End of March - March 31, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! This past week has been the
most successful of the transfer, in terms of numbers, and things are
definitely pointing in the right direction. I apologize for not
getting my email out yesterday, like I had hoped; we went to a
waterfall in Tujunga, and Elder Steffen and I had to help the zone
leaders for about four hours afterwards with cleaning the cars and
taking them back to the mission office. As a result, I am sending all
of my emails off today with their permission. It's crazy to think that
we are already into April! Here is a recap of the past week:

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014:

During the morning, we had to go down to the train station to buy
another month pass for Elder Steffen. We then had to go down to the
library to allow him to do a few things for the Army. I'm glad that Ihave all of my college stuff already taken care of already. Elder Steffen and I
contacted two different referrals during the afternoon and set up
return appointments at both places. I feel like we have so much
potential for finding new investigators, but we need to visit a number
of different people to be able to get all of these new investigators,
in addition to bringing more members to lessons with us. One thing
that I have noticed about this area so far is that it is very
difficult to get members present to lessons. At night, we stopped by
the Varelas to visit Alex and Chris. Abel now works Monday through
Saturday from 5 AM to 10 PM, so it will be very difficult to meet with
him. We shared two videos with Alex and Chris that were both inspiring
Mormon Messages. We hadn't taught Chris about the Law of Chastity, so
we used a Mormon Message about "Stay Within the Lines" to lead into a
brief overview of the Law of Chastity with Chris. We also shared a
Mormon Message with Alex about "Mountains to Climb." He is going
through some struggles that are the cause of his divorce, so we have
been trying to help him build his self-confidence. It is amazing how
inspiring the words of the modern-day Apostles can be. When people
have the hope that they can change, that is when the miracles come.

Wednesday, March 26th, 2014:

If felt so nice to have another day to get a lot of work done. I feel
as though we have had so many miscellaneous things going on that have
caused us to not have the amount of time to work that we would like.
During the afternoon, we tried going by a few different people who are
former investigators, but no one was home. We did, however, run into a
man named Eddy who we have talked to on the bus before. He told us
that we should go visit his sister. While Elder Steffen and I were
searching for the exact house, we ran into another man named Edgar. I
honestly believe that Edgar was placed in our path as we were walking
because he seemed genuinely interested in talking to us and wanted us
to stop by tomorrow to share a message with him and his family. Like
"Preach My Gospel" says, we must have faith in The Lord that he will
place people in our path who we need to talk to. At night, we went
down to the church for mutual, and Hermana Diaz wanted us to join in
to play a little basketball and dodgeball with the youth to emphasize
the importance of both physical health and also spiritual health. It
only lasted for a few minutes, but it was really fun to play some
games with people who aren't really that much younger than I currently
am. I honestly wish that we would be able to do more activities like
that as missionaries because those activities are a fun way to build
relationships between people. When the relationship between members
and missionaries is strong, we are able to see a greater number of
miracles in the lives of those who are earnestly searching for the
truth.

Thursday, March 27th, 2014:

Today was unquestionably the most successful day that Elder Steffen
and I have had together. District meeting in the morning was inspiring
because Elder Knight shared some powerful comments about developing
the faith to find more people to teach; I feel like we put that lesson
into practice today, too. Elder Steffen and I brought Alex Varela
around with us for about three hours, and he provided a lot of help
for us during the day, which enabled us to find three new
investigators and have a member present in each of the lessons. During
our first lesson, we stopped by Edgar's house. He is a young guy who
we contacted on the street yesterday. His younger brother, Giovani,
answered the door, so we began teaching Giovani about the Restoration.
While going over the First Vision, Edgar came out of his room and
ruined the whole lesson with all of his interruptions. He repeatedly
went off about God not loving us because He lets bad things happen,
which made it impossible to teach at all. Alex Varela came with us to
our second lesson at Karina's house. Karina is nineteen and was a
referral from Elder Morrell, who is one of the English AP's. (He was
originally a Spanish missionary who got moved to English work, so he
speaks to Latino people in Spanish and gives out a lot of referrals to
Spanish missionaries). The lesson with Karina was great! She was very
receptive and attentive to our message about the Restoration. She even
asked about how we perform the ordinance of baptism at the end of the
lesson! I can definitely envision Karina taking the necessary steps to
be baptized. For the third lesson of the day, Elder Steffen and I
stopped by Silvia's house to see how she has been. Jose and Jorge were
both home and busy, so we just talked to Silvia a little bit more
about what she needs to do to obtain her marriage license. I'm
optimistic that we can help her obtain it and help her enter the
waters of baptism within the coming weeks or months. To conclude the
evening, we went by Alex Varela's house to share a message with him.
We talked to Alex about the goal of entering the temple to receive his
endowment. Alex's mother was an active member of the Church before she
passed away, and Alex was really interested to learn about how he can
see his mother again. Alex is so humble and ready to learn, so it is
quite the privilege to help him progress in the Gospel. There is
always progress that can be made, but I was so happy and content that
we were able to teach four total lessons in a single day. The Lord is
blessing us here in this area, and now we need to be reapers, rather
than sowers -- "the field is white, all ready to harvest."

Friday, March 28th, 2014:

Yesterday, Elder Morrell, one of the English AP's, gave us three
referrals, one of which we were going to have a lesson with today. The
appointment was made for the early afternoon, so it threw off our
plans and timing for many of the things that we had set up today, such
as weekly planning. We went to go have a lesson with the referral,
Fernando, and his wife, Gloria. They graciously invited us in and were
happy to listen to what we had to share. The lesson started off well,
but Fernando and Gloria began talking and telling stories about things
that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about.
They kept interrupting the flow of the lesson, making it nearly
impossible for us to focus on the commitments that we wanted to
extend. By the end of the lesson, we had been at their house fornearly two hours; I had a hard time focusing for that long.Fernando told us at the end of the

lesson that they aren't really ready to change religions; they just
wanted to let us in to learn more about what we believe. When Elder
Steffen and I got back to the apartment, we had to do a condensed
weekly planning session. We were quite efficient, and we finished just
in time to head over to the Monzon's house for dinner and correlation
meeting. Hermano Monzon wanted to started the meeting at 6 PM rather
than the usual 7 PM so that we could all come over and eat dinner as
well; however, Elder Steffen and I were the only missionaries who did
not show up an hour late. We still had the dinner and meeting, but we
didn't get home until about 9:45 PM. It seems like spending too much
time on one thing has some large ripple effects that cause other
things to take longer, too.

