Elder LaRochelle & Elder Barnes
Sunday, December 20, 2015
30 Youth Referrals
From Dec 15...
Hey everyone! This week was pretty awesome but really busy! But before I tell you about my week we found out this morning that Elder Anderson is getting transferred and I'm staying!!! And I'm not training again! Yay back to 2 hours of study!
Last Wednesday I had a doctors appointment which is a 70 mile trip there and back! After that we went and saw a less active that a member of the ward told us to stop by! He was a really cool guy though! He has some horses and stuff in the back yard. After talking for 15 minutes he told us that we had to go because the rodeo was about to start on the TV haha.
Friday we had a mission tour with Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy! He was pretty awesome! We had to split the mission tour into two days because he had to go down to Tijuana to get ready for the temple open house!
So on Saturday we had the second part of the mission tour! It went until 5 pm and afterwards we had the ward Christmas party. Gerald our investigator wasn't at the party so we stopped by to see what was up and they told us that they only had enough gas to go to the church once so they chose to go to church the next day! It was so awesome to see them make the choice to go to church! Elder Anderson and I got some extra food from the party so we gave it to them since they couldn't go.
Sunday was a really good day! Elder Anderson and I taught all the youth about missionary work and got almost 30 referrals! It was awesome! The youth are definitely the best resource for missionary work in this ward!
I think that's it for this week. We didn't have a baptism Saturday Gerald, our investigator, went 5 days without smoking which is the best he has ever done! I'm excited that I'm staying in Ramona Oaks Ward!
Love you guys,
Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone! This week was pretty awesome but really busy! But before I tell you about my week we found out this morning that Elder Anderson is getting transferred and I'm staying!!! And I'm not training again! Yay back to 2 hours of study!
Last Wednesday I had a doctors appointment which is a 70 mile trip there and back! After that we went and saw a less active that a member of the ward told us to stop by! He was a really cool guy though! He has some horses and stuff in the back yard. After talking for 15 minutes he told us that we had to go because the rodeo was about to start on the TV haha.
Friday we had a mission tour with Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy! He was pretty awesome! We had to split the mission tour into two days because he had to go down to Tijuana to get ready for the temple open house!
So on Saturday we had the second part of the mission tour! It went until 5 pm and afterwards we had the ward Christmas party. Gerald our investigator wasn't at the party so we stopped by to see what was up and they told us that they only had enough gas to go to the church once so they chose to go to church the next day! It was so awesome to see them make the choice to go to church! Elder Anderson and I got some extra food from the party so we gave it to them since they couldn't go.
Sunday was a really good day! Elder Anderson and I taught all the youth about missionary work and got almost 30 referrals! It was awesome! The youth are definitely the best resource for missionary work in this ward!
I think that's it for this week. We didn't have a baptism Saturday Gerald, our investigator, went 5 days without smoking which is the best he has ever done! I'm excited that I'm staying in Ramona Oaks Ward!
Love you guys,
Elder LaRochelle
Slow Week
From Dec 8...
Hey everyone!
Kind of a slow week. Elder Anderson had his Senior week last week. Senior week is when the trainee takes over the area for a week, so he leads out in all finding teaching and planning activities. It's a pretty hard week for me haha, it's hard to sit back and let him make wrong choices sometimes, but he learn more by making mistakes. I was thinking about this on a larger scale with our Heavenly Father and how sometimes I think he just wants to come down to earth and take us by the hand to make sure we don't make dumb choices. He knows how important it is that we learn from our mistakes.
Elder Anderson and I are doing good. Transfers are next week! I'm probably leaving because Elder Anderson is done with training. I love Ramona though, there are a lot of amazing members up here. Hopefully Gerald gets baptized this Saturday! Pray that he will not start smoking again!
This week we have a mission tour from Elder Whitney L. Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy which is pretty cool. Other then that I don't have to much to share! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone!
Kind of a slow week. Elder Anderson had his Senior week last week. Senior week is when the trainee takes over the area for a week, so he leads out in all finding teaching and planning activities. It's a pretty hard week for me haha, it's hard to sit back and let him make wrong choices sometimes, but he learn more by making mistakes. I was thinking about this on a larger scale with our Heavenly Father and how sometimes I think he just wants to come down to earth and take us by the hand to make sure we don't make dumb choices. He knows how important it is that we learn from our mistakes.
Elder Anderson and I are doing good. Transfers are next week! I'm probably leaving because Elder Anderson is done with training. I love Ramona though, there are a lot of amazing members up here. Hopefully Gerald gets baptized this Saturday! Pray that he will not start smoking again!
This week we have a mission tour from Elder Whitney L. Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy which is pretty cool. Other then that I don't have to much to share! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder LaRochelle
Rough Week
From Nov 24...
So I don't have to much time this week. We had MTE (missionary training exchange) from yesterday to today. I went with Elder Augusto! Elder Augusto is from Portugal and he was trained by Elder Nielsen too. So in mission terms he is my brother haha.
