WEDNESDAY: Super fun P-Day! Elder Candia and I went up to Kevin's house to get him a haircut around 8:00 AM. We brought them some breakfast as well! We were planning on going to the aquarium today. Me and Elder Isaacson felt inspired to invite and pay for Kevin and Johny if they'd like to come. We asked if they wanted to go, and they said we're down! Kevin and Johnny are so cool! Kevin has put in his mission call papers and is waiting to receive his call! Johnny is literally everyone's favorite person! He has down syndrome dwarfism. He is literally the sweetest person you'll ever meet. He can understand what you say to him clearly! He can't speak though so he uses sign language, which is really cool! He teaches how to sign, which is pretty fun.
Autumn, who's getting baptized the following day, was able to come along as well! After getting some lunch, we were able to go to the aquarium; it was really cool! We were able to see penguins, otters, squids, sharks, and all other types of fish. Johny loved it so much! His favorite show is SpongeBob, so he fits right in! They had a really cool lookout point where you could see the whole ocean!
After leaving the aquarium and going shopping, we ended the day by visiting Natalia and Susana. We talked about our day, took some photos together, held their kittens and read Matthew 4:19-20 with them in honor of us going to the aquarium (such a great scripture). We're also going to potentially try and go to the temple this Saturday so that they could view/visit it. Me and Elder Candia believe that by being able to see the temple in person, they'll be ready to take the next step!
THURSDAY: Today was the baptism of Autumn! I was asked to give a talk during her baptism! After finishing writing her talk, we had to clean our car and buy cupcakes & ice cream for Autumn's baptism! I wish the ward was more willing to help us, but it's alright. The members that we spend a lot of time with, Hermano Mateo and Tony and Adri, are absolutely amazing! We had to spend a lot of the day inviting people to attend and view her baptism! Afterwards, we visited our friend Elivira and talked with her for a while! She had a lost fighting chicken and she wanted us to help her get it 🤣. Sadly, we couldn't find it. When we began teaching her, she was telling us how opposition always seems to try and "attack" her and her family when they try to attend church. We talked to her and explained to her how there has to be opposition in all things: We read from Moroni 7: 27-31 and explained to her how we can receive blessings and miracles when we put our trust and faith in God and Jesus Christ's restored gospel! We shared with her our purpose as missionaries and the importance of being baptized and receiving the Gift of The Holy Ghost. We invited her to church and the baptism of Autumn! Afterwards, we went to see if Silvia, Eduardo, and Vilma were home. We pulled up but only Eduardo was there! We asked him where he's been, and he said he's been busy. Vilma came after talking with him for a bit, so we were able to make it into a lesson! We read from Moroni 7:27-31 once again and talked about how miracles can occur when we put our faith and trust in God, His Son and His plan. We talked about faith and how when we have faith, we have to act upon that faith with action. We asked Eduardo how we can apply the principle of faith and he said by going to church! We talked about the importance of partaking of the sacrament and remembering the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We invited them to the baptism of Autumn and to attend church! They came! The baptism of Autumn went well! I was able to give my talk and it went really well! Elder Candia did a fantastic job at translating the whole thing. It was a really special baptism! Seeing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the church has changed her life was really special! She told us how this was the first time celebrating her birthday since becoming an orphan. It was a really special baptism service! Elder Isaacson also gave a really spiritual talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Larson, my MTC companion, was able to give her the Gift of the Holy Ghost. All and all, it was a really special service! We also had a bunch of friends pull up: Natalia, Susana, Freddy, Brian, and Cesar, Vilma, Silvia and Eduardo! They all enjoyed it! Brian and Cesar were fighting the whole time haha. I was like Dana White when he had to break up fights during a press conference 🤣. We ended the night by handing out desert and dropping off some cupcakes at Clemente's house since they weren't able to come.
FRIDAY: We had a really good Zone Conference down in Salinas! We were able to hear about President Larson's one year anniversary, today, on getting set apart by Elder Bednar. He told us that while receiving his blessing, President Bednar told him to apply the doctrine of Christ not only in his life, but the life of those who he serves and teaches. During our Zone Conference, we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to The End) and the importance of becoming a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ. We read from 3 Nephi 11 and discussed the significance of the chapter with one another. In our breakout rooms, we talked and discussed with our companionships how we can apply the principle of Repentance in not only our lives, but the lives of our friends and the importance of helping our friends make and keep commitments. President Larsen ended with a powerful testimony on the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and the Book of Mormon. I loved the part when he said, "No other book in the world more clearly explains and testifies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ more than the Book of Mormon,'' which is so true. I'm so grateful for President Larson, he's been an amazing Mission President.
