Hey Everyone!
This has been a pretty exciting week on many levels! Summer is around
the corner, and investigators are continuing to progress; I couldn't
be happier right now! We are all a little sad, however, due to the
fact that we will be losing Hermana Vellinga tomorrow. It is crazy how
fast a mission can come to an end. I still have plenty of time left,
so don't worry about me!
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014:
I was still pretty wiped out from P-Day yesterday when we played
ultimate frisbee and soccer, but Hermano Silva called us in the
morning, requesting our help again with moving more stones for his
patio. We moved about three-hundred stones that each weigh about
twenty-five pounds up a giant hill to get them all positioned for him
to begin with the patio. I was completely drained after finishing up
with service. Elder Barnes and I returned to the apartment to do some
more work with "The First Twelve Weeks" before heading over to the
Luquin family's home to eat lunch with them. They are such a
kind-hearted family and are very fun to talk to. Their daughter comes
home in about two months from her mission, so we talked a lot about
what they can be doing as a family to prepare themselves to be better
missionaries. We read a little bit out of the Book of Mormon with them
and recommitted them to read it every day together. During the
evening, we stopped by Santiago's house to check in on him and Hermana
Gonzalez. I shared a small message about Christ coming to the Americas
and instructing the people to pray about and ponder the things that He
shared with them; I related the story to Santiago learning about the
Gospel from us and how he will receive an answer as he prays and
ponders about what we share as missionaries. Santiago really needs to
act and utilize the faith that he has to begin reading and praying
every day.
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014:
I have been working pretty hard with Elder Barnes to get him up to
speed with Spanish. He has a lot of great ideas, but his Spanish is
behind where mine was when I was at the same point in training; I will
have to continually work harder to help him catch up with the
language. During the afternoon, we went to the library to let him take
the language assessment. I updated the Area Book app while he was busy
taking the assessment, and we spent nearly an hour and a half at the
library. Our only lesson of the day that we were able to teach was
with the Corona family, who are pretty less-active. The grandparents
were all in town visiting and really wanted to listen to us teach
them, even though the parents of the Corona family and the kids
weren't too interested in what we had to share. We shared the
Restoration with them, and it was a really good lesson. Unfortunately,
I don't think any members of the family have any desire to return to
the Church at any time in the near future.
Thursday, May 15th, 2014:
Every three months, we have a zone conference, in which two zones meet
up and our mission president, President Becerra, comes to speak to all
of us for the better part of the day. Today was the final zone
conference with President Becerra as the mission president. Sister
Becerra began the day by speaking about companionship unity and why it
is important to love your companion, even if it may be very difficult
to do so. She shared a number of very insightful pieces of advice that
I am going to try to be more diligent about implementing into what I
do on a daily basis. President Becerra tied in the quality of love to
a very deep analysis about the importance of planning and why planning
is essential to be able to hasten the work here in the California
Arcadia Mission. I love being able to listen to President Becerra talk
because it seems like everything that he says is divinely sent from
Heaven; he truly radiates with the Spirit. The assistants, Elder
Hoover and Elder Mancia, shared a very well laid-out plan of how to
conduct member visits. They also talked a lot more about how to get
investigators to get to Sacrament Meeting. These two problems are the
two biggest problems in all of Latino work; we run into them all the
time. After zone conference, we went out to work, but we weren't able
to find anyone to teach in particular. We did manage to contact a
couple of referrals and set up some return appointments, though. I
really want to teach a little bit more, but training comes first.
Friday, May 16th, 2014:
It has been incredibly hot the past couple of days, and our apartment
doesn't have any air conditioning. I think it was about 95 or 97
inside of our bedroom last night after 10:00 PM. It felt like we were
baking in an oven while we were doing our weekly planning today.
Weekly planning went a little bit slower than usual, but we were able
to finish everything before we had to meet up with the district at the
church. Hermana Vellinga is going home on Tuesday as she finishes her
mission. We are trying to make her departure a fun and memorable
experience, and President Muriel wanted to take all of us out to eat
so that Hermana Vellinga could enjoy the lat week of her mission. He
is such a nice man and so down to earth. We all went out to a local
pizza place in San Gabriel (unfortunately, I was unable to get any
pictures in front of any signs...), and the pizza was delicious!
Hermana Vellinga really enjoyed it, which was the most important part.
I think our district is really unified; it shows in the work that we
do. We have been hastening the work here in El Molino at a faster rate
than anyone previously: our district has had four baptisms in the last
two months, and we currently have six or seven baptismal dates as a
district. Things are on a roll here, and it is very exciting to see!
Saturday, May 17th, 2014:
Today was one of those days where we showed The Lord that we are
willing to work. The zone leaders came to our apartment to do studies
with us because it gave them an excuse to drive their car to our
district to deliver some supplies. It was fun having them around, and
we all learned a lot from one another. Once Elder Barnes and I got out
to work, we didn't have much success at all; in fact, we didn't have a
single person even answer the door, let alone say "no" to us. We
worked the entire afternoon in the heat without any success and then
met up at Alex Varela's house to eat carne asada with the Hermanas.
Alex wanted to say his final goodbyes to Hermana Vellinga, so he
invited all of us over to eat! I love Alex; he has such a big heart
and is so dedicated. The Hermanas loved spending the time with him,
and we are all going to miss Hermana Vellinga when she leaves on
Tuesday. Elder Barnes and I had a scheduled appointment during the
evening, but we both felt inspired to stay at the Varelas and use the
opportunity to talk to Abel and Lucy to see when Chris can get
baptized. I didn't know how to bring up the question, but Elder Barnes
just popped it out. I think they were both a little surprised, but
they were both excited for Chris, too! We set his baptismal date for
June 1st! It was the reward for a long, hard day of work. Miracles
always come after the trial of our faith.
Sunday, May 18th, 2014:
Church was pretty emotional for a lot of people because Hermana
Vellinga gave her farewell talk. She has been serving here for over
seven months and will be heading home on Tuesday morning. I have known
Hermana Vellinga since the very first day in the mission field because
we were both in Chino together. I will sincerely miss her. Elder
Barnes and I got asked to teach both Gospel Principles and Elders'
Quorum, so it was a lot of last-minute studying. After church, the
Hermanas had another baptism of a girl named Ruby Paz. El Molino has
had four baptisms in the past two months, and our district has about
six baptismal dates lined up currently. This branch is growing like
crazy, and our work here has turned this branch around from being a
"slow" area to an "active" area. After church, the Perez's had us all
over for dinner. I love their family! They are so much fun and so
sincere. Antonio told me that they specifically bought a ten-person
table to be able to have the missionaries over to eat. One of their
favorite things to do is invite missionaries over to eat as often as
possible. The best thing is that they are very active in sharing the
Gospel, too! Helping strengthen the faith of the members is one of my
favorite roles as a missionary. When we are truly converted to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will have the desire to share it with
everyone that we know.
I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been a teaser of the
unbearable heat of summer, so I'm getting ready to step outside and
sweat. I'm hoping that our dedication to the work, despite whatever
obstacles may be placed in our way, will show The Lord that we are
ready to bring more sheep back to the fold. I know this Church is
true, and I know that living the commandments of God brings greater
happiness than anything else this world has to offer. Thank you for
all of your support, and I love you all!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
Sent from my iPad
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