Hey Everyone!
This first full week with Elder Corbett has been really fun and
incredibly busy. We have been able to witness some very scary,
exciting, and spiritual things all packed into one crazy week. Lincoln
Heights has proven to be my favorite area that I have worked in so
far, and I am looking forward to more adventures in the short-term
future!
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015:
Elder Corbett and I began our day by going to visit Jose Mendez. Elder
Corbett's mother is from El Salvador, so he and Jose were able to
break the ice very easily. Elder Corbett's grandfather was also a
member of the El Salvador national soccer team when they went to the
World Cup, so Jose was really interested in talking to him. We taught
Jose about the vision that we have of helping him reach the temple. We
then went with Joel Cortes to go visit Wendi Martinez. There was a
different spirit in her home today; everything felt peaceful and
happy, and it made me very grateful to see how much her life has
improved as she has decided to follow Christ more fully, especially by
being baptized. During the evening, Joel came with us again. We had a
number of appointments fall through, but we ended up knocking into a
former investigator family that we didn't even know of. The Hernandez
family had been investigating in the past but was unable to get
married. They informed us that they now have everything ready to get
married and then be baptized. It was a miracle of being in the right
place at the right time.
Wednesday, February 4th, 2015:
Elder Corbett and I went to do studies with Elder Carnahan and Elder
Meisman. We have been trying to help everyone catch the vision of how
to effectively work with our members, especially the less-active
members in order to find the prepared people who will accept the
Gospel. It was very revelatory, and we all took something very
meaningful out of it. Elder Corbett and I then went to the mission
office to pick up supplies. During the afternoon, we taught Juan
Jaimes for the first time. We shared the Plan of Salvation with him
and talked about how his family can be together forever as he lives
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He seems like he has a lot of potential,
and I am really excited to begin working with him. During the evening,
we taught the Vargas family about how to study the Book of Mormon
effectively. The Spirit was really strong during the lesson. They all
commented about how they have seen a number of miracles lately of
other people helping them unexpectedly, Mahican testified to them that
the Book of Mormon is true. It was one of the happiest moments of my
mission.
Thursday, February 5th, 2015:
Elder Corbett and I went to the Fletcher district meeting. Elder
Meisman taught about revelation through church attendance and how
church tours are the key for helping people see how much closer they
can come to Christ as they attend church regularly. It was a great
meeting in which I learned a lot of really applicable doctrine. We
went to fill out Wendi Martinez's baptismal paperwork with her when we
received a phone call from the Fletcher - South Elders. They informed
us that they needed to go to the bike store. We picked them up and
took them all the way over to Monrovia so that Elder Garcia could
purchase a new bike. Elder Flindt is training him, and they are one of
the best companionships that I have ever seen. The traffic was
horrendous (even worse than the usual California traffic), causing us
to arrive fifteen minutes late for Maria Manriquez's baptism in
Belvedere 2. It was a very spiritual baptismal service. It was such a
relief from the stress of driving, and the Spirit was so powerful. It
was great to be able to see a lot of the members that I worked with
while I was serving in Belvedere 2. We then had our monthly stake
correlation meeting with President Esquerra, the stake president of
the East Los Angeles Stake, and with President Nelson, the First
Counselor in the Mission Presidency. They are both very spiritual men
with huge testimonies. We talked a lot about how we can work more
effectively with our ward clerks to continue updating the ward lists
and work more efficiently with the active members in each ward.
Friday, February 6th, 2015:
Elder Corbett and I went with Mario Cortes to visit Wendi Martinez in
the morning. We shared 1 Nephi 8 and talked about how she can continue
holding onto the Iron Rod. Wendi is doing extremely well and is
improving her studies with the Book of Mormon. Elder Corbett and I
then had our first weekly planning session together. He asks a lot of
inspired questions, which is conducive to receiving revelation. I
loved working with him because I felt like we were able to see past the
surface-level needs of each investigator and really delve into their
core needs and desires, which allowed us to effectively plan what to
teach each one of them. We then went to correlation meeting with
Hermano Ojeda. His meetings are becoming more and more productive,
which is helping out the missionary work immensely. All of our
appointments fell through at night again. We decided to go teach the
Garcia family about how then can share their testimonies more during
lessons and what they can share when we go to teach the Vargas family.
As members become friends with those who are investigating, the Spirit
is able to be present more often than it would have been otherwise. On
our way back to the apartment, we saw a high-speed car chase with
eight police cars following an apparent criminal. It reminded me of
just how protected we are in the rough areas that we work in on a
daily basis.
Saturday, February 7th, 2015:
Elder Corbett and I went to study with Elder Stuart and Elder Perez in
El Molino to go over the vision with them, too. It was a great study
session. Elder Stuart is going to be a great district leader, and
Elder Perez looks much happier, now that he has a break from
leadership responsibilities for the first time in his entire mission.
We then went to teach Jose Mendez about receiving his patriarchal
blessing. We then had a really hard day of work. There are those days
where nothing seems to happen, and we show the Lord how willing we are
to work. Rosie Boquilla invited us to come eat pozole, so we talked to
her about the importance of coming to church. We had a number of
appointments cancel during the evening when Joel Cortes was going to
come with us to visit a number of different investigators. They
canceled, so we decided to teach Joel. He broke down crying
when we began to teach him. He shared a dream that he recently had of
a little baby holding onto his leg and guiding him to a pool and away
from an intimidating man of large stature. I interpreted the dream for
him, and the Spirit flooded into the room as we talked about how the
baby is his guardian angel leading him to the sanctifying living water
of Christ. It was no coincidence that those appointments canceled
because we were exactly where the Lord wanted us to be in that
instant. We then went to teach Carolina, Hilario and Liz. I had prayed
to know exactly what to share with them during my personal study in
the morning, and Mormon 8 immediately popped into my mind. It was no
coincidence that Liz made the connection of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was
really strong again, and we were able to help them see how effective
their studies of the Book of Mormon can be.
Sunday, February 8th, 2015:
I was privileged to have the opportunity to perform Wendi Martinez's
confirmation today during Sacrament Meeting. I had been fasting to be
able to say the words exactly as the Lord would want me to say them,
and the Spirit directed me to say exactly what she needed to hear. The
power of God is real. During the evening, Elder Corbett and I went to
teach Otulia Duarte about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited her
to be baptized and then extended a baptismal date for March 15th. She
was really excited to accept the invitation to be baptized and said
that she wants to be baptized so that she can be cleansed of all of
her sins. That is the true purpose of baptism: be purified through the
Atonement of Christ so that sanctification can then take place as one
prepares to meet God. We then went to teach the Moreno family again.
Evaristo, Amalia and Fatima are the perfect family and have so much
potential. Every time that we talk with them in their home, we are all
able to be edified by the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord teaches each
and every one of us according to our understanding.
We are going to play ping pong with some other missionaries at the
church today. We ate lunch with Wendi Martinez and Mario Cortes and
have enjoyed having a relaxing P-Day. We are planning to go to Tujunga
Falls next weekend, just like we did last year with the zone. A nice
breather and a break is always necessary so that we can begin to work
even harder in the coming week. I hope everyone has a wonderful week
and remembers to always continue improving! I appreciate all of your
support!
Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley
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