Dear Family,
Wow, it's been kind of a crazy week. It went by really fast for some reason. Me being sick unfortunately kept us working pretty slow, but we were able to go to the two Halloween parties for each of our wards. Between the two wards, about 15 people came to the two parties. The costumes for the Canyon Lake ward party were really good. The 1st Counselor of the Bishopric came as Dumbledore and his wife went as the Gryffindor teacher, I can't remember her name, and they were amazing, and they made them themselves. The 2nd Counselor came as Uncle Fester from the Adams' Family. Both of them we didn't even recognize. I'll send pictures of the costumes. We were the judges for the costume contests. Elder Green and I went as each other, since that was pretty much the only approved thing we could do.
On Sunday, David Parker, one of the young men in the ward that has helped a lot with the missionary work, gave his farewell talk to go on his mission. He had about 20 non-member friends there, so we are hoping something will happen there. Andrew Wood, the 12 year old boy we are teaching, was finally able to come to Church too. He is a really cool kid and fits in very well. I saw the pictures from Jeff and Augusta's Halloween party. Awesome job guys! I wish we had a pumpkin to carve out here, but I don't think we'd even have time. We have to be in at 7 pm tonight, so all the missionaries in my district are coming over to our homeshare's place and we are going to watch The Best Two Years (approved of course). So it will be a strange P-day today, I haven't not worked a day in 11 months!
Anyways, that's about all I have to report, I love all of you!
Love, Timothy
Dear Family,
We have had a good week. It seems that Heavenly Father always balances out the good experiences you have with allowing bad things to happen. First of all, if this e-mail isn't too coherent, I apologize, because I have a massive cold right now, and my head feels all clogged up. This week we went tracting a lot, and I am getting used to going on exchanges two times a week. It's hard to manage miles because I have to drive for about 15 to 20 miles to meet the other missionaries. I only have 1100 miles, so it makes it kind of tough. This last friday, we tracted for a little over an hour, and were able to hand out 3 BoM's and find 4 new investigators. One of them, named Michelle, is golden! She was given a Book of Mormon by her friends in Temecula and has been reading it. She said it had to be a sign that we showed up, which of course we agreed with. When we taught her on Sunday, she was very intent and asked a lot of good questions. She said the Book of Mormon seems to fill in a lot of gaps. When we described how the Spirit is what answers her prayers, she asked if what she felt when we were talking is the Spirit. So we are obviously very excited for the progress she is making and we are looking forward to teaching her again tomorrow.
Besides that I am really enjoying it out here. I am starting to really get a hang of the area. When I was on exchanges, we went to a less active's house and she mentioned she was part Japanese and Elder Mori, who I was with, is half Japanese. So we talked a lot about Japanese food, and she said she'd have to make us some sometime. Apparently her daughter told Elder Mori she really likes us, and wants us to come and visit more often, so hopefully we will be able to bring her back to Church. I have DDM on Tuesdays, and there are 6 in my district. But we will actually be getting a 7th missionary today, because the American missionaries are being kicked out of Venezuala by the government. So the Spanish missionaries in my district will be in a threesome. I think that's all I have to report right now. President Ewer gives some awesome trainings on the Atonement, but I will have to bring my study journal next time so I can remember it well enough. Anyways, I love you all!
Love, Timothy
Dear Family,
Well, I've had a pretty good week, a lot of meetings though. My new companion is Elder Green from Camden, Delaware. He is a very good missionary and is very excited about the work. I know that we will have a good transfer. He is also a convert of only 2 1/2 years, and none of his family are memebers.
To answer mom's questions, we went to San Diego Temple because Redlands doesn't have enough room, and half the mission went at a time. We had stake conference this week, so that was good, and we have been running around all the time. Sorry for the short e-mail, We don't have enough time to write a long one, I'll e-mail you next week.
Love, Timothy
Dear Family,
We have had a crazy week! First of all transfers came in on Saturday! Elder Fainga'anuku is being transferred to Palm Springs, which means I will have a new companion, which makes 8 companions for 8 transfers! My new companion will be a greenie! Yep! I'm training again! On top of that I was called as a District Leader. I of course know nothing about my new companion since he hasn't even flown in, but I will let you know next week. I am nervous to have so much responsibility, but I can handle it, as long as I keep on the strait and narrow. Mom mentioned about the Family History program in the last letter. The reason ours isn't working out to well yet is because it is too complicated. We are supposed to coordinate with the Bishop every time we want to hand out a card, and then we have to get a card from the High Priest Group Leader. Then we help them fill it out and give it back to the High Priest Group Leader who gives it to the Family History Consultant, who researches and finds as much information as possible, makes a packet, and gives the packet to the High Priest Group Leader and then to us, at which point we are supposed to present it to the investigator/recent convert with the High Priest Group Leader, Ward Mission Leader (if they are an investigator), and Family History Consultant present. It is a great program, but it is very hard to get everything to go smoothly. Anyways, another exciting thing that happened last night is that we recieved a call from one of our Ward Mission Leaders who told us the Bishop has committed a PMF to baptism for this Thursday, which is rather weird, but he has already had the lessons, so we have to quickly plan an interview and get everything organized and ready. So we automatically have a baptism for next transfer, without doing any work. We haven't even met him yet!
That's all the news I have for now, everyone have a good week.
Love, Timothy
Dear Family,
This last week was really good, but unfortunately, we didn't get as much missionary work done as we would have liked. We had the San Diego temple trip on Wednesday and then with the two days of General Conference, it was hard to find time to get out and work for a significant amount of time. The San Diego temple was incredible, it is a very beautiful temple. We also were able to watch The Other Side of Heaven on the way home, which is completely different when you are on your mission! I am so fortunate to be in California!
Anyways, I really enjoyed General Conference too. My favorite talk was by Bednar in the Priesthood session about being a missionary before going on a mission. This week is the last week of the transfer, so hopefully I will not be transferred again. I am also hoping I won't be training
again, since there are 22 missionaries coming in this transfer!!! Anyways, there is really not much else to report, sorry for the short update this week.
Love, Timothy