Saturday, March 29th, 2014:

The Varela family needed help with cutting down a few banana trees in
their back yard, so Elder Steffen and I went over to help in the
morning. It ended up being a much larger service project than we were
thinking it would be because Abel wanted to do a lot of yard work
while we had everyone together to work. We took down four banana
trees, cleaned out an entire garden, weeded all around the property,
in addition to removing a full truck load of trash. My favorite part
was using a pick axe to cut through the bark of the banana trees and
then pull them down. By the end of the five hours that we were
working, I was covered in dirt. I love grunt work like that because it
is so much fun to see the difference between the "before" and the
"after." When we finished, Abel bought everyone burgers from a local
burger joint called Troy's. I loved being able to eat some more
American food! I love eating Mexican food, but it is nice to be able
to enjoy a nice burger every once in a while. Elder Steffen and I
stayed around for a few minutes to talk to Abel, Alex and Alex's
daughter, Samantha. They are such a nice family, and Abel told us that
we are more than welcome to come back and visit and stay at his house.
One thing that I really love about Latino culture is the feeling of
"family" that everyone has; Latino people are much more unified as a
family (and consequently happier) than most white people. The more
that I work with Latinos, the more that I grow to love them and love
the differences between our cultures. Elder Steffen and I got back to
missionary work after we finished up with the service project.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anyone home. I was very happy
in knowing that we helped out the Varelas as much as we did, despite
not finding anyone to teach during the remainder of the day. It is
quite amazing how great I feel after doing service for people.

Sunday, March 30th, 2014:

Every fifth Sunday, the missionaries are in charge of all of the
lessons and the program at church; today happened to be one of thosedays, but no one told us in advance! We threw something together
quickly and managed to pull everything off. During Sacrament Meeting,
all of the missionaries in our district got up to sing "A Child's
Prayer" in Spanish from the Children's Songbook. It went fairly well,
but I am an awful singer. Hermana Lopez, Hermana Vellinga and Elder
Knight really carried the group on that song. After church ended,
Elder Steffen and I worked with Hermano Escobar to request a few more
records of members. What we discovered really surprised us: Abel
Varela is, in fact, a baptized member of the Church.The Perez family (Antonio and Angie) invited Elder Knight, Elder
Turner, Elder Steffen and I all over to eat dinner with them again. I
was expecting to get there and eat shortly thereafter, but we ended up
waiting nearly an hour for all of the food to be ready. We began to
watch a movie about stories from one of the handcart companies that
was called "Seventeen Miracles." It brought to life the struggles that
the pioneers faced, but it also talked about the miracles that could
not be explained in any other way than divine help from God. The movie
nearly brought tears to my eyes. Eating with the Perez family was very
nice. They are really fun people to be around; they are a
Gospel-centered family; and they can cook very well. During the
evening, Elder Steffen and I went to use the internet at McDonald's (I
always feel weird walking in there on Sunday evenings) and sync up the
data on our iPads. We saw Dolores Hernandez talking to some of her
friends, and we were able to talk to all of them about the "Finding
Faith in Christ" DVD that we gave Dolores. It made all of her friends
interested in what we have to share. It's incredible how effective a
friend can be in sharing the Gospel, even if they are a non-member.

Once again, I apologize for not having the time yesterday to get
around to sending my emails off. Hopefully, all of you are doing well
and are getting ready for General Conference this Saturday and Sunday!
We have the opportunity to hear the words of the Apostles and the
Prophet, which provide a guide through us in these last days. One
other blessing that we have as missionaries during conference time is
the ability to go to the temple. We only get to go every six months,
and we have that privilege coming up on Wednesday, April 9th! That
will end up being my P-Day next week, so don't be surprised if you
don't hear from me before then.

Thank you again for all of your love and support! I miss each and
every one of you and hope that life is treating you all well! Remember
to count the blessings in life, and it should be easier to do at this
time of year as we come to commemorate the death and resurrection of
the Savior, Jesus Christ, in just a couple of weeks. Have a great
week, everyone!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad

Stake Conference with a General Authority - March 24, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week! It's crazy to believe that
March is nearing its end already; it seems like time goes faster and
faster with every passing month. This week has been full of service
opportunities, which may have ended up cutting into our work time a
little bit more than we would have liked; however, I love doing
service, and service demonstrates charity, which is the pure love of
Christ. Imagine how much better this world would be if everyone could
just do one nice thing for their neighbors!

Tuesday, March 18th, 2014:

Elder Steffen and I got up a few minutes early today to be able to go
play basketball at a local park. It was actually a lot of fun and made
me feel better going throughout the day. The amount of exercise
(especially fun ways to exercise) that we have done over the past two
days has really made me miss home. During my studies today, I finished
the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time! It has taken me
about four months (just shy of three full transfers) to make it all
the way through, but I finally completed all 642 pages in a second
language, including color-coded underlining as I went. I read the Book
of Mormon twice in English on my mission before doing it in Spanish,
and I think I will read it through again in English before starting
again in Spanish. During the afternoon, we spent a great deal of time
searching for a very old lady lady from the ward named Nellie. We
listened to her and read a little bit from the Book of Mormon to her.She's very nice. During the evening, we stopped by Elias again to see how 

he has been doing. He is on parole for threeyears; he did tell us, however, that he may be able to cut off a year of the parole if he
behaves well for the first year-and-a-half. To finish off the day, we
stopped by the Varelas. Abel was still working, and he has been
working an insane number of hours lately. Elder Steffen and I went
around back to talk with Alex about the Book of Mormon. We shared a
segment from Elder Holland's talk, "Safety For the Soul," and talked
about the importance of always reading the Book of Mormon. It was
really neat how I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today and was
able to testify of its power and importance.

