A New Companion - August 18, 2014

Hey Everyone!

As the title of my email states, I now have a new companion! I was
really sad to see Elder Wandry leave, but my new companion is Elder
Crane from Mapleton, Utah. He is a really good missionary and a really
hard worker, so we should be able to get a fair amount of work done
here together this transfer. He is also a really good basketball
player, from what I hear, so it will be fun to play with him on P-Day
(no, I haven't lost that love of sports...).

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014:

At long last, Elder Wandry and I were able to read out of the Book of
Mormon with Oscar Peralta. He is doing all right, but the long gaps
between meeting with him make it a little bit challenging to help him
progress well and remember what he was reading about. We then went to
talk with Michael Martinez again. He is getting ready to begin his
junior year of high school, so we talked for a while about how he will
continue to stay strong. Elder Wandry and I read out of 1 Nephi 10
with him. We then went over to Jose Garcia's house, and he took us out
to eat at Mauricio's, the restaurant that he works at. I was able to
have some chiles rellenos there, and the food was delicious. Jose
Garcia is a such a humble and sincere man; I wish I could be more like
him. Elder Wandry and I then ended our day by stopping by the Maganas
to celebrate Hermano Magana's birthday. The whole family was over, so
it was a great time to get to know everyone just a little bit better.
We then returned to the house to begin exchanges. I went with Elder
Marchan and Elder Perez (our zone leader, who also happened to be
doing exchanges on the same day), and Elder Nelson and Elder Chapman
came to be with Elder Wandry in our area.

Wednesday, August 13th, 2014:

For the very first time since being in a trio with Elder Knight and
Elder Smith back in Chino, I was in a trio for the day with Elder
Marchan and Elder Perez. It was really fun to be able to talk with and
learn from both of them. They are both very effective missionaries and
know how to have a lot of fun while they work. Personally, I think
that Elder Perez will become an assistant to the president very soon
and that Elder Marchan will become a zone leader. Even though it was a
pretty slow week, as far as missionary work is concerned, we were all
able to learn from each other; I think it may have been one of the
best exchanges that I have had my whole mission. In the morning, we
tried visiting a number of different former investigators and
potential investigators. Most often, formers and potentials consists
of talking to a lot of different people before anything significant
actually happens. We didn't have any luck with any of them. During the
afternoon, we talked with a less-active member named David who is
nineteen and now wants to serve a mission. It was really neat to see
his desire and enthusiasm to serve The Lord. The only other lesson of
the day was with a man named Miguel who we contacted in the park. He
was extremely Catholic, and it began to feel like we were just arguing
with him about the Great Apostasy. After too much time of
disagreement, I asked him if he was willing to put his eternal
salvation at stake by rejecting the invitation to learn more about
Christ; he said that he would die to support the Catholic Church. It's
unfortunate to see people so close-minded, but we are here to invite
others to learn for themselves if our message is true.

Thursday, August 14th, 2014:

District meeting was a little different today because the topic was
about online proselyting -- specifically about Facebook. I honestly
wish that we didn't have Facebook, only because I really don't know
how to use it effectively to actually be able to fulfill my purpose as
a missionary, and it doesn't seem like anyone else in the mission
knows how to use it either. Elder Marchan and Elder Nelson split the
time and taught about using online proselyting in a careful and
planned out way to be the most effective with it as we possibly can. I
just wish people would help me understand the "how" behind using
Facebook. I am a little sad to admit that I didn't feel more of a
desire to use Facebook more after district meeting; I will just need
to take the step of faith and try to implement it more into our
everyday activities. Our district went to eat lunch at Pepe's Tacos
after district meeting, which was fun. I love Mexican food, and they
have some really good chilaquiles. Elder Wandry and I then went to try
to teach Javier in Glendora. He lives in a spot that isn't very easy
to get to, so it eats up a good chunk of our day just going to visit
him. He was nowhere to be found, so we decided to make our way down to
the bus stop to start the endless trip back. The worst part was that
we ended up waiting for the bus for nearly two hours, which ate up
almost all the time in our day. I think that God was testing my
patience because I was getting pretty anxious to get going and work.
After dinner, Elder Wandry and I went to set up a return appointment
with Hector and Rosa Lopez before finishing off our day by visiting
with Richie Rios. We talked with Richie about the importance of
temples and how he can now participate in baptisms for the dead. Elder
Wandry and I will need to review a lot from our lesson about temples
with Richie, but he is doing very well. I particularly like the quote
that says, "God doesn't expect perfection, but he expects progress."

