Too Much Turkey - December 1, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and had too much turkey, like we
did here! We ended up with three dinners, even though it was nearly
four (one of them ended up canceling the day of). I love Latino food,
but I felt like I was going to explode after eating so much food! The
week has been full of exchanges, and we have a lot more activities
ahead during the coming week, including zone conference tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 25th, 2014:

When we woke up during the morning, Elder Alcaraz was feeling like he
had the flu again. Fortunately, after resting for a couple of hours,
he was able to regain his strength so that we could go out and work
again. It seems like Satan has been using any tactic he can to prevent
us from establishing a good rhythm to working in our area. While Elder
Alcaraz was sleeping, however, I was able to finish the Book of Mormon
in Spanish for the second time on my mission. It was the fifth time
reading it total on my mission, and I am constantly amazed with how
much I learn every time that I read it. I started it again in Spanish,
and I am hoping to finish it again in about a month or two from now.
We first went to visit Jaime Quezada, who is a less-active. We invited
him to the soccer game with the ward on Thanksgiving Day, and he
seemed really excited to come. Jaime is a HUGE Seattle Seahawks fan,
so we have a great relationship with him. Elder Alcaraz and I later
went to eat lunch with Hermana Bernal and her mother. They fed us a
delicious meal, and we then shared D&C 4 with them to emphasize the
qualifications for missionary work. Faith, hope, charity and love are
the requisites for engaging in the work of the Lord, and everything
else is secondary to those four principles of the Gospel, which line
up with the first four principles of the Gospel (faith, repentance,
baptism and the Holy Ghost). Elder Alcaraz and I then stopped by
Marlene Manriquez to talk about what will happen at the tour at the
Temple Visitors' Center. She seems really excited to go, but she is
still a little uncertain about taking the step into the waters of
baptism. At the temple, we are able to feel the Spirit testify to us
about the importance and truthfulness of baptism by proper Priesthood
authority. She prayed and asked God at the end of the lesson if she
should be baptized, so she shows true desire to act. Elder Alcaraz and
I then met up with Elder Marchan and Elder Van Wagenen to do an
exchange; I went with Elder Van Wagenen to Belevedere 2 - East, and
Elder Marchan came with Elder Alcaraz to Belevedere 2 - West.

Wednesday, November 26th, 2014:

Elder Van Wagenen is a quiet person, but he is very friendly. We
discovered that we are both huge football fans, which was able to
break the ice. I also found out that he played high school football in
Eagle, Idaho, which is where Tanner Mangum is from. He and Tanner
Mangum played together all throughout high school. For those who don't
know who Tanner is: Tanner Mangum was the top quarterback in the
entire country coming out of high school, and he is currently serving
in Argentina -- I was able to meet him in the MTC. Elder Van Wagenen
was telling me that Tanner Mangum already has NFL ability, so look out
for him in the coming years at BYU and in the NFL. Our first
appointment of the day was with an investigator named Fidel. He was
very frustrating to teach because he basically disregarded everything
we said, or it went in one ear and out of the other. We testified
boldly of the power of the Book of Mormon, and he committed to read
it, however. Elder Van Wagenen and I then went to visit the Garcia de
Alma family. The Hermano is one of the most intelligent members that I
have ever met, but the wife is a devote Catholic. Hermano Garcia de
Alma honestly knows as much as most temple presidents, so it was
interesting to talk to him about teaching the Gospel in simple and
plain terms for those who aren't as well-versed. During the evening,
we went to the home of the Becerra family. I was able to perform my
very first baptismal interview for Inez Becerra. She was still trying
to decide if she wanted to be baptized on Sunday, but I gave her the
interview, per Elder Marchan's request. As I asked her the questions,
she came to realize that she was much more prepared than she had
realized. She Wanted to be baptized this Sunday and showed that she
has been repenting and living the Gospel. It was a very spiritual
experience, and she is all ready to be baptized this Sunday. We then
finished the exchanges.

Thursday, November 27th, 2014:

The Belvedere 2 Ward teamed up with the Boyle Heights Ward to play a
soccer game in the morning (Turkey Bowl -- Latino-style) against the
Belvedere 1 Ward. Both Jaime Quezada and Hermano Escobar, an
investigator that we recently started teaching, came to watch, so it
was an effective missionary activity for us. There was a huge turnout
overall, and they even had referees for the game. Our team prevailed
3-1 at the end of the game. Playing soccer made me reminisce of my
days in Azusa. After soccer, our whole district went over to the
church for district meeting. The assistants were coming to sit in, so
I was a little more nervous than usual to teach. District meeting
focused on the Doctrine of Christ -- The Missionary Purpose, and I
emphasized the importance of working with less-active members to
fulfill our missionary purpose. I don't know if it was as powerful as
I was hoping that it could be, but the assistants expressed to me
their gratitude for how much they learned from the meeting. After
district meeting, we began eating ore than we could handle. The Verde
family invited everyone from the district to come eat, and everyone,
except the Hermanas, was able to come. It was a fun visit with the
district. Elder Alcaraz then had another dinner appointment with the
Rojo family. I had trouble trying to break the ice with the family
just because they were more quiet as people than I am used to, but
they were very nice. Both of our first two dinners were delicious, but
our best dinner was our final dinner with the Escobar family. We
finished the day by eating with them, at which point we were already
bloated. We ate turkey or chicken at all three dinners. I had way more
to eat than I could have ever hoped for. Each one of the three dinners
was a full feast, and Latinos get offended if you don't take a second
plate, meaning that it was nearly the equivalent of six large standard
meals. Elder Alcaraz and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and it
made us very thankful for the love that our members show us.