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

After many hours of working on the Area Book since I arrived in El
Sereno, Elder Steffen and I finally finished the very last of the
former investigators today, so we are now all finished. While walking
out and about, we were able to contact two referrals. We need to do a
lot of finding right now because the current investigators aren't
really at a spot where many of them can progress. This area reminds me
a lot of when I first got to Chino with Elder Knight. There were a
number of "eternal investigators" who we ended up dropping to see if
there was more potential elsewhere. During the evening, we helped out
the Dias family with some service in their plot in a community garden.
Elder Steffen and I got the chance to dig up a lot of weeds and
prepare the garden to be planted. I love doing grunt work because it
allows for some much-needed exercise. It was a wonderful opportunity
to meet the Dias family and help them strive to become even more
self-reliant. We ate pizza with them before heading back to the
apartment to call it a day. Service opportunities are honestly some of
my favorite activities as a missionary. If everyone in this world
tried to do one small act of serve for others around them, this world
would be a different place.

Thursday, March 20th, 2014:

Elder Knight taught district meeting again, and it was a very
interesting lesson. He had gone to the training meeting in Arcadia
yesterday, which happens about every two transfers. The lesson was a
recap of what President Becerra had talked about during that meeting:
learning how to say "no" to investigators and members so that they
learn how to become more self-reliant and not so dependent on the
missionaries for every single one of their little needs and problems.
Members especially rely on the missionaries way too often for their
callings, for help teaching lessons and for blessings when there is
almost always a different person who should be stepping up to fill
each one of those roles. What ends up happening is that we get asked
to do much more than we should, and we are consequently not fulfilling
our main purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ. As we become
better at saying "no," we will have more time to work, and we will
also be able to help others struggle and grow in the process. After
finishing district meeting, Elder Knight, Elder Turner, Elder Steffen
and I all walked down to In-N-Out Burger to get lunch. I always feel a
little uncomfortable walking into restaurants to buy food because
everyone there turns around and stares at you. It was a good little
bonding activity, but I would have rather saved the time and money foranother occasion.  During the evening, we stopped by Hermano Magdaleno
to see how he has been doing. He told us that it has been about three
or four years since he has gone to church because he got offended the
last time that he tried going. Hermano Magdaleno also told us that no
one from the branch goes to visit him (besides us) or even used to go
visit him in the past. Members need friends in the Church if they are
going to remain active. All of our other appointments during the
evening cancelled, so we didn't have a ton of work today. We need to
find a few more solid investigators.

Friday, March 21st, 2014:

The morning went by like normal, and we went into weekly planning
again, like usual for Fridays. It was a good weekly planning session,
even though it went a little bit longer than we would have liked.
Weekly planning with the iPads seems to be more productive than weekly
planning ever was before the iPads. After we finished weekly planning,
we visited Stan and Gloria again, and we were finally able to have a
lesson on the Restoration with them. The lesson actually went very
well because the Spirit was very strong during the time that we were
there. Stan and Gloria both said that they believe Joseph Smith was
called of God to perform His work. Stan was also really big on wanting
to come to church this Sunday, so I invited him to the stake
conference that is happening this weekend. Stan was really excited,
especially when I told him that Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles will be speaking on Sunday. After we visited with
Stan and Gloria, we went over to the church for our correlation
meeting. It was the first one that I have been to where Hermano Monzon
was actually there, due to various reasons. He seems to be up to speed
with all of our investigators and their respective needs, and he seems
like he is very involved with helping us. To conclude the night, I
headed up to El Molino - Central (downtown Pasadena) to work with
Elder Turner on exchanges. Elder Turner seems really nice and all, but
I'm honestly not sure how much we really have in common; hopefully, it
will be fun to mix things up tomorrow.

Saturday, March 22nd, 2014:

I was expecting exchanges to be like a normal day of finding and
teaching, but we ended up helping Hermana Morales move the entire day.
It was honestly the first day of my entire mission that I did not put
on a shirt and tie for the entire day. Elder Turner and I were
expecting to help Hermana Morales out for just a few hours in the
morning and then return to work in the afternoon. She hadn't packed up
anything, and there was a mountain of trash in her small room to sort
through before we could even begin to start loading everything into
the U-Haul moving truck. Even though we started with everything before
noon, we didn't end up finishing with the packing of the truck until
about 5:30 PM. During the moving process, Elder Turner and I spent a
lot of time talking to Hermana Morales' son, Ricardo, about life and
really getting to know him better as a person. I invited him to come
to the English stake conference tomorrow where Dallin H. Oaks will be
speaking, and he even seemed open to bringing his girlfriend to it,
too. I later found out that I will probably not be able to go to the
English stake conference tomorrow to hear an Apostle of The Lord
speak, but I hope Ricardo at least has the chance to be able to do so.
We took the moving truck to Hermana Morales' new place, which is a big
complex of apartments for retired people. Elder Turner, HermanoPerez, Ricardo and I all unloaded the truck in the course of
about two hours and dropped everything in Hermana Morales' room. We
did not have time to help her get all settled in because it was
getting late, but we did manage to get all of her stuff moved in one
trip. I was shocked that she was only expecting the move to take two
hours, and it ended up taking more than ten. We switched back
companions, and it sounded like all of us had busy days but were
unable to find any lessons to teach. It wasn't quite what I was
expecting to do during exchanges, but we were able to do service for a
full day.

Sunday, March 23rd, 2014:

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the English stake conference
where Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was
speaking, but i did get to go to the East Los Angeles Stake conference
(Spanish stake) where Elder Craig C. Christensen of the presidency of
the Quorum of the Seventy was speaking. It was probably the best stake
conference that I have ever been to because it was a lot more like a
General Conference session: we had President Esquerra (stake
president), President Becerra (mission president -- I think he will be
a member of the Seventy or the Twelve in the future, too) and
President Christensen (presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy) all
speak in the course of a little more than an hour. It was also really
neat to hear all three of them speak in Spanish and to be able to
understand every single word that they said! That meeting left me
feeling really inspired. During the afternoon, President Esquerra
actually came out with Elder Steffen and I to a lesson with an
investigator named Santiago. I love working under President Esquerra
because he has an immense love for missionary work. He is a convert of
about thirty years and has an awesome testimony of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We taught Santiago about the Book of Mormon, and President
Esquerra shared his conversion story; it was so powerful to learn
about the dream that he had that confirmed everything about the Church
for him. When we have the desire to know of the veracity of the
message of Jesus Christ, in addition to having the desire to act upon
whatever answer we are going to receive, it is in that moment that we
will receive a knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and
of the Church which so testifies of it. Santiago wants to read the
Book of Mormon before accepting an invitation to get baptized, so he
committed to read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon before our
next visit with him. To finish off the evening, Elder Steffen and I
went to go visit a few potential investigators and set up some return
appointments for the upcoming week. This area seems to have tons of
potential; it is up to us to start harvesting some of it and reap the
rewards that come from sustained hard work.

