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
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