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