pick us up and drive us up to Glendale to make a
run for some shoes. I felt so out of place inside of a mall as a
missionary, but we got the job done. He found a really good deal on a
pair of shoes, so I decided to pick up a new pair as well for myself.
It was incredible to see how worn my current shoes are after a year of
wear and tear. Dress shoes definitely do not hold up as long as tennis
shoes. When we got back to El Sereno, we went by the Caceres to eat
dinner with them. I love visiting them because the Hermana is really
active in the Church, and the Hermano is less-active; it is a good
opportunity to work with the family to help them strengthen themselves
and also motivate them to do missionary work at the same time.
Correlation meeting was canceled, unfortunately, and our appointment
with Erika and Hector fell through, too. It seemed like a lot of
running around during the day for just a dinner appointment, but we do
have days like that on occasion.
Saturday, June 14th, 2014:
The branch needed our help with setting up for a Father's Day
activity, so we had to be at the church at 6 AM. It was way too early
to be getting up before 5 AM. With as hard as we work everyday,
anything less than the full eight hours of sleep makes it really
difficult to function. We helped out at the activity, which ended up
being really successful. The branch made breakfast for all of the
Hermanos in the ward, and they also televised one of the World Cup
games for them to watch. If you think that Americans are crazy about
football, you should see Latinos and soccer! There are an estimated
2.5 billion people expected to be watching the World Cup this year,
meaning that it will be impossible for us to be working here whenever
Mexico is playing. After finishing up at the breakfast, we went over
to Hermana Alvarez's house to help her with service in her garden. She
needed a lot of help chopping out some bamboo, so we went to do about
two hours worth of service and clean up a lot of bamboo in her garden.
After finishing up with the second service activity of the day, we
returned back to the apartment and ate dinner with Elder Merrill and
Elder Turner, who were working around our area and wanted to come eat
with us. I love those short times that we have to bond together as
missionaries and enjoy the company of one another. To conclude the
evening, we were able to meet up with a recent convert in the ward,
Genaro Fuentes, to teach a lesson to Erika and Hector. We had planned
to talk about baptism to reaffirm the vision that we have for them,
and Genaro was amazing in the lesson. He felt prompted to bring his
journal to share his experience of getting baptized, and it fit right
in with the lesson perfectly! Hector even began describing the feeling
that he was getting during the whole lesson, which was exactly what
the Spirit feels like! It was such a powerful and spiritual lesson.
Erika and Hector are progressing very well and have tremendous
potential.
Sunday, June 15th, 2014:
Church was really good again, but we had a few problems with some
Hermanos going into deep doctrine during the classes. Latinos seem to
love talking about all of the deep doctrines that aren't really
important for our salvation, which ends up confusing all of the recent
converts and investigators; it makes our job as missionaries a
complete nightmare. We talked with President Muriel for well over two
hours after church about a lot of things that the branch needs and how
we can fix all of the problems. It was a really productive meeting
with him, and we planned out how to solve a lot of problems that need
immediate attention. Elder Barnes and I then went to work with finding
people the remainder of the day, but we didn't have any success. It
has been a little difficult as of late to find new investigators, so
we will likely focus on that in the upcoming weeks.
Thank you again for all of your love and support! I appreciate
everything that each and every one of you does for me! I hope you all
remember to appreciate your fathers beyond just Father's Day and look
for opportunities to be able to serve them, just as the Savior would
do. Have a great week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
I hope all of the fathers out there had a wonderful Father's Day
yesterday! It kind of saddens me that we are able to call home on
Mother's Day, but we don't get to do anything special like that for
our fathers. I thought a lot about the role that my father has played
in my life, and I am very appreciative for the countless life lessons
that I have learned from him.
Tuesday, June 10th, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I were very successful with making sure that our
schedule would be filled with appointments today. Out of six teaching
appointments that we had set up, five ended up happening, which made
for a busy and productive day. We went to the Luquins for lunch to
begin our day. I ate about nine enchiladas; Hermana Luquin really
knows how to cook! We shared a message about the importance of
inviting others to be baptized and about how they can join us in the
Hastening of the Work of Salvation. After leaving there, Elder Barnes
and I made our way over to Silvia's house to eat chilaquiles. It was
one of my favorite foods that I have tried so far on my mission; I
just felt bad that I was already stuffed from eating with the Luquins.