This week has been great, even if my teaching numbers weren't where I
would have liked them to be at. Our sole purpose as missionaries is to
invite others to come unto Christ, which is best fulfilled through
teaching. As members of the Church, we have the opportunity to be
teachers and missionaries at the same time through acts of service
that we perform, which can be as small as offering a smile. My
favorite quote was given by St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the Gospel
at all times, and, if necessary, use words." I hope everyone can look
for the service opportunities around them and exemplify the love of
our Savior, Jesus Christ, through their actions. I appreciate all the
service and the support that all of you have been so gracious to offer
me, and I hope to be able to show the same love back to each and every
single one of you! I hope everyone has a great week and is getting
ready for General Conference to come in the very near future!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad

Week Two in El Sereno - March 17, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope you have all had a great week and that you all remembered to
wear green today! This past week has been very exciting and full of
opportunities to learn and to grow. El Sereno is really confusing and
difficult to navigate through the streets, but I am making progress.
The highlight of his week was definitely Myra (Elder Knight's
investigator) getting baptized! Here is he week in review:

Tuesday, March 11th, 2014:

It felt so nice to have a normal day to work again. We have had so
many things lately that have been eating into our time that it doesn't
feel like there has been time to work. Elder Steffen and I put in
records into the Area Book app; we are getting very close to
finishing, and I don't anticipate needing more than about two or three
more days to finish. During the afternoon, we found two new
investigators named Stan and Gloria who welcomed us right in. Stan is
quite the drug addict and wants to change his life around. Gloria has
family members who are LDS. It was a really good, short visit in which
we talked about the importance of prophets. They graciously accepted a
return visit for this Thursday. We later went to go have dinner with
Silvia and her son, Jose. Elder Steffen and I were each a little bit
worried that the meal might be a little bit awkward, but it ended up
being fantastic. I love that they really like to get to know the
missionaries as people; they remind me a lot of the Ramirez family
from Chino. We are going to go with their family on Thursday to East
Los Angeles to see about getting the marriage license all figured out.
Once they are both married, they should both be about ready to be
baptized. To conclude the evening, we stopped by Alex Varela's house
to see how he has been doing. The more that I am around Alex, the more
that I love the man. He is down to Earth and is extremely happy with
his decision to be baptized, despite the recent economic struggles
that he has been through. We talked to Alex for a little while about
the importance of exact obedience. He then told us that his brother,
Abel, has actually been baptized into the Church before! If Abel is
actually inactive, that could change everything about how we go about
teaching the family. It could also help the son, Chris, get baptized
sooner. It will be really interesting to see if President Muriel can
find Abel's records.

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014:

The morning was fairly routine, and we spent a little bit more time
putting in records into the Area Book. During the early part of the
afternoon, Hermano Velasco called us to request our help with helping
Hermana Salazar move some more furniture. We went to help for about
thirty minutes. It was a really easy service project, and Hermana
Salazar gave us a free desk that she no longer needed or wanted. I
gladly took it, so I am now using it instead of those annoying plastic
tables that every other apartment has. We rearranged a few things in
our apartment during dinner; it is amazing how much better everything
now looks. After dinner, Elder Steffen and I went to visit Hermano
Magdaleno. He is an older man who served a mission and is now
less-active. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon with
him. I was honestly quite surprised how much he still remembers, given
how long it has been since he has read or come to church. It was also
kind of funny to visit with him because he wanted to talk about a lot
of deep doctrine relating to the Book of Mormon. He seemed to be quite
fascinated with how the ancient American civilizations could be the
peoples talked about in the Book of Mormon. To conclude the evening,
our whole district went to the church for mutual to continue planning
for our upcoming Noche de Hogar activity with the branch on Monday.
Almost no one was focused during the planning, so I am a little
worried that we won't be able to get everything in order by Monday. We
have some awesome ideas; however, it will require some work and
additional planning to pull everything off.

Thursday, March 13th, 2014:

In the morning, we went to district meeting at the church. It was a
little different with Elder Knight teaching it. The zone leaders
joined us for the meeting. During the afternoon,
Elder Steffen and I went to East Los Angeles with Silvia and her son,
Jose, to learn how she can obtain a marriage license so that she can
be baptized. We had to wait in line for quite some time, but we
obtained the information that we were seeking for: Silvia will be able
to get married wife we can get her birth certificate translated into
English and obtain an ID card for her from the consulate of El
Salvador in Los Angeles. It may take a few weeks to get everything
done, but she would then be able to get baptized. She has been an
investigator for three years, and we have chance to help her enter the
waters of baptism. We met up with Elder Knight and Elder Turner to eat
dinner with the Perez family. I really enjoyed spending the time with
them and getting to know all of them better. Angie's younger sister,
Liz, couldn't believe that I am still only eighteen. Everyone says
that I look like I am at least twenty. It's interesting how living the
Gospel as much as we do changes not only our spiritual side, but also
our physical appearance. At night, we shared a quick Bible video (due
to a lack of time) with Stan and Gloria about the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. They were really excited to see us and learn more about
Christ's life. Gloria may actually be a member, so we will have to see
if her records can be found. Due to the bus, we ended up getting home
about an hour late; however, we had a couple of quality contacts on
the way home.

Friday, March 14th, 2014:

Time has seriously been flying by. I feel like I just got here
yesterday, and I have already been here for almost two full weeks. We
have had a couple of absolutely fantastic weekly planning sessions. I
normally despise weekly planning because of how long it is, but that
hasn't been the case here. Elder Steffen is very effective with
planning, and it gives me the opportunity to learn more from him about
how he does it. I also feel like we are able to give one another
positive and constructive feedback, which really helps me grow
personally. It always seems like we are in the right place at the
right time, too. We ran into Isabel, one of our investigators, on the
bus, and we also ran into Gabriel Martinez, a potential investigator,
while walking along the street. It always seems like we encounter
those tender mercies of The Lord after we have devoted the time to
have an effective planning session -- in this case, a weekly planning
session. We had dinner with Hermana Caceres. She is such a humble and
sweet lady. I really enjoyed talking to her and getting to know her
better. Every member of this little branch that I have met so far
seems to be really nice and devoted to The Lord's work; I love it! At
night, our weekly correlation meeting was canceled, due to both of the
ward mission leaders being busy. Our district still decided to meet up
at the church to plan more of our Noche de Hogar that is coming up on
Monday. I think the activity will really leave the branch inspired to
go out and do service. The best part about that is that all service is
essentially missionary work, too.

