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
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