We Had a Baptism! - June 2, 2014

Hey Everyone!

The big highlight of the week was Chris' baptism yesterday! Chris
invited his whole family to the baptism, so it was a huge turnout; it
was also a very spiritual experience for everyone that was involved.
Chris' father asked me to perform the baptism, so it was my first
opportunity to perform the baptism for one of my own investigators.
Our branch is doing very well with baptisms: we have now had eight
baptisms since February. With that piece of exciting news, here is a
rundown of the past week:

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014:

Elder Barnes and I have been continuing to improve our teaching skills
together. We began today by going over to the Luquin family's home to
eat lunch with them and talk for a little bit about the Book of
Mormon, specifically how 1 Nephi 1 talks about the vision that we have
for our investigators to eventually make it back to be with God and
Jesus Christ again. As we were finishing up with the lesson, the
Luquins referred us to two of their friends. Our plan on working with
the members is already starting to produce fruits. After finishing up
our lesson at the home of the Luquin family, we finally made it by
Fernando and Gloria after a relatively long hiatus of teaching them.
We went over the Book of Mormon with them and compared it to the
Bible. When we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon, I think
Fernando and Gloria began to understand the implications of what a
testimony of the Book of Mormon implies. The Book of Mormon, coupled
with the Spirit, is our best tool in conversion. To conclude the day,
we visited Chris Ramirez and his mother, Lucy. Elder Barnes and I are
trying to review all of the lessons before the baptismal interview on
Saturday so that Chris has everything fresh in his mind. Chris is
going to be ready for the interview on Saturday; he is making
tremendous progress!

Wednesday, May 28th, 2014:

After the trainees have been in the mission field for six weeks,
President Becerra usually holds a training meeting where all of the
trainees can bring up questions and concerns about their first
transfer in the mission field. Elder Barnes and I went to Arcadia
today for the meeting, and it was one of the better meetings that I
have been to as a missionary. President Becerra did an excellent job
of teaching today because he introduced some very simple doctrines in
a new light that I had never thought of before. I received a lot of
insights about doctrines of the Gospel and how to teach, based off of
what he shared with everyone at the meeting. On the way back from the
meeting, the car that we borrowed from the English zone leaders
wouldn't start; we had to take it into PepBoys to get work done during
the afternoon. It took so much longer than I was expecting, and Elder
Barnes and I were starving the whole time. Fortunately, we made it
back after a little more than two hours of maintenance on the battery.
During the evening, we went to mutual and then went with Chris to the
park with the other youth. We taught Chris about the Plan of Salvation
there at the park before we joined him in playing soccer for twenty
minutes with the other youth, too. Latinos sure do love playing
soccer; I don't know how in the world we are going to work when the
World Cup starts in July and Mexico starts playing.

Thursday, May 29th, 2014:

I always love the first district meeting of the transfer because it is
a good opportunity to be able to meet everyone in the district.
Hermana Corbin is the new Hermana in the district (Hermana Lopez is
training her, so we now have two current trainees in the district),
and Elder Merrill is the new district leader. I really liked how Elder
Merrill chose to teach district meeting because he opened the meeting
up to a lot of discussion and opinion from everyone. He had everyone
begin by sharing an experience that they have had that related to the
attribute of patience; it built a solid relationship of trust among
everyone because we could be so open with each other. During the
afternoon, Elder Barnes and I went to go visit Jose Chavez and help
him with his math homework. He has been working very hard to try to
get good grades in the class, but he struggles a little bit with the
understanding. I was grateful that I have the background in math to be
able to be of assistance to him. We spent a little more than an hour
helping him, and we also checked in with Silvia to see how the process
with her ID card has been going. The ID card is supposed to arrive at
the consulate in Los Angeles on June 16th, which means that we should
have a wedding and another baptism in the very near future. Jose
Chavez came with us to go teach the Merlos family about the
Restoration after dinner. The Merlos family has been less-active for
quite some time. It was a very good lesson, and Jose shared a powerful
testimony of his conversion to the Church. When a convert, especially
a recent convert, shares their testimony of their conversion, I can
always feel a special spirit bearing witness of what they share.

