Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone is excited for Mother's Day and had a fantastic week!
I'm quite excited to be able to call my family on Sunday and wish my
mother a happy Mother's Day. This week was pretty crazy, seeing that I
probably talked to a dozen different drunk people and listened to
their life stories. California is full of crazy people, but I love it!
Tuesday, April 29th, 2014:
The housing inspectors came to our apartment in the morning to do the
monthly inspection. We then went down to Walgreen's to pick up some
medications before getting back to work. During the afternoon, we ran
into a number of different people who didn't really want to talk to
us. Fortunately, however, a man by the name of Wilson came up to us
and told us that he is really interested in turning his whole life
around. He was carrying two beers in his hand, which made me think he
was just another drunk on the side of the road that wanted to stop us
for no reason. Wilson was different, though. He recently separated
from his wife and four kids and wants to now clean up his life, and I
think we might be able to help him at least find peace with the
situation in which he currently resides. Hermano Perez came to pick us
up to eat dinner with him, and we ate dinner with his family and our
whole district. I definitely feel like our district and their family
are really close and that we are beginning to build a really strong
friendship. To conclude the evening, we went to go visit Alex and
Chris Varela. We talked to them about the importance of keeping the
temple as their ultimate goal in everything that they do. Everything
should be a step forward towards the vision of going through the
temple someday in the future. We set the goal for Alex of doing
baptisms for the dead in the near future and the goal for Chris to
continue reading his scriptures in order to be ready for baptism. I
always love visiting the Varelas, and they always remind me of what
humility personified looks like.
Wednesday, April 30th, 2014:
We went by a lot of people today; we have been trying to focus on
finding more inactive members because there are a lot of inactive
members in this branch. We have about twelve active Melchizadek
Priesthood holders in the branch, and we have about forty or fifty
inactive ones, depending on how updated the list is. One big piece of
working with Latinos is reactivation. During the afternoon, Elder
Barnes and I went by Wilson's house to teach him about the
Restoration. I was surprised with how well the lesson went, aside from
the fact that his little kids were a little bit distracting during the
middle of the lesson. He accepted a soft baptismal invitation, so we
will try to set a date with him in the future. He seems like a very
interested investigator, and I am very excited to see how he turns
out. During the evening, Elder Barnes and I went to help Santiago and
Hermana Gonzalez in their garden. They have a lot to do out back. It
looked a million times better after we worked with them for just over
an hour. We then went to mutual for the evening, and I was quite
disappointed not to see Chris Varela or Jose Chavez to be able to help
them with their homework. I find that tutoring on Wednesdays is
actually a really good way to talk to investigators.
Thursday, May 1st, 2014:
Elder Knight gave the district meeting lesson on the "How to Begin
Teaching" bullet points. It was a really good lesson because Elder
Knight used the David and Goliath story to illustrate the principles
of how we should begin teaching as missionaries. Elder Barnes and I
then went to teach Wilson again. We taught him about the Book of
Mormon, even though the majority of the time talking to him consisted
of him telling us about all of his problems. I think he can progress,
but we will need to help him understand that the Book of Mormon is
something that he will really need to utilize. After teaching Wilson,
we went to go teach Fernando and Gloria Martinez again. They really
like to talk and use up a lot of our time. I enjoy teaching them, even
though they try to tell us that they are Catholic and won't change; I
personally think that they know that the Church is true and just say
that they don't want to change at this point in time. It can be a
little frustrating as missionaries when we know that people know the
Church is true and won't always act on what we share. They committed
to reading the Book of Mormon, however, so that should help them see
the truthfulness of what we share for themselves.
Friday, May 2nd, 2014:
Our weekly planning was pretty productive and helpful; I feel like the
amount of work that is taking place in our area is increasing by the
day. We currently have about seven referrals that we need to contact,
which means that we are working hard with the members and with other
missionaries to talk to more and more people each and every day. After
we finished planning, we went to go eat with Hermana Caceres and her
family. She is one of my favorite members to go visit because she is
so active and hard-working. Hermana Caceres is the perfect example of
someone who is humble, teachable and diligent in everything that she
does. She truly inspires me to be a better missionary and an overall
better person. After we ate with her, Elder Barnes and I hopped on the
bus to go to the church for correlation meeting with Hermano Monzon.
The meeting was really good. After correlation, Elder Knight came with
me for exchanges in my area, and Elder Turner and Elder Barnes headed
up to Pasadena to work there. I love being able to spend more time
with Elder Knight again.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2014:
The exchange with Elder Knight went very well, and I really learned
the importance of focusing on asking more inspired questions while I
teach. I will need to focus on studying inspired questions more in
order to be able to ask more while I teach. During the day, Elder
Knight and I probably got stopped by five or six drunks (borrachos as
we call them in Spanish). During the afternoon, we went by the Varelas
to go do service, but Abel ended up not being there. Elder Knight and
I helped Alex, even though Abel wasn't present. We got about an hour
and a half of yard work in before we left. I was really looking
forward to being able to talk to the whole family together and
hopefully schedule a date for Chris' baptism, but it wasn't meant to
be today. After doing service, Elder Knight and I went to go contact a
couple of referrals. One of them wasn't home yet, so we went to talk
to the Alvarez family and Hermana Cota, a lady that they take care of.
It was a really nice visit, and I forgot how active the Alvarez family
is with the Gospel. We have some awesome members in our area! Before
heading back to the church to finish exchanges, another borracho came
up to Elder Knight and I and took us with him to his sister's house.
It was really hard to say no to him, and I felt very uncomfortable the
entire time. He eventually led us back to his house, where we taught
him about the importance of coming to church. He said that he would
come to church tomorrow, but I think that he was just too drunk to
really remember anything.
Sunday, May 4th, 2014:
Church today was amazing because it was Fast and Testimony Meeting.
One of Angie Perez's cousins, Valerie, has been investigating the
church for three years, waiting for her father's permission to be
baptized. She got up and bore her testimony today. It was the most
powerful testimony that I have ever heard from a non-member and one of
the most powerful testimonies that I have ever heard from anyone. It
brought the Spirit to the room and touched the hearts of countless
people. I love seeing how the Gospel can change lives for so many
different people. During Priesthood, Elder Barnes and I had the
opportunity to be able to stand in the circle for the Priesthood
ordination of Alex Varela. He has been waiting for about two months
for the Aaronic Priesthood, so it was great to finally be able to help
him receive it. Alex will be a great member of the Church. After
church, we came back to the apartment, and we worked more in "The
First Twelve Weeks" booklet. We use that book for trainees to help
them adjust to the mission field; as a trainer, it is my
responsibility to make sure that Elder Barnes learns the fundamentals
now to be able to become an awesome missionary in the future. He is
doing really well and making significant strides each and every day.
Hermano Monzon invited us all over for dinner to eat carne asada with
his family. We talked to Flor's boyfriend for a little while about the
Church because he is a non-member. He seemed interested in learning
more about the Church, but I don't know if he will really end up
converting or not. To conclude the evening, a new member of the
branch, Hermano Ramirez, asked us to come help him move a couple of
appliances. He just moved here to El Sereno from Hollywood about four
days ago and needed help with a few small things. It was good to meet
him and learn more about his family; he has a son that just left on a
mission about a month ago for Mexico. I love meeting families with
missionaries out serving because it makes me think of my family often.
As the title of this email says, I was able to play tennis for the
first time today since State Tennis last year! It brought back a lot
of memories, and I really enjoyed spending the time with the other
Elders in our district and the Perez family. Our P-days this transfer
are much more fun and exciting, and I love the physical exercise that
we get from playing sports.
I hope that everyone remembers to thank their mothers on Sunday for
the remarkable role that mothers play in the lives of every child. I
am personally grateful for the compassion and love that my mother has
shown me, despite my countless imperfections. A mother is truly the
personification of mercy and charity that the scriptures constantly
command us to be. Motherhood is a role that is ordained of God, and
only a truly humble and Christ-like person can perform that role.
I love you all and thank you for your continual support and
friendship. Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
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