Hey Everyone!
I hope everyone has been enjoying the holiday season and is all ready
for Christmas in just three days from now! Last week was transfers,
and I actually got transferred again! I was only in Belvedere 2 for
five weeks, but Elder Alcaraz got the call to train, meaning that I
was going to be leaving again. I am now with Elder Crosgrove as a zone
leader in the Arroyo Ward, and we are having a great time together.
Elder Alcaraz, my previous companion, was actually trained by Elder
Crosgrove in Belvedere 2 - West, so both of us served there before
coming up to Arroyo - South to be companions. It has been a hectic
week with a lot happening, and I love working here.
Tuesday, December 16th, 2014:
Elder Crosgrove and I had an awesome day of studies this morning, and
it really demonstrates just how well we are working together. He went
over the area with me so that I will feel a little more comfortable
with who we are teaching and a little more comfortable with my
responsibilities as a zone leader. We then went with a member named
Mario Cortez to go teach a progressing investigator named Lizeth
(Wendi is her nickname) Martinez. We reviewed the baptismal interview
questions with her by using the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet to
make reviewing the questions less like an interview and more like a
spiritually-uplifting experience. The lesson went very well, and I
believe that Wendi is ready for her baptism in just a couple of weeks.
Martio Cortez then came with us to go teach a new investigator named
Ricardo Martinez. Elder Crosgrove and I contacted him at the grocery
store yesterday, and he seemed very interested. We shared the "He is
the Gift" video with him and talked about our purpose as missionaries.
He was very receptive, and I look forward to working with him more and
more. During the evening, Elder Crosgrove and I ate dinner with the
Giron family. They all committed to give out a copy of the Book of
Mormon before Christmas time. At the end of the night, Joel Cortes
came out with us as we went to go visit an investigator named Gabriel
Navarro. We ended up dropping Gabriel Navarro, which will give us more
time to find more prepared investigators.
Wednesday, December 17th, 2014:
Elder Crosgrove and I went to do studies with Elder Ramirez and Elder
Israel in Tujunga in the morning. We had a great study session with
them before leaving to go pick up a mattress from the Hermanas in the
Fletcher Ward and a bike from the Hermanas in the El Molino Branch. We
then went over to the mission office to pick up supplies and get our
original car back. We had been driving around a mission mini-van while
our car was in the shop getting some maintenance work done, so we were
able to exchange back our car after picking up supplies for the zone
at the mission office. It was really neat going to the mission office
and seeing all of the other zone leaders and office staff. Elder
Crosgrove and I went to go eat dinner with Omar Lopez and his mother
during the evening. They made us some delicious pupusas, and then we
shared the "He is the Gift" video with them. We taught the Vargas
family later in the evening about the Book of Mormon. It was an
extremely powerful lesson in which Elder Crosgrove and I both bore
powerful testimony of the role of the Book of Mormon in our conversion
to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. To conclude the evening, the
whole Arroyo district went to go sing to a lady named Tonya who has
muscular dystrophy. We sang Christmas carols to brighten up her
evening, and it was one of the most fun service opportunities that I
have had my entire mission.
Thursday, December 18th, 2014:
Elder Crosgrove and I began our day by going to deliver supplies to
the Fletcher and Arroyo districts. We then went to attend Elder
Perez's district meeting in El Molino. I am so used to serving under
him that it was weird having him teach me with reversed roles. He
taught about how to begin the teaching process and focused on the
importance of getting to know the investigator and then applying the
details that we learn about their life to the Ten Points of How to
Begin Teaching. I love working with Elder Perez, and I know that he
will be a fantastic district leader. He was a zone leader for seven
transfers, and this is his very first time ever being a district
leader. Elder Crosgrove and I began our day of work by going to teach
Wendi Martinez about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was an awesome
lesson filled with great analogies. Elder Crosgrove related baptism to
a contract that we sign to gain access to Christ's atoning sacrifice.
We later stopped by Ricardo Martinez again to review the Restoration
with him. He was a little confused about the true nature of God, given
the fact that he has spent the past several years attending various
Christian churches that have different views of the nature of God. We
invited him to pray about his doubt so that he can come to know that
God has a body of flesh and bones, just like we do. A member named
Rosie who works at the local laundry mat took Elder Crosgrove and I
out to eat at a Mexican restaurant during the evening. She has such a
big heart and is always looking to help us out in whatever way that
she can. I love how charitable and loving the members are; missionary
work can only be successful when members and missionaries come
together. Elder Crosgrove and I next went to visit the Vargas family
again to read with Guadalupe and her father. It was a very spiritual
lesson, and they committed to reading the Book of Mormon every single
day to find out if it is true. The Book of Mormon is the key to
everything that we do. To conclude our day, we talked to Jose Mendez
about preparing to go do baptisms for the dead at the temple.
