Cheerio family!
I say Cheeerio because my new companion is from England!! He is an American Citizen though. His name is Elder Thiriot (Theory-ought, or ut) He is awesome! He loves to just get out there and get busy. That's why I felt so bad yesterday cause I accidently locked us out of the apartment, and we had to spend an hour trying to pick the lock, open windows, call the mission home. Come to find out, our neighbor has a spare.
We are in LA 6th Downtown. Our northern border is, Olympic. Our southern border is Venice, until the 110 then it drops to washington. Our western border is... western. I don't know the name of our eastern most street. Sorry, I think it might be the border of the Mission but I don't know. I'll let you know next week. We do have the Staples Center and part of "The Alley" in my area. We rode by it the other night and saw all the Laker fans going around in their yellow jersey's that say Kobe, Luckily we don't have a lot of work that far east. Your christmas presents will all be from the alley though! ;) It's hard flush training! I have no idea where I am and I have to be perfect doing it. A lot of pressure, good thing my Greenie and I get a long. The people here are really great though, a great place for Elder Thiriot to start his mission. It's mostly spanish, infact the Elders before us didn't even have one english investigator, so that means we both are going to be learning a lot of spanish! It's total bike and I love it! I feel nice and exhausted at the end of the day, which practically gaurantees a good nights rest.
We set two baptismal dates this week, Christian and Jasmine, they ar 15 and 12 I think. We met them and set a date, they actually have had all the lessons and a date before but the mom didn't feel like they were ready to make the commitment. So we told her we'll set a date, teach all the lessons again. She was good for that.
We also have Gaudalupe and Marco, we tried to set a date with them but they weren't as excited. They kept saying they weren't ready. Tried and tried convincing them but to no avail. We did set a goal to get them married. Infact Gaudalupe came to church on sunday, and the bishop had a meeting with all the investigators. She came out beaming and said that she has an appointment with the bishop tuesday to get started on the marriage process. WoooHoo! Way to go Obispo Estrada!!
We're trying to see if we can get some investigators from some lpart member family's, and of course a lot of tracting. There is a lot of work here in this area. The field is white (or more like brown cause you don't find many white people besides missionaries) and all ready to baptize!!
Cool story, So we tracted into a guy who had had the discussions in El Salvador, we talked to him a little about that and then tried to set up a return appointment. He was not willing to set up a return appointment, then somehow we got talking about him and family and him looking for a job, normal stuff, we related it back to the gospel and how Family is center in God's plan. He had turned right around, we set up an appointment and as we were leaving he repeated the time and said he would be waiting cause he has a lot of questions. I think people just see the tag and don't know that we are people and talk about normal things. We just know why we do the normal things and where were going when we do the good things. I dunno maybe you just had to be there but I thought it was one of the best tracting contacts I've had so far.
Well I guess this E-mail is long enough, I've blabbered on and on so I will now go back home so I can switch my laundry. Sorry I didn't get any pictures this week, I'll send a few next week to show you how LA 6th Downtown is all about!
I love you, take care of that beautiful snow that is falling, play in it lots for me!!
Love, Elder Groves!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Transfers! 11/9/09
Where I go nobody knows! Just follow your nose! or maybe not. I tried to send some pictures, but it kept kicking me off, when I'm done with this letter I'll try again.
Transfers have arrived! I'm leaving. I'm heading to downtown! I'm going to be in what's called the LA 6th Area. I'll be on total bike! Plus! I'm going to be the lead companionship of Barrio Sexcto, or 6th ward. My area as far as I can tell is going to be majority spanish, that I'm way excited for! I hope it's a long good while before I get called to an English area. The area itself is just south of "The Alley" I don't know the exact borders but I'll let you know next week. I can tell you that the Staples Center is in my area, that will be interesting. So that is transfers... almost. My new companion is going to be, well I don't know yet. I'll meet him on wednesday when he comes in from Provo. So I'm going to be flush training downtown, with a lot of spanish. Pray for me. It's pretty exciting, I'm way ready for something new and new challenges and I know it will definately be challenging. Elder Oswald is leaving too, he's just going north of our area, they are opening a new area there and so he'll stay in the apartment that we're in now but drive to his area everyday. So our area will be flushed, which is too bad cause we just got a crazy cool new investigator.
Her name is Lilia, she was a referrall Elder Amundsen and I got but couldn't contact cause she was in Tiajuana Mexico. I met have told you about her before, I don't remember. But she's way cool, I went over with a kid from the ward and taught her on wednesday. When we got there her Son-in-law was there. First thing he said to us was, "Hi, I'm Catholic" For the next 20-40 minutes he asked us all kinds of questions and tried to argue with us about our beliefs, saying were wrong because we believe this and stuff like that. I was scared for a little bit we had only taught Lilia once before and now she has to hear this. However the conversation soon turned to her defending us and saying the Catholics are wrong, she said stuff like we should only worship one God and things like that. It soon turned into an argument with jsut those two. She finally ended it by saying, "I'm looking for the right church, right now I'm studying with these guys, the Mormons, nothing you can say will change that." WOOOHOOO!! Go Lilia! So we taught her a first, committed her to watch the Restoration DVD and committed her to come to church on sunday. But the story doesn't end there.