Silvia really wanted to make something nice for my birthday yesterday,
so she went out of her way to make some really good food. She is still
waiting on her ID card to arrive from El Salvador, but once it comes
she will be able to get baptized right away! After visiting Silvia, we
stopped by Alex Varela to see how he has been. Alex has been working
on finding a job, and he is looking to work as a security guard. He is
such a wonderful guy, and I really want to see him succeed. To
conclude the evening, Antonio Perez joined us for our lesson with
Erika and Hector. We stressed the importance of reading the Book of
Mormon, praying and going to church in order to receive an answer
about the Church. They are making tremendous progress towards baptism,
and I hope that we can help them get there!
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014:
After not being able to meet with Fernando and Gloria for a little
while, we were finally able to meet with them in the afternoon. They
seem to disagree with a lot of the Book of Mormon and the basic
doctrines that it teaches, which made me think that they must not have
a firm grasp on the Bible. The Book of Mormon does not contradict
anything that it states in the Bible; they are to go hand-in-hand and
be used together. We tried answering more of their questions, but they
were constantly saying that they are way better off than most people
and that we should be focusing our efforts on the people who don't
even have God in their life. I appreciated that they told us that they
weren't interested, rather than the typical Latino response of "si
Dios quiere." I was really sad that they weren't interested, but it
will help us focus our efforts on finding people who are more
interested in listening to us and are willing to act upon what we
share with them. We stopped by the Luquin's house again to help them
paint their kitchen after our poor lesson. It was a really fun service
project, and we are building a strong relationship with their family.
They have a daughter who will be returning from her mission in just a
few weeks, so we are trying to motivate them to engage in missionary
work as much as possible.
Thursday, June 12th, 2014:
Elder Merrill had us all study a talk by Elder Callister entitled
"Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" for district meeting. He gave a
great lesson that focused on that particular talk and how it can help
each one of us become a greater and more effective missionary. It was
quite a powerful talk that made me feel like I'm not doing enough to
give every ounce of energy that I have to trying to proclaim the
Gospel. The most incredible part was that Elder Callister stated that
two consecrated missionaries are actually better than one-hundred good
missionaries. Elder Barnes and I then went to visit the Silva family
and share a short message with them about our vision to baptize. It
was a good lesson, but Hermano Silva talked a little too much to make
the lesson as powerful as it could have been. We then went to go help
a lady named Gloria move out of her house. The Gonzalez family from
Arroyo came to help us with moving all of the boxes down to the moving
truck. It was some good, tiring physical service, and it left me
feeling very sleepy after finishing up with everything. I don't know
where Gloria is moving to, but hopefully she decides to investigate
the Church more in the future. To finish off the day, Elder Barnes and
I went to go visit a former investigator named Laura Burgos. She is an
elderly lady and was very nice and sweet. Her son, Javier, kept
interrupting our lesson, and I couldn't tell if he just didn't want
her to learn anything about what we had to share. I'm not sure how far
either of them will actually progress, and that is always the
difficulty of working with former investigators. We are trying to find
more investigators, but finding quality investigators is always the
difficult part.
Friday, June 13th, 2014:
Elder Barnes had worn through his shoes completely, so we needed to
run to the store to go buy some more for him. We had to finish up
weekly planning really quickly so that the Hamilton family at the
mission office could pick us up and drive us up to Glendale to make a
run for some shoes. I felt so out of place inside of a mall as a
missionary, but we got the job done. He found a really good deal on a
pair of shoes, so I decided to pick up a new pair as well for myself.
It was incredible to see how worn my current shoes are after a year of
wear and tear. Dress shoes definitely do not hold up as long as tennis
shoes. When we got back to El Sereno, we went by the Caceres to eat
dinner with them. I love visiting them because the Hermana is really
active in the Church, and the Hermano is less-active; it is a good
opportunity to work with the family to help them strengthen themselves
and also motivate them to do missionary work at the same time.
Correlation meeting was canceled, unfortunately, and our appointment
with Erika and Hector fell through, too. It seemed like a lot of
running around during the day for just a dinner appointment, but we do
have days like that on occasion.