Friday, December 19th, 2014:
For the third time on my mission so far, I have been in the district
that was assigned to clean the mission office. Our whole district met
up at the mission office at about noon to clean for about two hours.
It was fun to have the opportunity to get to know everyone a little
bit better as we all cleaned. I think that I only knew about half of
our district and zone at the beginning of the transfer, so I am still
in the process of getting to know the Fletcher, Arroyo and El Molino
districts. As we were finishing up cleaning, Elder Crosgrove and I
discovered that we were missing a part on our car; we had to go back
to the shop to get it fixed. We then went straight to correlation
meeting with our ward mission leader, Hermano Ojeda. He seems really
active and willing to help us, and I look forward to working with him
more and more. During the evening, the Arroyo Ward had the annual
Christmas dinner. Elder Crosgrove went with Hermano Ojeda to pick up
Norma and Guadalupe Vargas while I stayed at the church with Elder
Carnahan and Elder Van Wagenen to meet some of the members. I am
trying to go out of my way to talk to as many people as possible,
which includes talking to all of the members of the ward that I can.
It was a great party that was filled with singing and a live nativity.
I look forward to serving the members of the Arroyo Ward more and
more.
Saturday, December 20th, 2014:
We arranged all of the rides to go to the Elwood Building in Glendora,
which is where I served at in Azusa and is just two blocks away from
where my recent convert, Irene Gonzalez, lives at. It brought back a
lot of memories as we drove to Glendora. The mission party was a great
opportunity to be able to see everyone that I have served around. I
love mission conferences because I am able to hear about how all of my
old areas are doing; it sounds like all of my previous wards and
companions are doing well and progressing, which makes me really happy
to hear. We were instructed by Presidente and Hermana Villanueva.
After they concluded with their message, there was a mission-wide
testimony meeting. It was a really spiritual meeting in which a few
missionaries shared some very personal and powerful experiences.
Testimony is the trunk on the tree of conversion; we cannot be truly
converted if we do not continually work on fortifying our own
testimony, and our conversion will wither and die if we do not
constantly nourish our testimony through bearing it. President Nelson
of the mission presidency purchased lunch for everyone, which ended up
being ham and steak. It was so nice and humbling to see other people
go so far out of their way to make sure that we, as missionaries, were
looked after so well. After lunch ended, every zone sang a Christmas
song as part of the Christmas nativity program in the mission. Elder
Crosgrove and I led our zone as we sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem"
in Spanish. To conclude the Christmas party, they brought out a couple
of pinatas for everyone to hit and break open. It was a ton of fun and
provided a great bonding time for the mission. The activity was very
much like a Latino Christmas, which showed us some of the traditions
that the Villanuevas have brought with them here to California. During
the evening, we shared the "He is the Gift" video with Carolina
Garcia. She committed to come to church tomorrow so that she can
continue helping her faith in Christ grow.
Sunday, December 21st, 2014:
It is always interesting to go to church for the first time in an area
because it is always a great indication of how the missionary work is
doing and how the ward as a whole is progressing. The Arroyo Ward
seemed a little smaller than I was expecting; however, the members
were very friendly and inviting. It also appears that the ward is much
more organized and has a much better core structure of members to run
it than Belvedere 2 did. Out of the five or six people that Elder
Crosgrove and I were hoping would come to church, three investigators
ended up attending, which was wonderful to see. After church ended,
Elder Crosgrove and I went back to our apartment to do weekly
planning. Cleaning the mission office prevented us from having the
necessary time to do our weekly planning. We were very effective about
planning to establish a vision for each of our investigators and how
we can carry out our plans to bring about the vision that we have for
each investigator. Elder Crosgrove and I work really well together,
and I look forward to the success that should come in the upcoming
week. We went to eat dinner with a recent convert named Israel. We ate
pupusas with him and talked to him about his daily reading in the
scriptures. Elder Crosgrove and I later went to visit the Vargas
family and began talking with them about going to the Los Angeles
Temple Visitors' Center. They seemed really excited and interested in
going to see it. We concluded the week by stopping by the Jurado
family's home. They live in the Arroyo Ward boundaries, but they are
members of the Fletcher Ward. They fed us tacos dorados, which were
delicious. Latino people love feeding us, and they have some of the
most delicious food there is! Elder Crosgrove and I finished our
evening by talking to all of the district leaders in the zone. It
sounds like everyone is doing surprisingly well for the first week of
the transfer.
It has been very exciting and hectic at the same time. I am really
enjoying the opportunity to serve here in Lincoln Heights with Elder
Crosgrove. We have a lot of promising things happening in our area at
the moment, and we are seeing numerous miracles as we serve together.
I look forward to seeing even more Christmas miracles and being able
to talk with my family in just three days from now. I hope everyone
remembers the true meaning of Christmas and places Christ at the
center of everything that they do during this Christmas season. I hope
everyone has a very merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
No comments:
Post a Comment