Saturday, March 15th, 2014:

There were two more Hermanas who were serving in El Molino last
transfer, which caused the areas to be drawn a little bit differently.
Those two Hermanas are no longer serving here this transfer, so there
was a chunk of our area that was added back that neither Elder Steffen
nor I had visited before. We had a couple of people that we needed to
visit in that neck of the woods, so we started walking. It was a lot
farther than I would have expected, but we got to see some awesome
views of our area from the tops of a couple of different hills. We are
really close to the heart of Los Angeles; it is really cool to look
out into the distance and see the skyscrapers and all of the nearby
cities. It was really fun to basically get lost in the new part of our
area and explore what is out there. As far as teaching is concerned,
we were unlucky in that we did not find any lessons to teach. We did,
however, find a couple of return appointments with potential
investigators. We also happened to be walking by a couple of different
people on the street who needed our help. They were both very thankful
for our acts of service, and one lady had told us that we came by at
the exact right time. One thing that I have noticed since being in El
Sereno is how often I seem to be in the right place at the right time;
I never used to feel like that in Chino. At night, Elder Steffen and I
went to stop by the Varelas to see how they have been doing. Alex
wasn't around, so we visited with Abel and Chris for a little while.
Abel said that he wants Chris to show his desire to be baptized by
trying hard in school; Chris has until the end of this month to show
his desire to be baptized by doing well in school. We shared a quick
message with Abel about the Holy Ghost and the blessings that it
brings us. I think Abel wants Chris to get baptized, but he wants
Chris to see how big of a decision he is really making. I was really
the one being taught there. True love also includes teaching a person
about the gravity of a choice, even if both people know that the
desired choice is the correct one.

Sunday, March 16th, 2014:

Church was a little hectic to begin today because no one was around to
teach one of the primary classes or the Gospel Doctrine class. I ended
up filling in for primary by assisting Hermano Muro with teaching, and
Elder Turner taught Gospel Doctrine. Meanwhile, Elder Knight and Elder
Steffen were busy running around and making last-minute preparations
for Myra's baptism. Myra has been an investigator for quite some time,
and (the former) Elder Pickett made the trip from Utah down here to
baptize her. Elder Knight arranged for everything to have Myra
baptized by Elder Pickett. The baptismal service itself went smoothly;
there were no hiccups in the program, and the Spirit was very strong
during the entire baptismal service. I was also quite surprised to see
President Becerra at the baptismal service.  After the baptism, all of
us (the Elders in the district) invited a lady into the church for a
tour. It was weird trying to have a tour and lesson with four
missionaries, but it went okay. At
night, Elder Steffen and I set up a return appointment with our
investigator, Elias. Baptisms use up a lot of the day, but they make
everything that we do as missionaries all worth it.

Today for P-Day, all of the Elders in our district will probably be
going mountain biking with Alex and also play a little bit of
basketball. I'm so excited to actually have time to do stuff here on
P-Day! .

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and is enjoying the warming
weather! I appreciate all of your love and support! I hope you all
have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad

Photo from Meeting in December 2013

First Week in El Sereno - March 10, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had an awesome week! I am absolutely loving my new
area and my new companion! Elder Steffen has served a year in the
military, and it has helped me create an instant bond with him, seeing
that my father is a Navy veteran. I will talk more about that in just
a minute.

Tuesday, March 4th, 2014:

In the morning, we had the cleaning inspectors come to check out our
apartment. I was so happy that this lady wasn't near as mean as the
last cleaning lady that came to visit Elder Knapp and I. Man, oh man,
she wasn't a nice lady. We had our inspection and got a "good" because
we needed to take out our trash; it got a little bit full, but the
dumpster outside was even more full...  Elder Steffen and his last
companion hadn't finished putting in stuff to the Area Book app, so we
spent a fair bit of time putting in former investigators into the app.
There is just always work to do on the mission! Our goal is to finish
it in the next week or two. We didn't have a whole lot of work
contacting a few potential investigators during the day, but I did run
into a guy named Al Alvarez. Dad, this is for you. I was talking to
Al, and Elder Steffen mentioned that he was in the Army. Al said that
he served in the Navy. I was like, "My father is a Navy vet!" Al and I
then started talking, and it turns out that Al served on the U.S.S.
Carl Vinson when it was in dry dock in Bremerton when you were in the
Navy! He also said that he works on the other side of the nuclear
reactor area, so he wasn't even that far away from you on the ship! I
was absolutely stunned. It just goes to show that The Lord places us
in certain areas at certain times. It was a really cool small miracle
that I saw. During the evening, Elder Knight and Elder Turner swung by
to pick us up to go do service for an Hermana in the ward that was
getting ready to move. Hermano Sanchez is the Elders' Quorum president
and drove all four of us. He is such a great guy, and I already love
the members of this branch. We helped the Hermana move out some bed
frames and furniture and then went to go get pizza with Hermano
Sanchez. It was a really nice evening and a good opportunity to get to
know a few people from the ward.

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014:

It was a pretty typical morning that consisted of putting in more
records into the Area Book app. During the evening, we went by Elder
Steffen's recent convert, Alex Varela, to talk to him about the
importance of service. Alex has had a few rough years recently because
his ex-wife went crazy and caused him to lose everything. He is such a
great guy, though. He was baptized about four weeks ago, and he is a
solid member. I love talking to him! During the evening, we met up
with the rest of our district at the mutual activity to begin planning
our ward Family Home Evening activity. We are going to go with a
service theme, seeing that March is service month. In our district
there is Hermana Vellinga (we served together in Chino), Hermana Lopez
(went to the Benemeritu before it became the MTC in Mexico City),
Elder Knight (my trainer who was also in Chino with Hermana Vellinga
and I), Elder Turner (Elder Steffen's companion from the MTC in
Provo), Elder Steffen and I. We planned out a really good activity to
inspire the branch to look for small ways to do service for those
around them.