So I don't have to much time this week. We had MTE (missionary training exchange) from yesterday to today. I went with Elder Augusto! Elder Augusto is from Portugal and he was trained by Elder Nielsen too. So in mission terms he is my brother haha.
Last Wednesday I
was on splits with Elder Seavey from Highland Valley Ward. At the end
of the day we went and saw Gerald and we were talking to him and I put
my iPad on top of the car and forgot about it. We finished talking
talking with him and I forgot I left it on top of the car and drove off. The iPad fell off the car when we were going like 60 mph so I broke
it... like really broke it haha. But it's all good. I talked to the
mission office and I have a loaner right now.
On Thursday we went on splits with members of the ward. Since my iPad was
broke I didn't have addresses for people so we went and saw people I knew
how to get to. We stopped by our investigators and it was like at 7:30
and I had the impression that it was probably too late and that we
shouldn't stop by. I told the member and he suggested that we leave a
note on the door so we do and he comes outside his house and yells at us
because it's too late and threatens us... it was pretty awkward haha but
its all good. The member that was with us just got off his mission.
On Friday Elder Anderson and I went on a hike and I stepped on a rock. My foot slipped and I hurt my ankle. Later that day we were doing
service and we were splitting wood and I was holding a wedge for Elder Anderson and he accidentally hit my hand which hurt pretty bad haha but
it's all good. It's getting better.
On Saturday we
fasted for our investigator that he would accept a baptism date. At the
end of the day after planning I got up to go change and I felt pretty
light-headed and then my body shut down and blacked out and fell on the
ground haha. Elder Anderson thought I was joking haha but luckily I didn't
hit my head on anything!
So yeah that was my
week haha. It was hard but its all good! I'm staying positive. sorry if
there is a lot of misspellings and stuff I didn't have a lot of time.
Love you
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Thanksgiving
From Dec 1...
Hey everyone this week was great! We are teaching a whole lot more and we have a lot more investigators! When we first got to the area we were barely teaching 10 lessons a week and now this past week we taught 25 so things are definitely picking up for sure!
Last Wednesday we had exchanges and Elder Schroeder came to my area and we had An awesome day and saw lots of miracles.
We made it a goal to talk to 20 people that day, we talked to 17 and got two potentials out of it and added two new investigators named Mike and Nancy! How we met Mike and Nancy was actually really cool. We went to a less active family's house and the male wasn't home but the wife said he should be back soon so we told her we would come back in 15 minutes. So we walked away and we were debating on knocking on some doors because it was 7:30 which is kinda late for Ramona, everyone usually shuts down at like 6pm. But we prayed about it and we were like eh what the heck the worst that will happen is that they will yell at us. So the first door we knocked on we met Mike and we asked if we could share a message and he was like sure! So he let us in and it was crazy because his wife walked in the room and didn't ask any questions and sat down and listened to it was pretty awesome!
Thursday was pretty awesome. We started the day by meeting as a zone to play football at 6:30 am. After that we had studies and then we had a zone thanksgiving lunch. The funny thing is that we set our zone lunch like it was a fancy thanksgiving dinner. We even had one of the elders play piano as everyone else walked in haha.
After that we had dinner with a recent convert and his family. Then we went and visited with some people that were spending the holidays by themselves.
Saturday we had a really good day we stopped by the Burns family to have a lesson with them and they told us that they couldn't do it today because he had to go fill sand bags because of recent flooding that happened here. So we offered to help him and we ended up filling like 100 sand bags which was A LOT haha. Afterwards we were able to have a lesson with them too!
On Sunday the new video for the church came out called A Savior is Born. The mission office gave us special pass along cards for it and we brought them all to church to try and invite members to hand them out. They took pretty much all of them haha. It was awesome!
That's pretty much it for this week! Things are going well here in Ramona! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Hey everyone this week was great! We are teaching a whole lot more and we have a lot more investigators! When we first got to the area we were barely teaching 10 lessons a week and now this past week we taught 25 so things are definitely picking up for sure!
Last Wednesday we had exchanges and Elder Schroeder came to my area and we had An awesome day and saw lots of miracles.
We made it a goal to talk to 20 people that day, we talked to 17 and got two potentials out of it and added two new investigators named Mike and Nancy! How we met Mike and Nancy was actually really cool. We went to a less active family's house and the male wasn't home but the wife said he should be back soon so we told her we would come back in 15 minutes. So we walked away and we were debating on knocking on some doors because it was 7:30 which is kinda late for Ramona, everyone usually shuts down at like 6pm. But we prayed about it and we were like eh what the heck the worst that will happen is that they will yell at us. So the first door we knocked on we met Mike and we asked if we could share a message and he was like sure! So he let us in and it was crazy because his wife walked in the room and didn't ask any questions and sat down and listened to it was pretty awesome!
Thursday was pretty awesome. We started the day by meeting as a zone to play football at 6:30 am. After that we had studies and then we had a zone thanksgiving lunch. The funny thing is that we set our zone lunch like it was a fancy thanksgiving dinner. We even had one of the elders play piano as everyone else walked in haha.