We give her a call on sunday to reminds her of church, we call around 8 and church starts at 930. She said she was up and already getting ready, also said that during the week she went and found the church so she could find it again on sunday. She must have gone to church right after that cause she beat us there. After all the meetings she came up to me and said she wanted to go see the baptism that was going on tonight, not expecting her to say that we unfortunatley had an appointment, that didn't stop her. She went anyway. We get a call later that night from another Elder saying that he was talking to Lilia at the baptism and she was telling him how much she liked it and that she wanted to get baptized, so he set a date with her for Dec. 6th. How crazy is that! She committed herself to baptism!! I love this work! We have an appointment with her tomorrow so we can get started, then the new Elders will have to take over. So cool though! It makes me feel that all the work I've done in this area with tracting and finding has finnaly paid off.
Well that seems to be all I have time for this week, I'll let you know all about "Mi Hijo" next week. Until then, stay strong, stay true, and keep praying! Love you all!
Elder Groves
Transfers have arrived! I'm leaving. I'm heading to downtown! I'm going to be in what's called the LA 6th Area. I'll be on total bike! Plus! I'm going to be the lead companionship of Barrio Sexcto, or 6th ward. My area as far as I can tell is going to be majority spanish, that I'm way excited for! I hope it's a long good while before I get called to an English area. The area itself is just south of "The Alley" I don't know the exact borders but I'll let you know next week. I can tell you that the Staples Center is in my area, that will be interesting. So that is transfers... almost. My new companion is going to be, well I don't know yet. I'll meet him on wednesday when he comes in from Provo. So I'm going to be flush training downtown, with a lot of spanish. Pray for me. It's pretty exciting, I'm way ready for something new and new challenges and I know it will definately be challenging. Elder Oswald is leaving too, he's just going north of our area, they are opening a new area there and so he'll stay in the apartment that we're in now but drive to his area everyday. So our area will be flushed, which is too bad cause we just got a crazy cool new investigator.
Her name is Lilia, she was a referrall Elder Amundsen and I got but couldn't contact cause she was in Tiajuana Mexico. I met have told you about her before, I don't remember. But she's way cool, I went over with a kid from the ward and taught her on wednesday. When we got there her Son-in-law was there. First thing he said to us was, "Hi, I'm Catholic" For the next 20-40 minutes he asked us all kinds of questions and tried to argue with us about our beliefs, saying were wrong because we believe this and stuff like that. I was scared for a little bit we had only taught Lilia once before and now she has to hear this. However the conversation soon turned to her defending us and saying the Catholics are wrong, she said stuff like we should only worship one God and things like that. It soon turned into an argument with jsut those two. She finally ended it by saying, "I'm looking for the right church, right now I'm studying with these guys, the Mormons, nothing you can say will change that." WOOOHOOO!! Go Lilia! So we taught her a first, committed her to watch the Restoration DVD and committed her to come to church on sunday. But the story doesn't end there.
We give her a call on sunday to reminds her of church, we call around 8 and church starts at 930. She said she was up and already getting ready, also said that during the week she went and found the church so she could find it again on sunday. She must have gone to church right after that cause she beat us there. After all the meetings she came up to me and said she wanted to go see the baptism that was going on tonight, not expecting her to say that we unfortunatley had an appointment, that didn't stop her. She went anyway. We get a call later that night from another Elder saying that he was talking to Lilia at the baptism and she was telling him how much she liked it and that she wanted to get baptized, so he set a date with her for Dec. 6th. How crazy is that! She committed herself to baptism!! I love this work! We have an appointment with her tomorrow so we can get started, then the new Elders will have to take over. So cool though! It makes me feel that all the work I've done in this area with tracting and finding has finnaly paid off.
Well that seems to be all I have time for this week, I'll let you know all about "Mi Hijo" next week. Until then, stay strong, stay true, and keep praying! Love you all!
Elder Groves
Hallow-boring! 11/2/09
Yeah, it was a pretty boring Halloween. We had to be in at 6 and couldn't leave the apartment the rest of the night. We cleaned and ate the Halloween candy Mom sent. Other then that it was a pretty normal day.