Thursday, March 6th, 2014:

For zone meeting, we all met up at the Fletcher building. It took
Elder Steffen and I over two hours to get there by bus. It was a
really long way to go, but I am so happy not to have to use bike any
longer. Zone meeting is usually one of my favorite activities during
the month, but it was honestly a little bit of a let-down. I did get
to see Elder Low again, however! He is doing well and is currently
serving in Fletcher. Elder Steffen and I didn't get back to our
apartment until after three in the afternoon, even though we left for
zone meeting before eight in the morning. It killed our whole day.
During the evening, we went by Hermano Monzon's house to meet him. He
is the ward mission leader and seems very on top of everything. This
branch seems to be much more engaged and focused than Chino was, and
it's inspiring to see! To conclude the evening, we helped the Elders'
Quorum go out and do their visits. I went with Hermano Pasos to visit
one less-active family. Hermano Pasos is an older gentleman, but he
has to be one of the most polite men that I have ever met. We visited
the Mota family and shared a quick message with them about service, in
addition to inviting them to our ward Family Home Evening activity on
March 17th. One great thing that I have noticed about the El Molino
Branch is how well the members and missionaries have been working
together. Take note that missionary work cannot go forward, unless
members and missionaries are unified in their efforts; it is nearly
impossible to do it separately.

Friday, March 7th, 2014:

I don't know if President Becerra thinks that I need to be a cleaner
and tidier person, but I was sucked into using up another day to go
clean. I cleaned the mission office four weeks ago, but our district
got selected to do it again here in El Molino. I have now spent five
FULL days cleaning over the past calendar month (two days cleaning the
mission office and three days cleaning the Chino apartment out). When
we got back, we didn't have time to do weekly planning. We decided to
try to contact a few people before correlation meeting. We weren't
able to find anyone home, so we went back to the church for our weekly
correlation meeting. Hermano Monzon was busy, so we ended up all
meeting with the assistant ward mission leader. The crazy thing is
that Chino didn't have a ward mission leader, assistant ward mission
leader, or ward missionaries; the El Molino Branch has all three! I
don't know how Chino can be called a ward, and El Molino is called a
branch.

Saturday, March 8th, 2014:

Elder Steffen and I were asked by Alex Varela and his family to help
out with a community garbage pick up in the morning. It was a really
fun activity, and there was an awesome turnout (plus, we got free
t-shirts!). I talked to a guy for nearly two hours about all of the
sports going on, and it was a ton of fun. We got about ten full-size
trash bags from just the street that we covered. We met up to go do
visits, and apparently, the stake leadership was joining in with our
branch, but no one ever told us. The stake president swung by with
President Muriel (the branch president) to pick us up after we were
late. It reminded me of the quote: "A lack of planning on your
part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part." The stake leadership
never told us that they were coming and didn't even tell us about the
visits until two days prior; Elder Steffen and I committed to helping
with the community garbage pick up at the very beginning of the week.
Communication seems easy by principle but is really difficult to follow through with, for some

reason. During the evening, Elder Steffen and I went to go visit an
investigator named Sylvia Recinos. She is really nice, and we talked
to her about obtaining her marriage license so that she can be
baptized. She is all ready to get baptized, except for that one
problem (it's a huge problem in Spanish work). We are going to go down
to East LA next week to go meet with the office to see if we can
obtain a license.

Sunday, March 9th, 2014:

It was a wonderful first Sunday to meet the branch. All of the stake
leadership was there because it was "Branch Conference." El Molino is
the only branch in either stake, which is quite an accomplishment for
Spanish work in our mission. There are only five only-Spanish stakes
in the whole country, and our mission works with two of those five.
Elder Steffen and I had the opportunity to teach the youth about the
Restoration. I love teaching youth, and it was really fun to see them
role play being their friends at school. I am going to get along with
all of the people in this branch really well; I'm excited to see how
this transfer goes. When we got back to the apartment in the
afternoon, we had the opportunity to weekly plan (finally!). It may
have been the best weekly planning session that I have been a part of.
We got a lot of really good ideas planned out, and I really enjoyed
it. It ate up most of our day, but we were able to contact a few
people out on the street during the evening. Weekly planning reminded
me of a famous quote: "More important than the will to win is the will
to prepare to win." Planning takes priority over execution.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and isn't hurting too bad
from losing an hour of sleep! One quick thing is that Howard W. Hunter
actually was a bishop in the South Pasadena English Ward back in the
1940s, and that ward meets in the same building as the El Molino
Spanish Branch! Thank you all for your love and support! I love and
miss you all!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad

Transferred to El Molino South - March 3, 2014

It would appear that I spoke too soon! President Becerra deceived the
Hermanas, and I ended up being the missionary transferred from Chino.
I asked him last week to be able to stay another week there, but I
guess he didn't accept my request. I almost cried when I left Chino
because of how much I love that ward. I didn't realize how much I
loved it until it was time to leave. I have created some friendships
there that should last for many years to come. My new area is a suburb
of Los Angeles that is called "El Sereno" and is part of the El Molino
Spanish Branch. Elder Steffen from Texas is my new companion, and he
is enlisted in the Army. He's an awesome guy, and I'm really excited
to work with him!

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014:

Like we promised yesterday, Elder Knapp and I went with Hermano Castro
to go help out the Montes de Oca family with their lawn. They really
appreciated the small act of service. I love helping people out!

Javier came with us to teach a lady named Maria Rodriguez. Elder Knapp

and I spent some more time putting in records into the iPads before

dinner. During the evening, Ruben Torrado joined us to teach a lesson

with his (now former) neighbor, Martha Segura. We taught her the Book
of Mormon, and Ruben bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon. It
was absolutely incredible and was one of the greatest feelings I have
had on the mission to date. Ruben's growth and progress has been such
a blessing to watch.

