Hey Everyone!
As the title of the email indicates, we got a new bishop here in Azusa: Obispo Martinez (the second). Obispo Enrique Martinez had to move to Montebello, so we now have Obispo Rafael Martinez. It was quite the spiritual experience, and I didn't realize that the names of bishops are recommended to the First Presidency by the Stake Presidency; the Stake Presidency doesn't actually call a bishop, the prophet does. I will be staying in Azusa for another transfer. The only person to leave was Hermana Covington, now making me the senior member in Azusa, even though I will only begin my third transfer here. It also sounds like there were very few changes, if any, in our entire zone.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014:
Elder Crane and I began our day by talking with Richie Rios about the process of repentance. He has been doing awesome, and we want to continue helping him become more and more pure. He understands the doctrine very well and is making significant strides each and every day. He is currently reading in Jacob, which is evidence of the converting power of the Book of Mormon. We later went to read in the Book of Mormon with Paula, who has been getting a little lax on her reading. We will need to continue to help her maintain the habit of daily reading in the scriptures. I never cease to be amazed at the difference between people who read the Book of Mormon every day and those who don't. Elder Crane and I then went to Jose Garcia's house to begin teaching him the Melchizadek Priesthood classes. He is such a strong member, and I am optimistic that he will be ready to enter the temple in the coming months. He only other noteworthy event of the day was going to play basketball with Carlos Magana and Arturo Rayas. Carlos is a less-active member who is interested in returning to church, so we decided to play basketball with him and then teach him afterwards. He is much more receptive when we engage him more, so the idea to play basketball with him was very effective. He has a lot of potential, and I look forward to continuing to meet with him.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2014:
Elder Crane and I spent a few minutes on Facebook for the first time in quite some time. It is rather strange using Facebook as a missionary, and we don't know how to use it to its fullest potential quite yet. I always feel like being outside working is more effective and productive, but we will learn how to make Facebook even more productive over the course of time as we continue to use it. Later in the day, Hermana Castillo needed a Priesthood blessing, so I had the opportunity to perform the blessing. She hasn't been coming to church as of late, and Elder Crane and I are going to help change that. We shared a few verses out of the Book of Mormon with Silvia Salgado and brought Mayra Lopez with us to help teach. It is amazing to see the role of a member-friend in missionary work; without the continual support of a friend when the missionaries are not present, it becomes very difficult for investigators and recent converts to maintain their belief and testimony of the Restored Gospel. Elder Crane and I then went to visit Richie and read in the Book of Mormon with him before continuing up to the church to meet up for correlation meeting with Hermano Torres. Unfortunately, he wasn't available. We ended up starting exchanges that evening; Elder Nielsen came with me to my area, and Elder Crane went with Elder Nelson in Azusa - West.
Thursday, September 25th:
I feel like I am always nervous to teach district meeting, and fortunately it has gone well so far. Today, we talked about charity and patience, and I emphasized the importance of having charity and patience with ourselves. The story of Job illustrated the topic quite well, so we talked about the difficulties that Job faced and then related them to our individual areas in Azusa that we are working in. Hermano Torres felt bad for yesterday, so he showed up after district meeting with pizzas and sodas to enjoy while we all discussed how we can improve the work here in Azusa for correlation meeting. Hermano Torres understands the Gospel and the importance of strengthening members and recent converts to build up the ward. As missionaries and members work together, we create a larger army in the Lord's hands to bring about His will. Elder Nielsen and I began our day by talking to Richie about the importance of maintaining clean thoughts so that our behavior changes. Thoughts lead to actions, and actions lead to behavior. If we want to change our behavior, we must change our thoughts and ultimately our desires. We later talked to Paula Lopez about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He can support her in her physical struggles and she trusts in Him and exercises faith. We continued along in the day by stopping by a number of potential and former investigators without much luck. We ended the day by teaching Irene the Ten Commandments. She is doing great and will be ready for her baptism on October 12th!
Friday, September 26th, 2014:
Elder Crane and I have been struggling to find new investigators lately, so we spent a fair amount of time during weekly planning trying to come up with creative ideas to find new investigators, including new ideas for how to incorporate Facebook more into how we find. It seems like the more that I progress on my mission, the more that is expected in terms of how to be creative in every aspect of missionary work. As missionaries, we can never settle and be complacent with where we are at; we are either progressing, or we are regressing. During the afternoon, we began talking to a man named Rafael Hernandez for a couple of minutes. He let us in the door, but he was only able to talk for about five minutes. We are doing well incorporating the charity and patience we learned in district meeting, so we are now trying to visit new places to talk with more people. We reviewed the importance of maintaining good thoughts with Richie Rios. We finished our day by discussing the commandments of tithing and fasting with Irene Gonzalez. Every time we go to visit her, she is always excited to learn and apply what we teach, which is clear evidence of her conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Saturday, September 27th, 2014:
We were able to invite a kid named Alex to come play soccer with us today, and he seemed to really enjoy it. We had a large turnout for soccer, and Alex was able to meet quite a few members, especially youth his age. He has been talking itch the English Sisters a lot, but he says that he would rather go to a Spanish ward; as a result, we may have the opportunity to begin teaching him in the near future. After finishing soccer, Hermano Sanchez bought all of us Costco hot dogs. He will be leaving on Tuesday and wanted to say how much he will miss us and has enjoyed working with us. Latino people have the biggest hearts and are the most charitable people that I have ever met. We then met up with the Magana family and went to pick up Irene in order to go to the Los Angeles Temple Visitor's Center. It was probably one of the best experiences of my entire mission. Irene was saying during the tour that it was the best day of her entire life and that she cannot wait until the day that she will be able to go through the temple. She honestly looked like a kid in a toy store. Seeing the excitement and happiness that comes from feeling the Spirit and living the Gospel is one of the most rewarding feelings a person can experience.
Sunday, September 28th, 2014:
We had the special privilege of witnessing the changing of the bishopric today during our Fast and Testimony Meeting. Obispo Rafael Martinez was called as the new obispo, and we will have the opportunity to work with him often, seeing that he lives in our individual area. I love working with him, and I know that this ward is in good hands with him at the head. I had the strongest impression last night that I would stay in Azusa to help the new obispo with the transition, and I never knew that there would be a new obispo called. The Lord is in the details of our lives, and I hope that I can help our district put missionary work at the front of all of the agendas of the ward. After church, we definitely learned our lesson about how the Lord gives and the Lord takes. We ended up dropping a total of four investigators with a lot of potential today because it isn't in the Lord's timing for them right now. Everything must happen in the Lord's timing and in His way. We taught a total of two drop lessons and dropped four investigators in the course of one day, which is a lot for our individual area (the majority of the people around here are White). We did, however, manage to have a great first lesson with Rafael Hernandez, the man we contacted on Friday. We concluded our day by eating with the Magana family. They were delighted for our invitation to come to the temple with us and wanted to invite us over to eat! It was a great end to the week and an even better end to a difficult day. It sounds like our whole district had a great week overall, however. We seem to be a step ahead in working with the less-actives and strengthening our recent converts. We are setting up the ward to have success going forward, and the blessings will undoubtedly follow.
I'm excited for the opportunity to begin working with the new bishop and for the opportunity to stay another transfer here in Azusa. Elder Crane and I are doing very well together, and we have a lot of potential going forward. I appreciate all of your love and support! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
This is a picture of our trip to the Temple Visitor's Center on Saturday with Irene Gonzalez and the Magana family:
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