Friday, May 30th, 2014:

With Chris' baptism rapidly approaching, Elder Barnes and I needed to
devote some time to preparing all of the programs for the service. We
went down to the library to make the programs, but the computers were
absolutely terrible; it took us two hours to format the programs
correctly. We then returned to the apartment and went through weekly
planning quickly so that we could make it to our lesson with Fernando
and Gloria during the afternoon. We had an awesome visit with them.
Fernando and Gloria had read more than an hour together and had some
great questions for us. They keep telling us that they are Catholic
and don't want to change religions, but I'm not ready to give up just
yet. If they can truly gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the
Spirit will teach them the truth of what we share. Hermano Monzon has
the tradition of taking all of the missionaries out to eat on the last
Friday of each month, so he took us out to eat tacos after we had
correlation meeting at his house. After correlation meeting, Angie
Perez met us at Erika's home to have a lesson, even though it was 9:15
PM before the lesson even started. I felt like I was being really
disobedient for teaching so late, but it was the only time that she
was available to meet with us. Her boyfriend was there, too, so we
taught them about the Restoration. It was such a powerful lesson;
Angie bore a sincere, strong testimony of how she came to know that
the Church is true. Erika and Hector have some great potential, and I
have very high hopes for them!

Saturday, May 31st, 2014:

I was really excited for Chris Ramirez today because he had his
baptismal interview with Elder Merrill, our district leader. Chris has
been doing very well with remembering everything that we have been
teaching him, and he has the sincere desire to serve other people by
sharing what he knows with others. His interview went really well, and
he is all ready for the baptism tomorrow. Chris' mother, Lucy, also
seemed very happy for him as well. During the afternoon, we had a late
lunch with the Luquin family again. They have a daughter coming home
from a mission in the middle of July, so we are really trying to work
with them to help them gain that missionary mindset. Elder M. Russell
Ballard issued a challenge during this past General Conference for
members to begin reading in "Preach My Gospel," so we wanted to extend
that invitation to their family, too. We later visited with both the
Alvarez family and the Ramirez family to share a couple of quick
messages. Our mission is trying to focus a lot on working with the
members to get the members to be missionaries also. I would say that
our efforts are slowly producing the results that we are looking for.
To conclude the day, we were finally able to sit down with Alex Varela
and visit with him for a few minutes. It has been a long time since we
were able to visit with him. Alex has been struggling with a few
things related to a court case, so we were able to talk things through
with him to help him decide what he wants to do going forward. We
shared a quick message with him by Elder Bednar when he went to
England and talked about "Finding the One." Elder Bednar described our
efforts in finding a single person who will find another single person
who will find another single person, and so on; that is how the work
of the Kingdom will move forward. As a full-time missionary, I can
bear witness that "Finding the One" IS how it works.

Sunday, June 1st, 2014:

I was so excited at church for Chris' baptism that I honestly had
trouble focusing on anything else. We work so hard for so long to have
days like today that I just want to enjoy them as much as I can. Fast
and Testimony Meeting was very powerful because there were a couple of
members who talked about their conversion stories to the Church. One
Hermana talked about how she was surprised to see two blonde kids who
were perfectly fluent in Spanish that were also very persistent with
her, despite the fact that she "was never going to change from
Catholicism." I was very happy to have been a part of such a powerful
meeting and see the Spirit work through the members in the El Molino
Branch. Elder Barnes and I were running around pretty frantically and
trying to make sure everything was all set for the baptism. The
baptismal service may have been the best one that I have ever been a
part of. Elder Meisman, one of the first missionaries to ever help
teach Chris, came back to give the talk on baptism and confirmation.
When he spoke to Chris, Chris began to cry because he realized what
his baptism truly meant. The Spirit was so strong during that service,
and Chris' family all came to support him. I had the special privilege
of performing the ordinance, which was the first time that I was able
to perform it for an investigator that I have actually taught. It was
a very special moment for Chris and I. He later commented on how happy
he was and how he will never forget the experience. Baptism changes
lives. It is the first step towards returning to live with our Father
in Heaven, and we cannot progress in the Gospel until we receive the
ordinance of baptism first. As missionaries, baptism is central to
everything that we do, and we help people begin that eternal journey
towards perfection by opening the gate for everyone that we talk to
and inviting them to enter the waters of baptism. It is truly a sacred
calling. During the evening, the whole Varela family invited us over
for carne asada. It was such a fun evening and a great bonding
experience with the whole family. They are a wonderful family and have
a bright future ahead. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to
be able to help them as a missionary; I can definitely foresee a
life-long friendship coming from my service to their family.