On monday we had a fun Noche De Hogar, we taught about the war chapters in the Book of Mormon and had people be the mounds of dirt and the timbers and towers that Moroni made to protect his city (the city was someone sitting in the middle) so the Lamanites (Anthony and Sergio) couldn't attack with arrows and stones (paper airplanes and paper balls). They loved it, as did we doing it. Alma 49 and 50 if your interested. We related it to how we have to protect ourselves by reading scriptures attending church, and so forth. If one of those fail, our city and families are in danger.
Tuesday night I went on splits in Watts. That rocked pretty hard core! I was with my DL's greenie who felt bad because all our appointments were falling through, we got some good contacts tracting though.
Wednesday was Zone Conference, that was pretty cool. I got to see a lot of Elders I hadn't seen in a while. President set a new challenge for next transfer, he calls it a "white" Christmas in LA. He wants every single companionship in the mission to have at least one baptism next transfer. Then in January after the transfer we're having a mission wide conference to evaluate. Pretty cool. I'm really really excited about it. Especially because everyone seems to think I'm going to be flush training next transfer, I won't know for sure til president starts making calls this weekend, so I'm not going to be saying anything. I do think I'll be transfered though. THey also talked a lot about obedience at ZC. My companion took it... good? When we got home that night he smashed both his guitars, threw away half his books and everything else he had been collecting. He was going crazy. It's a good thing. He's really stepped up his game.
We also had a lesson with Anthony, we wanted to teach him how he can recognize the spirit. We watched the restoration DVD and then taught him how the spirit feels. We had him go get his blanket, wrap it around him and describe to us how it felt. Then we had him take it off and ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith really was a prophet. After the prayer we asked how he felt, he couldn't believe it. He said he felt exactly like the blanket was on him. He was loving it! It was so cool to see the light bulb go on. That kid is going places!
Thursday we did a lot of finding, actually found some too! Made a few return appointments and taught Sergio, tried the blanket thing but he couldn't say a sincere prayer. He just kept laughing. Oh well maybe it's not for everyone.
Friday was car free day, no one in the mission was alowed to use a car. We had an appointment with Keri, but she wasn't there and we haven't been able to contact her since. We've tried everyday and will continue til we can find out what happend.
So, friday after dinner, we go outside to get our bikes and head up to a service project we had scheduled with the ward. Or bikes were gone. We walked to and fro looking for them, and they were no where to be seen. Finnaly a lady came up to us asking if we had put our bikes by a sign down the street, yes, she had one in her house but a Hobo took the other one. When she saw him take it she put the other one in her house to keep it from getting stolen. Mine was... in her house. My companion's bike got stolen by a bum. We had to bum a ride or walk the rest of the day. He's still mad about it, I'm just glad we never found the Hobo, cause I don't think I could stop my 300 lb companion from rippin him a new one.
Saturday was boring Halloween, it was fun to see little kids dressed up and having fun, and we did get a lot cleaned in our house. Cause it definatley needed it.
Sunday, oh sunday. We didn't have a great sunday. None of our investigators came to church. Granted, we only have two right now. IT seemed everyone's investigators were coming but ours. So we were feeling a little depressed and decided to skip english ward in the afternoon and go out and work. The first referral we looked up was Lilia. She was a really good lesson. She wants to know if it's true but... can't read. I really gotta figure out how to get past this obstacle, it's coming up a lot more then you'd expect in LA.
After Lilia we went to a baptismal service of the ward, which was a little depressing too. So tomorrow we're going to push hard to find those investigators that are just waiting!
I hope all is well, Mom told me a little about scary dinner but not much. I can't wait til pictures. I'll send some more pics home. That's it for this week, until then. Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon good evening and good night!
Love y'all!
Elder Groves
On monday we had a fun Noche De Hogar, we taught about the war chapters in the Book of Mormon and had people be the mounds of dirt and the timbers and towers that Moroni made to protect his city (the city was someone sitting in the middle) so the Lamanites (Anthony and Sergio) couldn't attack with arrows and stones (paper airplanes and paper balls). They loved it, as did we doing it. Alma 49 and 50 if your interested. We related it to how we have to protect ourselves by reading scriptures attending church, and so forth. If one of those fail, our city and families are in danger.
Tuesday night I went on splits in Watts. That rocked pretty hard core! I was with my DL's greenie who felt bad because all our appointments were falling through, we got some good contacts tracting though.
Wednesday was Zone Conference, that was pretty cool. I got to see a lot of Elders I hadn't seen in a while. President set a new challenge for next transfer, he calls it a "white" Christmas in LA. He wants every single companionship in the mission to have at least one baptism next transfer. Then in January after the transfer we're having a mission wide conference to evaluate. Pretty cool. I'm really really excited about it. Especially because everyone seems to think I'm going to be flush training next transfer, I won't know for sure til president starts making calls this weekend, so I'm not going to be saying anything. I do think I'll be transfered though. THey also talked a lot about obedience at ZC. My companion took it... good? When we got home that night he smashed both his guitars, threw away half his books and everything else he had been collecting. He was going crazy. It's a good thing. He's really stepped up his game.
We also had a lesson with Anthony, we wanted to teach him how he can recognize the spirit. We watched the restoration DVD and then taught him how the spirit feels. We had him go get his blanket, wrap it around him and describe to us how it felt. Then we had him take it off and ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith really was a prophet. After the prayer we asked how he felt, he couldn't believe it. He said he felt exactly like the blanket was on him. He was loving it! It was so cool to see the light bulb go on. That kid is going places!
Thursday we did a lot of finding, actually found some too! Made a few return appointments and taught Sergio, tried the blanket thing but he couldn't say a sincere prayer. He just kept laughing. Oh well maybe it's not for everyone.
Friday was car free day, no one in the mission was alowed to use a car. We had an appointment with Keri, but she wasn't there and we haven't been able to contact her since. We've tried everyday and will continue til we can find out what happend.
So, friday after dinner, we go outside to get our bikes and head up to a service project we had scheduled with the ward. Or bikes were gone. We walked to and fro looking for them, and they were no where to be seen. Finnaly a lady came up to us asking if we had put our bikes by a sign down the street, yes, she had one in her house but a Hobo took the other one. When she saw him take it she put the other one in her house to keep it from getting stolen. Mine was... in her house. My companion's bike got stolen by a bum. We had to bum a ride or walk the rest of the day. He's still mad about it, I'm just glad we never found the Hobo, cause I don't think I could stop my 300 lb companion from rippin him a new one.
Saturday was boring Halloween, it was fun to see little kids dressed up and having fun, and we did get a lot cleaned in our house. Cause it definatley needed it.
Sunday, oh sunday. We didn't have a great sunday. None of our investigators came to church. Granted, we only have two right now. IT seemed everyone's investigators were coming but ours. So we were feeling a little depressed and decided to skip english ward in the afternoon and go out and work. The first referral we looked up was Lilia. She was a really good lesson. She wants to know if it's true but... can't read. I really gotta figure out how to get past this obstacle, it's coming up a lot more then you'd expect in LA.
After Lilia we went to a baptismal service of the ward, which was a little depressing too. So tomorrow we're going to push hard to find those investigators that are just waiting!
I hope all is well, Mom told me a little about scary dinner but not much. I can't wait til pictures. I'll send some more pics home. That's it for this week, until then. Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon good evening and good night!
Love y'all!
Elder Groves
Weird... 10/26/09
A lot of ... things happened this week. To start off we dropped Salvador. We asked him about his baptism and how he felt... come to find out he didn't know that the Book of Mormon is true. So we left him to read and pray about it. He said he did... at 3 in the morning after he came back from Knotts berry Farms, and said God has something for him just not right now. Sad but if he's not ready we're wasting the Lords time. Hopefully some other Elders will pick him up and start teaching again. Kinda like we did with Rosio.
We had a great lesson and re-established her testimony in the Book of Mormon. I think Salvador kinda woke us up on some of the fundamentals, then last night went and taught her about the plan of Salvation and The Word of Wisdom... That's her stumbling block. She said she has drunk Cofee and Tea since she was little and doesn't see why it's bad. We tried telling her the only thing that matters is that God told us no. She didn't buy it. She did say she would give Shirley a call and ask her what she thinks. So at least she feels comfortable with the members we bring. She is going to come to Noche De Hogar tonight so maybe some of the people there can help her.
Keri... oh Keri.... Keri got into a car accident thursday night. She and Brooklyn are ok. She broke open her knee and has some staples in it. Brookyn got a couple of stitches in her forehead. We went by and visited friday, Keri can't walk very well but Brookyn seems to have more energy than the Energizer Bunny. So Keri didn't come to church this week and neither did Rocio. I know if we can get them to church, meet some other members, get them excited about being a member, then the road to baptism will be a lot easier. Church seems to be the problem with a lot of people. No wonder our Zone Goal is based around that. We need your prayers this week for these two to get to church!
Other then them we don't have any other investigators, we have a couple potentials but nothing really solid. We've had around 13 hours of finding/tracting this week. That's the most I've had in my mission so far. They're out there, we're just trying to get to them.
I heard about BYU, that stinks. It stinks so bad I can smell it from here! Go Phillies though! Even though I was a little partial to the Angels considering my location.
Halloween is this week, I think I'm going to be a missionary. We actually have to be in our apartments at 6 and can't leave. But we get to treat it as a P-day, write letters, clean, play guitar. We just can't leave our apartment nor give out candy, even if it's glued to a pass along card. I'm excited to get some pictures of Scary Night though! I'll send more pictures next week, I just gotta find what ones I want. Plus I'll send back the SD card.
The work is slowing, but we're doing our best not to. Pray, we could use the help. I love you all, enjoy the snow, I know I'm gonna miss it!
I learned this week from a guy off the street, Jesus lives in the sun, and there is a hidden military base in Compton. Think about that for a while...
Love you! Elder Groves!
We had a great lesson and re-established her testimony in the Book of Mormon. I think Salvador kinda woke us up on some of the fundamentals, then last night went and taught her about the plan of Salvation and The Word of Wisdom... That's her stumbling block. She said she has drunk Cofee and Tea since she was little and doesn't see why it's bad. We tried telling her the only thing that matters is that God told us no. She didn't buy it. She did say she would give Shirley a call and ask her what she thinks. So at least she feels comfortable with the members we bring. She is going to come to Noche De Hogar tonight so maybe some of the people there can help her.
Keri... oh Keri.... Keri got into a car accident thursday night. She and Brooklyn are ok. She broke open her knee and has some staples in it. Brookyn got a couple of stitches in her forehead. We went by and visited friday, Keri can't walk very well but Brookyn seems to have more energy than the Energizer Bunny. So Keri didn't come to church this week and neither did Rocio. I know if we can get them to church, meet some other members, get them excited about being a member, then the road to baptism will be a lot easier. Church seems to be the problem with a lot of people. No wonder our Zone Goal is based around that. We need your prayers this week for these two to get to church!
Other then them we don't have any other investigators, we have a couple potentials but nothing really solid. We've had around 13 hours of finding/tracting this week. That's the most I've had in my mission so far. They're out there, we're just trying to get to them.
I heard about BYU, that stinks. It stinks so bad I can smell it from here! Go Phillies though! Even though I was a little partial to the Angels considering my location.
Halloween is this week, I think I'm going to be a missionary. We actually have to be in our apartments at 6 and can't leave. But we get to treat it as a P-day, write letters, clean, play guitar. We just can't leave our apartment nor give out candy, even if it's glued to a pass along card. I'm excited to get some pictures of Scary Night though! I'll send more pictures next week, I just gotta find what ones I want. Plus I'll send back the SD card.
The work is slowing, but we're doing our best not to. Pray, we could use the help. I love you all, enjoy the snow, I know I'm gonna miss it!
I learned this week from a guy off the street, Jesus lives in the sun, and there is a hidden military base in Compton. Think about that for a while...
Love you! Elder Groves!
Rain anyone? 10/19/09
We had 2 almost 3 days of complete rain here! It was crazy, it just wouldn't let up. Which was a big bummer for me cause we couldn't go out and ride bikes. We've been doing that ALOT more, since our limit on our miles for the car got cut. It's ok, gives me more excercise! Plus I getta try out all the stuff on my bike, which I found out is pretty slow... oh well just makes me work harder!
A pretty wierd week this week, with the rain and all. I found my companion hates to tract, which is hard. We do a lot of tracting here, well more now then when I was with Edler Amundsen, but it puts us both in a downer mood. That with the gloomy weather has kinda made it a tough week.
I did get to go on splits with our DL Elder Tillman. He's one of the best missionary's. I really learn so much from him, I'm glad we did it when we did cause it gave me a boost to get things rolling in my area with my companion.
Our investigators are ... doing. Still church is the big problem. So far we've only had Salvador come the last 2 weeks. We had do drop Oscar and Janet cause we just can't get time to teach them, plus they aren't coming to church. We tried to set a Bap date with Keri, she was really really hesitant. She would tell us what she needs to do but is still really scared about making the change. With a lot of help from the lord we got one! I still feel she's pretty shakey about it though. Plus she's never been to church, she was supposed to even come to a baptismal service but didn't show! I've grown to love these people, and I wish they could see how the gospel will bless their lives in ways they can't tell right now. They just need to show a little faith!
On splits Elder Oswald taught Rocio, and got a baptismal date! WooHoo! Now we have to figure out how to get her to church so she can get baptized.
Salvador told us he isn't ready for baptism, he totally is though. He just said he has some more questions to iron out, but I think he wants to know everything before he gets baptized, which is not going to happen.
Other then that we've been tracting and working on some potentials that we found in our Area book. The works going... slowly but surely.
On other news, we've been asked to look for an apartment in our area. Which means it pretty likely that our area gets split this transfer. I never thought it would be this hard to find an apartment around here, with all the people moving out. The trouble is finding one SMALL enough. With this searching and the fact that President told me at Interviews that a lot of the people from my transfer are going to become seniors and trainers soon, a lot of the other Elders (especially my companion) think I may be training this next transfer. I don't know about training but I think I could become senior. Anywhoo, off to work we go!
I love you all and miss you, pray for church attendance and that we can find some more people to teach!
Always remember... "Jesus loves Compton"
Elder Groves!
A pretty wierd week this week, with the rain and all. I found my companion hates to tract, which is hard. We do a lot of tracting here, well more now then when I was with Edler Amundsen, but it puts us both in a downer mood. That with the gloomy weather has kinda made it a tough week.
I did get to go on splits with our DL Elder Tillman. He's one of the best missionary's. I really learn so much from him, I'm glad we did it when we did cause it gave me a boost to get things rolling in my area with my companion.
Our investigators are ... doing. Still church is the big problem. So far we've only had Salvador come the last 2 weeks. We had do drop Oscar and Janet cause we just can't get time to teach them, plus they aren't coming to church. We tried to set a Bap date with Keri, she was really really hesitant. She would tell us what she needs to do but is still really scared about making the change. With a lot of help from the lord we got one! I still feel she's pretty shakey about it though. Plus she's never been to church, she was supposed to even come to a baptismal service but didn't show! I've grown to love these people, and I wish they could see how the gospel will bless their lives in ways they can't tell right now. They just need to show a little faith!
On splits Elder Oswald taught Rocio, and got a baptismal date! WooHoo! Now we have to figure out how to get her to church so she can get baptized.
Salvador told us he isn't ready for baptism, he totally is though. He just said he has some more questions to iron out, but I think he wants to know everything before he gets baptized, which is not going to happen.
Other then that we've been tracting and working on some potentials that we found in our Area book. The works going... slowly but surely.
On other news, we've been asked to look for an apartment in our area. Which means it pretty likely that our area gets split this transfer. I never thought it would be this hard to find an apartment around here, with all the people moving out. The trouble is finding one SMALL enough. With this searching and the fact that President told me at Interviews that a lot of the people from my transfer are going to become seniors and trainers soon, a lot of the other Elders (especially my companion) think I may be training this next transfer. I don't know about training but I think I could become senior. Anywhoo, off to work we go!
I love you all and miss you, pray for church attendance and that we can find some more people to teach!
Always remember... "Jesus loves Compton"
Elder Groves!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
10-13-09 Candy?
Hey family of man all across utah and the country!
This week has been quite the Roller Coaster. I didn't e-mail yesterday because the library was closed for Columbus Day, we didn't even know it was Columbus day til we tried going to the library. Missionaries are a little shelterd at times. Anywho, here I am today, alive, breathing and teaching the good news!
Last week was pretty interesting, We have had some great things come to pass, and Satan has won a few battles as well. To start out we taught the entire plan of Salvation to Keri, it was pretty quiet because her little 3 year old Brooklyn had fallen asleep. To give you a little bit about Keri, just think of a quiet Rena. We taught her and commited her to come to church. She called us around 10:00 sunday morning saying she wasn't feeling good so she didn't go to work... but she still coming to church and needed directions. WooHoo!! So we waited at church until about 1:15 then called her, she said her car broke down (overheated) and couldn't find a way to get there, but she also said nothing is going to stop her from coming this week. So its really good to see her desire to come to church. I know she has been so well prepared to recieve the gospel... even though it took 4 other missionaries to do it.
That's kinda what we are picking up on, playing a little clean up with the former investigators in the area, Because we taught another girl who I think 4 or 5 other companionships have taught, her name is Rosio. She has a 6 year old girl Ashley. We commited Rosio to baptism for the 8th of November. She couldn't come to church last week because she had to work, but we hope and plan to see her this week.
Salvador, he is the story of the week! We couldn't stop by on tuesday this week but we've been trying to daily contact him as much as possible, so we swung by to say hi on friday, he wasn't there but his brother was working on a bike. Come to find out Elder Oswald knows quite a bit about fixing bikes. So he took of his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and got tinkering! I sat and talked with his mom in spanish for awhile, it was a really good oppurtunity to meet the family and really let them know we're good guys. Who knows maybe we'll start teaching them sometime soon. We pray so! After tinkering and talking for awhile, Salvador shows up! So we talked with him for awhile, we set another baptismal date for the 25th. He really only has one more lesson to go, we asked him if he got to watch any of conference and he started talking about how passionate Elder Holland was! Booh Yeah!! On top of all this he came to church on sunday in a suit! He is getting serious about getting saved! I'm so stoked for the huge progress he's made this week. Pray that he can make even more the coming week so he can get baptized.
On a downer note, we had a good lesson with Oscar this week. We had arranged for a member to meet us there, but we were on bike and got about 20 minutes behind schedule. So we finnally get there and he and Hermano Jerez were just talking up a storm! They talked about scriptures, baptism, repentance, prayer.. almost everything! We had a really good lesson with him and set up a return appointment for Sunday... so where's the downer you ask? Saturday night comes around I give them a call for a reminder of church and... they say they can't cause they are taking the kids to the dentist. Dumb! Then on top of that they cancelled the appointment we had with them. I was so frustrated after that. We swung by yesterday and set up another appointment, if they don't keep anymore commitments they're going to be dropped until maybe some other missionaries can play clean up.
So a lot of up and downs this week. Also we've done a lot of finding work. Looking through our area book, we made a huge map of our area with colors and pins and the whole ten yards, we haven't found a lot but a little.
I did get to see one of the people I taught while I was in the trio get baptized yesterday, it was a really good service... but... we had to improvise a while because we filled the font too hot. Kinda funny that it was too hot this time and not too cold. When we asked Marie how it felt she just said it was a nice warm bath.
The work is going, my companion and I are trying our best to get along. We either have really good days, or really hard days. But maybe your right Dad, I'm just getting prepared for something. I just need to get through this transfer then we'll see what's after that mark. They might be splitting our area cause we have to look for another apartment in the northern part of our area.
I love you all, I thank you so much for your love and support. I wouldn't be able to do this without you.
Hasta luego!
Elder Groves
This week has been quite the Roller Coaster. I didn't e-mail yesterday because the library was closed for Columbus Day, we didn't even know it was Columbus day til we tried going to the library. Missionaries are a little shelterd at times. Anywho, here I am today, alive, breathing and teaching the good news!
Last week was pretty interesting, We have had some great things come to pass, and Satan has won a few battles as well. To start out we taught the entire plan of Salvation to Keri, it was pretty quiet because her little 3 year old Brooklyn had fallen asleep. To give you a little bit about Keri, just think of a quiet Rena. We taught her and commited her to come to church. She called us around 10:00 sunday morning saying she wasn't feeling good so she didn't go to work... but she still coming to church and needed directions. WooHoo!! So we waited at church until about 1:15 then called her, she said her car broke down (overheated) and couldn't find a way to get there, but she also said nothing is going to stop her from coming this week. So its really good to see her desire to come to church. I know she has been so well prepared to recieve the gospel... even though it took 4 other missionaries to do it.
That's kinda what we are picking up on, playing a little clean up with the former investigators in the area, Because we taught another girl who I think 4 or 5 other companionships have taught, her name is Rosio. She has a 6 year old girl Ashley. We commited Rosio to baptism for the 8th of November. She couldn't come to church last week because she had to work, but we hope and plan to see her this week.
Salvador, he is the story of the week! We couldn't stop by on tuesday this week but we've been trying to daily contact him as much as possible, so we swung by to say hi on friday, he wasn't there but his brother was working on a bike. Come to find out Elder Oswald knows quite a bit about fixing bikes. So he took of his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and got tinkering! I sat and talked with his mom in spanish for awhile, it was a really good oppurtunity to meet the family and really let them know we're good guys. Who knows maybe we'll start teaching them sometime soon. We pray so! After tinkering and talking for awhile, Salvador shows up! So we talked with him for awhile, we set another baptismal date for the 25th. He really only has one more lesson to go, we asked him if he got to watch any of conference and he started talking about how passionate Elder Holland was! Booh Yeah!! On top of all this he came to church on sunday in a suit! He is getting serious about getting saved! I'm so stoked for the huge progress he's made this week. Pray that he can make even more the coming week so he can get baptized.
On a downer note, we had a good lesson with Oscar this week. We had arranged for a member to meet us there, but we were on bike and got about 20 minutes behind schedule. So we finnally get there and he and Hermano Jerez were just talking up a storm! They talked about scriptures, baptism, repentance, prayer.. almost everything! We had a really good lesson with him and set up a return appointment for Sunday... so where's the downer you ask? Saturday night comes around I give them a call for a reminder of church and... they say they can't cause they are taking the kids to the dentist. Dumb! Then on top of that they cancelled the appointment we had with them. I was so frustrated after that. We swung by yesterday and set up another appointment, if they don't keep anymore commitments they're going to be dropped until maybe some other missionaries can play clean up.
So a lot of up and downs this week. Also we've done a lot of finding work. Looking through our area book, we made a huge map of our area with colors and pins and the whole ten yards, we haven't found a lot but a little.
I did get to see one of the people I taught while I was in the trio get baptized yesterday, it was a really good service... but... we had to improvise a while because we filled the font too hot. Kinda funny that it was too hot this time and not too cold. When we asked Marie how it felt she just said it was a nice warm bath.
The work is going, my companion and I are trying our best to get along. We either have really good days, or really hard days. But maybe your right Dad, I'm just getting prepared for something. I just need to get through this transfer then we'll see what's after that mark. They might be splitting our area cause we have to look for another apartment in the northern part of our area.
I love you all, I thank you so much for your love and support. I wouldn't be able to do this without you.
Hasta luego!
Elder Groves
10/5/09
That's my new comp. Elder Oswald. He's from American Fork and has 3 months left, he's already getting a little trunky. He's... well... interesting. He started the transfer saying... "There are a few things you need to know about me" that was at like, 10 am wednesday morning. We didn't get out and working til 3. I hope this goes by faster then I think it will. He's really cool at times and I'm impressed with some of the ways and tactics he uses while teaching. He is also very loud, very messy, and has anxiety and ADHD. It's going to be a very interesting transfer. I think Heavenly Father is testing my patience with this one. This is his second time being Senior companion, and he goes home in december.
Also he's testing me with my area. We had 3 people we wanted to see at church this week and all fell through. We did have a pretty good lesson with Salvador, we brought a member and her really seemed determined to follow through on everything we asked. We stopped by a couple days later un announced just to see how he's doing and all the fire and enthusiasm he had befor was gone. I called him saturday night to remind him about coming to church to watch a session of conference with us and he said he wasn't going to cause he had work. I kinda got frustrated and just told him that he needs to focus less on work and more on his spirituality. I hope he didn't get the wrong impression.
We've had a lot of hit and miss this week with all our investigators. It's tough, cause when I was with Elder Amundsen we were going nuts with all our investigators, now it's really slow and everywhere else is going crazy. I just pray for one baptism this transfer and I'll be happy.
Conference was awesome! It was a whole lot different sitting and watching it in a chapel rather then at home while dad makes breakfast. It still was really good and really powerfull. I can't wait til the Ensign comes out so I can learn it all again! Like I said we didn't have any investigators come, but if they did they would have heard exactly what they needed to hear. Everytalk I thought of one of our investigators who that talk would especially help. Luckily I could watch them all in english and the one spanish building we did go to were showing both. Had that not been the case I don't think I would have had learned as much as I did.
That's about it for this week, we didn't teach very many cause a lot cancelled, our area did change to a car/bike area so I'll be using my bike a lot more. I hope everyone enjoyed conference, it was fun to see some boys I recognized in the aaronic priesthood choir for priesthood session. I didn't see any from our ward though, what's up with that?! 66th we gotta represent!
I did try to attach some pictures this time 174 is at Edwin's baptism, 188 is the baptism of the two boys sergio in blue and anthony in the suit. 200 a sign we found at a church in our area, pretty rockin right?! 202 The Avila-Hernandez family, Elder Amundsen's last day in the area. They were a less active family we've been having Family Night with. She makes some Chile Rellenos that blow Gecko's out of the water! One of my favorite family's in the area.
I hope that explained them well enough. I hope all is well back home, it's starting to get cooler here, we have to wear our jackets every night after 6:00. Hasta luego!
Elder Groves
Also he's testing me with my area. We had 3 people we wanted to see at church this week and all fell through. We did have a pretty good lesson with Salvador, we brought a member and her really seemed determined to follow through on everything we asked. We stopped by a couple days later un announced just to see how he's doing and all the fire and enthusiasm he had befor was gone. I called him saturday night to remind him about coming to church to watch a session of conference with us and he said he wasn't going to cause he had work. I kinda got frustrated and just told him that he needs to focus less on work and more on his spirituality. I hope he didn't get the wrong impression.
We've had a lot of hit and miss this week with all our investigators. It's tough, cause when I was with Elder Amundsen we were going nuts with all our investigators, now it's really slow and everywhere else is going crazy. I just pray for one baptism this transfer and I'll be happy.
Conference was awesome! It was a whole lot different sitting and watching it in a chapel rather then at home while dad makes breakfast. It still was really good and really powerfull. I can't wait til the Ensign comes out so I can learn it all again! Like I said we didn't have any investigators come, but if they did they would have heard exactly what they needed to hear. Everytalk I thought of one of our investigators who that talk would especially help. Luckily I could watch them all in english and the one spanish building we did go to were showing both. Had that not been the case I don't think I would have had learned as much as I did.
That's about it for this week, we didn't teach very many cause a lot cancelled, our area did change to a car/bike area so I'll be using my bike a lot more. I hope everyone enjoyed conference, it was fun to see some boys I recognized in the aaronic priesthood choir for priesthood session. I didn't see any from our ward though, what's up with that?! 66th we gotta represent!
I did try to attach some pictures this time 174 is at Edwin's baptism, 188 is the baptism of the two boys sergio in blue and anthony in the suit. 200 a sign we found at a church in our area, pretty rockin right?! 202 The Avila-Hernandez family, Elder Amundsen's last day in the area. They were a less active family we've been having Family Night with. She makes some Chile Rellenos that blow Gecko's out of the water! One of my favorite family's in the area.
I hope that explained them well enough. I hope all is well back home, it's starting to get cooler here, we have to wear our jackets every night after 6:00. Hasta luego!
Elder Groves
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