The Lord's Timing - November 24, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope that everyone has had a great week! This week has been really
busy, and we haven't had a whole lot of time to work in our area
together, due to exchanges and the stomach flu; however, we have been
seeing a number of miracles, which has testified to us of the Lord's
timing in everything that we do. We are getting ready to be bloated on
Thanksgiving, but we will survive!

Wednesday, November 19th, 2014:

Due to the short transfer (five weeks, instead of the usual six), I
have to do exchanges a lot more frequently than normal. I went to
Belvedere 2 - East to do exchanges with Elder Marchan today. We spent
about a transfer and a half together in Azusa, so it was really fun to
catch up again. Elder Marchan and I will also be leaving on the same
day to return home, so we have been out on the mission about the same
length of time. During the morning, we contacted a few former
investigators. I then had a meeting with the other district leaders,
zone leaders and sister trainers for our zone. It seems like everyone
is divided into three distinct groups with distinct ideas: the
district leaders are all on the same page; the zone leaders are on a
different boat; and the sister trainers are lobbying to go a different
way with zone meeting. It is interesting to see how important it is
for leadership to all be on the same page when preparing to teach a
group. During the afternoon, Elder Marchan and I taught a couple of
investigators named Mike and Giselle about the Plan of Salvation. They
had a lot of very good questions, even though some of the questions
touched on some deeper doctrines that we didn't want to discuss (to
avoid confusing them). We were able to help them see the positive
effects of the Fall of Adam. During the evening, a number of our
appointments fell through, but we had an awesome lesson with an
investigator family named the Becerra family (no relation to my
previous mission president, at least that I know of). We didn't know
exactly what they needed, so we began by asking inspired questions to
help the family see that they had already received their answer that
the Church is true. It was an awesome lesson, and they actually
committed to be baptized a week from this coming Sunday.

Thursday, November 20th, 2014:

For the first time in quite a while, I did not recognize or even know
the majority of my zone. I am finally getting to the point on my
mission where I am becoming one of the "older" missionaries. Elder
Cobb and Elder Gallegos did a wonderful job of teaching zone meeting,
and Hermana Beckett and Hermana Hernandez presented the importance of
maintaining a positive attitude in a wonderful manner, too. I wonder
if zone meeting may have tried to touch on too many topics, however,
to be as effective as it could have been; I honestly believe that the
lack of unity yesterday in our preparation meeting may have played a
part in that. Regardless, the Spirit was present, and I'm sure that
everyone got something out of the meeting that they needed for their
individual area and investigators. Elder Alcaraz and I went to go eat
dinner with Maria Manriquez later during the day. She is such a sweet,
old lady who loves learning about the Gospel. We shared "The
Restoration" video with her and discussed the importance of having the
Priesthood authority to perform the ordinance of baptism. She seemed
kind of reluctant to accept the invitation to be baptized, but she did
begin to understand the importance better as we continued to talk with
her. All of her family has been encouraging her to take the step and
be baptized, even though none of them are members. She is just a
little scared of the unknown, but she is ready. She accepted a
baptismal date for December 7th, 2014, and we are going to go to the
Temple Visitors' Center on December 2nd with her, too. We ended our
evening by teaching the Preach My Gospel class at the church to all of
the ward missionaries. Elder Alcaraz and I taught about Chapter 2 of
Preach My Gospel, which addresses the topic of how to study as a
missionary. We were able to teach a powerful lesson in which we
addressed the importance of gaining knowledge in the mind and
understanding in the heart. We can learn and know the Gospel in our
mind, but we must come to understand it in our heart to be truly
converted, rather than becoming convinced by what someone says; only
the Spirit can help us truly understand in our heart.