Thank you again, everyone, for your continual support and
encouragement! I hope everyone has been doing well and is continuing
to remember the importance of the Gospel each and every day. Church
isn't just a Sunday commitment; the Gospel can only change our lives
if we devote our lives to the service of others and become better
disciples of The Lord, Jesus Christ. I know that He lives, and I know
that He stands at the head of His Church. I am grateful for the
opportunity to proclaim my witness that He lives, and that because He
lives, we all will live, too. The Atonement provides bad men with the
opportunity to become good men and good men the opportunity to become
better men. That enabling grace from Christ's infinite Atonement
enables us to truly reach our full potential and return to our Father
in Heaven once again. It is my testimony that THIS is His Church and
that the work of The Lord will continue forward until He says that it
is finished.

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Staying in El Molino - May 26, 2014

Hey Everyone!

First off, happy Memorial Day to all! It is a wonderful opportunity to
remember the sacrifices of all of the military who have served on our
behalf, especially those who have lost their lives in the service of
our great country. Days like today are always tough because they make
me think of my father and his service in the military, too.

This week has been pretty good and full of the thoughts of close
friends that are finishing their missions. We are getting to the point
that half of the mission will be leaving; we lose President Becerra at
the beginning of July, we lose a large group tomorrow, we lose another
large group next transfer, and then the largest group of all departs
at the end of August (and with that, my trainer, Elder Knight, will be
finishing his mission, too).

Tuesday, May 20th, 2014:

President Becerra will be finishing his term as our mission president
on July 1st, so today was my last interview with him. It was a really
good interview because President Becerra helped me a lot with managing
my stress. I feel as though I try to work so hard all of the time that
I end up putting a lot of problems onto my shoulders that I don't
actually need to worry about. President Becerra gave me the advice to
"do what you can and then can the rest." When Elder Barnes and I got
out to work, it was another one of those days where we really
struggled to find people to teach. For whatever reason, it seems as
though it is very difficult to find people home, no matter how hard we
work. During the evening, we stopped by an English member named Ivana
to see if she can help us get in contact with one of our former
investigators named Martina, who happens to be a friend of Ivana's. I
am really beginning to see the benefits of working with the members
and how it is the only real way to find the "elect" people to teach.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014:

I think that the advice that President Becerra gave me yesterday is
really going to serve me well because studies seemed much more
productive today. I have been helping Elder Barnes a lot on his
Spanish, and he seems to be making noticeable progress. When we went
to do Facebook today, I found out that friends back home have been
doing a lot of work to share the Gospel with others. I love seeing
that people are reaching out to friends and acquaintances to share the
Gospel. Elder Barnes and I went to go contact a guy in the afternoon
who was a referral. Raul Salazar was his name, and he is a man from a
very rough background. He talked to us for a while about all of the
crazy stories that go on in El Sereno, such as gang murders and
violence. The ironic part was that four police cars went by with
flashing lights while we were talking to him for twenty minutes, and
we then saw two bomb squad trucks pass by as we were leaving. The more
dangerous the area, the more likely that people are to listen to us.
At night, we went to the church for mutual. I then went to El Molino
Central to be with Elder Turner for exchanges.

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014:

For exchanges, I went with Elder Turner to spend the day in his area.
He is such an easy-going and understanding guy. He really helped me
with a lot of self-confidence issues I have been having lately. I feel
like the mission has been very hard on us about needing to be better
as missionaries, and I think I have been pretty hard on myself, not to
mention that training adds an additional level of stress. Elder Turner
gave me some great advice for how to relieve a little bit of that. In
the morning, we went to district meeting. Elder Knight taught what
would be his last district meeting, and the zone leaders came to join
us for the meeting, too. He taught about understanding our vision,
goals, plans and accountability for our endeavors in life. It was a
great lesson, and planning really makes all of the difference for
achieving everything that we set our hand to. Elder Turner and I
returned to eat lunch at his apartment before contacting a referral
and then going to go teach an investigator in the home of the Perez
family. The investigator wasn't quite home yet, so Antonio and Angie
Perez took Elder Turner and I out to eat kabobs. They are so nice and
very active in the Gospel. We returned after dinner to teach the
investigator, and I think Elder Turner and I taught the best Book of
Mormon lesson that I have ever been a part of. Rudy, the investigator,
felt the Spirit very strong and was quite excited to read the Book of
Mormon after we explained more about it. I hope to be able to build on
that teaching experience and continue to improve my teaching
abilities.

Friday, May 23rd, 2014:

Weekly planning went pretty long today because we began to plan for
Chris Varela's baptism, which will be happening on June 1st. I think
we did a pretty good job of selecting people and speakers for the
baptism to make it a really spiritual event. We are going to go over
to the Varelas on Sunday to make sure that they are good with the
program suggestions. Elder Barnes and I had companionship inventory at
the end of weekly planning; every week is just a reminder of how
different we are. Although our personalities might be absolute polar
opposites, we can still put missionary work as our primary focus and
put aside our differences. Upon finishing weekly planning, we went to
the home of the Caceres family to have dinner. Hermana Caceres has
been helping us out by getting some referrals for us. She is such an
active member with a desire to really understand the Gospel. We shared
a lesson after dinner with her less-active husband. He still has a
testimony of the Book of Mormon, but he hasn't been to church in a few
years and doesn't really have the desire to return right now. We
finished off the day with correlation meeting at the church. I think
the Hastening of the Work of Salvation is really beginning to show in
each of our individual areas here in El Molino.

Saturday, May 24th, 2014:

The English zone leaders who live right above us have been having some
serious cockroach problems; our apartment has been seeing them every
so often. As a result, our apartment manager brought in an
exterminator for all eight apartments. We had to leave the apartment
at 8:00 AM to let the exterminator come in and spray our apartments
down. We went up to the church with the English Elders to do studies
while we waited for our apartment to be done. Elder Barnes and I
decided to use the opportunity to catch up on "The First Twelve Weeks"
again. His bus card ran out two days ago, so we haven't been able to
utilize the bus very much as we wait for the money to show up on his
card. We decided to stay at the church for the majority of the day
before we had a church tour with a new investigator named Pastor.
Angie Perez brought him to the church to learn more about what we
believe. It was such an awesome lesson, and the Spirit was present
during the full tour. Pastor loved it and said that he would commit to
be baptized if he comes to know that everything that we share is true!
When we got back to the apartment, we had to put everything back after
the cockroach extermination. We ended up eating dinner, putting
everything back and then trying to visit a couple of people before
coming back for transfer calls. Neither Elder Barnes nor I got a call,
so we are staying put for another six weeks. Elder Knight will be
heading to Boyle Heights, which is one of the most ghetto areas of the
mission (as a translation, that means it is the best area to be in as
a Spanish missionary). Hermana Lopez will be training and find out who
her new trainee is on Tuesday, and our new district leader will be
Elder Merrill. I'm excited for this upcoming transfer, but I am going
to miss Elder Knight and Hermana Vellinga.

Sunday, May 25th, 2014:

President Muriel was out of town, so church seemed a little chaotic
today. We actually started right on the hour, so more than ninety
percent of the congregation showed up about twenty minutes late (when
we normally start). Most people joke about "Mormon Standard Time," but
we joke about "Latino Standard Time" as missionaries. Elder Knight and
I were assigned to teach the youth today, and we gave one awesome
lesson. We related the Tree of Life vision by Lehi in 1 Nephi 8 to our
new method of planning: we must have a vision and have goals to reach
that vision that are achieved through plans, and the only way to
ultimately be successful is to be accountable to the plans, goals and
vision that we have. The youth really liked the lesson, and I think a
few of them now have the motivation to make their dreams and visions
for their futures a reality. During the evening, Elder Barnes and I
talked with the Varelas about the program for Chris' baptism next
Sunday. They are all very excited and are going to be inviting their
whole family to come! I'm excited to be able to have the opportunity
to perform the ordinance and participate in a monumental step for
Chris. It will also be a great chance to show the whole family what
the Church is all about!

Thank you all for all of your support and love that you continue to
show me each and every day! I am enjoying my time here in El Molino
and really feel like I am beginning to have a great love for this
little branch. We have a baptism coming up next Sunday, so Elder
Barnes and I are very excited for him! We also found out some very
exciting news on Tuesday: Silvia now has everything that she will need
to be able to get her marriage license! She has been waiting for three
years for the opportunity to get married and then baptized, so we will
be able to help her finally achieve that goal when she gets a paper in
the mail from El Salvador in about three weeks!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and remember the reason why we
celebrate Memorial Day! I love you all and appreciate all that you do
on my behalf! Have a great week, everyone!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley