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!