After that we had dinner with a recent convert and his family. Then we went and visited with some people that were spending the holidays by themselves.
Saturday we had a really good day we stopped by the Burns family to have a lesson with them and they told us that they couldn't do it today because he had to go fill sand bags because of recent flooding that happened here. So we offered to help him and we ended up filling like 100 sand bags which was A LOT haha. Afterwards we were able to have a lesson with them too!
On Sunday the new video for the church came out called A Savior is Born. The mission office gave us special pass along cards for it and we brought them all to church to try and invite members to hand them out. They took pretty much all of them haha. It was awesome!
That's pretty much it for this week! Things are going well here in Ramona! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Spiders & Snakes
From Nov 10...
Hey everyone!
This week has been pretty awesome! President challenged every companionship in the mission to add 10 investigators this past week. We added 3 which is more then we have added all transfer combined so it was pretty successful! President also challenged every companionship to set their goals to add the rest of the 10. We decided to set our goal to 10 again! We have some appointments with some families this week so it should go great!
This past week I was on splits with our ward mission leader. He is British so he was telling me about England and everything. We were walking to the car and there are no street lights in Ramona so as we were walking I felt something crawl on my foot. So as he was talking I go from totally chill to totally freaking out and shaking my foot all over the place and running toward the car haha. It was pretty funny and for the rest of the night he was laughing at me haha. I still have no idea what was on my foot. It could have been a tarantula or a snake. Last night we saw a little snake and when we shined a light it pretended to be dead haha.
Last night we went over our ward mission leader's house. They have 6 kids and they are all British. Elder Anderson and I challenged them to see who could teach the restoration faster. Elder Anderson and I taught it in 9 minutes. We told them that if they beat us we would buy them donuts haha. They ended up getting like 11 minutes haha they were all yelling over each other to teach it faster haha.
Something else that's pretty cool. We live with a family in the ward and their son came back into activity about a year ago and now he wants to serve a mission so I'm pretty much double training haha jk. But we are going to have comp study with him and he is going to come out with us and stuff which is pretty sweet.
Well I think that's it for this week! Keep praying that we will add people! Love you all! :)
-Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone!
This week has been pretty awesome! President challenged every companionship in the mission to add 10 investigators this past week. We added 3 which is more then we have added all transfer combined so it was pretty successful! President also challenged every companionship to set their goals to add the rest of the 10. We decided to set our goal to 10 again! We have some appointments with some families this week so it should go great!
This past week I was on splits with our ward mission leader. He is British so he was telling me about England and everything. We were walking to the car and there are no street lights in Ramona so as we were walking I felt something crawl on my foot. So as he was talking I go from totally chill to totally freaking out and shaking my foot all over the place and running toward the car haha. It was pretty funny and for the rest of the night he was laughing at me haha. I still have no idea what was on my foot. It could have been a tarantula or a snake. Last night we saw a little snake and when we shined a light it pretended to be dead haha.
Last night we went over our ward mission leader's house. They have 6 kids and they are all British. Elder Anderson and I challenged them to see who could teach the restoration faster. Elder Anderson and I taught it in 9 minutes. We told them that if they beat us we would buy them donuts haha. They ended up getting like 11 minutes haha they were all yelling over each other to teach it faster haha.
Something else that's pretty cool. We live with a family in the ward and their son came back into activity about a year ago and now he wants to serve a mission so I'm pretty much double training haha jk. But we are going to have comp study with him and he is going to come out with us and stuff which is pretty sweet.
Well I think that's it for this week! Keep praying that we will add people! Love you all! :)
-Elder LaRochelle
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
From Nov 3...
Hey everyone! This week was pretty great! Things are starting to pick up here in Ramona! This week we changed our prayers. We prayed very specifically and when we prayed we told Heavenly Father where we were going and what time and what he could do to help. We have also stepped up our planning. If we want to see miracles we need to have inspired plans. This week we were able to teach some potentials we have, we also added a new investigator named Nathan! He is member referred by our ward mission leaders daughter. It was awesome to teach him, he has been going to seminary for a couple months now so he is pretty awesome.
We are also still working with Gerald, he is having a hard time quitting smoking so if you could keep him in your prayers that would be awesome! We were setting specific dates with him to get baptized and it was helping him, but we feel like his wife is pressuring him too much. One thing that was great is that Gerald came to church, he hasn't been to church since Elder Anderson and I have gotten here but he was there on Sunday which was good.
On Friday we went to the trunk or treat and the whole zone decorated one trunk and handed out candy. As we were handing out candy I had a good idea to play hymns from the car haha. It was pretty cool actually. We also had a bunch of book of Mormons and pamphlets and stuff that we were giving away. At the end of the night we gave away like 10 Book of Mormons. It was pretty sweet and a lot of members came up to us and told us that we had the best trunk.
This past week we fasted that we could add 10 investigators this week. The whole mission fasted for this so if you could continue to pray for us that we can find people that are ready to hear the gospel. The ward is really awesome though, they are all doing missionary work and inviting their friends to do things.
Kinda a funny story this week. We went and saw the Cabrera's. Sister Cabrera has been doing some missionary work with her sister so we were going to go by and talk to her. So we pull into their driveway and we see our zone leaders car and we are like what the heck are they doing here, so we talk to brother Cabrera and he told us that they are in the back, so we walk around back and they are playing putt putt. The Cabrera's have a putting green in their back yard and our zone leaders were practicing haha.
Yesterday I went on exchanges with Elder Matos, one of my zone leaders, he came to my area and we had a good time and got a lot done.
Our hard work is paying off, we are seeing many blessing in The Ramona Oaks Ward. Thanks for everything you do :) love you all!
-Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone! This week was pretty great! Things are starting to pick up here in Ramona! This week we changed our prayers. We prayed very specifically and when we prayed we told Heavenly Father where we were going and what time and what he could do to help. We have also stepped up our planning. If we want to see miracles we need to have inspired plans. This week we were able to teach some potentials we have, we also added a new investigator named Nathan! He is member referred by our ward mission leaders daughter. It was awesome to teach him, he has been going to seminary for a couple months now so he is pretty awesome.
We are also still working with Gerald, he is having a hard time quitting smoking so if you could keep him in your prayers that would be awesome! We were setting specific dates with him to get baptized and it was helping him, but we feel like his wife is pressuring him too much. One thing that was great is that Gerald came to church, he hasn't been to church since Elder Anderson and I have gotten here but he was there on Sunday which was good.
On Friday we went to the trunk or treat and the whole zone decorated one trunk and handed out candy. As we were handing out candy I had a good idea to play hymns from the car haha. It was pretty cool actually. We also had a bunch of book of Mormons and pamphlets and stuff that we were giving away. At the end of the night we gave away like 10 Book of Mormons. It was pretty sweet and a lot of members came up to us and told us that we had the best trunk.
This past week we fasted that we could add 10 investigators this week. The whole mission fasted for this so if you could continue to pray for us that we can find people that are ready to hear the gospel. The ward is really awesome though, they are all doing missionary work and inviting their friends to do things.
Kinda a funny story this week. We went and saw the Cabrera's. Sister Cabrera has been doing some missionary work with her sister so we were going to go by and talk to her. So we pull into their driveway and we see our zone leaders car and we are like what the heck are they doing here, so we talk to brother Cabrera and he told us that they are in the back, so we walk around back and they are playing putt putt. The Cabrera's have a putting green in their back yard and our zone leaders were practicing haha.
Yesterday I went on exchanges with Elder Matos, one of my zone leaders, he came to my area and we had a good time and got a lot done.
Our hard work is paying off, we are seeing many blessing in The Ramona Oaks Ward. Thanks for everything you do :) love you all!
-Elder LaRochelle
From Oct 27....
Hey everyone so this week has been pretty interesting and a lot happened.
Last Tuesday was awesome. We had p-day with another zone and had a Nerf war. It was pretty fun. After p-day Elder Anderson and I made it a goal to talk to 10 people that night. That's something President has asked us to do. So we did! We talked to 10 people and we saw many miracles come from it!
On Wednesday morning we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Schroeder to his area. That morning we drove up to Julian to help someone do some service. Usually missionaries aren't allowed to go up to Julian because the branch up there doesn't want missionaries or new converts. But the lady we were doing service for is a nonmember and she has been having a really hard time. She is getting kicked out of her house, she has had 4 deaths in her family the past year, her car is broken down, she is getting divorced and she has 4 kids. A member of the church saw her crying in the parking lot and asked if everything was OK and she explained the situation to him and he gave her the missionaries number. We decided to go up there and help her and we tried to call some members in the Julian branch to help but none of them would. It was pretty sad. The next day we had interviews that morning and after interviews there was a member in one of the wards in Ramona that offered to help bring a refrigerator and a dryer up to her new house. After that we were really struggling to know how we could help her because we didn't have miles to drive back and forth between her houses to move things and we didn't know how we were going to get her stuff there. So we decided to pull over and pray. After we prayed we went to work and started packing her stuff and some other missionaries were making some phone calls and they called a member in their ward and asked them if they could help and they said they would love to. They told us that in their prayers that morning they prayed that they would have the opportunity to help someone else that day. They also called someone in the branch in Julian and they said they could help. It was really cool to see the hand of God in her life. It wasn't until we humbled ourselves and realized that we couldn't do it on our own that we felt like God had answered our prayers.
My exchange with Elder Schroeder was good though. We had a good time and he had a lot of questions for me because he is training right now too and he just got out of training.
On Friday we had district meeting. Elder Schroeder asked if I would teach so I taught district meeting which was fun. I taught on faith and the difference between the faith to try and the faith to do. I used the talk the "Faith to Reap" by Elder Bednar which was good.
Saturday was a good day!! That morning I went back to Santee to see Taylor Beitler get baptized which was awesome. Don baptized her and they asked me to talk about baptism at her baptism so it awesome!