Saturday, June 14th, 2014:
The branch needed our help with setting up for a Father's Day
activity, so we had to be at the church at 6 AM. It was way too early
to be getting up before 5 AM. With as hard as we work everyday,
anything less than the full eight hours of sleep makes it really
difficult to function. We helped out at the activity, which ended up
being really successful. The branch made breakfast for all of the
Hermanos in the ward, and they also televised one of the World Cup
games for them to watch. If you think that Americans are crazy about
football, you should see Latinos and soccer! There are an estimated
2.5 billion people expected to be watching the World Cup this year,
meaning that it will be impossible for us to be working here whenever
Mexico is playing. After finishing up at the breakfast, we went over
to Hermana Alvarez's house to help her with service in her garden. She
needed a lot of help chopping out some bamboo, so we went to do about
two hours worth of service and clean up a lot of bamboo in her garden.
After finishing up with the second service activity of the day, we
returned back to the apartment and ate dinner with Elder Merrill and
Elder Turner, who were working around our area and wanted to come eat
with us. I love those short times that we have to bond together as
missionaries and enjoy the company of one another. To conclude the
evening, we were able to meet up with a recent convert in the ward,
Genaro Fuentes, to teach a lesson to Erika and Hector. We had planned
to talk about baptism to reaffirm the vision that we have for them,
and Genaro was amazing in the lesson. He felt prompted to bring his
journal to share his experience of getting baptized, and it fit right
in with the lesson perfectly! Hector even began describing the feeling
that he was getting during the whole lesson, which was exactly what
the Spirit feels like! It was such a powerful and spiritual lesson.
Erika and Hector are progressing very well and have tremendous
potential.
Sunday, June 15th, 2014:
Church was really good again, but we had a few problems with some
Hermanos going into deep doctrine during the classes. Latinos seem to
love talking about all of the deep doctrines that aren't really
important for our salvation, which ends up confusing all of the recent
converts and investigators; it makes our job as missionaries a
complete nightmare. We talked with President Muriel for well over two
hours after church about a lot of things that the branch needs and how
we can fix all of the problems. It was a really productive meeting
with him, and we planned out how to solve a lot of problems that need
immediate attention. Elder Barnes and I then went to work with finding
people the remainder of the day, but we didn't have any success. It
has been a little difficult as of late to find new investigators, so
we will likely focus on that in the upcoming weeks.
Thank you again for all of your love and support! I appreciate
everything that each and every one of you does for me! I hope you all
remember to appreciate your fathers beyond just Father's Day and look
for opportunities to be able to serve them, just as the Savior would
do. Have a great week, everyone!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Monday, June 16, 2014
I'm No Longer An 18-Year Old! - June 9, 2014
Hey Everyone!
This has been a very successful week in the mission field with a ton
of excitement and happiness, coupled with the hard work that makes
that feeling of success possible. There is so much going on in the
mission right now with my mission president getting ready to leave in
about three weeks, the growth of the branch that I am serving in, in
addition to the continued learning and improvement that we are making
as a mission.
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I had a number of set appointments that seemed to be
very solid that ended up falling through. We weren't able to have a
lesson with anyone until the end of the afternoon with the Luquin
family. They fed us some delicious food, and then we shared a short
scriptural thought about the importance of answering the questions of
"what," "why" and "how" when studying the scriptures. We also related
those three basic questions to the importance of praying for a
missionary opportunity and then acting upon it. When we finished up at
the Luquin's house, we went over to the church to exchange for the
day; Elder Merrill came with me to be in El Molino - South, and Elder
Barnes went with Elder Turner to be in El Molino - Central. As soon as
Elder Merrill and I left the church, we got right to work. He is a
street contacting machine, and I learned a ton from him about how to
go about street contacting and bus contacting the right way. Elder
Merrill and I went to go teach Chris Varela about the Holy Ghost to
help prepare him for his confirmation this Sunday. Chris seems to be
doing very well and is all ready to receive the Holy Ghost. To finish
off the day, Angie and Antonio Perez joined Elder Merrill and I for a
lesson with Erika and Hector. We introduced the Book of Mormon to them
fairly quickly, but the lesson was very powerful. Antonio and Angie
both shared their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, which really
invited the Spirit. When a member testifies of truths that we have
shared, especially about the Book of Mormon, they invite a special
spirit into the lesson.