After eating with the District, we began our day by finding. We didn't have much success finding, but we were able to find a lady named Jessica! She was really cool! We explained to her what we do as missionaries, and we explained to her the differences/similarity between the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Afterwards, we asked her if she had the opportunity to ask God one question, what her question would be! She said that she wanted to know why God took her son. We explained to her that her son was in Spirit World receiving the Gospel. After, we explained to her the Atonement and how Jesus Christ understands everyone's pains, challenges, and struggles. After, we read from 1 Nephi 1:20 and talked about the "Tender Mercies of the Lord." We set up at a lesson with her the following day. Sadly, she blocked us the next day for some reason 😔.
After, we visited Natalia and Susana to set up a temple trip with them the following day. Hermano Mateo, a member in our ward, was driving up to the temple the following day and had room in his car to take Natalia and Susana! They said they were down! We explained to them a little more about temples and the importance of making covenants. We also helped Susana with her Spanish homework and even taught her some new words! Afterwards, we asked Autumn if she'd like to go to the temple as well and she was down! After setting up the plans for the following day, we headed back to the apartment because I was feeling extremely sick.
SATURDAY (6/22/24): We had to wake up at 5:00 AM to leave for the temple at 6. I woke up with the worst sore throat of all time. I haven't felt that sick in years. I was dragging to get out of bed! After planning and preparing for this temple trip, I was not going to cancel it regardless of how I felt. The drive up to Oakland was rough haha; I was so tired, and I felt terrible. However, when we got to the temple, it made it worth it. With Natalia, Susana, and Autumn, we were able to walk around the temple grounds and the Roof Garden. We also took some pictures with Elder Candia's camera! While walking around the temple grounds, we talked about baptisms for the dead and the importance of Family History work. Afterwards, we went to the Visitor Center and listened to Jesus Christ's speech about the Atonement. After, we watched a movie about a family, the same one I watched when visiting Temple Square with my grandma as a little kid, and how we can live with our families together forever through the Priesthood, temples and the Plan of Salvation, the plan God created for us to be able to live with our families forever.
Afterwards, we watched some videos that explained the temple and what we do inside the temple! The girls loved seeing videos of the baptismal fountain and the artwork. Afterwards, we watched a video on the Doctrine of Christ and the importance of being baptized and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards, we watched a video of a returning missionary bearing his testimony on the importance of serving others, praying, believing God, etc. We shared our testimonies. Autumn bore a fire testimony and invited them to be baptized next Saturday. We'll help them get there! After driving back from the temple, which took almost four hours due to the traffic, we went tracking with Autumn! Autumn literally killed it! She was teaching with us, sharing her testimony, and teaching from the scriptures. We were joking around her telling her that she was already a better missionary than me and Elder Canida.
Afterwards, we continued to weekly plan and invited people to church! It took a while and it was so draining; weekly planning is my least favorite part as a missionary. Afterwards, we had an amazing lesson with Clemente and Irme! We talked about temples and watched Elder and Sister Christopherson's tour of the temple. They have such amazing Spanish! We explained to them the importance of Family History Work and how we are able to perform ordinances for those. After, we talked about the Plan of Salvation and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End) is the way we can apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and overcome spiritual death! We ended by bearing our testimonies of the Plan of Salvation and how Jesus Christ makes everything possible through his Atonement. Autumn was literally killing it the whole time as well. She was sharing her testimony and sharing her conversion story. Clemente and Irme are so prepared and ready to be baptized! We're going to get them there soon!
SUNDAY (6/23/24): I was able to get a little more sleep, which was nice! We started the day by driving over to try and help Hermano Villa out of his bed; however, he told us he was having back problems and asked us to come back later. We knocked on a recent convert's door, Francisco, and he said he wouldn't be able to go this week but that he'd try next week! The inactivity down here in Greenfield, King City, and Soledad is really bad and it hadn't really hit me until today. We also went and knocked on Suzana's door and got her to wake up to come to church haha. Afterwards, we had a Ward Council, and we discussed the needs of the ward. The bishop and the counselors were really concerned with how fast new converts were becoming inactive; which I totally understand! If the people who we're baptizing don't have testimonies and aren't willing to endure to the end, they shouldn't have been baptized, in all honesty. Being baptized is a commitment you'll have to keep your whole life to be able to receive the blessings associated with the covenant you've made and the covenants you'll be able to make in the future. Enduring to the End and becoming a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ is so crucial. The Sacrament is a sacred ordinance that we have to participate in every single week to renew our covenants and remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Susana was able to make it to Sacrament! Elder Isaacson was able to give an amazing talk about Baptism and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost! I'm glad she got to hear it. We also had a member in our ward give a talk about the Book of Mormon and started reading from 2 Nephi 29 (iyky) which I thought was pretty funny. She had to leave after the first hour, but I was super happy she came. When Brian and Cesar showed up, we took them to Primary and then attended Elders Quorum with Clemente and his son. We talked about the Priesthood and listened to Elder Shayne M. Bowen's talks about "Miracles, Angels and Priesthood Power." It's such a good talk! We were also able to read from Moroni 7:27-31, Alma 36:3, and talked about how to receive miracles through the Priesthood and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hermano Mateo was testifying of the Priesthood to Clemente and was telling him the blessings that'll come when he receives the Priesthood. Clemente, Irma, and his family are so ready to be baptized! They've developed friendships with the members in the ward, attend every single week, read and study on their own, and enjoy and can feel the truth of the teachings of the Church. We're getting to put them on a date soon! (Hopefully the following day).
During the sacrament, Brian and Cesar were absolutely crazy. I tried having them play Tic Tac Toe, but they weren't having it. We had to have a somewhat serious conversation with them after the Sacrament about the importance of loving one another and not being violent. We offered them a challenge that if they were able to behave each week and not fight, that we would buy them pizza every Saturday. We also said that we'd check in with their dad. We'll see how it goes 🤣; it didn't start off well as the first thing they did as they left the church was start hitting each other. I know they're just kids and live in a hard environment, but I haven't ever seen them act like this. We'll work with them! I love them to death. After, we went over to Hermano Villa's to administer the Sacrament and give him a Blessing. We were able to talk about temples with Hermana Villa as well! Afterwards, we tried visiting a lot of inactive members. None of them were home, but we left thoughtful cards at each house. We were able to meet one member named Martha. She told us that she had been baptized in our church but that she was Catholic now since they were able to heal her and our church wasn't. I didn't really understand where she was coming from, but she wasn't interested haha. After visiting and saying what's up to Freddy and giving him a "Jesus the Christ" Book to read, we went up to King City to visit one of the sister's friends they needed help with named Alex. We invited him to church next week and talked about the importance of personal conversion, participating in the Sacrament and focusing on your own personal journey instead of others. He told us that he had a problem with one of the members in the ward, but that he understood better now the importance of coming to church.
After the night church, we taught the Doctrine of Christ to Tony and his mother. We ended the night by visiting Susana. Susana is the best; we're literally best friends with her haha. Her little sister doesn't like me that much though; she was calling me white boy haha. After helping her with her Spanish HW, we asked her how she felt about the temple; she told us that it was super peaceful and that it felt Holy. We answered questions she had about things her pastor had told her in the past (how we only worship one God, how we don't worship Joseph Smith, how we follow the Word of Wisdom and keep our bodies physically and spiritually clean, and how we celebrate holidays [they don't], etc. We also shared examples of how and why we believe in the Book Mormon. We shared examples from John 10:14-16, Ezekiel 37:15-19, 3 Nephi 16, and 2 Nephi 29. We also explained how Joseph Smith received the Priesthood through John the Baptist, (Peter, James, John), and through other Angelic visitors. We tied it back to the Bible as well. We ended by bearing our testimonies on the Book of Mormon, the Priesthood, the Church, and our experiences in the temple! We ended the night by listening to President Larson's devotional.MONDAY: During our District Council today, we talked about uniting with the ward through "Love, Share, and Invite" and helping inactive members. I invite everyone reading this email to participate in "Love, Share, and Invite". It's super easy! All you have to do is send or text or call to a member who is struggling/inactive and let them know that they're being thought of and that the ward is thinking about them! The way to help inactive members return back to the covenant path and church is through love and friendship! One thing we need to be better at as missionaries is making sure converts have testimonies, a commitment to endure to the end, and friendships in the ward. Baptisms don't mean anything if the converts aren't fully committed. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a lifelong commitment! That's the only way you'll receive blessings from the covenants you make in this life and the life to come!
