Go forth with faith

Hola familia y amigos, 

Transfers came around and not much of a surprise...I'll be with Elder Royce finishing my training in Hemet. Unfortunately, one of the other Spanish elders, that lives in our 4-man-apartment, is leaving to go to Riverside. Elder Jensen was an awesome elder to be around and we had just gone on exchanges earlier in the week on Tuesday. We were able to get a few potentials for his area and hand out a few copies of the Book of Mormon. We were on bike that day, which I love doing because it's a nice change from being in a car. It's kind of funny how all of the Bike missionaries envy the missionaries in cars and vise versa. Honestly, the next few days were a little rough. A lot of the investigators that we taught were not willing to progress and keep commitments, so we had to discontinue our teaching with a few of them for the time being. On Friday, we had a lesson with Hermana Police and after what we thought was a great lesson, we weren't able to inspire her to come to church. She pretty much told us that it won't be happening and to not to keep on trying. I felt devastated once we got back to the apartment. I knew I was teaching by the Spirit and I felt that I was bearing strong testimony of the importance of the Sabbath Day and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt that I gave it my all in my preparation for her and in my prayers for her. It was disheartening, but the next day, we were able to make some new strides. We were in Idyllwild for a visit with Candy and her family. We taught her, her kids, and her younger brother Nelson. It felt amazing to actually have someone want to listen that week and want us to come back so that they can learn more. Well.... we won't be able to go back anymore because a Spanish Speaking sister missionary is being transferred to Idyllwild/Anza area this next transfer. Previously, it was just two English sisters, so it was our responsibility to cover their area for any Spanish investigators. We are excited for these sister missionaries to get such a great family to teach though!

My favorite part of this week though was Sunday. We had stake conference with a regional broadcast. It was for 283 stakes on the West Coast, so we were able to hear from an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Christofferson, as well as President Nearon of the Seventy, Elder Nattress of the Seventy, and Sister Franco from the General Primary Presidency. All the messages were centered on Service. Before the broadcast started, I said a quick prayer and just started to really tune in. It was one of the most enlightening moments on my mission and lifted me up. We sang "Go Forth with Faith" and "Called to Serve" which are 2 of the best missionary anthems, so once we went back out that day to work, I was pumped up!! My favorite verse that made me think the most about my service was "Go forth to serve and do your best With no thought of reward Then you shall know the boundless joy of serving Christ, the Lord. My favorite scripture from this week is Doctrine and Covenants 112:14, and how it says to "Arise and gird up your loins, take up your cross, follow me, and feed my sheep."

It's been a great transfer with a lot of learning, teaching, growing.

To end on a little bit of a lighter note, some of the funniest/weirdest things from this week were:

1) One of our former investigators telling us that he doesn't want to hear anymore about "Norman Smith." We weren't sure if he was talking about the Prophet Mormon from the Book of Mormon or the Prophet Joseph Smith. But I guess he didn't want to hear about either.

2) We helped someone move a palm tree out of their front yard into a U-Haul. 

3) We were doing a short street contact with a guy named James who was walking down the street with a bag of food. He said he had some "grub" and was gonna eat. Elder Royce then navigated the conversation to how "our spirits gotta eat too." Unfortunately, the guy wasn't too interested despite our best efforts.

4) Literally right after we talked to James, we found ourselves in a big group of people who were in front of a house. They were all kind of busy, but that didn't stop us from talking to whoever was listening. Well, Elder Royce started speaking Spanish and then one of the guys just yells, "I have no clue what you're saying!" To be fair, we did hear some of them speaking Spanish, but I guess one of them didn't wanna hear us anymore.

5) We got a "Pause" text from one of our investigators saying "The book of Mormon is your primary source not mine. have a nice windy day brothers in the name of God I salute you."

A lot of people don't want our help anymore, but that's okay because nothing will stop this work.

The best news of the week is that Raquel will be getting baptized February 11th and she is absolutely killing it with her reading in the Book of Mormon and she is keeping all the commandments we are teaching her. I'll keep everyone updated...until the next week!

Elder Moon

Similar to the helmet tilt in lacrosse, I showed Elder Jensen about how to rock a bicycle helmet.

The palm tree we helped with

How Great Thou Art!

Hey Everyone!

Hope everyone has had a good week... I'm going to just give a quick update with some of the Top 5 things that happened (no order really)

1. We had multi-zone conference on Friday. There were a lot of training's about all kinds of things, but the theme was about being Centered on Christ. President Hammon gave the training on all the different ways we could be centered on Christ. My favorite ways that we can center our lives on Christ is by loving Him with all our hearts and testifying about Him through the Book of Mormon. The verse that the whole mission is going to memorize is 2 Nephi 25:26. 

At the end, the incoming and outgoing missionaries bore their testimonies and I bore my testimony on the Savior and how happy I am serving Him. How that joy is different and is truly genuine.

