Hey Everyone!
On September 17th, I completed one full year in the mission field, and
it has absolutely flown by. It is amazing to see just how much I have
changed since getting to California, and I look forward to another
year of service ahead. I also cannot believe just how quickly this
transfer has gone by. We are already beginning week six, and transfer
calls will be on Saturday evening. Our district thinks that we won't
see that many changes because Hermana Covington and I are the only two
out of six that were here at the beginning of last transfer. However,
we never know what happens, so we will find out everything on
Saturday!
Tuesday, September 16th, 2014:
Every Tuesday, Jose Garcia comes out with Elder Crane and I to help us
out with various lessons for the day. All of our appointments in the
morning fell through once again, so we took Jose Garcia with us to
visit with Richie Rios and talk about the Book of Mormon with him.
Richie is now at the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon, so we
talked a little bit about how the Book of Mormon fulfills a number of
prophecies in Isaiah and reemphasized the importance of studying the
scriptures daily. During the afternoon, we talked with Jose Garcia
about how small and simple means of using technology to share the
Gospel lead to great things in the conversion of others to the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Elder Crane and I helped him post a message on
Facebook about how he follows Christ in his life. He then joined us
for a quick lesson with Silvia Salgado as we reviewed the importance
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how the knowledge of the Restoration
can bless her family. She has a lot of potential, but she will do
better progressing slowly. Elder Crane and I then went to briefly
visit with Paula Lopez and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon
with her. Hermano Torres then came by to pick us up and pick up Richie
so that we could go to his house for a family history activity. Our
whole district came with recent converts and less-active members to
eat carne asada with the Torres family and learn how to do family
history work. It was a really good dinner and was a really fun
opportunity to get to know everyone a little bit better while at the
same time participating in an activity that will really help with
retention of members. We then began doing exchanges. It was my first
exchange actually doing the evaluating, so I went with Elder Nelson to
his area in Azusa - West, and Elder Nielsen came to my area to be with
Elder Crane in Azusa - East.
Wednesday, September 17th, 2014:
It was a strange feeling today realizing that I have now been serving
in the mission field for an entire calendar year. Elder Nelson and I
(and also Elder Nielsen) all left for the mission at the same time, so
it was weird for all of us to reflect on the past year in California.
Everyone always says that the day will come when we become "old
missionaries" but I refuse to believe it or accept it; I still feel
like I just got here! We began our day of work by visiting a college
student named Anna, who who is looking for the truth and has her
preconceived notions of what real faith it. It was interesting talking
to her because she is clearly looking for something but doesn't quite
know how to receive an answer or a surety of what she is looking for.
We focused a lot on the importance of praying vocally with the intent
of receiving an answer. I wasn't quite sure why she was opposed to
praying vocally by herself, but some people limit themselves by being
too stubborn to experiment with new things and new ideas. We then went
to teach Hermano Brizuela, who is a recent convert. He has gotten a
little lazy with his reading, so Elder Nelson and I read with him from
the beginning again. It amazes me how little people read in the most
important and most correct book on the planet. We then went contacting
and tried to find a number of potential investigators before having a
lesson with another less-active Hermana named Hermana Casarubias. She
has been a member for nearly thirty years but has never had a calling
in the Church. It just goes to show how important callings are for the
progression of a member. The East LA stake president, President
Esquerra, has the philosophy of asking himself the question of what
the member needs to progress in order to determine what calling they
should be assigned. Elder Nelson and I later went to visit the Sarco
family. They were baptized about three weeks ago but have yet to be
confirmed because of various reasons for not being able to come to
church. One of the kids, James, is full of energy, so it made it a
little difficult to have a structured lesson; regardless, they are
progressing and have a lot of potential to be solid members. We
concluded our evening by teaching a new investigator named Arpola
about the Restoration. She lives with Obispo Martinez and seems like
she has a lot of potential. I learned a ton from Elder Nelson about
how to really work with people and establish a relationship of trust.
He is an excellent missionary and is a fantastic leader. I hope that
he was at least able to learn something from the way I work.
Thursday, September 18th, 2014:
It had been well over four months since our past zone conference, and
they are supposed to have every three months. Today was the first zone
conference with our new mission president, Presidente Villanueva, and
was the first time that I have been able to hear him speak to us about
anything Gospel-related (the only other time was a meeting in which he
introduced himself and his family). I enjoyed having the entire
meeting in Spanish because he was able to talk to us without worrying
about the communication barrier. It kind of seemed like a lot of the
messages that were shared were focused on the needs of the English
missionaries from our mission in particular, so it was hard to relate
to and apply a lot of what was shared. I did, however, enjoy listening
to our two new members of the mission presidency, too. It was the
first meeting that I have ever been a part of where the members of the
mission presidency actually spoke and participated in the meeting. The
presidency under President Becerra often did a lot of the work behind
the scenes; it would appear that Presidente Villanueva will begin
using Presidents Nelson and Yen more actively. The major points
discussed at zone conference were obedience, working with less-active
members and online proselyting, with a specific emphasis on Facebook.
