Hey Everyone!
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful week and that everyone is
enjoying the summer sun! Here in California, it has been an oven with
temperatures hovering at and around 100 every day. It wouldn't be so
bad, but missionary attire makes for quite a hot day! Regardless, I am
loving the chance that I have to serve here in the Azusa 2nd Spanish
Ward and hasten the work in this particular area!
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014:
To begin the day, Elder Wandry and I read with Oscar in 1 Nephi 7.
Since we have begun reading with him every few days, he seems to
really have taken a keen interest in learning more and understands
more as a result. We later went to go visit Richie and read in 1 Nephi
17 with him. Elder Wandry and I have really been trying to stress the
importance of reading in the Book of Mormon with all of the people
that we teach, so we have been reading with each and every one of them
that has not been reading in between our visits. Richie is doing
really well, and we are trying to help him establish the habit of
daily scripture study and prayer in order to help him overcome any
temptations. It felt like Elder Wandry and I were walking around for
quite a while during the afternoon trying to contact and find people
to teach, but we weren't able to have much success. This area is
predominantly caucasian, so we have to be creative in our approaches
to finding Latino people. During the evening, we went to go visit the
Magana family. We brought "Jenga" with us to share an object lesson
with them about the Restoration of the Gospel after the collapse of
Christ's church and the resulting Great Apostasy. We are going to
share the same object lesson with Kim on Sunday, so we prepared the
family for the lesson to be able to have them better help us testify
to Kim of the importance of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014:
A number of our set appointments fell through during the morning and
early afternoon of the day, so we went by Paula and Angel Lopez to
finally have a lesson with Angel. We wanted to focus on receiving the
gift of the Holy Ghost to help Angel understand why the ordinance of
baptism is so essential. Angel seemed quite stubborn and unwilling to
act on anything that we were inviting him to do. Elder Wandry and I
decided that we are going to take a break from teaching Angel and
possibly pick him back up as an investigator in a few months down the
road. Before correlation meeting, we saw a small miracle: we were
finally able to find Wandemar's house! We contacted his family outside
of his house on my very first day here in Azusa, but we have been
unable to find the exact address. We were finally able to talk to his
son and set up a time to come by. I have a lot of faith that they will
be a great family that has a lot of potential to learn and grow from
applying the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During the
evening, we went to correlation meeting at the church with Hermano
Torres. It sounds like he is really losing faith in the ward, meaning
that we will really have to start working hard with the members more.
I'm optimistic that this ward can begin to grow, just like Chino and
El Molino both did. It will take some time and a lot of dedication,
but it will happen.
Thursday, July 24th, 2014:
Once again, Elder Marchan gave a really powerful lesson during
district meeting. He led the discussion, focused on the importance of
developing Christ-like attributes. I need to work so much on each and
every one of those attributes, and especially on being more humble and
patient. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and I have
found that one can learn from each person that he or she comes into
contact with if they are teachable and ready to learn. I also found
out today that I will be able to go to Silvia Recinos' baptism next
Sunday back in El Molino. It is so exciting to hear that she is
finally able to get baptized after how long she has been waiting.
After district meeting, we went to Pepe's Tacos again to celebrate
Elder Marchan's year-mark on his mission today. It's crazy to think
that my year-mark is in less than two weeks! Elder Wandry and I worked
really hard during the day to find people to teach, but we were unable
to get in with anyone to have a single lesson. During the evening, we
went by Jose Garcia to teach him again. His kids weren't there, so we
sat down and talked to him about how we can better go about teaching
them. Jose is such an awesome member and is extremely humble and happy
in whatever circumstance life throws at him. He is truly a role model
for each and every one of us.
Friday, July 25th, 2014:
Elder Wandry and I are quite efficient working together, and it is
great to be able to get through weekly planning in a timely manner and
still be very effective in the plans that we make. We both have the
desire to develop good relationships with all of our members in the
area and all of less-actives so that we can begin to help them in
their efforts to do missionary work, in hopes that they will be able
to help us find more prepared people to teach. When missionaries and
members work together, it becomes a unifying force that brings people
unto Christ that fortifies the members and the ward in the process. We
are going to begin trying an idea that Sister Becerra taught us
shortly before she left: "the light penetrates through the cracks."
The whole premise of her thought was that when we think that we are
trapped and that no light can come in, the only way for the light to
come in is through the cracks. With faith, Elder Wandry and I believe
that we can find "the one" through the cracks in our area. The cracks
can be taken as the tougher areas to work where the light might only
shine in one area. We are trying to get creative, so we are going to
start working with former investigators, members and potential
investigators in the "cracks" of our area. It is interesting how much
the principle of faith has come up in ideas, such as this idea,
recently and how the faith to find can create the miracles that we are
constantly seeking.
Saturday, July 26th, 2014:
As is usual, we spent the morning playing soccer with the ward. It was
really hot outside, so we didn't last for as long as we would
normally. However, it was a really fun activity, and we were able to
get investigators and less-active members to come and join in a
friendly game of soccer. If there is one thing that the Azusa 2nd Ward
can do better than anyone else, it is play soccer. During the
afternoon, we went by Paula Lopez again to teach her about the
Priesthood. Paula converted to the Church a few months back after
being a Jehovah's Witness for a number of years, so it is interesting
teaching her because of her wealth of knowledge from the Bible. She is
a great member and has great desires to share the message of the
restored Gospel. We later went by a number of different formers and
set up appointments and figured out who was interested in a couple of
the "cracks" in our area. It is interesting working in an area that is
predominantly caucasian because we have to become very effective
planners to find the people that are dispersed throughout that speak
Spanish.
Sunday, July 27th, 2014:
Church was really good, like usual. I found out that Obispo Martinez
wants me and Elder Marchan to do a few role plays with the Priesthood
next week to show them how they can help us on lessons. It should be
pretty fun and be extremely helpful for us to be able to teach the
members how they can be better member friends for those that we teach.
During the afternoon, we went over to visit with Obi Jimenez again. We
read the story of Enos with him and invited him to begin praying on a
daily basis while he does his scripture study. It is incredible to see
how big of an impact prayer, scripture study and church attendance
(the three basic methods for receiving personal revelation) have for
everyone that chooses to do them. If any of the three is neglected,
the full effect is completely lost. We later visited with Paula and
went over the topic of service. We used to teach people the first four
lessons before baptism and save lesson five for after baptism (unless
it was needed), but the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles changed that about a month ago; now, we teach Laws and
Ordinances prior to baptism. We are in the process of helping Paula
get caught up since she was baptized already. To conclude the day, we
had an awesome lesson with the Magana family (who came to church again
for the first time in several months!) and with Kim. We did the
"Jenga" demonstration of the fall of Christ's church and the Great
Apostasy that ensued. It was an awesome lesson, and it was really
powerful to hear each testimony as the whole family shared their
conversion experience. It really helped me realize how important it is
to prepare the members that assist us so that they can better help us
fulfill our calling.
Overall, it was a pretty good week, even if it was a little slow. We
are making a lot of progress with our members, and I think that it
will produce a lot of results as we move down the road. I am really
enjoying the time here in Azusa. For P-Day, Elder Wandry and I are
going with Arturo Reyes and Chris Magana to "King Taco," which is
supposed to be a really famous taco place in Covina. I'm excited to go
eat some great Mexican food!
Thank you for all of your continual love and support! I appreciate
what each and every one of you has and continues to do for me! Have a
wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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