Afterwards we had lunch with Elder Callahan and his companion. Elder Callahan is doing great though. He is a good missionary.
I think that's it for this week. Things in Ramona are starting to pick up though. I'm pretty excited. Well I hope you are all doing great love and miss you all :).
-Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone so this week has been pretty interesting and a lot happened.
Last Tuesday was awesome. We had p-day with another zone and had a Nerf war. It was pretty fun. After p-day Elder Anderson and I made it a goal to talk to 10 people that night. That's something President has asked us to do. So we did! We talked to 10 people and we saw many miracles come from it!
On Wednesday morning we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Schroeder to his area. That morning we drove up to Julian to help someone do some service. Usually missionaries aren't allowed to go up to Julian because the branch up there doesn't want missionaries or new converts. But the lady we were doing service for is a nonmember and she has been having a really hard time. She is getting kicked out of her house, she has had 4 deaths in her family the past year, her car is broken down, she is getting divorced and she has 4 kids. A member of the church saw her crying in the parking lot and asked if everything was OK and she explained the situation to him and he gave her the missionaries number. We decided to go up there and help her and we tried to call some members in the Julian branch to help but none of them would. It was pretty sad. The next day we had interviews that morning and after interviews there was a member in one of the wards in Ramona that offered to help bring a refrigerator and a dryer up to her new house. After that we were really struggling to know how we could help her because we didn't have miles to drive back and forth between her houses to move things and we didn't know how we were going to get her stuff there. So we decided to pull over and pray. After we prayed we went to work and started packing her stuff and some other missionaries were making some phone calls and they called a member in their ward and asked them if they could help and they said they would love to. They told us that in their prayers that morning they prayed that they would have the opportunity to help someone else that day. They also called someone in the branch in Julian and they said they could help. It was really cool to see the hand of God in her life. It wasn't until we humbled ourselves and realized that we couldn't do it on our own that we felt like God had answered our prayers.
My exchange with Elder Schroeder was good though. We had a good time and he had a lot of questions for me because he is training right now too and he just got out of training.
On Friday we had district meeting. Elder Schroeder asked if I would teach so I taught district meeting which was fun. I taught on faith and the difference between the faith to try and the faith to do. I used the talk the "Faith to Reap" by Elder Bednar which was good.
Saturday was a good day!! That morning I went back to Santee to see Taylor Beitler get baptized which was awesome. Don baptized her and they asked me to talk about baptism at her baptism so it awesome!
Afterwards we had lunch with Elder Callahan and his companion. Elder Callahan is doing great though. He is a good missionary.
I think that's it for this week. Things in Ramona are starting to pick up though. I'm pretty excited. Well I hope you are all doing great love and miss you all :).
-Elder LaRochelle
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Ribs
The cool thing about serving in Ramona is we get to go to a camp that the church owns up here. Elder Anderson and I were the first ones there so we went on a hike while waiting.
On Wednesday I went on to exchanges with Elder Seavey from the Highland Valley Ward. It was a pretty good day though. Since Elder Seavey is just as new as Elder Anderson he doesn't have his driving privileges yet so I was driving in his area too.
On Friday we did service for this older lady. She wanted us to cut down some trees in her yard, so we did and she didn't want the wood so we took it to our investigator Gerald because he sells wood in the winter for money.
Our investigator was supposed to have his baptism on Friday but couldn't quit smoking. So we are trying for this Saturday.
This past Saturday we had an awesome ward activity. Our ward mission leader is from England and he wanted to do a hoedown so bad and so the ward jumped on and decided they wanted to cook ribs too. We showed up to help set up for the activity and I some how got myself to the grill and I ended up cooking most of the ribs haha :P. It was fun though.
Sorry for the short email. Like I said not much exciting happened this week.
-Elder LaRochelle
Pie
FROM OCT 13 ...
On Sunday we were in ward council and the bishop bore his testimony in tears for like half the meeting talking about the importance of keeping the youth active and getting them on missions. I don't know if I mentioned this last week but the reason we got whitewashed into the area was because the bishop here didn't want to share his missionaries with another ward. He told the ward council that they need to get us to work and then like half the ward council told us about the missionary work they are doing! It's pretty crazy!
This week we also prepared for a baptism! We came to the area and the only investigator we had already passed his baptism interview he just needed to quit smoking. He really just needed to be invited to baptism because the 2nd time I met him we committed him to be baptized and he accepted and hasn't smoked since.
Things in Ramona are great! The people are awesome the work is picking up so I can't complain! :)
Hope things are going great back home!
Love you. The church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone this week has been interesting, good for the most part though. Elder Anderson and I are getting along pretty well. He is doing a good job adjusting and teaching.
On Wednesday I had a Dr. Appointment and we drove down another set of elders to the mission office because it was really close to my Dr. Appointment. Before we left we tried to get gas because the light was on and the car was only letting us put .9 of a gallon in the tank before it started over filling. So the gas tank was full but the meter said it was empty haha. So we decided to just drive it and see what happens. While we were at the mission office the fleet coordinator looked at the car and we scheduled an appointment to take it into the shop. We ended up driving all the way down there and back which was like 60 miles on empty haha I'm just destined to not have a car on my mission haha.