2. We went back up to Idyllwild for a referral that we had. The referral's name was Hector, so once we got up there in the mountains of Idyllwild, we knocked on his door and he wasn't there. We decided to go tracting a few blocks over, and we were actually able to give the Sister missionaries who live up there a few English referrals to go by. Then we were about to head back to Hemet, but I knew we needed to go stop by Hector's house again. This time, a woman answered the door and we started talking to her. She told us her name was Candy and that Hector was her boyfriend. We started testifying of the Book of Mormon and the happiness of the Father's plan for us. She seemed really interested and even asked when church was because she wanted to go sometime. She also told us our Spanish was really good, so we were pumped!! She wants us to come back by to teach her and Hector. We have a return appointment for Saturday, so we are looking forward to teaching them more!

3. Wednesday was a really spiritual day as well with a few milagros. We were street contacting on this street we have been by a few times and this guy was outside talking to one of his friends. We start talking to the both of them and one of the guys just leaves immediately, but the other guy, Erwin, was really receptive. He is from Guatemala and moved here when he was young. He just moved into a new house with his wife, and he wanted us to come back by a teach him. We came back by a few days later, and his wife was out at the store, but he brought one of his friends, Felipe. Felipe was another guy we had talked to on that street before and now we were teaching Erwin and Felipe together!! And next time, we should be able to teach Erwin's wife as well.

4. Wednesday night, we stopped by a woman named Maria Vasquez who we have taught once or twice. Her fam has been sick with the Flu, but they were starting to recover. She has two special needs childs, Bobby and Suzy. Bobby was already in bed, but Suzy was there for a lesson with us. We ended up giving them Priesthood blessings and I was able to give a blessing to Suzy. She has a really sweet spirit and it was just awesome to feel the love that the Father and the Son have for her and the desire they have for her to return to her presence.

5. One of our "top" investigator's, Raquel, hadn't really been reading the Book of Mormon, but she started to read out of no where and caught us by surprise. We had an awesome lesson with her Sunday where we brought some members. We were all bearing strong testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. She was telling us that she knows that God wants her to learn and grow from the Book of Mormon.

With all these great things, we were working hard on Saturday, visiting everyone we could, but everyone was giving us excuses. One of our really strong investigators, Hermana Police, told us that she wouldn't ever be coming to 9:00 church because she won't change her morning habits in order to get out of the house early enough. Some of our other investigators were expressing similar sentiments, but we just had to show a lot of patience and love that day. We know if we put our Trust in the Lord, that he will prepare a way for this people eventually.

Overall, a really great week of finding and teaching! As we focus to Center our lives on Christ, we will find happiness in whatever situation we are in.

Hasta el proximo p-dia,

Pictures:

1: First day getting to drive the truck, with Elder's: Jensen, Morris, and Simpson.

2. Fresh Toyota Tacoma on a sunny Hemet day

Elder Moon

We had rain!

So once again, we were not able to email Monday because all the public libraries were closed due to the holiday.  Last Tuesday was by far one of my favorite days of the mission.  First off, we woke up to rain, which hadn't happened yet!  We were also doing companionship exchanges that day, so Elder Baum, another Spanish Elder, was my companion for the day.  We were working in his area on bikes and found joy in our journey through the flooded streets of Hemet as the rain poured.  That afternoon we had interviews with our mission president and then we went back to work.  We were finding and teaching by the Spirit and by the end of the day we found 10 new investigators, including 3 new families!  At the end of the day, we couldn't have been happier because we knew we gave it our all.

The next day, Elder Royce and I went back to work in our area and the sun also came out!  We had some great spiritual lessons with Raquelle and her sister Rosa, as well as another with Hermana Police!  These lessons were especially powerful because we gave them priesthood blessings at the end of the lesson.  With Hermana Police, we explained the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost, so it was awesome when we gave the blessing and she explained the peace and happiness she felt afterward.

Both Raquell and Rosa are a little older and were sick for most of last week, so their blessings were special as well because they were healthy enough to come to church with us this week!  Seeing them show up at church and being able to greet them at the door was an amazing feeling!

On Friday, we went over to Riverside for a trainer/trainee meeting.  After the meeting we watched the funeral services for President Monson.  I especially loved the testimony of President Nelson and the other apostles.  I'm really looking forward to April conference.

A few other highlights for the week

• I bought a mini lacrosse stick that I use to play wall ball during exercise time.
• We went on a 5 mile hike in the scenic mountains of Idylwild.
• First Sunday with investigators at church
• Lot of great work with less actives in the ward
• Raquelle should be baptized on 2/4, so we will keep working with her and others  so they will be ready to make that baptismal covenant.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Elder Moon

My new lax stick 

  Soft serve cone after a hard day's work

Found some snow on our Idyllwild hike! 

Rainbow outside the apartment

 The view from our hike

The puppy of one of the families we visited this week

Elder Baum and I are soaking wet!

Here is a link to the Riverside Mission President's Blog if interested

Wake up and do something more!

