September 17, 2005

E-mail of September 17, 2005

Dear Family,

[I am living in what's] called a Home Share, and yes it is very different. We finally got a fridge this week, and they take really good care of us. We have a program a lot like the Legacy of Love program, except ours is the Church's official program that they have been testing out just here in California. It's called the "Tell Me About Your Family" or "Gift of Family History" program. It's hard to get the hang of though, Family History is not something we normally have on our minds. We always give it to recent converts, but we supposed to be integrating it into our finding to, but it is hard.

Not a lot to report this week. This Wednesday we are going to the San Diego temple, which I'm really excited about. We are getting dinner appointments, every night, the wards are really good about that (as long as we remember to bring our dinner calendar!). I am hoping we can get the members excited enough to give us referralls, but so far we have not received any. They definitely care about missionary work, but everyone in California is so busy all the time. We haven't had to speak in Sacrament meeting since I have been here. That's really all I have to report this week, sorry this e-mail is so short.

Love, Timothy

Posted by jeff at 05:34 PM

September 12, 2005

E-mail of September 12, 2005

Dear Family,

To answer mom's questions no, I am not training, I am Elder Fainga'anuku's second companion. We weren't doubled into the area, he just doesn't know enough about it since he had to learn English and is so new. He is from Tonga by the way. A homeshare is where we live in a member's home. We actually will be moving to another member's home in Canyon Lake this Thursday, which makes things very complicated because of the the Property Owner's Association makes it so confusing to get passes to enter Canyon Lake. The Missionary Preperation class I mentioned is basically just a member of the bishopric teaching anyone who is planning on going on a mission about Preach My Gospel and trying to prepare them to serve the Lord. The teacher has asked that we go, so that we can share our experience with Preach My Gospel.

Anyways, this week was interesting. A missionary, named Elder Dice, that left from Menifee to Ontario had to come home because he had gallstones. So he has been coming out with us frequently because he is staying with a family that lives in the Canyon Lake ward. He was Mike Richards companion right before he came home. Small world. I feel bad for him because so many of his friends want to hang out with him, but he can't, it has to be a very strange and awkward experience.

Thank you so much for the ties. A few people have asked why I have ties with giraffes or zebras on them, so they are noticed! This week has been pretty crazy, but mostly just visiting part member families.

Unfortunately there was not much of a teaching pool, except for "eternal" investigators, so we are diing a lot of finding. There are over 80 part member families in this area The only problem is so many of them have been pushed by overzealous missionaries too many times in the past. Oh well, the work goes on. It is definitely a different area than my last area, and is very large. We only get 36 miles a day, which makes it really tough to cover it all, especially when we live on the edge of it. I am in Mosiah, I think chapter 16, I have no idea where we are supposed to be, but I am pretty sure that is ahead. I am getting so much out of it, this will be my sixth time I think on my mission reading it, and I am getting way more than the last times. Anyways, that is all for this week, I hope everything is going well.

Love, Timothy

Posted by jeff at 09:38 PM

September 05, 2005

E-mail of September 5, 2005

Dear Family,

Thanks for all of the birthday packages everyone. I really liked the card Jeff and Augusta made, and the Mambas of course. I have way too much candy now, it'll take me a long time to eat it all!

Anyways, this week has been kind of slow. Getting use to a new area is usually hard, but much more so when you have a brand new missionary who doesn't speak very good English. But, I'm doing my best and Elder Fainga'anuku is a great missionary. He has an amazing testimony and sacrificed a lot to come on his mission.

The area I am covering covers two wards, the Canyon Lake ward, and the Wildomar ward. It is a huge area, and we have to get on the freeway to go to certain parts of it. Luckily it is cooling down here, and the members are really nice. We live in a homeshare, which we will be moving out of on the 15th to another homeshare. That is definitely an adjustment that is taking a little while to get used to. The community we live in is a gated private community. So we have to have a pass to get in and out.

Also, this area is right next to my first area, Sun City, and we actually go into Sun City a couple times a week for DDM or for a Missionary Prep class on Sunday.

Well, that's it for now, I hope everyone is doing well and thank you again for the packages.

Love,
Timothy

Posted by jeff at 11:44 AM