Friday, November 21st, 2014:

Elder Alcaraz was feeling a little sick for the better part of the
morning, so I had him lay down and sleep for a few hours. During that
time, I got a big chunk of reading done in the Book of Mormon in
Spanish; I am now just eight pages away from finishing The Book of
Mormon in Spanish for the second time. Supposedly, there is a promise
from an apostle that states that a missionary will not lose his or her
mission language if he or she reads The Book of Mormon twice in the
mission language as a missionary. Elder Alcaraz and I then began
weekly planning. It was a little difficult to concentrate because we
were both unusually sleepy, but we managed to plan very well for how
to begin working with a lot of the less-actives in our area. The
Belvedere 2 Ward has an average of about 175 people at church every
week, but the ward list shows that there are about 825 members. We are
trying to follow our mission president's counsel and begin to work
with the less-active members more. There was a mission in the
Philippines not too long ago that stopped all work with investigators
and only worked with less-active members for one full calendar year.
The interesting thing was that the number of baptisms remained
constant, but they were also able to bring back countless numbers of
people into the Church. The Work of Salvation is meant to unite
members and missionaries so that we may save souls, not just baptize
people. Salvation requires much more than baptism, and we aren't doing
our job correctly if we put one facet of the Work of Salvation ahead
of another. Elder Alcaraz and I later went to teach Hermano Antonio
Escobar for the first time. He normally hides from the missionaries,
but he felt the Spirit when Elder Alcaraz and I gave him a blessing,
prompting him to listen to us. We focused on how he can become a
better father as he begins to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ more. We
shared a Mormon Message entitled "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father" to
further illustrate that principle. It was a powerful lesson, and
Hermano Escobar said that he now wants to become part of our religion.
At the end of the evening, we had our ward Thanksgiving party. There
was a huge turnout, and we were able to see a lot of investigators who
came. Despite the fact that the activity started nearly an hour late,
it was very successful. The food was delicious, and I think that the
mole may have been the best mole that I have ever tasted in my life.
At the end of the night, I began exchanges with Elder Turner in his
area, Belvedere 2 - South.

Saturday, November 22nd, 2014:

For the first time in approximately six months, I did exchanges with
Elder Turner; it was our first time together since our days serving
together back in El Molino. I enjoy serving around him, and it will be
sad to see him go home in just three weeks from now. Our service
project in the morning ended up canceling, so we went by an
investigator named Janelle. She didn't seem really interested, but
Elder Turner and Elder Coca have been doing a lot of service for her
to help her see the love that comes from the Gospel. We were able to
set up a service project with her for the following week. We then went
to teach a recent convert named Jose Garcia about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ with a specific focus on having the companionship of the Holy
Ghost. He is a very strong recent convert and shows a lot of progress
spiritually. Elder Turner and I then read in the Book of Mormon with a
less-active member named Hermano Chavez. He seemed very interested to
learn, and we were able to help him understand how he can better apply
the teachings of the Book of Mormon to his own life. I feel like we,
as missionaries, often teach the "what" and the "why" behind the
doctrines, but we often neglect the "how"; many people understand the
importance of what we teach, but we don't always provide them with the
tools that they need to become self-reliant. We finished our evening
by stopping by Hermana Calderon. She talked to us about how she wants
her son to serve a mission and how we can help him gain the desire to
serve an honorable, full-time mission for the Lord. Serving the Lord
as a full-time missionary is a great privilege and honor; however, it
is a personal commitment that cannot be made by a parent pushing the
young man or young woman to serve. Living the Gospel, like serving a
mission, is an individual commitment and cannot be forced by someone
else. The whole purpose of the Gospel is to change the desires of our
hearts so that we naturally want to live more like Christ would have
us live.

Sunday, November 23rd, 2014:

I have been rather fortunate over the course of my mission: I haven't
ever had to stay home as a result of my companion and I being sick. It
was not meant to continue that way, however. After Sacrament Meeting,
I immediately began realizing that I may have caught the stomach flu.
Elder Alcaraz and I got a ride home from Sergio Mata after the end of
Gospel Principles, and I ended up sleeping or laying in bed from 11:30
AM until 9:00 PM. I would have laid there the entire night, but the
only thing causing me to get up was Sunday night calls. I couldn't eat
or drink anything all day. Hermano Becerril came over to give me a
blessing and also to bring a small bowl of soup. It was wonderful to
see how caring the members of the Belvedere 2 Ward are.