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014:

Elder Knapp and I went with Hermano Kirk to go teach Idie Ortiz in the
morning, but we found a note that told us that she wasn't interested
in talking to us anymore. It's sad to see her lose interest, but I was
grateful that she was kind enough to tell us "no." Most Latinos don't
know how to say no and then end up wasting your time on numerous
occasions by making you come by and them telling you, "another day."
English class was a lot of fun, as usual. I wish I would have known
that it would be my last English class, though! I have grown pretty
close to the group of about eight people that normally come, and it
will be sad not to be able to work with them again. Elder Knapp had an
dentist appointment during the afternoon, so I ended up reading about
the Great Apostasy in "Jesus the Christ." Talmage sites the Nicean
(spelling?) Creed about the nature of the Godhead. If you haven't read

it, READ IT. Elder Knapp and I then spent almost four hours at the

church putting in more records into the Area Book. The only thing that
we have left to go through is potential investigators before we
finish. In the evening, the Ramirez family invited us over for dinner.
I love going to visit them, and we were able to share a message with
Rafael to help him prepare to receive the Melchizadek Priesthood.

Thursday, February 27th, 2014:

The zone leaders came to our district meeting, which was centered on
member work with the iPads. We role played a scenario of working with
a member and role playing with the member about talking to their
friends via Facebook. That means that we role played a role play,
almost like "Role Play-ception." That was the joke for the remainder
of the day. After failing to find some potential investigators
available, we went and decided to put those potential investigators in
the Area Book We are so close to being done! Emma Rodriguez, a
less-active member, invited us over for dinner. We ate with her and
her less-active daughter, Cynthia. It was a really good visit, and we
got them both thinking about how to do missionary work with their
friends. Once we left their house, we were unable to find anyone to
have a lesson with; however, we did set up a few return appointments.

Friday, February 28th, 2014:

In the morning, I woke up to quite the storm. It rained more than I
have ever seen in California and more than I have ever seen anywhere
in quite some time. The great part is that we had to bike in it! It is
supposed to be one of the worst storms in a number of years, and I can
see why. It was BAD. Streets started flooding, and the church actually
started flooding a little bit before the leak was discovered. Elder
Knapp and I tried to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the
weather. We managed to finish putting in all of the records, too!
During the evening, we went to teach a family of former investigators
named the Iniguez family. They seemed pretty interested, and it was a
good lesson on the Restoration.

Saturday, March 1st, 2014:

What happened to February? The storm today made it difficult to do a
whole lot. Javier joined us for a lesson with a less-active member
named Hermano Ferrufino. It was interesting that his doubt ended up
being proxy ordinances, which is a thing mentioned in the Bible that
was practiced by early Christians. We had quite a discussion about it
and got into some pretty deep doctrine. Elder Knapp and I also stopped
by Valentina Flores (the widow of the late Miguel Flores) for the
first time this transfer. It was good to see her doing well two months
after the funeral. Not a whole lot happened during the day, due to the
storm, but we ended up playing volleyball during the evening. I love
ward volleyball; however, we ended up having two injuries, one of
which may have been a broken ankle. Hermano Mendoza landed on Elder
Knapp's foot, and Hermano Mendoza likely broke it. On the way out of
volleyball, I was carrying my stuff to the Hermanas' car when the
Spanish APs called. Oh, no... I'm getting transferred! Elder Mostert
told me that I will be serving in El Molino - South. The crazy thing
is that Elder Knight is the district leader there and that Hermana
Vellinga is still there, too. Half of my original district in Chino
will be in El Molino!

Sunday, March 2nd, 2014:

It was a really sad day for me. I really came to understand truly how
much I love this ward. I was also surprised how many people came up to
me to tell me that they are sad to see me leave and wanted my home
address to be able to write me! It was really encouraging to see how
much of an impact I have left on this ward, and I almost cried when
the day was over because I don't want to leave. After church, Elder
Knapp and I went with the Hermanas to the Chino Hills building to help
set up for the baptism of their investigator, Aurora. The baptismal
service was wonderful, and the Spirit was very strong there. We have
gotten Chino to the point of baptizing monthly again. We have had
three baptisms in the past four months, and there are some
investigators who are coming along in Chino that will likely be
baptized in the coming weeks and months. It's wonderful to see the
changes that have happened there. At night, Elder Knapp and I taught
Joseph and Jo-Jo about the Ten Commandments, in addition to committing
them to read, pray and come to church! It was the first time that they
both were totally open to coming to church. To finish off the evening,
we went to visit the Montanez family. I love them so much, and they
all really love having me over. I got a picture with all of them and
gave Hermano Montanez a blessing. It was such a nice visit, and I will
miss them dearly.

As I think about being transferred, I think about the transition from
elementary school to middle school. I began my mission in Chino and
felt comfortable there, but I know that the new place will be quite
different; however, it will be a challenge that will help me grow. I'm
excited to be here, but I won't forget the work that I did in Chino.
Hopefully El Molino has some great people to meet and some wonderful
experiences to enjoy. Thank you all for you help and for all of your
support! I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad

Another Transfer in Chino? - February 24, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! This week has, once again,
been full of inputting records into the Area Book app on the iPads. We
are about two-thirds of the way done, so we will hopefully meet the
deadline of finishing by the end of the transfer on Sunday night. We
have also been blessed with some great success in teaching, too!

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014:

For the second time, Elder Knapp and I went to go visit Hermano
Ferrufino, who is a less-active member. He is the only member in his
family. We taught him about gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon;
he says that he has read it and has never actually received an
"answer" of whether or not it is true. The thing that he really lacks
is actually applying its precepts. We cannot know of a surety of
anything in the Gospel, unless we are willing to act and apply what
the Gospel actually teaches. As the day continued, I realized how
unlucky we were today: every single appointment (all five or six) that
we had set up ended up falling through. We have been trying to teach a
couple of single ladies with the aid of a few Hermanos in the ward,
but our member present lessons ended up not working out. As a result,
we weren't able to actually have the lessons. Elder Knapp and I have
been averaging about fifteen records per day that we put into the
iPads, which takes about two hours. Today, we put in about
twenty-seven in the span of just shy of three hours. It is long and
tedious, but it is totally necessary. At night, we ate dinner at the
Castanedas to eat dinner. They are moving to Fontana, CA this Saturday
and seem to be quite stressed out; we offered to help them move, and
they gladly took us up on it. I am really going to miss them, and they
commented on how long I have been in Chino. I guess I really have been
here a while...