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014:
I find that Elder Merrill and I are very similar in how we go about
missionary work; we are both extremely diligent and devoted to what we
do every single day, and we hate to waste any spare moment of the day.
He has a wonderful knack of motivating people to want to work harder
through his example. During the course of our day together, we spent a
lot of time running from house to house trying to find people home. We
were rather unlucky, considering that the only person we managed to
find home was Hermana Salazar. We taught her a brief message about the
vision that we have as missionaries to baptize monthly. Elder Merrill
gave me a number of tips and advice about street contacting and also
about training. Even though we weren't able to teach any lessons to
investigators during the day today, I still feel like it was very
productive and yielded some success when talking to people on the
street. We ended the exchange when we wen to mutual at the church
during the evening. Elder Barnes and I used the time to help the youth
with their big auction on Saturday. They have a lot of preparations
that need to be finished, so we helped prepare some of the decorations
for them.
Thursday, June 5th, 2014:
Zone meeting today was fantastic because it really addressed our
individual needs and the overall needs of the mission. As a mission,
we do fantastic with teaching doctrine, but we sometimes get too
focused on teaching the lesson without teaching the lesson according
to the commitment we are planning on extending. Zone meeting really
helped us focus on a few ideas that we can implement to begin teaching
with greater efficiency. After zone meeting concluded, Elder Barnes
and I were pretty busy for the rest of the day with errands before
meeting up with the district at President Muriel's house for dinner.
It was the first time that I had ever gone to his house to eat dinner;
his mother loves feeding the missionaries, but she has been a little
ill lately and unable to have us over. She made us some fantastic
American food, which made all of us really happy. I love working for
President Muriel because he is so humble and always looks to serve us.
Friday, June 6th, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I began with weekly planning today, which went fairly
quickly. Hermana Diaz needed our help with setting up the tables and
chairs for the annual ward fundraiser auction tomorrow night, so we
offered to help her set up after we finished weekly planning. We set
up all of the tables and chairs to help the youth begin their
preparations for the ward auction, which is going to raise funds to
help the youth pay for all of their summer camps that are quickly
approaching. Elder Barnes and I then went to eat dinner with the
Caceres family. I love eating with Hermana Caceres because she has
such a strong testimony and desire to serve The Lord. She has been
working on talking to a couple of friends to give us a few referrals.
Just a hint, if you're ever looking to give a missionary a wonderful
gift to show them how much you care, a referral is worth more than
gold! We LOVE referrals! During the evening, we had correlation
meeting at the church with Hermano Monzon. He has been extremely happy
with all of the progress of this little branch. El Molino is on fire
right now: with the baptism on Sunday, we will have had eight baptisms
as a branch since February. To put that into perspective, that is
nearly double the total number of baptisms that this branch had all of
last year. Elder Barnes and I then went by Erika and Hector to have a
lesson with them. Angie and Valerie (Angie's cousin, who will be
getting baptized on Sunday) came with us to the lesson to teach Erika
and Hector about the Plan of Salvation. The lesson was phenomenal, and
Valerie has one of the strongest testimonies that I have ever heard.
We extended a baptismal date for Erika and Hector for July 6th, and
they accepted! I am so happy to be working with them and to see their
dedication!
Saturday, June 7th, 2014:
Elder Merrill had a baptism in his old area in East Los Angeles, so
Elder Turner joined Elder Barnes and I for a few hours during the
afternoon. We needed to go visit Santiago and Hermana Gonzalez. We
stopped by to help them pick up the stuff from their yard sale that
they were having, and Hermana Gonzalez offered us some soup to eat. I
love how much Latinos like feeding us; it is seriously the best! I
think I have started to become Latino because I don't ever feel
ashamed to ask for food and ask for thirds or fourths. (Don't worry,
though, because I'm still exercising to stay in shape!). We helped
them for a few minutes and then gave Hermana Gonzalez the number to
call to begin figuring out the process that they will need to undergo
to get married so that Santiago can get baptized. We then went over to
the Varelas to see how Chris has been doing. He will be getting
confirmed tomorrow, so we shared a quick message with him about the
importance of reading in the Book of Mormon daily, praying and
attending church. He is doing really well, and I am really excited for
him to receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday! We then left the Varelas, met
up with Elder Merrill and then went to the big activity at the church.