Despite the craziness of the week with mission conference last Monday
and P-Day last Tuesday, in addition to two exchanges and a day of
being bed-ridden, the week actually produced a lot of miracles and
positive experiences. I am still feeling a little sick, but I have
been able to recuperate immensely since yesterday. I'm hoping to be
back to full strength in order to win the soccer tournament on
Thursday for Thanksgiving and then also have the stomach to be able to
eat three or four dinners. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and
remembers to always be thankful for the meaningful things in life.
More important than material possessions are the experiences with
family and the opportunity to learn and grow. Truly, Christ paid the
price so that we could rise again from our mistakes. May we all
remember Him always!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Mission Tour with Elder Joseph W Sitati of the Seventy - November 18, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a great week! As you are probably all aware, I
am currently in a new area, East Los Angeles. Elder Alcaraz and I are
having a wonderful a wonderful time together, and we are seeing a lot
of miracles happening in this area that are confirming to both of us
that this is where the Lord wants us to be. The ward has caught hold
of the "vision" that we all have of missionary work with less-active
members, and I am very excited to be able to give of my time and
efforts to be able to help the Belvedere 2 Ward!

Tuesday, November 11th, 2014:

In missionary work, the only method of finding that always works is
finding through the members. It doesn't seem like that was a huge area
of emphasis here upon arriving, so that was the first thing that Elder
Alcaraz and I were going to begin implementing. We spent the majority
of our day talking to a lot of different people without much set, and
we had some success with setting up some return appointments later on.
During the afternoon, we went to teach an investigator named Maria
Manriquez about the Word of Wisdom and talk about the importance of
staying physically healthy. She has been investigating for nearly two
years, and she continues to progress slowly. We later went to teach a
couple of investigators named Pedro and Maria Gomez about the Book of
Mormon. Pedro was pretty receptive to what we shared and understood
the importance of praying to know the truthfulness of what we share,
but Maria was a little stubborn. The Holy Ghost can only enlighten our
understanding if we have an open heart and an open mind. The final
appointment that we had during the day was with the Sorto family. They
made us some delicious chiles rellenos for dinner, which made me
really appreciate the sacrifice they made to make them. The members
seem to be really positive and happy and very willing to help the
missionaries.

Wednesday, November 12th, 2014:

Hermano Sanchez from the Azusa Ward recently moved into the Belvedere
2 Ward and needed help with service. He is one of my favorite members,
and Elder Marchan and I both have an excellent relationship with him.
We spent about three hours helping him paint his house. It was the
first time that I was able to meet all of our district and spend some
quality time with everyone. Hermano Sanchez and his wife made all of
us tortas after the service. After service, Elder Alcaraz and I
started contacting a number of people, and we talked to a lady named
Regina Romero who appears to have a lot of potential. Elder Alcaraz
seems to have taken after my positive attitude and faith, and he now
seems to be the one that is the most excited and ready to work. We
have great faith among the two of us, and we are doing very well at
inviting the Spirit to testify to those that we talk to.

Thursday, November 13th, 2014:

It was my first time teaching district meeting here in Belvedere 2,
and I wanted to help our district understand the big "vision" of
finding the "One." I taught about the importance of personal
conversion so that we can help those we teach and work with establish
the importance of being converted and follow after our example. We
cannot help convert other people beyond the point of our own
conversion. Presidente Villanueva is putting a huge emphasis on
working with less-actives, so I also taught the doctrine of how our
purpose as missionaries is predicated on working with less-active
members to find the quality investigators who will live the Gospel and
make the changes in their lives to follow the Savior. Elder Alcaraz
and I later went to visit a less-active member named Jaime Quezada. We
read in 3 Nephi 11 with him and committed him to begin reading in the
Book of Mormon more. If a person wants to be truly converted, he or
she must gain a testimony of the Savior and gain a testimony of the
Restoration through reading the Book of Mormon. Elder Alcaraz and I
later went to eat with Hermana Santoyo. She is super sincere and very
nice, but she talks a lot, making it very difficult to keep a
structured lesson going. During the evening, we went to teach a Preach
My Gospel class to the ward missionaries. Elder Alcaraz and I also
helped them understand the "vision" of going after the "One" by
working with less-actives to fulfill our missionary purpose. Obispo
Mata, our ward mission leader, is getting really behind this vision,
and we are going to see a lot of success through unifying the ward and
the missionaries.

Friday, November 14th, 2014:

Elder Alcaraz and I commenced with our first weekly planning session
together, and we are doing extremely well together. I honestly believe
that Elder Alcaraz will be a zone leader in the future, and possibly
an assistant to the president. I am trying my best to pass on all of
my knowledge to him so that he can succeed and push the mission
farther along in the future. More important than our individual
success is the success of others. I am trying my best to treat Elder
Alcaraz like an investigator and help him progress and meet his
maximum potential. After weekly planning, we went to teach Regina
Romero for the first time. It was an awesome lesson, and we were able
to get her to pray and ask God to know if what we were teaching is
true. We then went to eat dinner with Hermana Martinez. We shared a
Mormon Message with her, and she nearly began crying as we talked
about the importance of the family as it relates to the Gospel. Elder
Alcaraz and I are doing very well inviting the Spirit to testify of
doctrines that we share. Truly, everything starts with great
companionship unity and "an eye single to the glory of God."

Saturday, November 15th, 2014:

Elder Alcaraz and I got asked by Hermana Santoyo to go visit a lady in
the hospital who recently suffered from a stroke. We gave her a
blessing and then began talking to her about how she can find solace
as she places her faith in Christ, despite the fact that she is
passing through a difficult trial in her life. We have been working
really hard to find new investigators, and we were able to find a new
lady to teach today named Evangelina. We later went to teach Maria
Manriquez again about the vision of going to the temple and how
baptism is the gate that leads to the ultimate goal of being sealed as
a family in the temple. She told us that she knows that she needs to
be baptized and that she wants to go to the temple. It was huge
progress, and we were very grateful to be able to see her desire to
learn and grow. We finished the evening by sharing D&C 4 with the
Vargas family. The members seem very solid, and I am excited to meet
all of them tomorrow.

Sunday, November 16th, 2014:

For my first Sunday in Belvedere 2, it was very inviting and very
welcoming. I felt very comfortable and saw a lot of the enthusiasm
with the ward. After church ended, we met with Obispo Mata and the
ward missionaries, and Obispo Mata seems to have taken after Elder
Alcaraz and I by changing his attitude and excitement about missionary
work. We then went to ward council with the rest of the ward members
and got them all excited about the "Vision" as well. We have been
trying to make our excitement contagious. Obispo Mayora realized that
some of the ideas that we implemented in Azusa to change that ward
around were revelation, and he wants to experiment with some of the
same ideas. We then lost a part of the day because Elder Flindt and
Elder Haws lost their phone; we had to find it and then deliver it
back to them. The only appointment of our day was with the Olympia
family. We ate dinner with them, and Hermana Olympia started crying as
we talked with her about the importance of cherishing the small
moments in life as a family. I am loving working with Elder Alcaraz. I
ended the day by calling the district. It feels a lot different than
my district in Azusa, and I hope that we can all be as united as we
were in Azusa when I left.

Monday, November 17th, 2014:

We had our annual mission conference with Elder Joseph W. Sitati of
the Seventy in the morning. It was a very powerful meeting, and I
could feel the Spirit testifying to me of the power of the deeper
meaning of his words. He shared a scripture out of Colossians 2:6-10,
and I was able to realize that the deeper meaning of everything that
Elder Sitati said was focused on the Atonement of Christ. The word
"Atonement" means "to fill in the gap" or "to complete," just like the
scripture uses the word "complete." As missionaries, we are actually
"completing" or "filling in the gap" of what the investigator doesn't
know so that they can literally "come unto Christ." It was great to be
able to see all of my friends from around the mission; it also made me
realize that I am no longer a new missionary because half of the
mission is new, and I don't know any of them. During the day, Elder
Alcaraz and I were able to have a lot of success with teaching
investigators. We taught Regina Romero and her family again. They had
a lot of questions regarding the Church, and we were able to help them
feel the Spirit and pray at the end of the lesson. We then went by to
teach Maria Manriquez's daughter, Marlenne. Elder Alcaraz and I are
doing very well establishing a positive relationship with our
investigators and helping them feel the Spirit. We finished the day by
going to prepare the Becerril family for the lesson that we plan to
have with them tomorrow night with the Martinez family.

The area seemed kind of dead when I got here, but Elder Alcaraz and I
are doing our best to turn everything around by using our excitement
and enthusiasm to inspire everyone. Attitude leads to thought; thought
leads to action; action leads to habit; habit leads to behavior;
behavior leads to character; character leads to conversion. If we want
to be converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must have the
attitude and the faith that we can truly follow the Savior. I hope
everyone is well and that everyone is doing their best to remember the
Savior as we approach the happiest time of the year. Have a great
week, everyone!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley