Email Letter - December 31, 2012

Hey everyone, it was another good week here in Orland, just kickin it with the Christmas holiday and the such. It was a blast, we just played games with the bishop and his family after the call, and the such. It was a good time.

The next day we went back to work, and had a few good things happen. The coolest bit is a little miracle we had in church on Sunday. We got out of our morning meetings and walked out to the foyer, and there was a man sitting there. I didn't recognize him, so went up to say hello, and we got to talking about how he hadn't been to church in about 20 years, and was ready for his life to change. We invited him to sit with us, but he sat with a member family that invited him to sit with them in stead (this is my new favorite family in the ward by the way) and he joined them for sacrament meeting instead. After that we went to class, and the lesson was on exaltation, which worried me a bit with the people that come to the gospel principles class. But it went really well.

Let me simulate a conversation between Dennis, that's the guy, and Brother Henderson the Ward mission leader that was teaching the class. Bro H "To be exalted we need to get to the temple and receive our endowments and also be sealed, that is the only way." Dennis "how do I get to the temple?" Bro H "you have to be baptized for a year, and then you can go for the endowments and such." Dennis "How do I get baptized?" Bro H "talk to those young men next to you." Dennis (turning to us) "How do I get baptized?" me, with a huge smile on my face "We can teach you just how to do that."

Of course it was paraphrased, but how awesome! It was amazing to have that happen, we only get stories of that. You always hear about stuff like this at home before your mission, but then you get out here thinking that is the only thing that happens to missionaries and it doesn't, that it's a rare occasion. But it does happen, and it's going to be a wild ride with him. We're super excited to begin teaching him, when he feeds us this Saturday.

 

Other than that there isn't too much that was monumental. I hope you all have a wonderful new year's eve, take good care of yourselves. I love you!

Email Letter - December 24, 2012

Hey all, and Merry Christmas! Things went swell this last week, we did hours upon hours of service, which was awesome. It snowed, not so awesome but still cool. We also had a few really good lessons, and our Christmas conference. The conference was really good, we had each zone from Yuba City up to Redding there, and we went to the Bishop's Storehouse here in Chico to do service there and that was awesome. It was a really good week, but not much to report, I love you guys and those that I will call tomorrow, I'll see you then!

Email Letter - December 17, 2012

Hey there everyone! this week went well, things are still pretty slow but they're going good none the less.

This week we did something fun, we helped a sister in the ward, tag her sheep! So basically we wrestled sheep and pierced their ears and stuff. It was pretty fun. Sheep are so stupid. It's no wonder the Lord compares us to sheep. They literally need a shepherd and a guide in everything that they do. It was pretty cool though to see some of the correlations between the sheep/shepherd relationship and how ours should be with Christ. They immediately went to the sister when she called, she was easily able to sort out the ones that needed shots and those that didn't, and a number of other things. as I said, really cool.

 

We also had a few pretty good lessons with the people that didn't cancel. And we're really focusing on getting the people we're teaching now to have a baptismal date, and focusing even more on finding those people that are ready. It's tough because the town is so small it has been canvassed over and over again, so we're trying really hard to focus on member work and referral work. We're also planning on getting some service hours in at the food pantry and the senior center, kind of like we did in Weaverville. We think that will help us out too.

 

Well I'm looking forward to the call next week, I sure love and miss you guys. Take care and I'll talk to you again soon!

Email Letter - December 10, 2012

Hello everyone! Comin at you from Chico, CA. It's pretty different here, mostly because I'm actually in Orland, which is about 20 miles outside of Chico. A really small town, about 6.5 thousand and mostly spanish speakers out there to farm. There are ranches, orchards and rice fields everywhere! It's pretty fun though.

Elder Knight is my new companion, go ahead and make the jokes. a king and a knight walked into a bar... I don't know a punchline for that but it's only a matter of time before someone in the ward comes up with one. There are about 60 people in the ward that come every week, and a lot, a LOT of less-active members here. It's one of those places people go to get away. Good thing I'm so familiar with that.

The area has been slow for a few weeks now. They had a lot of baptisms recently but didn't find anyone to replace those people to be taught. And the town is very familiar with missionaries as it's been tracted up over and over again. But that happens, it won't stop me. I'll build this area up again with my trusty Knight by my side, and also the Lord. Mostly the Lord

Anyway, I know it's a short one but nothing monumental happened this week. It's the start of a new life here, and I'm stoked for the work. I love you guys!

Email Letter - December 3, 2012

Hello one and hello all! It's been a good stay in the Redding area, but it's time to be gone. I'm getting transferred to Orland, a little farming area near Chico. It'll be good, and I'm excited to Jump start another area. It's kind of a bittersweet farewell though. As it always is, We've got a lot going here and it'll be hard to go. A few baptisms coming up in the next couple of months if all goes well and the less-actives we're working with are coming to church. But at the same time I've been here for a very long time, and I was getting pretty burnt out.

This last week was pretty full, there was a big storm that was rolling in, and everyone was pretty afraid of flooding and the such, but it went north of us. We spent a few hours of one of the mornings last week, filling, loading, unloading, and placing some sand bags. about 170 of them. at about 50 lbs a bag. It was definitely a long project. But we helped out some less-active members bag up the creek that runs through the property they own. And it was worth it, they were at church on sunday. And that makes it worth it. But that was a blast. It was really fun riding the bike in the rain, through the puddles, and up the muddied hills. That big goofy smile was on my face the whole time. Elder Jackson didn't enjoy it too much though. We also had an exchange, a really good p-day activity, and some solid lessons.

 

We had a few of our investigators commit to getting baptized when they know it's true, and that was really exciting. One of them didn't believe in God 2 weeks ago, but had some prayers answered and is really progressing in coming closer to Christ. It's so cool to see the changes that people go through. The other is a "friend" of one of the young woman in the second ward. a real salt of the earth kind of guy. He is a humble truth seeker and is really enjoying coming to church and also the lessons.

 

That's all folks! I love you guys and will talk to you next week.