On Thursday the whole zone drove up to Julian to get some pie. Julian is pretty famous down here for their pie but the only bad thing is that it's in the middle of nowhere haha but it was good.
On Thursday the whole zone drove up to Julian to get some pie. Julian is pretty famous down here for their pie but the only bad thing is that it's in the middle of nowhere haha but it was good.
On Sunday we were in ward council and the bishop bore his testimony in tears for like half the meeting talking about the importance of keeping the youth active and getting them on missions. I don't know if I mentioned this last week but the reason we got whitewashed into the area was because the bishop here didn't want to share his missionaries with another ward. He told the ward council that they need to get us to work and then like half the ward council told us about the missionary work they are doing! It's pretty crazy!
This week we also prepared for a baptism! We came to the area and the only investigator we had already passed his baptism interview he just needed to quit smoking. He really just needed to be invited to baptism because the 2nd time I met him we committed him to be baptized and he accepted and hasn't smoked since.
Things in Ramona are great! The people are awesome the work is picking up so I can't complain! :)
Hope things are going great back home!
Love you. The church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Transfers and Tarantulas
FROM OCT 6 ...
First of all, last Wednesday day morning I got transferred! Me and Elder Anderson (who is my new trainee) got whitewashed into Ramona Oaks. The crazy thing about it is that Edler Nielsen (my dad) and Elder O'dell (my grandpa) got whitewashed and trained in this area a little over two years ago haha. So now I'm training my son in the same area where my dad got trained! Pretty crazy stuff! Oh and the other exciting thing is that I have a car again!!! My walking days are over, the curse has been lifted and the world seems a little brighter now haha :P.
So before we got to this area it was being double covered by the Ramona elders who are Elder Salmond (my MTC comp) and his trainee Elder Maughn which is pretty cool. So when we got to the area we got lunch with the rest of the zone and then we talked to the Ramona elders about the area and who they were working with and we have one investigator named Gerald who has been taught everything and has passed a baptism interview already he just has to quick smoking and he is doing a great job! He went from smoking a pack a day to smoking once every couple days.
After we talked to the Ramona elders we went to the church thinking that we would find the bishop there, and we did and got to talk to him and see what his vision is for the ward. The bishop here is on top of things! Last transfer president put Ramona and Ramona Oaks together and the bishop called President and told him that he needed his own set of missionaries so President was like OK and put us in the ward.
After we talked to bishop we called the ward mission leader and met with him and got to know him and get on the same page as him and he gave us some names of some people to stop by. This ward is pretty awesome, they are on top of things!
On Thursday afternoon we were planning on going by and seeing Gerald our one investigator. The tricky thing about Gerald is that he lives in a trailer on a Indian reservation so he doesn't really have an address. The Ramona elders gave us "directions" on how to get there and we ended up turning on some dirt path that looked like it was made for trucks. And Elder Anderson and I start driving on the trail and after an hour and a half passed by and we kept hitting dead end roads and after getting stuck in some spots we decided it's probably best to just leave and try to go with someone that knows where they are going haha.
On Friday we did service and then had district meeting which awesome because it was the first time I haven't led district meeting in like 6 months haha. I just got to sit back it was great.
Saturday and Sunday we had General conference and it was great! I have so many notes written down it was great! After conference on Sunday we decided to park the car and walk a little and as we were walking we saw a tarantula crossing the street! It was huge! It was bigger then my hand! It was pretty freaky! We went and saw a recent convert and told him and he was all casual about it like yeah they live around here haha. He told us that there are also scorpions up here but it's all good I have seen Indian Jones and I know that the little ones are the ones you have to be worried about haha.
I like this area so far! The ward and bishop love missionaries which is awesome! So far on my mission I have been in city areas and now I'm in a more rural area which is different but it's all good I like it! It might be the ruralest area but its probably the richest area! The houses up here are huge!
Well love you all! Hope to hear from you soon!
-Elder LaRochelle
First of all, last Wednesday day morning I got transferred! Me and Elder Anderson (who is my new trainee) got whitewashed into Ramona Oaks. The crazy thing about it is that Edler Nielsen (my dad) and Elder O'dell (my grandpa) got whitewashed and trained in this area a little over two years ago haha. So now I'm training my son in the same area where my dad got trained! Pretty crazy stuff! Oh and the other exciting thing is that I have a car again!!! My walking days are over, the curse has been lifted and the world seems a little brighter now haha :P.
So before we got to this area it was being double covered by the Ramona elders who are Elder Salmond (my MTC comp) and his trainee Elder Maughn which is pretty cool. So when we got to the area we got lunch with the rest of the zone and then we talked to the Ramona elders about the area and who they were working with and we have one investigator named Gerald who has been taught everything and has passed a baptism interview already he just has to quick smoking and he is doing a great job! He went from smoking a pack a day to smoking once every couple days.