After finishing up our studies and our daily routine, we went and tried contacting some members in our ward. What we're going to start doing is handing out cookies to the inactive members of the ward and letting them know that they're being thought off and that they matter! We started off the day by meeting Generado! Generado is actually a solid convert! He has a strong testimony, and his wife and daughter were able to attend church yesterday. He has to work every single day, except Saturdays, working in the fields so he's unable to attend church. We were able to talk with him for a while! He's doing a lot better now; a little while ago, he was struggling to find work and pay rent but he's doing a lot better now! He's a hard worker; working in the fields is no joke! We shared 1 Nephi 8:8-10 and talked about how we can feel the love of God when reading our scriptures, praying, and applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We invited him to share a Book of Mormon with his friend and he said he would! Afterwards, we met this really cool little kid named Cristian. He was only 10 years old, but he was so mature! Complete opposite of Cesar and Brian haha. We wanted to know how he could help his family spiritually; he was also telling us how he had lost loved ones in the past. We taught him about the Spirit World, and we also taught him and his sister how to pray. We used an analogy of a torta: "Dear Heavenly Father '' = The Bread, everything in between = the meat, lettuce, tomato, etc., and the final piece = "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." It's a great analogy to teach not only kids, but for those who don't know how to pray as well! Afterwards, we visited an inactive member that we had never met before. We were just looking at Preach My Gospel and seeing if there were any blue dots we could visit. We knocked on her door with a bunch of cookies, not knowing who she was or if she'd answer. She answered! Her name was Linda; she was a funny lady. We helped her set up her water tank and then after, we talked about our future careers, how long we've been on missions, and where we have served, the current state of Oakland and San Francisco 🤣, where our friends and family have served their mission, her life and career, etc. We dropped off her cookies and told her that the ward was always there for her if she needed anything, we'd be there! We invited her to church but she's still recovering from back surgery and can't walk very well. We understand! We were also able to give her our phone number as well! After eating dinner, we had a really good lesson with Susana! We talked with her about how she and her family had been. We then began talking about her potential baptism, if she's ready. We explained to her how we want her to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost, but that we want her to have it for herself! We explained to her that we want her to receive the blessings that come from being baptized and joining our church because we care about her as one of our good friends. She explained to us how she does her church services and the difference between her services and ours. She also explained to us how she wants to get baptized, but how she wants to by her own choice! She told us of spiritual experiences she's had listening to people's testimonies and miracles at church, camps, and in general! She told us that she knows God lives! We read from Moroni 7:27-31 and talked about how we can receive miracles regardless of what religion, race, gender, etc. you're a part of through faith, hope, and trust in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. We also explained to her how we have to be baptized through water and through fire (the Holy Ghost). We invited her to read Moroni 10 and pray. Afterwards, we ended the night by teaching Clemente and Irme. They are so ready to be baptized! They have friendships in the ward, testimonies, and have a desire to continue to learn and grow! We talked with them about how they had been! While talking to them, they taught us how to speak a little Mixteco. They had questions about if our church was in Mexico, as they were potentially moving there soon. We also set up a day for them to be able to go up to Oakland and view the temple; they said they were down! The plan is to take them up to the temple and then baptize them when they come back. We talked about how the church is a worldwide organization and how we have millions of members, 30,000 chapels across the world, hundreds of temples, thousands of missionaries, etc. We explained to them the Spirit World and how it is a place where those who didn't have the chance to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ here on this earth could after they die! We also read from Mosiah 2:41 and talked about the importance of keeping commandments and how they bless us spiritually and physically. We set up a lesson and invited them to watch President Nelson's video.TUESDAY: Today I woke up super sick again. I thought I was starting to feel better, but I guess not. I wasn't going to stay home though; Tony, one of the coolest members in our ward, needed our help digging up dirt and laying mulch. Tony has gone through so much in his life; he's been trying to find a job as chef while school is out; he works as a chef in a school. Luckily, he was able to find a job and will begin this Thursday! He has to provide for his son and brother, who are both on the spectrum, and for his wife and mom. In addition to that, he always tries and feeds the missionaries regardless of his situation; he is an amazing convert! These are the types of converts we need in our church! Whenever Tony needs our help, we'll always be there. For the whole day, we dug up hard dirt, put up barriers, hauled trash cans full of dirt, laid much, and swept. It was hard work, but it looked really good after we had finished! After visiting a family down in King City, we began driving back to Greenfield. While driving, Hermano Mateo called us saying he needed us to come visit some kids he had found. We were extremely muddy and gross, but we weren't going to deny Hermano Mateo. We taught them about service and read from Mosiah 2:17. We ended the night by talking with Susana and seeing how she was feeling! We read Mosiah 18 and continued to ask how she felt about baptism. She's still thinking about it! We invited her to read from the Introduction and the Witnesses.