The youth did a wonderful job of putting together the auction. We, as
missionaries, got to be judges for the best rice and beans. It was a
ton of fun, and all of the money raised went to a really good cause. I
was delighted to see that Erika and Hector even accepted our
invitation to come to the activity! They purchased a painting at the
auction and loved it. The branch also did a wonderful job of
fellowshipping them at the activity; I think they are really liking
the friendships that they are making at church. One of the key roles
that members can play in the Hastening of the Work of Salvation is
taking investigators and less-active members under their wing to help
them make the changes needed to begin living the Gospel.
Sunday, June 8th, 2014:
Church was awesome today! We had so many people show up that I thought
I was in an English ward! Elder Vasquez came back to Sacrament Meeting
to confirm Chris Varela, which was a very spiritual experience for the
whole family. Abel came to church to see the confirmation; it was the
first time in over three months that he was at church. Erika and
Hector, Santiago, and Silvia all came to church, too. The chapel was
almost to the point of overflowing! Everyone has been commenting on
how much our little El Molino Branch (the only branch in our entire
mission, might I add) is growing and getting ready to make the
transition to a ward in the near future. After church ended, we all
had the opportunity to go to Valerie Carbajal's baptism. She is the
cousin of Angie Perez and has been waiting for four years for her
father to finally give her permission to get baptized. It was a
wonderful experience, and she has a very powerful testimony. All of
the missionaries then went over to the Delgado's house for dinner and
for a lesson about baptism. Hermano Delgado served his mission in
Costa Rica, but his wife is less-active. Elder Turner and Elder
Merrill have been working on the wife to try to help her prepare to be
baptized. It was a great dinner and an even more powerful lesson. I
forgot how strong the Spirit is when there are six missionaries in one
room, plus a returned missionary. The Delgados are a very sincere and
humble family, and Hermano Delgado and I are very good friends. Elder
Barnes and I then joined Antonio and Angie Perez as we went to go
teach Erika and Hector again. We talked a little bit about what they
read in the Book of Mormon; they finished up the story about Nephi and
King Laban, so we related the story to what the "King Laban" might be
in their own lives that they need to slay. The lesson eventually
turned into a discussion about marriage and why getting married might
be the next step for them to take. We committed them to pray to know
if they should get married, and Antonio and Angie Perez did a
wonderful job with explaining the blessings and reasons of why they
got married. I honestly believe that Erika and Hector are progressing
very well and can get baptized in about a month!
This week has been very successful for us, as you can probably tell.
It makes life a lot more enjoyable when you can see the fruits of your
labors; however, it is important to remember that we always need to
keep on working and take that step of faith into the darkness before
we will eventually see the light and rewards of the work that we
begin. I have been trying to help my investigators understand the
importance of that step of faith, and I have really come to understand
it much better as I help them along the same journey.
As you are probably all aware, I am no longer that "eighteen year-old
kid" anymore. Our whole zone is going to a park today to celebrate the
birthdays of a few different missionaries, myself included, by eating
carne asada and playing soccer with some members and non-members. I am
really excited to go have a big barbecue and enjoy P-day!
I appreciate all that you all do for me and for the continual love and
support! I hope you all have a great week and enjoy summer!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
This has been a very successful week in the mission field with a ton
of excitement and happiness, coupled with the hard work that makes
that feeling of success possible. There is so much going on in the
mission right now with my mission president getting ready to leave in
about three weeks, the growth of the branch that I am serving in, in
addition to the continued learning and improvement that we are making
as a mission.
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I had a number of set appointments that seemed to be
very solid that ended up falling through. We weren't able to have a
lesson with anyone until the end of the afternoon with the Luquin
family. They fed us some delicious food, and then we shared a short
scriptural thought about the importance of answering the questions of
"what," "why" and "how" when studying the scriptures. We also related
those three basic questions to the importance of praying for a
missionary opportunity and then acting upon it. When we finished up at
the Luquin's house, we went over to the church to exchange for the
day; Elder Merrill came with me to be in El Molino - South, and Elder
Barnes went with Elder Turner to be in El Molino - Central. As soon as
Elder Merrill and I left the church, we got right to work. He is a
street contacting machine, and I learned a ton from him about how to
go about street contacting and bus contacting the right way. Elder
Merrill and I went to go teach Chris Varela about the Holy Ghost to
help prepare him for his confirmation this Sunday. Chris seems to be
doing very well and is all ready to receive the Holy Ghost. To finish
off the day, Angie and Antonio Perez joined Elder Merrill and I for a
lesson with Erika and Hector. We introduced the Book of Mormon to them
fairly quickly, but the lesson was very powerful. Antonio and Angie
both shared their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, which really
invited the Spirit. When a member testifies of truths that we have
shared, especially about the Book of Mormon, they invite a special
spirit into the lesson.
Wednesday, June 4th, 2014:
I find that Elder Merrill and I are very similar in how we go about
missionary work; we are both extremely diligent and devoted to what we
do every single day, and we hate to waste any spare moment of the day.
He has a wonderful knack of motivating people to want to work harder
through his example. During the course of our day together, we spent a
lot of time running from house to house trying to find people home. We
were rather unlucky, considering that the only person we managed to
find home was Hermana Salazar. We taught her a brief message about the
vision that we have as missionaries to baptize monthly. Elder Merrill
gave me a number of tips and advice about street contacting and also
about training. Even though we weren't able to teach any lessons to
investigators during the day today, I still feel like it was very
productive and yielded some success when talking to people on the
street. We ended the exchange when we wen to mutual at the church
during the evening. Elder Barnes and I used the time to help the youth
with their big auction on Saturday. They have a lot of preparations
that need to be finished, so we helped prepare some of the decorations
for them.
Thursday, June 5th, 2014:
Zone meeting today was fantastic because it really addressed our
individual needs and the overall needs of the mission. As a mission,
we do fantastic with teaching doctrine, but we sometimes get too
focused on teaching the lesson without teaching the lesson according
to the commitment we are planning on extending. Zone meeting really
helped us focus on a few ideas that we can implement to begin teaching
with greater efficiency. After zone meeting concluded, Elder Barnes
and I were pretty busy for the rest of the day with errands before
meeting up with the district at President Muriel's house for dinner.
It was the first time that I had ever gone to his house to eat dinner;
his mother loves feeding the missionaries, but she has been a little
ill lately and unable to have us over. She made us some fantastic
American food, which made all of us really happy. I love working for
President Muriel because he is so humble and always looks to serve us.
Friday, June 6th, 2014:
Elder Barnes and I began with weekly planning today, which went fairly
quickly. Hermana Diaz needed our help with setting up the tables and
chairs for the annual ward fundraiser auction tomorrow night, so we
offered to help her set up after we finished weekly planning. We set
up all of the tables and chairs to help the youth begin their
preparations for the ward auction, which is going to raise funds to
help the youth pay for all of their summer camps that are quickly
approaching. Elder Barnes and I then went to eat dinner with the
Caceres family. I love eating with Hermana Caceres because she has
such a strong testimony and desire to serve The Lord. She has been
working on talking to a couple of friends to give us a few referrals.
Just a hint, if you're ever looking to give a missionary a wonderful
gift to show them how much you care, a referral is worth more than
gold! We LOVE referrals! During the evening, we had correlation
meeting at the church with Hermano Monzon. He has been extremely happy
with all of the progress of this little branch. El Molino is on fire
right now: with the baptism on Sunday, we will have had eight baptisms
as a branch since February. To put that into perspective, that is
nearly double the total number of baptisms that this branch had all of
last year. Elder Barnes and I then went by Erika and Hector to have a
lesson with them. Angie and Valerie (Angie's cousin, who will be
getting baptized on Sunday) came with us to the lesson to teach Erika
and Hector about the Plan of Salvation. The lesson was phenomenal, and
Valerie has one of the strongest testimonies that I have ever heard.
We extended a baptismal date for Erika and Hector for July 6th, and
they accepted! I am so happy to be working with them and to see their
dedication!