After we talked to the Ramona elders we went to the church thinking that we would find the bishop there, and we did and got to talk to him and see what his vision is for the ward. The bishop here is on top of things! Last transfer president put Ramona and Ramona Oaks together and the bishop called President and told him that he needed his own set of missionaries so President was like OK and put us in the ward.
After we talked to bishop we called the ward mission leader and met with him and got to know him and get on the same page as him and he gave us some names of some people to stop by. This ward is pretty awesome, they are on top of things!
On Thursday afternoon we were planning on going by and seeing Gerald our one investigator. The tricky thing about Gerald is that he lives in a trailer on a Indian reservation so he doesn't really have an address. The Ramona elders gave us "directions" on how to get there and we ended up turning on some dirt path that looked like it was made for trucks. And Elder Anderson and I start driving on the trail and after an hour and a half passed by and we kept hitting dead end roads and after getting stuck in some spots we decided it's probably best to just leave and try to go with someone that knows where they are going haha.
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| Car Stuck on the Reservation |
The crazy thing is as we were leaving the Ramona Elders drove by and we called them and they showed us where to go and we weren't even close haha XD.
On Friday we did service and then had district meeting which awesome because it was the first time I haven't led district meeting in like 6 months haha. I just got to sit back it was great.
Saturday and Sunday we had General conference and it was great! I have so many notes written down it was great! After conference on Sunday we decided to park the car and walk a little and as we were walking we saw a tarantula crossing the street! It was huge! It was bigger then my hand! It was pretty freaky! We went and saw a recent convert and told him and he was all casual about it like yeah they live around here haha. He told us that there are also scorpions up here but it's all good I have seen Indian Jones and I know that the little ones are the ones you have to be worried about haha.
I like this area so far! The ward and bishop love missionaries which is awesome! So far on my mission I have been in city areas and now I'm in a more rural area which is different but it's all good I like it! It might be the ruralest area but its probably the richest area! The houses up here are huge!
Well love you all! Hope to hear from you soon!
-Elder LaRochelle
Monday, September 28, 2015
Cutting Your Own Hair - Bad Idea (No Pictures)
This past week has been pretty busy. Elder Callahan and I are doing alright. I'm probably getting transferred next week so I'm just getting Elder Callahan ready to take over the area. This past week Elder Callahan had what's called "senior week". It's when he takes over the area for the week, he takes lead in all teaching and planning activities. It went alright, some trainers take this pretty seriously and act like they don't know anything. I didn't do that, Elder Callahan did alright though. It was a good experience to see what he is good at and what he needs to improve on.
Tuesday we stopped by a less active's house to see if he was home and he wasn't but on our way out we talked to this guy that was moving and we asked if he needed any help. He said that we could come by on Wednesday to help them clean up after everything is moved out. So the next day we show up and he isn't there and we are waiting and waiting and still no one shows up and we end up asking this girl if she knows when he is coming back and she told us that she didn't. While we were talking to her I saw that she had Utah license plates so I asked if she was a member of the church and she told us that she is a member which was cool so we got her information and are going to try to meet with her and her husband sometime. The guy we were going to help never showed up though which stinks but it's alright.
That night the zone leaders asked if I would help them give interviews for a family from the other district. The family that needed an interview are from the Spanish branch. Luckily the guy I interviewed knew a lot of English and I didn't need an interpreter. The guy I interviewed was pretty amazing though. I sat down with him and just asked him a couple questions to get to know him a little and he just opened up to me and started telling me all about his back story and how he got caught up in all this bad stuff. He told me about how he made the decision to change. He said that one day he was at a party at his house and his ex wife called and told him that he needed to watch their kid and so he kicked everyone out and when his son came over he just broke down and realized that he needed to change. A couple months after that he met the missionaries and now he has a desire to help other people that are struggling with the same kind of problems. It was probably the coolest interview I have done on my mission.
Thursday we did service for the Stewart's. We are making a retention walls for them. Apparently we have a huge rain storm coming and they have a lot of areas in there backyard where the dirt is washing away so we are using a jackhammer and destroying slopes and putting up walls. We have helped them a couple times before and we used to take turns using the jackhammer, but the thing weighs like 80 and people have a hard time carrying it around so now I use it pretty much the
whole time which is alright I guess.
Later that day we were riding our bikes and these 3 kids stop us and start asking us questions about church and everything which is really cool. Then this guy pulls over and starts yelling at us and the kids about how our church isn't true and everything. The kids just walk away and this guy just keeps going and going and going haha and Elder Callahan and I were getting kinda frustrated and just wanted to leave.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Conrad. He is a trainee in Lakeside. It was a pretty good day though. Elder Conrad;s comp goes home at the end of the transfer and he has only been in the mission for 6 weeks now. We also had d meet that day. I asked Elder Schmidt to teach since he goes home in a week so it was good. Saturday morning was kinda crazy. We were supposed to exchange back at 12. But Elder Callahan and Elder Schmidt were stuck at a service project and each of us had an appointment at 1 pm so Elder Conrad and I had to double cover for an hour or two which was kinda crazy.