Its been a really solid week out here in Hemet, California! We have been teaching a lot and are making some strides with our investigators. We are continuing to find more people to teach and we should have another busy week coming up. We tried really hard to get some investigators at church this Sunday, but a lot of them are sick right now. It was a little disheartening when I was making those calls Sunday morning and we found out that they wouldn't be making it this week, but we'll help them make it next week!

We had a really spiritual lesson with Hermana Police. Elder Royce and I were bearing strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the promise that Moroni gives us, "si pedís con un corazon sincero, con verdadera intencion, teniendo fe en Cristo, el os manifestará la verdad de ellas por el poder del Espritu Santo" I know that the Holy Ghost was teaching her in that lesson because she seemed to really have an even stronger desire after that. We came back a few days later and she had read the first 20 pages or so of the Book of Mormon! She has her baptismal date for February 4th, so we just really want for her to come to church, so that she can deepen her conversion to the Gospel. 

We are also teaching a woman named Raquelle Rios and her sister Rosa. They are both a little older, but they are still looking for that truth. Raquelle had been baptized in another church, but she keeps on expressing that desire to be baptized by the authority of the Priesthood. Her baptismal date is later this month! We have had some awesome lessons with them as well. 

On Sunday after church, there were two members who were visiting their sister who lives in our area. Their sister, Maria is a non member and she was really sick in the hospital, so they asked us to go over to the hospital, so we could give her a blessing. This was only my second time giving a blessing in Spanish, so I was really nervous, but it was a really powerful experience.

The last little cool experience was with a man that we found named Casey. So we were trying to contact another referral named Maria (pretty common name here), and we didn't have the right address. But we saw this man out on his porch, we went over and talked to him and he told us how he had nearly been killed in an accident where he was stopped at a red light while on his bike, when a car rear ended him going 45 MPH. He broke his neck in 3 different places and he ended up losing over half his eye sight. He told us that his wife also left him because of this and that he really misses her...At this point, Elder Royce and I know that we are here for a reason. It was a miracle that he had survived and we were here to deliver him a message that could heal his soul. We ended up teaching a short lesson on his porch, we prayed for him, and he told us that he really felt the Spirit. We referred Casey over to the English missionaries, so we will see what happens!

Some other things that happened this week...Every Friday, we do two hours of service at the Rest Home and we play bingo with the people there. I was in charge of marking down all the numbers, so those people wouldn't be cheating haha and whenever they got bingo, I would shake the tambourine super loud!

We just got done playing chair soccer with our zone and it was super fun and I was surprised that I'd never played it before!

It might be raining a lot this week, which is cool since there's always a drought here!! 

Everything is moving along in our area, so I'm really looking forward to the progress that we are going to make these next few weeks.

Favorite Scripture this week: 2 Nephi 27:23- we just need to always have that faith because miracles will happen.

Only picture this week...Go Stars!

Nos Vemos!

Elder Moon

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Happy New Year Everyone!

It's been a while since I had the opportunity to email, so I'll give a quick recap...

I'm serving in Hemet California and Elder Royce is my trainer!  Elder Royce is very young in the mission and actually just finished his time being trained.  We get along super well and its been fun learning the language together.  We are serving in the Ramona ward and the members here are awesome!  We have been getting fed every night and they love serving us tamales!  We live in an apartment with another set of Spanish Elders (Baum and Jensen).  Both of them are from UT, as is my companion, which makes me the only non-Utahn in the apartment.

As for the area, I'm loving the weather and all the palm trees here.  Its also nice to see mountains close by.  By far, my favorite part so far has been the people we have been working with!  Right now, we have 4 investigators with baptismal dates in the weeks coming up.  I love when we meet with them and see their strong desires to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, a lot of them have been out of town in Mexico for the holidays, so hopefully they get back next week.

Also, my companion got sick the day after Christmas, and in no time, I was the next to get sick, so we had two full days in the apartment trying to recover.  The tender mercies and miracles didn't stop though!  We have seen the Lord's hand guiding us to those who are in need of the gospel and in need of encouragement.  One of my favorite things that we get to do as missionaries, is give priesthood blessings.  From my experience so far, I've had the opportunity to give quite a few blessings:  for members, other missionaries and investigators.  I know that through these blessings and the power of the priesthood, that individuals will be healed and they will receive that comfort they are seeking.  Faith is a powerful principle and there is a reason it is the first in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I can't wait to tell you more about the people we are going to find and teach this week.  Like I said, they are amazing and they have been prepared to receive the message of the restored gospel.  One example from this week is  "Hermana Police."  Her last name is pronounced is a Portuguese manner since she is from Brazil.  Anyways, we could tell that she was super prepared from the beginning and as we've been able to teach her about the restoration and the plan of salvation, it's been amazing to see her desire to learn more grow.  It's just those small moments in lessons that I've seen the reason why I'm out here.  I've felt my testimony grow in those moments.

There is so much more that I could share about these people, but unfortunately, I don't have the time.  Like Nephi, my soul delighteth in the people...and in the showing them the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  My soul delighteth in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  I know that He lives and loves us.  I hope everyone has a great week and I'll report back next week.  Adios, Elder Moon