I honestly feel like our district is extremely obedient, and we have
all been working very efficiently with our less-actives for the entire
transfer, so it was hard to take a whole lot away from zone conference
to apply that we haven't already been doing. During the evening, Elder
Crane and I taught Irene Gonzalez by going through the baptismal
interview questions. It is apparent that she has great desires to be
baptized and that she is very ready. Irene also said that she will be
able to come to church on Sunday! I love being able to see the changes
in people as they make and keep commitments to follow the Savior more
fully.
Friday, September 19th, 2014:
Elder Crane and I began our day by finally visiting with Nicasio
again. We had a wonderful lesson, and it appears that he is even more
interested in the message than we had originally thought. He began
asking all of the correct questions and appears to have a sincere
desire to learn about what we believe. We later went to visit Richie
Rios again. He had some awesome news to report to us: he has already
been doing missionary work in his family and with one of his friends!
He told his friend about a service project that we will be doing
tomorrow, and his friend, Fernando, now wants to come help out! It was
great to hear, and it is evidence of how much true conversion to the
Gospel really changes the desires of one's heart. Elder Crane and I
later went by Paula Lopez again. She was kind enough to offer us some
pizza. Paula is probably one of the kindest and sweetest older ladies
that I have ever met. I am constantly amazed at how much I learn from
the members as a missionary, especially the recent converts. During
the evening, Hermana Rayas and her son, Arturo, joined us for a lesson
with Irene Gonzalez. It was a fantastic lesson about the Word of
Wisdom. Irene understood everything very well and already had a
testimony of the principles before we even taught the lesson. Irene
clearly has a flame of desire that is continually growing. We
postponed her baptismal date from this upcoming Sunday (September
28th) to October 12th so that she can receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost right after being baptized, as opposed to having to wait two
weeks with General Conference happening the first weekend in October.
We also planned a trip to the Temple Visitors' Center for this
Saturday.
Saturday, September 20th, 2014:
Elder Crane and I woke right up and then went straight to Richie's
house to meet up with him and his friend, Fernando, to go do service
for the Hipolito family. Fernando was interested in helping us take
out the lawn and clean up the whole year for the Hipolito family, so
he came with us for the better part of four hours doing a service
project. There were about a dozen members who showed up to help at 7
AM, so we were able to complete all of the work that had to be done.
After finishing up with the service, we went straight over to the park
to play soccer. It was a decent turnout, and it was much more fun
playing today, seeing that it wasn't so hot outside. Hermano Sanchez
took us all to Costco again to get hot dogs afterwards. He is such a
kind and sincere person who truly understands and lives the Gospel.
During the afternoon, Demetrio and Eligia Gonzalez, a couple of
investigators, dropped us by sending their ninety-four year-old mother
out to the door to tell us that we speak with the tongue of the devil.
It was one of the rudest remarks that I have heard on my entire
mission, and the funniest part about it was that they didn't have the
courage to tell us straight to our face. It's interesting to see how
scared people are of us. During the evening, Elder Crane and I were
finally able to find Gerardo Morales again. We emphasized the
importance of our message by talking about a living prophet and how he
will be able to watch General Conference in two weeks. He was very
surprised and immediately understood the significance of a modern-day
prophet. He prayed at the end of the lesson to know if Joseph Smith
was a prophet. We finished our evening by sharing "The Restoration"
video with Irene Gonzalez and also talking about having a living
prophet. I'm really excited for General Conference in two weeks, and
it is a great tool to use when talking with people about the
significance of the Restoration.
Sunday, September 21t, 2014:
For the first time since the end of May (well before I arrived here in
Azusa), we were able to have an investigator come to church! Irene was
able to come to church, and she loved it. The Maganas spoke, and their
talks were very powerful. Everything at church just seemed to flow
very well today, ward council included. After church, Elder Crane and
I were finally able to go visit Michael Martinez again. We shared a
talk with him about how to study the Book of Mormon. It is entitled "A
Reservoir of Living Water" by David A. Bednar and is very informative.
Michael is doing very well, and seminary is keeping him focused on
reading his scriptures. We then went by Paula Lopez again to watch
"The Restoration" video with her for about ten minutes. Our zone is
really focusing on the importance of conversion right now, and we are
really witnessing the changes day by day of the people that we are
working with. Elder Crane and I then went to eat with the Maganas.
They are such a kind family, and we have a really strong relationship
with them. I have been able to be a part of helping them return back
to church and stay strong; I could see Hermano Magana being called as
the new ward mission leader when Hermano Torres has to leave. True
repentance is a key step in the Gospel, and seeing people live the
Gospel is the greatest blessing as a missionary. We then concluded our
evening by teaching Irene Gonzalez about temples and family history
work as we prepare to go with her to the Temple Visitors' Center with
her in Los Angeles next Saturday. She loves learning and growing, and
I'm really excited to be able to help her progress towards the waters
of baptism on October 12th. I called the rest of the district and also
talked to the zone leaders after daily planning; it was interesting to
hear that everyone has been struggling, even though everyone is
working even harder and being even more obedient. Patience will be the
key going forward.
Today was our celebration of Hermana Covington's birthday; she will be
turning twenty tomorrow. We celebrated by eating Costco pizza at the
park, and the other Elders made a tres leches cake to eat, which was
delicious! It was a fun and relaxing day at the park, which will be
the final P-Day of this transfer as hard as that is to believe. I am
excited to see what happens this next transfer! I appreciate all of
your love and support! I hope that everyone has a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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