Friday, August 15th, 2014:

Due to the nature of a slow week of missionary work, Elder Wandry and
I did not have very many new things to plan for. It seems as though
the area has been in a bit of a stand-still for over a full calendar
year. I honestly wonder if being assigned to labor in Azusa is
supposed to help me cultivate the faith and patience necessary to grow
and improve as a missionary. After finishing up with weekly planning,
Elder Wandry and I went all the way down to San Dimas to finally have
a lesson with Hector and Rosa Lopez. We have been trying to meet with
them for well over a month, and we were finally able to meet up with
them again to teach them about the Book of Mormon. Hector and Rosa
both seemed quite interested and quickly came to understand the
significance of the Book of Mormon being true. It was a wonderful
lesson, and Elder Wandry and I had the special privilege of testifying
of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Over the course of my
mission, I have really come to know without a shadow of a doubt that
the Book of Mormon is true. If I take nothing else from my mission
(which I really hope doesn't happen), I hope to at least maintain my
daily study of the Book of Mormon so that I don't lose my personal
conviction of the power that it contains. Hector and Rosa both
committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and they both
have real intent to know if it is true. The only other lesson that we
taught during the day was with Paula Lopez. She loves having us over
and tells us that we are like family to her. I am constantly amazed at
how fast she can jump around from one story to another, too. Latinos
seem to really love telling stores, especially about things that have
absolutely nothing to do with the lesson or anything else that we are
even talking about.

Saturday, August 16th, 2014:

The ward usually plays soccer every Saturday morning, but no one came
to play today. The only member who showed up to play was Hermano
Hernandez, and he ended up showing up after we had all decided to
begin packing up to leave. We later went to visit Richie Rios again
and talked more with him about work in the temple and how it relates
to the Plan of Salvation. Richie seems to have that as his goal, and
he is progressing in the Gospel very well. We then went to Glendora to
try to contact a few different people. We set up an appointment with
Hermano Carmona for Tuesday before coming ack for dinner. It was a
pretty slow day overall, which was just a microcosm of the week as a
whole. During the evening, we tried visiting some potential
investigators and former investigators. I'm not quite sure what it is
about this area, but all of the potentials and formers don't seem to
be interested at all or are incredibly lazy. We ended our day by going
to visit Paula Lopez again. It is still amazing to me how quickly she
can change between stories when she talks. Paula is doing really well
reading in the Book of Mormon and is already almost through Jacob (she
only started reading from the beginning about three weeks ago!). As we
were getting ready to leave Paula's house at about 8:35 PM, Elder
Hoover, one of the Spanish AP's, called to ask for Elder Wandry. He
will be leaving to go to my old area, El Molino - South! He will also
be with Elder Barnes! I was excited to hear the news, but I will
really miss him. He and I have both grown really close.

Sunday, August 17th, 2014:

Church was a little crazy because three missionaries from the district
will be leaving tomorrow: Elder Wandry, Elder Chapman and Hermana
Garcia. They were all saying goodbye to everyone in the ward and
taking a lot of pictures. The last Sunday of the transfer is always
hectic with trying to make sure that the departing missionaries get to
say all of their goodbyes to all of the people that they have worked
with over the course of their time in the area. After church ended,
Hermana Meza brought everyone a lot of food to eat, and we had a small
picnic at the church. It was a good way to spend our last lunch
together as a district. Everyone then called their new areas, and we
found out who will be coming and who will be leaving. It is always
exciting to hear all of the news about transfers and see who is
getting moved to a new area. After church ended, Elder Wandry and I
were really quick about visiting a few different members so that Elder
Wandry could say his final goodbyes. We first went by the Martinez
family and taught a brief lesson to Michael. He was pretty sad to see
Elder Wandry go because he and Elder Wandry have grown pretty close
over the past four months. We then stopped by the Magana family. They
are one of my favorite families, and they were also really sad to see
Elder Wandry leave. He has made a huge impact here in Azusa, and it is
easily apparent from the reaction of the members to him leaving.
Lastly, we went by the Jimenez family to say goodbye to Obi and his
parents. The youth in this ward are really good and have a lot of
potential for the future. Elder Wandry and I then went with Hermano
Torres to the despedida in Arcadia with Richie Rios. It was really sad
to see so many of my good friends and fellow missionaries getting
ready to depart home after two years of valiant service. Among those
leaving were two of my previous companions: Elder Knight, my trainer,
and Elder Knapp. There were about sixteen or seventeen Spanish
missionaries that were going home, so the mission will have a much
different feel to it now. It is a really weird thought to think that I
am not part of one of the older groups of missionaries in the mission;
I still feel like the new guy!

I'm very excited to begin working with Elder Crane. He seems like a
really motivated, organized and hardworking individual. It should also
be fun to talk about sports with him! I look forward to the successes
and challenges that await this upcoming transfer. Thank you for all of
your continual support! I miss all of you and hope that you are all
doing well! Have a great week, everyone!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley