Be There or Be Square

Mission Viejo 

It sounds like things are pretty much the same back home hahah! You guys are hitting up Tuacahn plays with Les and Diane, the recycling still gets dropped of at the school, and there's more home improvement to be done! :) Sounds like you guys are keeping busy! 

So it was a pretty awesome birthday! I didn't get my packages till yesterday so I opened them during our Pday activity. Everyone loved the card from Sara ... ya I was rolling in tears when I opened it due to laughing so hard hahahahah! Sara & Dane, I freaking love you so much :) But for my actual birthday we went to "Slaters 50/50". It's a burger place that makes these amazing 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon patties! IT GETS BETTER. Then they make THE most unique burgers with it. The first time I went I had a chili burger with fritos on it and bacon chili dripping off it. YUM! For my BDay I had a peanut butter and jelly burger with bacon on it! It was a PB&JB W/B! It was most delectable :) I also had some fun nights hanging with some other missionaries. It was kinda funny; the rest of the world would expect some serious partying to be done for someone's birthday, but instead I helped a family move, repaired some furniture and taught dinner lessons and stuff. It was a very good feeling to be in the work and realize that none of this is about me.

Things here are going pretty good. We are trying a new contacting approach at a park in the area. We put up signs that just say that we are going to be there every Saturday from 7-7:30 to answer anyones questions and to just talk. We figure that most people know who we are so we are really starting to pray for people to be lead to us cause we really, really want someone to teach! We tried it this last Saturday and we got there and there was a girl sitting in the park (obviously not there to talk to us). We walked up to her and started to talk about just everyday things, her dog, school, etc. She just randomly asked me "So why did you decided to come on a mission?" I was so stunned by it that at first I just said that I didn't really know, but then I remembered my testimony in the Book of Mormon, so I asked her if she has ever heard of it. She told me that her neighbors in San Diego are members and they have talked to her about the church a ton but not the BoM. So I gave her a copy and was able to bear my testimony to her. It was sorta a sweet experience :) After that we sat in our place in the park and not a soul wanted to come talk to us... ya we are going to keep trying hahah.   

Thanks so much for all the gifts and words of love and encouragement. They have helped more than you know! I love you all so very much and I feel so greatful to have been blessed with such a caring and fun and completely unique family!

Birthday Week & Camp Pendleton

Mission Viejo 

So birthdays are pretty boring occasions out in the field hahah but seriously... It's just crazy to say that I will be 20! I still can't believe it! (I have said that a ton but that should tell you how weird it feels to me.) I don't really think I will be doing anything for my bday. Probs just go somewhere special for lunch... like Panda or Carls Jr :) The best present you all got me so far has been the pictures of the little girls! I love them so so so so so much! I wish so bad that I could play with them. Paige and Jennika are getting so big, it's nutz! 

Our apartment is on the corner of Margarite and Via Florecer. It's called the Eves Apartments. For computer time, the library is a timed amount. We get an hour, but if there aren't very many people we can extend that by 30 min. I get super side tracked when I email so ya, sorry bout that haha. And yes, I do get all the awesome pics that you send :) 

We had a pretty good week of teaching. We were able to teach that lady that came to church last week with her friend. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She had just some generic questions about God and things like that so we felt impressed to help her understand God's role in our lives. She didn't really feel that it totally answered her questions but she loved how we as a church have missionaries that break everything down for her. We taught her how to pray and she is determined to feel the Spirit! We are going to try and follow up with her soon so she doesn't lose that momentum. 

We also were able to have another of our investigators come to church. His name is Harley. He is about 20 and is living with a lady in the ward that is basically his mom haha. He has his doubts about God and religion in general, but in church we got talking bout his disagreement with religion and science and a young mens leader came up to him and basically helped him understand that we believe science and religion go hand in hand. He really liked that. But the leader challenged him to come up with the one question that we, the missionaries, couldn't answer... I have no clue what that question is! But he seemed to really take that to heart, so now he is excited to meet with us!

On another note, yesterday (Sunday) I was able to go down to Camp Pendleton for a church service. There is a set of elders down there called the SOI elders (soldiers of infantry). They basically help out the Chaplin with all of his duties in coordinating the work for about six different denominations of churches that meet in the same building. The Chapiln loves the missionaries down there, so we hold a service from 7 at night till 9. During the beginning, the conductor asks for anyone in the audience that would like to go and be taught by the missionaries to go with us. We can't proselyte, so everything is done in a very "of your own free will" type thing. Even when we teach, we only answer their questions and ask them if we could just give them a history of how our church got started. We cannot invite them to baptism unless they ask for it. It's pretty interesting. The elders down there are basically the APs to the whole military and they work on strengthening the relations between the church and military. There is a chance that I could end up working down there around December. I have to go through a whole interview process but I am one of three getting interviewed. I don't really know how I feel about it, but if it's what the Lord wants, I will do it. And its only a slight chance :) We ended up talking to a marine who is a member of the church just having a hard time. We got to give him a blessing and talk with a bunch of the other marines. It was pretty fun! One of the wards in the area always cooks a dinner for the marines and brings it to the service so we got a pretty good dinner hahahahah!

Anyways, that's whats happening in my neck of the woods. Thanks for all the pics and wishes! I love you all so much and have a great "Kye's-Birthday-Without-Me" haha! 

Happiest Moment of My Life!

Mission Viejo 

It's been a pretty tough and yet rewarding week! To start off, my new comp is Elder Jones. He is from Iowa. He is super smart, loves the work, and loves Jimmy Johns....LOVES Jimmy Johns :) 

We are serving in the Mission Viejo Stake in the Mission Viejo 1st ward. It's really different from Laguna Beach! It's more of a quiet, suburban area with tons of families. It's pretty safe to say that I really really miss LB :( It was so tough to say goodbye to so many of the people and families that I have come to love so much, but i am happy to be here! 

On saturday there were two kids that we were really working with and fasting for back in Laguna that finally were allowed by their dad to get baptized! It was honestly one of the happiest moments in my life! There were about 60 people at the service plus one sister missionary that had been home about 1 1/2 months that drove nonstop from SLC to get to it. It was just an incredible experience. In the picture, the returned sister is the one kneeling down. 

So a bit about the area I am in: we are in a car-share area, meaning on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday we are biking... ya it's tough but fun and it is getting me in shape. As part of the area we get up on Monday and Friday at 5:30am to play basketball with the high priests in the ward, then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we are up at 5am to go do Crossfit... it nutz! I am hopefully going to come home super ripped, not dead hahah! 

There is a lot of work going on here. We have a lady who has a son that just joined the church and now she is taking the lessons. We have another lady that is interested and came to church with her friend the other day so we are going to start teaching her. Along with all that we are trying to get into a different members home everyday of the month for a standing monthly visit. We are teaching about 15-20 lessons a week, which is tons more than I was doing. 

I am running out of time on the computer so for my BDAY all I ask for is a gyro workout ball, and then you can surprise me with whatever you want :) I might write more in just a bit so stay tuned :)

Transferred.

Laguna Niguel - For the Last Week 

So we didn't have the baptism on Saturday :( It's all ok though. It was for a good reason. The kid's mother wasnt told about it till Wednesday so the dad decided that it would be better to make this a more planned and happy moment. The new date is set for the 29th. Also the Riches kids are probably going to be baptized this Saturday! We aren't sure what the dad said but the mom was acting like it's going to happen, so we will see!

Sad news. I am getting trasfered! (Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth.) I also know who my new companion is going to be.  I will let you guys know where I am going to be next week. 

We had a pretty great week though. I basically just went around the last two days visiting families in the ward. The hardest part was calling Don and Gavin and telling them that I am not going to be in the ward when they get back from San Francisco :( I am pretty psyched to start over in a new area, though. There is so much stuff that I have learned that I can't wait to apply in my new area, so I am kinda pumped. 

We sang in sacrament meeting.... yes mom, I sang. It was me and Elder Watts and Swainston and Sister Fetui, Wimmer and Forbess. We sang "Nearer My God to Thee". All the elders sang tenor, which is super hard! I have never sang parts before but it sounded really really good! 

Sorry I don't have much this week, but I will defs have more for you next week. I love you all so much!

Feeling the Spirit

Laguna Niguel 

We were able to go through the temple on Friday and I went through for Harold William Critchlow. I was able to do his baptism and confirmation back in February and then I was able to do his initiatory and endowment on Friday. It felt so good to be the one that was able to do all the work for someone in my own family! It's so cool that you are getting so many people to be able to go and do their own family history and temple work. 

We have had a pretty solid week of work. We have a baptism for this Saturday so we have been going over there everyday for the last week to make sure they are still on track. We have been doing scripture study with that family and with the 2 kids that want to be baptized but their dad won't let them. It's been a way fun week. 

In one of those scripture studies we had the opportunity to have President Lutz, our 2nd counselor, come on teaching splits with us. We went to the Rich family (the unbaptized kids that want to be baptized really bad) and we were going to teach them about the Plan of Salvation out of the scriptures but as we got talking I felt prompted to teach about the coming of Christ to the Nephites; 3rd Nephi 11. As we got talking and we focused on the part where Christ has everyone come up to him personally and feel the prints in his hands and feet, and about how Christ wants us to know and feel for ourselves the testimony that comes from the Spirit... right in the middle of it the two kids just bore their testimony of the feelings of the Spirit that they were having and how they know that God and Jesus Christ know and love them! Then President Lutz challenged them to write a letter to their dad telling him what it means to them to be baptized! It was such a simple idea and they were so excited about it that we just sorta sat there and were just feeling the Spirit! I freaking love missionary work! I am pretty sure that they are going to be baptized on the 22nd. 

Then there was that one girl that we invited to be baptized last sunday..... ya well she sorta freaked out and doesn't want to be Mormon. It's sorta sad but we feel that it was the right thing to do and that this all might get her to think of the church in a different light -- not just a social thing -- but a place and way to grow closer to God. All in all, it's in God's hands now and we are just going to see how things turn out.

We have a pretty great week ahead of us also. More lessons and a desire to pump up member missionary work that we got from that "Missionary Next Door" talk. It's a talk that is about an hour long. I am sorta freaking out about transfers this week. I have no clue what's going to happen. Like, our whole mission is really young right now so, pertaining to leadership, anything can happen. Also so much is happening that I don't want to miss any of it! Oh the woes of mission life! 

Well I don't really have much more to talk about. I will try and get more pictures for you guys. I just haven't had the time to stop and take pictures! But I love you guys so much! Have a great week!

Fasting With a Purpose

Laguna Niguel 

It's been a pretty crazy cool week! I will just get down to the nitty gritty of it all. 

We have had about 6 people just completely ready to get baptized forever. There are 2 kids that love the church and their mom is a super awesome lady. She is probs my favorite person out here. But her 2 kids from a previous marriage can't get baptized cause their dad won't let them. Also, if you recall the Peridot family (same situation as the last family) they have a daughter that has just opened up and has loved coming to church and reading the BoM and coming to Young Womens and stuff. Also Don and Gavin. 

Anyway, so for all of these names we had a ward fast and a few others. We had the ward council come up with a date of when all these people could get baptized so we settled on August 22nd. We have just had an amazing experience. 

So randomly, a less active guy we have been working with forever brought his son (who isn't baptized) to church. He ended up going to the temple with another family to do a tour and they commited him to be baptized this Saturday! It is nuts! I have taught the kid a few times and he was going to get baptized some months ago but just stuff with the family stopped it. 

Then we talked to Don the other night and taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. We invited him to be baptized on August 22nd. He isn't going to be here for that day so we are going to teach him all the stuff and he is going to be baptized in September! 

Then, last night, we went over to the Peridots' and we invited Morgan to be baptized on August 22nd. Well she wasn't ready to answer right then but she is thinking about it. The cool story about that one is that we were super hesitant to invite her but as the night went on we just felt that it was the right thing to do. It was just a crazy week. We had about 6 nonmembers at church yesterday. 

I am sure none of that made sense, but the moral of the story is that as we showed the Lord that we were willing to do all we could to progress the work, He blessed us with opportunities to bless His sons and daughters. 

So much has been happening that I can't really keep it straight in my mind. So I am just going to answer your questions. There is no manual for District Meetings. They are just what ever I feel the district needs. Cool story: on my first lesson I was super unsure about my training and didn't believe it was very good, but we had a guy from another district come in to even out the sisters to elders ratio. In his own district he told them what an awesome miracle it was that he was able to come into my group and hear exactly what it was that he needed to hear. It just blew me away. I was certain when I started preparing that it was inspired but when it got down to it, I started to doubt. But the Lord knows what His children need and it's awesome to be a leader in the field cause He uses us to strengthen others. 

Our youth is my favorite thing in the world. They are so strong. Especially the Young Womens. They had 4 nonmember girls go to Girls Camp and they just bossed it up! They taught the girls about the gospel and the church and just made them feel like part of the group. Two of those girls are now interested in learning more. Not from us yet, but soon :) We are planning on joining in on the youth group activites and maybe host a few to help get involved in their groups. 

We listened to 2 talks this week that just kinda got my mind turning a bit more on why I am on a mission and how to help others want to do missionary work. The first talk was called "Conversion of a Catholic". It's only on Youtube, I think, but we got it on a CD. The other talk was called "The Missionary Next Door". This one was about how a girl's family was just the perfect example of member missionary work. I would love to hear about your insights into both talks.

I am super glad to hear that you guys had such an awesome summer! Mom sounds like she has only been home for like two days out of the whole thing. We have our temple day this week on Friday! It's like my favorite thing in the whole world. I will hopefully be able to do all the work for one of my own names. Doing family history work is kinda fun! 

Anyways, I love you all so much and your prayers are helping out so much! I am so glad I am out here. It is seriously the greatest experience. More than I ever could have imagined!

Fasting Brings Miracles

Laguna Niguel 

Hey! It's been an awesome week. I don't really remember what happened at the beginning of the week, so I will tell you about Sunday. We did a ward council fast for a bunch of the unbaptized youth in our ward. We also had a fast for some of the missionaries that are struggling. We saw a bunch of miracles yesterday. We had Don come to church for the first time and he loved it! He also said that just because of the Spirit that he felt and the service the people do just because they want to be better disciples of Christ makes him love the church so much! He also went over to his other daughter's house and other missionaries went over there and taught the Plan of Salvation. Don feels that his daughter dying was a way for him to be brought to the church, so the whole baptisms for the dead was huge! 

We also had an investigator come in to church for the first time just randomly at the end of 3rd hour. He said he felt something different. The sisters gave him a BoM and I shared my testimony with him. He said he saw me and Watts walking around the other day and just felt something different also, but he jokingly said that he is now going to try and avoid us at all costs. He is going to read the book this week and hopefully he will call the sisters back here soon.

We have seen several other pretty cool miracles come from that fast. They are hard to explain, but it has been crazy to see the power that comes from true fasting. It's probably the first time that I have actually fasted for a purpose. 

Sorry to hear that you're feeling sick, but that's so cool that the Bergers' are going to serve a mission! It feels like when I come home the ward won't even be there because the whole place will be serving missions. 

I am not sure if I told you but there was an elder in this ward that got home on Thursday of last week from the Florida Tallahassee mission and was comps with Corbin! Ya, he says that Corbin is the funniest, most talkative guy out there. He also said that he is the biggest work horse in the mission! It's crazy to hear how much people change on their mission. Does it sound like I have changed? Because I know I have, just want to know if you all notice it at all? 

So I have had a good time being District Leader. It just means that I have to study something and give a training on that. This last week I talked about the importance of inviting people to make commitments and how to teach towards committing. It was ok, but it's cool that I basically just get to teach others about the things I don't do very well and better improve my own stuff in the process. 

Anyways, I heard that I am getting another niece! hahaha this familiy has way too much estrogen in it! But I am so fetching stoked to have another niece! Have they come up with any names? 

I did get the package from Aunt Diane and Sara. Thank you so much! I have got to get running but know that I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Trip to the Beach

Laguna Niguel 

Ya so, being District Leader is just more responsibility than I really want, but hey it's all good. Our district is 4 companionships - 2 elders & 2 sisters. We have an, overall, pretty young zone, so in my District I am like the 3rd oldest in mission age. And in our Zone of like 28 I am like 10th oldest... ya its pretty green up in here!!!! 

I had an interview with President on Saturday which was way good. He basically just reassured me on his decision to call me to this position. It was a pretty enlightening experience. But along with District Meetings which are about 1 1/2 hrs long (UGHHHH!) I basically just check up on my district and offer assistance/go on exchanges and report our district's numbers to the Zone Leaders. 

The beach was incredible! It felt so weird to be the only people there not in a bathing suit. The memorial for Alyssa was interesting. There was a drum circle going that everyone participated in... a little weird. Also they had a paddle out so they went out with surf boards and they threw flowers in the ocean. It was just way cool the whole family just brought up how helpful the missionaries were and still are. Don and Gavin are doing good. We are going to meet with them this week and talk about the temple and how they can be connected to Alyssa. We haven't really had much stuff happening lately. Me and Watts are getting along well and stuff, so ya, it's all good!

Sorry we dont have much time to email. We have to run and help some people move right now, so sorry it's a short email. Love you all so much! 

Goodbye Elder Hancock

Laguna Niguel 

Dang mom! Those YPM's sound like they're a pretty jolly bunch! I could never do that....although it is only for 3 months so I might be able to handle that! But that's so cool that you got to go through the Nauvoo Temple. Was it really different in anyway or about the same? 

That's so crazy that Taylor is home! It seriously feels like he left like only a year ago. I bet Clarissa was super happy! 

We had transfer meeting on Tuesday night. It was way cool to have it be Elder Hancock's last trasfer meeting. Both me and Watts ended up staying in Laguna Beach At the end of this transfer, I will have been here for 7 1/2 months! That's pretty unheard of! Also in that meeting I got called to be a District Leader. Not too sure how I feel about that. It's cool that they trust me, but it's more responsibility. 

Anyway, we dropped Hancock off at the mission office at 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday. It was crazy just how fast he was gone and we were right back into our work. We had quite a bit of success this week. Don and Gavin are up in San Francisco till Saturday for the funeral for Alyssa. It's going to be down on the beach so we have to get permission to go down there, but we are most likely going to go. It's more of a memorial for her. We had to "drop" Rommel and Michael this week. It kinda sucks, but they just are too hard to meet with and not really progressing. We have had a few really good visits with a few people and a bunch of potentials that we are working with. 

We had a really cool experience the other day. We did a thing called a "window of heaven". It's where we pray to be inspired for a place and a time to be so we can see the hand of the Lord. Anyways, we showed up at a place called Top of the World and the first people we walked up to were a bunch of guys that just love Jesus. I was a bit skeptical, but they ended up just wanting to know what makes mormons tick. So we got to teach them the entire restoration and parts of the Plan of Salvation. We also talked about the connection between faith and works. It was cool! They ended up agreeing with us on so many things and they started to use bible verses to back up what WE were saying. They brought up a few points of conflict but we were able to explain stuff to them that they ended up agreeing with us. The only bad thing was that we were in such a hurry that we forgot to get their contact information. But it was still a way cool experience. 

We are doing really good out here. We have a few possible baptisms for the month of August... maybe one in July. We are having a great time doing the work. It's tough at times, but me and Elder Watts are really getting along great and I am learning a bunch as I go along. I had my first District Meeting that I was in charge of on Friday. It went pretty good. We got some goals figured out and got to know everyone. Then I talked about how we as missionaries are qualified for what we are doing cause the Lord qualifies those that He calls. I then asked everyone to come up with one Christlike attribute that they wanted to work on and then one that they feel they are naturally born with. It's easier to build on what we aren't good at when we recognize what we excel at.

Anyways I could keep rambling on for weeks so... I love you guys so much!

4th of July in Laguna Beach

Laguna Niguel 

It has been a crazy week. We have been trying to get things ready for Hancock to leave and it's been a bit stressful for him. I can really tell he is going to miss being a missionary. It's been so much fun working with him. I don't feel that my companion is leaving, I feel that my best friend is getting done with his mission. I am going to really miss him. 

We had a great 4th of July. We went to the Conk's for dinner in Three Arch Bay (a really nice gated community where on the 4th they only let evey house have 2 guest car passes!). But they gave us these special wrist bands that would allow us to go to the private beach with them to watch the fire works that were on a barge in the middle of the bay! It was so sick to be there. I took a bunch of pictures but I will send them to you tonight (we have to come use the computers to help Hancock get ready). 

The work has been getting a bit better. We have had a less active lady move into the ward and she has been less active for a long time cause she got annoyed by the "hypocritical mormons" in Utah. But when we showed up to help her move in she was so touched that she wants to come back to church. Also she had a friend that is really thinking of getting baptized so that was a huge blessing that came out of nowhere. Then there was another referral that we got from another stake where a girl that got baptized in another stake moved into our area and her parents are interested in getting to know more! It's crazy we suddenly have a lot of potential work to do. 

Don and Gavin are up in San Fran till this Saturday for Alyssa's service. They are doing a cremation and spreading her ashes in the ocean. They were living with that family I told you about that goes to another church which is super Anti-Mormon. We were a bit worried about that. It turned out all this family really wanted was to adopt Gavin and when they said no to that they sorta kicked them out of the house. It sounds bad but I think it's for the best. We are really going to be able to help them a ton now. 

I survived another transfer call. Me and Elder Watts are staying another 6 weeks in the Laguna Beach Ward. I can't believe I will have been here for 6 months tomorrow and I will go for a total of 7 and 1/2 months at the end of next transfer. Holy crap it's going so fast! 

It's pretty cool just how much the church is making a push for family history work. They are doing the same thing that you are doing in this ward, so it's pretty cool to see just what its like for you, mom! I have extreme respect for family history consultants. 

It sounds like everyone had a great 4th. Let everyone know I love them! Sorry this is so short, we are going off to party with a bunch of the leaving missionaries!  

Elder Watts, Elder Hancock, Elder Ferguson

 

Families Can Be Together Forever

Laguna Niguel 

So 110 degrees huh? That's pretty insane! It's been up in the 80's most of the week and we have been doing a ton of service this last week. The humidity makes it a lot worse than it is. But the best part is that the closer to the ocean we get, the cooler it gets. It drops about 10 degrees from just over the mountain to Laguna Beach. So in-land it's about 90 degrees. 

The family reunion sounds like it was a blast! I would love to do some fishing right about now. Why did they never do that when I was there!!! But that's way cool about the next missionaries in the family. I agree that it's a really good idea to wait before your mission. I loved all of the experience that I got before I came out. I feel like I have always had a pretty good idea of what it means to really work but those last few months really seemed to help. The work out here is exhausting! It's crazy that I can feel so tired all the time. Even just talking to people at times seems to take it out of me.

What's the update on the guys in our ward? Are any of them doing college or missions or anything like that? 

So in response to dad's email: we are still in our trio with Hancock and Watts, but this is the last week of the transfer. We get calls this Saturday telling us if we are leaving or not. I have a feeling that I am going to be staying one more transfer to finish Watts' training. This is Hancock's last week as a missionary! He is heading home next Tuesday. It's crazy how much I am going to miss him! I have loved serving with him and I have learned so much more from him than just missionary work. 

On the note of the work out here, we have had a hard time meeting with anyone for some time now. I haven't taught a formal lesson in about a month. But not all of missionary work is lessons. 

On a very sad note, Alyssa (the mother of Gavin and daughter of Don) passed away this last Tuesday. She passed at 5 in the morning after fighting cancer for the last year. It's super sad. We went over to be with the family around noon and her body was still there. It was crazy the feeling at that home. People were pretty relieved that she was gone and not suffering anymore. We talked to Don and Gavin and they seemed to be doing ok. Don is pretty sad about it but relieved for her at the same time. Gavin is just so young that he is coping with it really well. 

We were able to get them to come to church this last Sunday and that was really cool. Don came for the first time. He missed sacrament but just came to meet people and to visit while Gavin was in class with all the kids. It's a crazy situation still. The family that is letting Don and Gavin stay in their home is a family that goes to a church that loves spreading Anti-Mormon crap to our investigators. They have taught Gavin a whole bunch of false stuff, but we know that Don feels something different about what we do. So we will continue to keep working with them. We are going to go to the temple this week with Don hopefully and talk to him about how there is a way to be physically and spiritually connected to his daughter. It should be pretty amazing :)

Other than that, not much has been happening. We have been trying to help Hancock get ready to leave and this last week is going to be packed with a ton of stuff. I will try to be better at getting pictures from now on. I play piano about once a week but I am loving all those songs that I bought! There is a thing once a month at the temple were they allow missionaries to come and preform songs and stuff so I hope to be able to do that soon! 

I love you all so very very much and I miss you little girls more than you know! 

Missionary Trainer

Laguna Niguel 

Training is super fun! I really love working with Elder Watts. He is just a really easy going person and I think he will be an amazing missionary. It's crazy that I was in his place not that long ago.  And YES, Elder Hancock is getting TRUNKY!!!!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how many times I have heard Hancock say that he has less days left in the mission than I have months! But he is still doing a great job as a missionary (a lot better than I think I will be doing in 18months). He has been in Laguna Beach for about 8 1/2 months. I am pretty sure that I will be here for only one more transfer to finish Elder Watt's training.

Our Zone Conference was about what was possible to God. It was a really good conference. It ranged from different talks, but that's the one that President Orgil gave. It basically was about how we need to change our perceptions -- that the mission just doesn't baptize that many people. We talked about how we only limit God by our own faithlessness. It was just good to hear an uplifting talk to refuel the "spiritual tank".

So Gavin's family moved to a place right in the middle of town which is nice. But on Thursday, the day after we moved them into their new house, Alyssa's (mom's) health really declined. Her blood pressure was through the roof and she was super close to having a stroke. She probably won't make it much longer. It's crazy that we are involved in the whole situation. Never would I have dreamed this is what I would be a part of as a missionary.

We still havent heard from Rommel in a while, but Michael called the other day and said that he would still want to stay tight with us so we are going to do another golf lesson with him during the week :) We will try and teach him the Plan of Salvation lesson as best we can. His view of what's in store for us after this life is kinda medieval-times knowledge of God. But I am super excited to GOLF! YAYAYAYAY!

That mini mission you told me about mom is a pretty cool idea. I hope that the kids realize that even though they saw what the work was like there, where ever they end up going the work might have a completely different feel to it though. It's still a pretty good idea to help kids really understand more of the unknown details of mission life. Who else is going on the mini missions from our ward?

Where is the family reunion at this year? I hope that my returning home might be enough to sway just one of our family reunions to Southern Utah!

I am now trying to learn Spanish by reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish with my regular book next to it. I tried it out last night and it was quite fun. Just thought i would let yall know that :)

Anyways, have a great week and I love you all so much!

Miracle!

Laguna Niguel 

So just to clarify for everyone, I am still a Ute fan through and through. That can never be taken from me. 

We haven't had any success with Rommel or Michael for the last month. It's kinda gotten me down about it. But yesterday we had a miracle happen. So Gavin, Alyssa's son (she has the cancer), came to church with us!!!! (We have been playing basketball with him every couple of days for the last week and a half because he just has needed some support due to the fact that he is stuck inside all the time so we have been sorta friends with him of late.) But we asked him if he wanted to come to church and he was ok with coming and his mom said it was ok!! I can't even explain how huge that is. So he came and the youth completely pulled him in. He sat with us during sacrament meeting and then the second it was over there were like 3 kids talking to him and inviting him to come to class with them. They did the same thing for priesthood too. He came up to us after and said that he wants to get a set of scriptures and church clothes and come next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then later that night he called us to tell us that they found a place that some random lady gave them to live in for free!! They are being kicked out of where they are now by stupid attorneys. This random lady also said that she would help Don find work to help support Gavin. Gavin told us that if we have been praying, it totally worked. We told him that is was probs cause he came to church... he just kinda went "Oh I didn't even think of that!" It was so cool though! 

Literally, that's like the only thing I can think of from the last week cause it has made me so happy! 

To answer some of your questions: we do get money for food - that's all our money should be used for. That and like hygiene stuff. The mission pays for our phones and apartments. 

Sorry this week's email is short. I really can't think of anything else to write cause it has been so slow lately. But know that I am loving the work and love you all so so so so so much!

Trolly Contacting

Laguna Niguel 

I am so sad I missed Jessa's blessing, but I am sure that Drew did awesome. I can't wait to see that little cutie! It must have been so much fun having the whole family together. It totally shocks me that her brother Taylor is coming home already. Like I felt like he's only been gone for a couple of months! 

So Megan, the girl that sent those pictures the other day has been home from her mission for like 6 months. She was in the London, England mission. She was just super happy to see missionaries out doing the work so she stopped us on our way back to our car and was just so happy about it. It seriously made my day cause I just didnt feel like I was making any difference at all the last couple of days. But she was just so happy to see us out doing the work. I guess that results are only a reward for doing what we are supposed to do but no matter what when we are trying our best, I shouldn't feel bad about what I am doing! 

But we have had very little progress with our investigators just because they are all so busy. 

Other than that, we have had a lot of fun going out contacting of late. Me and Elder Watts were out trying a new survey method while Hancock was in a district leaders council meeting. The survey thing is just a really good way for us to be able to stop people and get them to answer some more deep questions, such as: do you believe in God, is the bible just a history book or something more, if there was another book containing the words of God would you read it. Questions such as these. We had several really good conversations with people and we were able to bear testimony of a bunch of stuff. Then later that night we had a blast trolly contacting. It's when we get on the free trollys that run up and down the PCH and stop along the way and pick people up. We did this on Saturday night, so there were a ton of drunk people on there hahahahah! But I had the opportunity to talk to a bunch of really nice people that were fascinated with the fact that I gave up two years to do this. 

But then it got wild. We switched trollys and there was a ton of teenage girls on there and they basically harassed the crap out of Hancock. Me and Watts were trying to answer this girl's questions about God and life and stuff (I basically got her to admit that there is a higher power and that was about it... she was just super confused). Anyways the girls tried to put an e-cigarette in Hancock's mouth and they were making fun of him and stuff. It was super funny! He was just completely harassed! 

Then these drunk guys got on and totally loved talking to us! They wanted to know if we "supported" the play "The Book of Mormon", we told them we did because it has given us so much publicity and stuff! (So true. I have been asked if I am offended by that play so much out here and to be honest it has helped us more than hurt us - especially with how the church reacted to it all). Then out of no where this guy is like "You guys wanna see the birthday present my friend got me" so we said yes and his friend just turns around and pulls down his pants and shows us a tattoo of his friend's named that was on his butt hahahah!!!! It was just one of those nights where we got home and were so confused about what happened.

Other than that, not much has been happening. We got sisters in our ward now and we have to learn how to share. I don't like it at all :( We were so spoiled with this area and now they are trying to take a few of our potentials and our investigators and we are just trying to figure out how to work it all out. It's annoying!

Anyways, hope you all have a great week and stay safe. LOVE YOU GUYS!!

You're on Candid Camera

My mom and I came on a walk in Laguna Beach and saw these elders contacting! I came back from my mission in December so it made me SOO happy to see such diligence! Took a selfie to capture the moment but then we waited till they were done to say hello! A candid shot, you should be proud of them!! The church is true. This work is real. Laguna Beach has a fabulous ward, loads of my friends live in that ward and I know they're being taken care of!

Have a brilliant day!!
Megan

We were so grateful that this stranger took & sent on these pictures to us! We love Kye and love seeing him at work! So awesome! 

Duo to Trio

Laguna Niguel 

It's been a great week! Our new companions name is Elder Watts. He is from a suburb of Dallas, Texas and he is just a cool guy. He is a bit annoyed, I can tell, with not knowing what's going on but he will figure it out quick enough! 

So our new apartment is on the corner of Crown Valley and Camino del Avion. It's way nice. I will send pics next week. But working with a third companion has been fun, especially training. It is making me realize just how crazy just starting out on your mission really is and how difficult it can be. It has also been fun to see just how well me and Elder Hancock get along and work together! 

That's so cool that you are going down to Vegas again, mom. I swear, every time I get an email from you, you are going down to Vegas. Someone really needs to give you a best mom and grandma award! Like seriously, you are down there all the time hahahah! 

So the changes to our Sunday meetings is that the speakers we are choosing for sacrament don't necessarily have to be someone that hasn't talked in awhile or new members. Instead it's going to be a group effort on behalf of the ward council to choose speakers based on the needs of the ward and youth speakers don't have to talk on something our of the FTSY pamphlet. They can talk on something that they are more passionate about, of course within bounds :) 

They also talked a bit in a combined 3rd hour class about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and how to make it a day set apart from the rest. There isn't a very straight forward list of the do's and don't's of Sunday but there are good suggestions that the brethren in Salt Lake have produced. The thing that we talked about was letting the kids in the family decide on something that they would find enjoyable and worthwhile. They said that it's a thing that the family has to pray and seek personal revelation on and then make it happen.

I am super jealous that the trek they are doing is so much cooler than the one I went on. You are going to have to tell me how it goes :)

So, I have to tell you all something that I don't want anyone to freak out about. I have been talking to a bunch of people out here and have been thinking a lot about it lately... but I have come to the conclusion that going to BYU is a serious possibility..... I know! Don't freak out, but my perception of it all and what I really want to get out of life has really changed. It's still too early to make a decision but just thought I would drop that news early :) 

I love you all so much!

Changes This Week

Laguna Niguel 

So I did get your package! I was so confused about who brought it! I just got a text from Hale and Butler and they said that a really tall guy and his daughter brought it and dropped it off real quick. Thanks so much for all the food! The Nutella is probably the greatest thing in the world. 

We had a family in the ward here drive through Santa Clara and they said that the weather there is amazing, sunny and clear. I wish that's what it was like here. For the last 3 weeks we have been waking up to over cast days that clear up a bit in the afternoon and then gets dark again. It's been forever since I have been able to see Catalina Island. Normally I can see it very clearly. 

I did tell you that I got moved to a new apartment! So I will have to send some pics of the new pad; it's pretty nice!

I am not getting transferred!! Nor is Hancock! And to make it even more interesting, we are dual training a greenie! So after this transfer I am probs going to stay one more transfer in Laguna Beach to finish the kid's training. There are like 23 new missionaries coming out and there is going to be 4 trio compainionships in the zone with a total of 5 greenies in the zone. There is one companionship that has a dying elder with a 6 week newbie that's also getting a brand new guy also. So this is going to be crazy! Also they said that we are losing 90% of our leadership in the mission in the next 2 transfers, so there is going to be a ton of change happening. I am just super happy that I get to be with Hancock to watch him die. It has been the greatest experience getting to be trained by him and become pretty good friends with him.

We weren't able to set a date with Michael yet. We did go golfing with him which was great! We played at a private club called Laguna Hills (or woods? I don't remember). But it was way good to get his trust a bit more. He loves the church and he has said that he feels that it's true! The only thing that kept us from asking him to be baptized was that we didn't feel that it was right at the time. We don't think he understands what it is that we are trying to do, so we are going to have a more formal sit down and talk about it a bit more. I will let you know how it goes!

I got to go to the new training about trying to keep sacrament a bit more focused. What our ward is doing is letting the ward council choose who talks based upon the needs of the groups and ward. There is a bit more they are doing so it should be good to see what happens! 

We have a bunch of stuff happening... just waiting to get tipped over into the font. I am absolutely loving the work! and I love all of you so much! 

Got a Brand New Corolla, Red, Out in The Parking Lot

Laguna Niguel 

So, to start off I figured that ya'll would know by now, but the ward is called the Laguna Beach Ward....sorry I never actually told you guys what it was called. 

This week was amazing. We started off kinda slow; we didn't have much planned out for the week so we just kinda went and did drop by's all week. One of the best things that happened this week is that we got a new car! Whenever a car gets 50,000 miles on it, they sell the car and give us a new one. So we got a brand spankin' new 2015 Toyota Corolla. Ya it's tricked out. We have a usb port and back up camera in it and blue tooth so we can sync our phone. We get set up a bit more than Drew did on his mission HAHAHAH! 

But even better than that was we went and did baptisms for the dead with Rob. It was the single most spiritual experience in my life. He was baptized for his dad and younger brother and great grandpa and an uncle. Then we had a lady in the ward come and get dunked for his mom and grandmother and an aunt. He totally felt the Spirit. But the crazyiest thing was that when we got done, Hancock was sitting on a bench and I was a witness - we both felt as if there were people standing next to us. It was the most warm and amazing feeling ever!!!

Church yesterday was great. Michael (a members boyfriend) showed up to church. We have taught him once before and he has come a bunch. We have been trying to teach him since but he has been way busy. He is the guy that wants to go golfing with us. So we talked to him and we are going to go this Thursday and after golf we will go over to a guys house and have another lesson. But the coolest thing is the fact that in the Gospel Essentials class he was sitting there and there were 2 recent converts in the class and Michael and these 2 others were just talking and participating in the class so much! Michael is just blown away by the Spirit and love that is had in all of the meetings. He said that when everyone says they know the church to be true he says he can feel it. Needless to say we are going to invite him to be baptized this week, hopefully with a date of June 6 so pray for that!

It's so crazy to think that Josh and all those other guys got ordained Elders! It seems like yesterday that they were juniors. I feel so old!  But that is way cool and good for them.

The last week and a half we have been getting a fair amount of rain. Like we will go into a meeting and it will be sunny and we will come out and its raining. It's good that we are getting rain cause the drought is pretty bad, but not so much that anyone's really freaking yet. The rain just dampens my mood and I don't like that.

Well it's going to be a good week! I hope we have a couple of lessons set up for the week but the worst is that transfer calls come in this week, so I am kinda freaking out but it's like whatevs. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week also.

Pictures

Laguna Niguel

We kinda talked about everything yesterday during our phone call, so I will just send pics cause they are worth like, at least 100 words each so...

I love you all so much!

Pics of our humble abode

Snakes and Rats

Laguna Niguel 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA! I totally forgot that I never told you guys exactly what "rats and snakes" is {from last week}! So in one of the wards in our stake there is a non member guy who runs an exotic snake business from his house. In order to feed the over 100 snakes, he has to have a ton of food for them. His garage is converted into a little rat and mouse breeding ground. He has literally thousands of mice in there and it's our job to pull out each little tub and pull all the mice or rats out and put them into a new cage then put them back. He has 4 racks with about 40 tubs on eack rack with at least 10 mice in each. Then in the middle, there are 2 tubs on each rack that has about 50-60 mice in each! And then he has about 50 rats total. 

Ya, it's super disgusting and weird. But the cool thing is that he really likes having all the missionaries come over and help. There's usually about 20 of us missionaries there every Thursday doing that. Then, while we are doing that with the rats, we also go in and do the same thing with the snakes! It freaks me out so bad! I have done it several times and every time the snakes get really fussy and try and run away while I am holding them while the cage is getting cleaned. So ya, that's just about the sum of rats and snakes. The best part about it is that all the tubs have to be washed and set in the sun so that's what I usually do and I get to work on my tan! I am getting pretty dark -- is what i have been told :)

(Ignore my super bright red face - camera settings were weird)

We weren't able to have a lesson with Rommel for about a week and a half cause he has been working so much lately. But yesterday he randomly showed up at church with a member in the ward and his friend who loves the church but also isn't a member. The coolest part is just how many friends he has in the ward already, There are about a thousand people that served missions in Brazil, so everyone comes and talks to him. Also there are several people that found out he is a contractor looking for work so they have given him some jobs to do and paid him. So all in all the members are fellow-shipping the crap out of the guy! We have a lesson planned for this Wednesday and it was him that asked for it so he is a super hopeful!

More kinda fun stuff happening... We have a guy who wants to get the lessons but he also wants to take us golfing so we said, why not do both? So we are probs going to go golfing tomorrow on a really nice and classy course called Laguna Hills! He is a member and can get us in. And we also decided to to golfing today as a pday activity just to get warmed up! The course wasn't the best but it was way fun, and literally, I was hitting the ball the most consistently I have in my entire life! The Lord really does bless us! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

I am so sorry that I can never remember when everyone's birthday is, I will really try and do better with that :(

I am figuring that we are probs going to try and call some time after church next week Our church gets out at 1 but we might be in a correlation meeting till like 2 and then it might be a bit till we are able to get to the members house to skype or face time :) We are going to be doing it at the Corcoran's house in Emerald Bay so I am going to show you guys the view that I have to look at every day and not jump into the ocean ;)

And I heard that BYU won again! I think they beat the same team they played last year. That's like 3 years running, I think!

Let everyone in the ward know that I love them, and know that I love all you so very much! 

Sunshine, but Only in My Soul

Laguna Niguel

It's been quite a long week of work. We did a bunch of service towards the end of the week that just has me really tired. Like I just dont feel like I can get caught up on enough sleep to get the energy back. We helped a lady move out of her house but we also had another project that was happening at the same time so we were trying to hurry. The worst part about that one was that this lady was not nice about all of the stuff that she wanted done. I love helping people that are really thankful for the help and don't just expect us to do everything. Moving that lady exhausted me physically and emotionally. 

Right after that we rushed off to help in a huge stake thing. They partnered with Stop Hunger Now and the stake raised enough money to package 85,000 meals to be shipped off around the world. As part of that they want the community to be the ones to do the packaging. So 600 volunteers showed up and in 4 hrs and made/packed all of the meals. Our bishop had a huge camera in the building and he is sending the videos and pictures up to Salt Lake to be in the church news. Hopefully they will make a Morman Message about it with his video. And then also during the week we did rats and snakes again. 

So we also had a bit of rain (it is much needed) on Friday and a bit on Saturday night. But it has been cloudy most of the week which sucked very really bad. It just seemed to put a damper on things. Then on Sunday, when the sun finally came out, it totally lifted our spirits!

We have a ton of work that is happening during the coming weeks! We have a guy who is investigating the church now because his girlfriend is a member of the church. He is really interested. We did the Restoration Lesson with him on Thursday and he loved it. His favorite thing about the church is the fact that we preach and learn on Sunday but then everyone goes out and lives their faith. He is a guy that has been working in the rehab world for most of his life and he loves the whole community of the church. Then we are going to start teaching another lady who is dating a member of the ward. We also have 2 baptisms in the ward coming up in 2 weeks. We haven't taught them at all but we are going to jump in on the teaching here in a bit cause they are going to move into the ward. 

Any who, it's been crazy and it's going to get a lot more crazy. Today we cleaned our apartment. I will get some pics of the apartment and send them to you next week cause I don't think anyone really realizes just how ghetto it is. It basically looks just like that pic of Kade's apartment. The inside is not that great either. We had to do a deep clean cause our fridge has been leaking and we have had mold problems since the beginning of my mish.

I can't wait to be able to talk to ya'll on Mother's Day! I LOVE EVERYONE SO MUCH!

I Just Thought it Was a Good Idea if you Were Baptized

Laguna Niguel

So this first pic is of me and Rob doing the thinking man pose. The second pic is, from left to right, Elder Hancock, Mcgary, Jardine then me!!! Elder Jardine got here at the beginning of this transfer and he was a visa waiter for the Netherlands. We took him to the air port this morning at 5, so ya that sucked! But it was good to say good bye to him. Elder Mcgary and Hancock were companions in the MTC and they are like best friends, so we hang out all the time and Mcgary is just way cool. I freaking love all the people that I am working with and those I am teaching!

So the baptism was incredible! Rob showed up and the ward just kept filling in. It was insane the number of people that were there for his special day! There were a few non members there and the spirit was incredible! There were about 6 companionships that were there in attendance because people had heard so much about Rob and they wanted to come see him. Me and Elder Hancock prepared a few videos for the half time entertainment and then said the opening and closing prayers. We had a few people in the ward that he knew give talks about baptism and then the Holy Ghost. Probs the best part about the whole thing was that at the end Rob bore his testimony and it seriously made the whole place bust out in tears. So ya, it was quite the incredible first baptism!!!!! 

After the baptism we went to dinner with a family in our ward who we have been helpping out with some yard work. They took us to Pei Wei (it's like the best place on earth) but that is like the 3rd time in a week they have fed us. They are quite simply the best people ever!!! 

On Friday we did another lesson with Rommel who we talked about the concept of baptism a few days before and he didn't like to think that God hates the people that don't get baptized so we talked to him about the Plan of Salvation. He loved it! It was incredible to see how happy the whole concept made him. My favorite thing he told me was the concept between the word for happy in Portuguese and the word for joy in the Portuguese. The difference is that happy is a smile and acting happy but joy was really feeling it in your heart, no matter what your circumstance! It was awesome to hear how he didn't like other churches talking about how they try and scare you into joining there church by talking about the devil and stuff. It just made me realize that everything we talk about has nothing to do with fear or doubt, it's all about love of our Father in Heaven and how we have the choice to do what we want but that we will ultimately make the choice that makes us the happiest. 

So I am just a tad bit jealous about the whole Elton John thing! Thats so sick that you guys went and did that. It's apperent that I was holding you guys back from partying hard by living at home!!! Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Sorry that I forgot. I don't mean to be cheesy but I got a baptism for your birthday soooo ya you're welcome :) I hope that you had the best birthday ever!! 

So the happiest news that I have gotten so far is that I am staying in my area for another transfer! I would have been so mad to leave cause there is so much that is happening and I dont think that I can bear leaving the members here. So I am super happy! A transfer is 6 weeks, so ya it's crazy to think that I am on to my 3rd one. Time is flying by!

I hope ya'll have a great and glorious week and know that I love you all so very very very much!

PS...

Oh yah, and our dryer just died this last week so this is what I have to do from now on...

Easter & Conference

Laguna Niguel 

So the Easter week was awesome. We watched all the sessions in the Stake Center cause they don't want us watching it with members for some weird reason. But it was all good. I took notes on every talk. It wasn't hard for me to stay awake this time cause it's hard to fall asleep when you have to wear a full suit :( But my favorite talk was definitely Elder Holland's and yes, I was super happy when he mentioned snow canyon!

Oh I forgot to tell you my district leader's name is Elder Losse and he is from Santa Clara! He would have gone to school with me but he was home schooled. You should go look them up! My other favorite talk was the guy who talked about how his sister left the church and then came back. It just made me think of some of the people in the ward here who are struggling with the same issues. But then when he said that we are all the "prodigal son" it was a huge eye opener for me. I thought that I was ok but no matter what we are all fallen and need Christ. 

Anyways, after the Sunday sessions we went to the Hanson's in the ward and had a huge Easter dinner. It was more of a family reunion and we had an easter egg hunt which was crazy! They had money stuffed in most of the eggs... Hancock got about 10 bucks, I got about $1.75 and then they had a golden egg that was hidden that had about $150 in it -- so it was sorta a mad dash. But it was awesome! 

It was a bit of a slow week on the missionary work side but that was a bit understandable. Rob, who is getting baptized on Saturday, came to the Priesthood session and loved it! He also watched the Saturday morning session and then Sunday morning session and loved them both! He is seriously the greatest guy! It's hilarious cause a bunch of the people in the ward know him but none of them really liked him at first, but he says that he has been humbled and we have seen a mighty change in his heart!  

On a side story, we went to Outback Steakhouse after the last session of conference. There was about 9 of us elders all there. It's sorta a tradition I guess, but after we were all done the waitress came over and told us our whole bill was paid for!!!! It was seriously a $100+ meal it was insane! We knew who it was so we went over to him and said thanks and stuff. It turned out that he served in our mission like a century ago! It was way fun. 

i got the pics of Jessa she is so freaking cute! I can't take it!!!! I can kinda see Paige being a bit not happy but I am sure she will come around to her. :)

Ya I ordered a song online cause some kid sang it in the MTC and I loved it then! It was at the end of a movie I watched while Hancock was sick. I just loved it, so I bought it and it is way fun to play. I try every now and again to play but i don't get much time to practice...kinda sucks. 

Elder Hancock goes home July 8th so it is coming up. I hope to be able to kill him (send him home). He found out today he has at least another transfer in Laguna Beach. I am hoping to stay also, transfer calls go out this sunday so keep your fingers crossed! If i stay we will be getting a new car and hopefully a new apartment! 

Going on exchanges is probs not my favorite thing. You usually have to go overnight so you have to pack a day bag which sucks. Then you go to a new area and you are more or less just along for the ride. Then there are the times that you stay in your area and your comp leaves which also sucks cause you have to drag another guy who has no clue what is going on around with you. All in all, I don't like them. You usually go on one at least every transfer. I have been on 3 already, and they try to do them in the beginning of the transfer. 

I can just see dad as this huge, hardcore, iron-man athlete when I get home! I am going to have to start working out so I can keep up with him when I get home. 

Oh and I got the package with the frisbee in it and the shirt. I love the shirt! I am wearing it right now! I think there is a family that is going to drive through St. George here soon so I might ask them to grab some stuff from you guys here soon, I think. I want my rugby ball and I know it is weird, but me and Hancock want the banjo! But i will give you a heads up.

I love you all so freaking much I don't even know how to put it in words!