Friday, November 28th, 2014:

We had our monthly apartment inspection by Obispo Angulo during the
morning, so Elder Alcaraz and I spent a little time cleaning and
making the apartment look spotless. It always amazes me at just how
dirty missionaries can let the apartment become over time. I prefer
living in a clean and tidy space, which, according to President
Becerra, allows for personal revelation to be received. He always
said, "How can you expect to receive personal revelation if your desk
[and house] isn't clean?" Elder Alcaraz and I then commenced with
weekly planning. After weekly planning, the zone leaders wanted to
begin exchanges with us. I went to Belvedere 1 - North with Elder
Cobb, and Elder Gallegos came to Belvedere 2 - West to be with Elder
Alcaraz. Elder Cobb and I focused a lot on contacting different
people. He is very good at getting return appointments with new people
that we talk to. We were able to set up four or five different
appointments with street contacts, door contacts and former
investigators. During the evening, an Hermano from the Belvedere 1
Ward named Hermano Barrales came to help us teach an investigator
couple named Jorge and Aida about the Restoration. Jorge understood
everything extremely well and even accepted a baptismal date for
January 11th! Aida was very attached to her Catholic traditions,
however, and wasn't as open to the idea of switching beliefs right
away. She did, however, want us to continue coming back so that she
can continue to learn. Just like in the parable of the laborers in the
vineyard, there are investigators that don't need to work as much time
(or investigate as long, in this case) to receive the same recompense
(baptism) as others who have to labor (investigate) for longer periods
of time to qualify for the reward (baptism). Today was the first
exchange with Elder Cobb since I was in third transfer in Chino
shortly after Christmas; it was incredible to see how much we have
both grown since then.

Saturday, November 29th, 2014:

Elder Cobb is really easy-going, and spending the day with him was
really fun. We are both good friends, and we are both very focused on
the work. A number of our appointments canceled, which happens
frequently. Elder Cobb and I knocked on a few doors of former
investigators and their neighbors; we were able to find a few
interested people who invited us back during the coming week. Before
we had to exchange back, we taught a young kid named Ricardo about the
Ten Commandments and the Word of Wisdom. His records were lost from
his baptism, so he has to be re-baptized now. The family fed us carne
asada and was very appreciative of our help. We then went to exchange
back. The biggest thing that I learned from Elder Cobb during our
exchange was obedience to the small details; he is a consecrated
missionary, without question. Elder Alcaraz and I were invited to eat
dinner with the Carbajal family; Obispo Jimenez and his wife from the
Los Robles Singles' Ward came to join us for dinner. It was a
wonderful visit, and I really enjoyed getting to know all of them
better. Obispo Jimenez served his mission in Detroit and is very
familiar with the University of Michigan. We shared the new Christmas
video that the Church made that is entitled "He is the Gift." The
video is the Church's Christmas initiative to promote the true meaning
of Christmas, and the video will be on the homepage of YouTube,
beginning on December 7th. I would encourage each and every one of you
to watch and share it, if you haven't yet done so. The Spirit was very
powerful, and I believe that each person in that room will now have
the desire to share the true meaning of Christmas. We concluded the
evening by going to Maria Manriquez's house. Maria was quite sleepy,
but all of her kids were interested in learning. We taught five of
them at the same time; I taught four of them about the Restoration,
and Elder Alcaraz taught the fifth about how he can come to know that
God is there and that God loves him. Every single one of the five
teenagers was interested in learning more. Teaching for understanding
is one of the biggest keys to missionary work.

Sunday, November 30th, 2014:

Church was really powerful today because a group of Los Robles members
came to sing during Sacrament Meeting. They sang the 2014 youth song,
"Come Unto Christ," and incorporated the violin, the guitar, the piano
and the ukulele. It brought the Spirit into the room very powerfully.
Elder Alcaraz and I did really well about setting up appointments with
members for the week after church ended. We are making a concerted
effort to get to know all of our members better, and we plan to begin
working with them to help hasten the work here in our individual area.
Jaime Quezada didn't come to church today, like he had promised us
that he would, so we went to visit him after church. He fed us caldo
de res, and we shared the "He is the Gift" video with him and his
wife. Jaime said that he wants to come to church next week with both
his wife and his son. I believe that we can begin to help him gain the
vision of working on receiving the Melchizadek Priesthood in the
future. Elder Alcaraz and I later went to visit Pedro and Ester Gomez.
We gave them a "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD a little while back, and
we sat down to watch the video with them. They loved it and wanted us
to come back to continue teaching them. Elder Alcaraz and I concluded
the day by teaching the Rivadeneyra family about the Book of Mormon.
He talks incessantly, making it difficult to keep any kind of
structured lesson going. One unusual thing about today was that it
rained a lot. I can probably count on two hands how many times it has
actually rained in California since getting here last August, and this
was only the second time it has bucketed this much. California really
needs the rain, though.

Today, our whole district spent the day at the mercadito. We all
bought gorditas and had a wonderful time relaxing and strolling
through the little shops. I bought a little last supper painting to
make our apartment more like the typical Latino home. I always enjoy
going to the mercadito because everyone there speaks Spanish and sells
authentic Latino foods and crafts. It was a great way to relax for the
day and spend some quality time together as a district. Tomorrow, we
have zone conference with President Villanueva, so I am very excited
to be fed spiritually. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and is
continuing to remember the true meaning of Christmas during this
holiday season!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley