Hey Everyone!
This week was a little crazy and unexpected! Before anyone asks, yes,
I am still in Azusa. However, I was affected by an emergency transfer
and have now received a special assignment: I was called as the new
district leader of Azusa. It is always very scary when the Assistants
to the President call because the first question I always ask myself
is, "Oh, no, what did I do wrong?" Usually, they only call to correct
mistakes (and I haven't ever been called by them before, except to be
called as a trainer a few transfers back), so I was really scared when
the phone rang. Thank goodness, however, that they said that
Presidente Villanueva has a lot of trust in me to be able to help lead
this district! I felt extremely nervous and unprepared for the
assignment, but I guess the Lord answered my plea for greater faith in
a way that I wasn't expecting. I will now need to exercise faith to
rely on Him to help me be an instrument in His hands.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014:
I have been working very hard to try to improve my own personality
traits to be able to testify with greater power and conviction of what
we share as missionaries. I stumbled across a talk at lunch entitled
"Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon" that really helped me see the depth
of the Book of Mormon as a Semitic book. I don't really encourage
everyone to read that talk, as it isn't meant for anyone who hasn't
read the Book of Mormon before, but it shows the incredible literary
structure in the book and points out the key messages hidden within
the structure of the writing. I am literally appalled that the Book of
Mormon can be so well understood by everyone and, at the same time,
contain such jewels and treasures as the Semitic literary device of
chiasmus. Suffice it to say, my testimony of the Book of Mormon grew
immensely as a result of reading and then applying the talk. Elder
Crane and I began our day by reading 1 Nephi 13 with Oscar Peralta. It
is crazy to see how vividly Nephi depicts the dream of seeing the
Apostasy of the Church, the colonizing of America and the Restoration.
I even saw a verse that utilized chiasmus within the chapter, which
was really cool to be able to apply what I had just learned from the
talk. We then went over to Richie Rios' house to review the
Restoration of the Gospel with him. We are now trying to go through
the lessons with Richie and Paula again to help them be fundamentally
sound in the Gospel. We went a little more in-depth about the
importance of Priesthood authority, and it finally seemed to "click"
for Richie. We then stopped by Jose Garcia. He is such a humble and
sincere man, and I love working with him. Elder Crane and I shared a
short parable called "Find Me," which describes the divine importance
of missionary work. We then went by Paula Lopez to review the Plan of
Salvation with her. She seems to know and remember the doctrine quite
well. Before heading off to dinner, Elder Crane and I shared a talk
with Obi Jimenez entitled "Remember Lot's Wife." We talked about not
looking back to the past and about having faith that tomorrow will be
a better day. It is always important to remember that the Lord knows
what is in store for the future. Elder Crane and I then went to eat
dinner with Mayra Lopez. It was a delicious meal, and we were able to
share the "Find Me" parable with her, too. We spent the rest of the
evening looking for less-active members and potential investigators
without much luck. We were able to set up a small service project with
Hermana Castillo for tomorrow, though. During the evening, I received
the call that I would become the new district leader. Our new district
will be as follows: Elder Crane, Elder Nelson, Elder Nielsen, Hermana
Covington, Hermana Perez and I.
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014:
During the morning, Elder Crane and I taught Oscar again by finishing
1 Nephi 13 with him. His Gospel knowledge seems a little bit lower
than we had thought before, so we will probably begin reviewing all of
the lessons with him again, too. Elder Crane and I then went to read
in the Book of Mormon with Richie again. He really knows how to ask
good questions and truly understands how to receive answers from God.
We then went to paint a few cabinets for Yolanda Castillo for about an
hour. It was the first time since coming to Azusa that we were able to
even have a service project. We offer and try to go do service for
every single person that we talk to, but no one lets us do service for
them. Hermana Castillo bought us pizza after we finished, so we
enjoyed eating with her and getting to know her a little bit better.
Elder Crane and I then went to talk with Paula Lopez again and read
from the Book of Mormon. She loves having us come by, and we read to
her today, seeing that she misplaced her glasses. Paula is a sweet,
older lady who tells us that she loves us more than her family because
we take an interest in her life and talk to her "about the things of
God." We were delighted to hear that her family has been treating her
better, too, because the family was diametrically opposed to her
getting baptized and wouldn't even talk to her for a long time after
the baptism. The family is now treating her better, however, because
they see the changes that she has made as a result of living the
Gospel more fully. It was a testimony-builder to me of how the Gospel
truly has the power to change lives. We finished off our evening by
sharing the "Find Me" parable with the Gasca family.
Thursday, September 4th, 2014:
The Hermanas both had both of their bike tires slashed last night, so
Elder Crane and I went over to their apartment to help repair and
patch them up as best as we could. It is quite unfortunate and
discouraging to see people do something so harsh to someone who is
just trying to serve others, but that is the world in which we live.
We did our best to patch them up, but they will need to get a little
more maintenance to fill in the holes in the tires themselves. We then
all left for district meeting. I was quite nervous, seeing that I
would be teaching for the first time ever. I was assigned to teach
about how the mobile devices have helped us fulfill our missionary
purpose. I related the story of David and Goliath to the iPads being a
"smooth stone" that adds to our arsenal with which we can slay the
needs of our investigators. It was a fun lesson to teach, and I think
everyone took something positive from it. I also emphasized the
importance of putting faith and repentance at the forefront of
everything that we do, not just the typical commitments we extend with
the lessons. I love what President Becerra used to say: "The best
things that we do in the Church cannot be measured; we cannot measure
conversion, love in the home or testimony, etc." We can't get caught
up in the numbers so much as missionaries because everyone we talk to
is a child of God who knows them by name and knows everything about
them; He doesn't count them as a number in a line. After zone meeting,
Elder Tovar (the Pomona district leader), Elder Merrill and Elder
Perez (the zone leaders) and I all met up for a Skype call to have our
monthly zone leadership meeting. We discussed the needs of the zone
and how we can all improve going forward in the month of September.