Wednesday, February 19th, 2014:

English class today was particularly fun because we were able to talk
about talking on the phone. That is one of Elder Knight's "Milestones
of Spanish." Talking on the phone is one of the most difficult things
to do in a foreign language, and it was so great being able to help
others with the same thing that I struggled with for about the first
three months here in the mission field. I have been working with the
same group of people there at English class. I love seeing their
progress and helping them learn! I talk to them in Spanish a bunch
when we have breaks, so I am also able to help my Spanish improve from
them. After English class, Elder Knapp and I were cruising and managed
to put in about thirty records in about three hours. The rest of the
day failed to yield any teaching appointments. I'm not quite sure why
we aren't seeing the same success as the first couple of weeks during
the transfer, but hopefully things will start picking up again!

Thursday, February 20th, 2014:

Every three months, we have the privilege of attending Zone
Conference. I was so excited to go to Zone Conference today! We have
the opportunity to listen to our mission president and the AP's for
about seven hours. It sounds like a long time, but it absolutely flies
by. We focused on the importance of the "Rock of Revelation" that is
referenced in the seventh chapter of Matthew in the parable about the
Wise Man and the Foolish Man. As we lay our foundation on Christ, we
are able to have the "Rock of Revelation," which refers to the
personal revelation that we can receive in our lives as we do the
three most basic things: read the scriptures, pray, and attend church.
They seem to be the three that people neglect the easiest, but it is
impossible to have that personal revelation if any of the three aren't
present. Elder Mostert, one of the AP's, also had an AWESOME analogy.
In D&C 8:3, it makes a reference to the Spirit of Revelation being the
same Spirit that led the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground.
I never knew what it meant before Elder Mostert explained it. He said
that the Israelites left all of their trials and temptations behind
them in the Red Sea (these are the symbol represented by Pharaoh's
army) in the waters of baptism; they then arose from the depths of the
ocean (going into the grave) and were "reborn" as new people on the
other side with the Holy Spirit to guide their way (born of the
Spirit, as mentioned in John 3:5). It was so enlightening and made so
much sense! It also helped me understand a little bit more fully how
important the ordinance of baptism truly is. During the evening, Elder
Knapp and I taught Bertha, Jo-Jo and Arnaldo about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We were very bold with them in teaching. Bertha asked us if we
believe if her baptism "was valid," and we responded with asking her
if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet. If Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then the Book of Mormon is true; if Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then the Priesthood was restored; if Joseph Smith was a
prophet, then this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Are you sensing
a pattern? It is essential to have a testimony of the Restored Gospel
to be truly converted, and that is why we, as missionaries, place so
much emphasis on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Friday, February 21st, 2014:

Elder Knapp and I had the potential to have an awesome morning, but
all of our plans fell through. It is really hard to find Hermanos in
the ward who are available to help us with teaching in the mornings,
and we weren't able to teach any of the single ladies that we set up
lessons with. It may have ended up being a blessing in disguise. We
were able to get going on weekly planning early before beginning to
input records into the Area Book app. We spent over five hours today
putting in records, and we still have way too much to do! It's crazy
how long it takes... At night, we went to the Dominguez family to have
dinner with them. Well, they kind of forgot that we were coming for
dinner, even though we reminded them. We shared a quick spiritual
thought with them and then went to visit a less-active member. Emma
Rodriguez is a member but is less-active. She ended up feeding us
after I sort of tried to lie to her and say that we had already eaten
(oops!). I just hate making people feel obligated to feed us. I guess
I don't lie very well... She is so nice and was very friendly. I just
felt bad that she ended up going out of her way to look after us.
After visiting her, Hermano Castro came with Elder Knapp and I to
teach Martha Segura, who is a new investigator. The lesson went really
well, but Hermano Castro ended up saying a little too much at the end
of the lesson. We don't want to spend more than fifteen minutes
teaching the Restoration; we ended up being in her house for over
thirty. It's hard when the members aren't familiar with our new
teaching method; we need to prepare them better. Hermano Castro did do
an awesome job of helping her understand the importance of baptism,
though. She was a little shocked that we were so bold about inviting
her, but she understands the goal now!

Saturday, February 22nd, 2014:

Elder Knapp and I woke up early to help the Castanedas move. We spent
about four hours helping them move all of their stuff into two
different trailers. It's really sad to see them go because I have
developed such a good relationship with them; I have been visiting
them ever since I was with Elder Knight about four months ago. Upon
returning, we ended up spending the remainder of the day inputting
records into the iPads. I think I sat in a chair in the church for
about five hours straight. It is so exhausting, but it has to be done.
I hope we meet our deadline of finishing by next Sunday! At night, we
went to ward volleyball, which had a surprisingly high turnout! Ruben
brought his nephew, and the Hermanas were able to get one of their
investigator families to come. It was really fun, and I love spending
time with the members here!

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014:

Church was pretty routine today, with the only exception being that
Elder Knapp and I had the opportunity to teach the youth with Hermano
Kirk. That class is so awkward... no one talks! As a teacher, the only
way to have a successful lesson is to get the investigator to talk; if
you are trying to listen and don't think for yourself, listening won't
profit you at all. Feedback is what a teacher has to be able to teach.
The rest of the day consisted of Elder Knapp and I trying to run
around to different potential investigators and set up return
appointments for the coming week. We were fortunate enough to find
Bertha, Joseph and Jo-Jo home to have a lesson with them. We taught
about the three fundamentals for receiving revelation: reading the
scriptures, praying and going to church. We also read in 1 Nephi 4
with them. They agreed to do a church tour this coming week! They are
making significant progress, but they definitely need time to adjust.
Elder Knapp and I were also able to meet with David Sierra during the
afternoon. He was apparently baptized when he was eleven, but he
doesn't remember anything; he has been inactive for a number of years.
He loved learning about the Restoration, especially learning it
through our new teaching method. We have gotten nothing but positive
feedback about this new teaching style; it's awesome! At night, we
talked to the Hermanas about the status of their area (something that
Elder Knapp has to do every Sunday night as district leader). They
told us that they talked to President Becerra during the day for an
interview, and he told them that he doesn't have any plans to make any
changes in Chino this coming transfer. That means that I will likely
be staying in Chino for my fifth transfer! That is almost unheard of
to begin a mission in one area and stay in the first area for more
than seven months. We will see what happens with transfer calls on
Saturday, but I will likely be staying!

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the week and enjoying the last few days
of February! It's amazing how fast time flies; I can't believe that
it's almost March. Thanks again for all of your love and support! I
appreciate all that you do for me! Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Love,
Elder Gabriel Valley

Sent from my iPad