Saturday, June 7th, 2014:
Elder Merrill had a baptism in his old area in East Los Angeles, so
Elder Turner joined Elder Barnes and I for a few hours during the
afternoon. We needed to go visit Santiago and Hermana Gonzalez. We
stopped by to help them pick up the stuff from their yard sale that
they were having, and Hermana Gonzalez offered us some soup to eat. I
love how much Latinos like feeding us; it is seriously the best! I
think I have started to become Latino because I don't ever feel
ashamed to ask for food and ask for thirds or fourths. (Don't worry,
though, because I'm still exercising to stay in shape!). We helped
them for a few minutes and then gave Hermana Gonzalez the number to
call to begin figuring out the process that they will need to undergo
to get married so that Santiago can get baptized. We then went over to
the Varelas to see how Chris has been doing. He will be getting
confirmed tomorrow, so we shared a quick message with him about the
importance of reading in the Book of Mormon daily, praying and
attending church. He is doing really well, and I am really excited for
him to receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday! We then left the Varelas, met
up with Elder Merrill and then went to the big activity at the church.
The youth did a wonderful job of putting together the auction. We, as
missionaries, got to be judges for the best rice and beans. It was a
ton of fun, and all of the money raised went to a really good cause. I
was delighted to see that Erika and Hector even accepted our
invitation to come to the activity! They purchased a painting at the
auction and loved it. The branch also did a wonderful job of
fellowshipping them at the activity; I think they are really liking
the friendships that they are making at church. One of the key roles
that members can play in the Hastening of the Work of Salvation is
taking investigators and less-active members under their wing to help
them make the changes needed to begin living the Gospel.
Sunday, June 8th, 2014:
Church was awesome today! We had so many people show up that I thought
I was in an English ward! Elder Vasquez came back to Sacrament Meeting
to confirm Chris Varela, which was a very spiritual experience for the
whole family. Abel came to church to see the confirmation; it was the
first time in over three months that he was at church. Erika and
Hector, Santiago, and Silvia all came to church, too. The chapel was
almost to the point of overflowing! Everyone has been commenting on
how much our little El Molino Branch (the only branch in our entire
mission, might I add) is growing and getting ready to make the
transition to a ward in the near future. After church ended, we all
had the opportunity to go to Valerie Carbajal's baptism. She is the
cousin of Angie Perez and has been waiting for four years for her
father to finally give her permission to get baptized. It was a
wonderful experience, and she has a very powerful testimony. All of
the missionaries then went over to the Delgado's house for dinner and
for a lesson about baptism. Hermano Delgado served his mission in
Costa Rica, but his wife is less-active. Elder Turner and Elder
Merrill have been working on the wife to try to help her prepare to be
baptized. It was a great dinner and an even more powerful lesson. I
forgot how strong the Spirit is when there are six missionaries in one
room, plus a returned missionary. The Delgados are a very sincere and
humble family, and Hermano Delgado and I are very good friends. Elder
Barnes and I then joined Antonio and Angie Perez as we went to go
teach Erika and Hector again. We talked a little bit about what they
read in the Book of Mormon; they finished up the story about Nephi and
King Laban, so we related the story to what the "King Laban" might be
in their own lives that they need to slay. The lesson eventually
turned into a discussion about marriage and why getting married might
be the next step for them to take. We committed them to pray to know
if they should get married, and Antonio and Angie Perez did a
wonderful job with explaining the blessings and reasons of why they
got married. I honestly believe that Erika and Hector are progressing
very well and can get baptized in about a month!
This week has been very successful for us, as you can probably tell.
It makes life a lot more enjoyable when you can see the fruits of your
labors; however, it is important to remember that we always need to
keep on working and take that step of faith into the darkness before
we will eventually see the light and rewards of the work that we
begin. I have been trying to help my investigators understand the
importance of that step of faith, and I have really come to understand
it much better as I help them along the same journey.
As you are probably all aware, I am no longer that "eighteen year-old
kid" anymore. Our whole zone is going to a park today to celebrate the
birthdays of a few different missionaries, myself included, by eating
carne asada and playing soccer with some members and non-members. I am
really excited to go have a big barbecue and enjoy P-day!
I appreciate all that you all do for me and for the continual love and
support! I hope you all have a great week and enjoy summer!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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