I'm beginning to see all of the "behind-the-scenes" work that goes on
to make everything happen. Elder Crane and I then went down to San
Dimas to teach Hector and Rosa about the Book of Mormon again. They
remembered very little to nothing about what Elder Wandry and I taught
a few weeks back. It is very difficult to meet with investigators only
once every few weeks because it is difficult to keep any sort of
consistency with teaching and commitments. We then taught Richie Rios
again and emphasized the importance of reading in the Book of Mormon.
During the evening, Hermano Martinez came with us, but every single
one of our lessons fell through. We did, however, find and talk to a
number of less-active members. Working with investigators has been a
little slow as of late, so we are trying to get to know all of the
members a little bit better.
Friday, September 5th, 2014:
Elder Crane and I had a couple return appointments that fell through
in the morning, but we were able to contact of really solid people on
the street. We also received a referral from the English Elders to go
visit a family named the Morales family that appears to have a lot of
potential. When we returned to the house, we read in 1 Nephi 14 with
Oscar. He seems to be progressing slowly, and it is difficult to get
him to commit to coming to church. Elder Crane and I then commenced
with our weekly planning. We finally got around to making Elder
Crane's birthday cake, which added a little fun into the planning
session. After concluding weekly planning, we went to teach the Plan
of Salvation with Richie Rios. It is always good to review the core
doctrines with everyone because it is easy to lose sight of what the
saving knowledge of the Gospel that we need to know is. Hermano
Morales then came with us as we began to teach Gerardo Morales, the
father of the Morales family. It was a fantastic first lesson, and he
has a ton of potential. We will begin teaching the wife and kids on
Monday evening. We then finished our day by teaching Irene Gonzalez.
We went over the Restoration of the Gospel with her, and it was
apparent that her years of attending various churches mixes up some of
her beliefs. Elder Crane and I helped clear up some of the
misconceptions that she has. She seems to be doing very well, and I am
excited to be able to help her progress towards the 28th of September
for baptism!
Saturday, September 6th, 2014:
Soccer was a lot of fun again, even though it was pretty hot outside.
We normally play upwards of two hours every Saturday, but the heat of
the day wiped out everyone after a little more than an hour of play in
the sun. Elder Crane and I then began our day of work in the heat. It
is so hot working outside on a bike! After a long while of being
unable to get in with anyone to teach them, we went to visit Paula
Lopez. We reviewed the Restoration with Paula, and she actually
remembered it and understood it very well. The progress of both of the
recent converts here in Azusa - East is quite remarkable, and we want
to continue to help them progress even further. Elder Crane and I then
taught Demetrio and Eligia Gonzalez, who we recently contacted on the
street. We taught the first half of the lesson, but it wasn't the best
lesson that we have ever taught before, honestly. They were difficult
investigators in that they wouldn't talk very much whenever we would
ask a question. We then stopped by Silvia Salgada to review the
Restoration with her. We ended up transitioning into a lesson about
church attendance and what happens each Sunday at church. It was a
really good lesson because we taught according to Silvia's needs.
After dinner, Elder Crane and I went over to the bus stop to go down
to Glendora. Irene Gonzalez canceled on us while we were waiting, but
we decided to go down to Glendora anyways to try to visit some of our
backups. The unfortunate part was that the bus was nearly a full hour
late, so it ended up killing our entire night just waiting for the bus
to arrive.
Sunday, September 7th, 2014:
Church was really good, and there was a good turnout of people that
came. Everyone was surprised to see that there were more changes in
the district, seeing that there have been a total of three transfers
in the Azusa district over the course of the past five weeks now.
After church, Elder Crane and I stopped by Obi Jimenez to share a talk
with him by Elder Holland, entitled "The Bitter Cup and the Bloody
Baptism." We, as disciples of Christ, have to be ready to be enlisted
in the Lord's army and be ready to always accept being inconvenienced
by our religious beliefs and standards. It was never convenient for
Christ, so we must not expect anything to be convenient for us. Elder
Crane and I later visited Paula Lopez again and read out of Words of
Mormon with her. We are trying to read with our investigators and
members when they don't read to help them establish a habit of daily
scripture study. Before stopping for dinner, we again visited Richie,
since he wasn't home in the morning for church. He has been visiting
his sister a lot recently and is really developing the relationship
with her; he wants to share the Gospel with her so that she can enjoy
the same blessings that he now enjoys. Richie is doing well, and we
want to continually be there to maintain a positive influence around
him. After dinner, we visited with the Magana family shortly before
going with Hermano Magana to teach Irene Gonzalez about the Book of
Mormon. It is incredible to see how powerful the first chapter of 1
Nephi is and how much one can learn from reading it time and time
again. It was great having Hermano Magana there, too, because he used
to be the bishop in the Azusa 2nd Ward and does a great job with
fellowshipping people. I ended the night by calling the district for
our weekly Sunday night calls and also talking to the zone leaders. It
feels much different being in leadership and offering advice and
suggestions to other missionaries; I need to improve much more than
they do, so I feel as though I am not qualified to be the one leading.
This week has been great, and we are beginning to see the quality
investigators beginning to appear. Elder Crane and I are continuing to
work hard to find miracles. Today, our whole zone went hiking in a
place called Fish Canyon, and it was a ton of fun. It was almost half
of my old zone from my last area, so everyone knew each other quite
well. I hope everyone is having a wonderful time enjoying the tail end
of summer and is enjoying the beginning of the best time of the year
(football season)! I appreciate all of your love and support, and I
hope that each and every one of you is doing well and has a terrific
week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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