So for the past couple of months I have been giving myself my own haircuts and I have given other people some haircuts as well. So last night I gave Elder Callahan a hair cut and then I gave myself a hair cut. I was finishing up and I was going to go over the top with again with an 8 and I forgot to take the 2 out before I started so now my whole head is a 2. I found out that I don't look good with a buzz cut haha XD. It kinda stinks but it's all good. It will grow back.
Well love you all hope to hear from you soon!
-Elder LaRochelle
Tuesday we stopped by a less active's house to see if he was home and he wasn't but on our way out we talked to this guy that was moving and we asked if he needed any help. He said that we could come by on Wednesday to help them clean up after everything is moved out. So the next day we show up and he isn't there and we are waiting and waiting and still no one shows up and we end up asking this girl if she knows when he is coming back and she told us that she didn't. While we were talking to her I saw that she had Utah license plates so I asked if she was a member of the church and she told us that she is a member which was cool so we got her information and are going to try to meet with her and her husband sometime. The guy we were going to help never showed up though which stinks but it's alright.
That night the zone leaders asked if I would help them give interviews for a family from the other district. The family that needed an interview are from the Spanish branch. Luckily the guy I interviewed knew a lot of English and I didn't need an interpreter. The guy I interviewed was pretty amazing though. I sat down with him and just asked him a couple questions to get to know him a little and he just opened up to me and started telling me all about his back story and how he got caught up in all this bad stuff. He told me about how he made the decision to change. He said that one day he was at a party at his house and his ex wife called and told him that he needed to watch their kid and so he kicked everyone out and when his son came over he just broke down and realized that he needed to change. A couple months after that he met the missionaries and now he has a desire to help other people that are struggling with the same kind of problems. It was probably the coolest interview I have done on my mission.
Thursday we did service for the Stewart's. We are making a retention walls for them. Apparently we have a huge rain storm coming and they have a lot of areas in there backyard where the dirt is washing away so we are using a jackhammer and destroying slopes and putting up walls. We have helped them a couple times before and we used to take turns using the jackhammer, but the thing weighs like 80 and people have a hard time carrying it around so now I use it pretty much the
whole time which is alright I guess.
Later that day we were riding our bikes and these 3 kids stop us and start asking us questions about church and everything which is really cool. Then this guy pulls over and starts yelling at us and the kids about how our church isn't true and everything. The kids just walk away and this guy just keeps going and going and going haha and Elder Callahan and I were getting kinda frustrated and just wanted to leave.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Conrad. He is a trainee in Lakeside. It was a pretty good day though. Elder Conrad;s comp goes home at the end of the transfer and he has only been in the mission for 6 weeks now. We also had d meet that day. I asked Elder Schmidt to teach since he goes home in a week so it was good. Saturday morning was kinda crazy. We were supposed to exchange back at 12. But Elder Callahan and Elder Schmidt were stuck at a service project and each of us had an appointment at 1 pm so Elder Conrad and I had to double cover for an hour or two which was kinda crazy.
So for the past couple of months I have been giving myself my own haircuts and I have given other people some haircuts as well. So last night I gave Elder Callahan a hair cut and then I gave myself a hair cut. I was finishing up and I was going to go over the top with again with an 8 and I forgot to take the 2 out before I started so now my whole head is a 2. I found out that I don't look good with a buzz cut haha XD. It kinda stinks but it's all good. It will grow back.
Well love you all hope to hear from you soon!
-Elder LaRochelle
Zone Conf Pics
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| Pres Schmitt with the Zone |
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| Purple Tie Day |
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| You might recall that Elder L & his companion were the passengers. |
Zone Conference and Heat Exhaustion
From September 15 ...
This week was alright. We are definitely seeing the area improve and the bikes are definitely helping us get more done. The bad thing is that it's been so hot lately. Most of the week it's been in the 100s.
Last Tuesday we didn't do anything to exciting we just played sports with another zone. After p day our appointment cancelled so we spent most of the night contacting less actives and formers on this one sketchy street haha. This drunk lady tried to bash with us which was really funny haha. This one time this guy was yelling something at us so we decided to go talk to him and when we started Walking toward him he started walking away from us haha.
On Wednesday we got a call from an administrator from an assisted living place who is a member of the church and he wanted 6 copies of the Book of Mormon so I strapped 4 of them to my bike and biked uphill in over 100 degree weather up there haha. We actually talk to quite a few people that live there that are less active. There's this one lady that can't hear at all pretty much so we type everything out on our iPad for her. She forgot that she was baptized which is super funny. We told her that she was baptized and she was like "oh... Well I guess I need to stop being bad and go to church" if it only was that easy for everyone we teach haha XD.
On Wednesday we also made progress with one of our investigators. He has a smoking and drinking problem and the past few months he hasn't really made an effort to quit but he knows he needs too. Usually we would have dropped him but I felt like we shouldn't drop him yet. We recently discovered the videos the church has put out for the 12 steps to addiction recovery. When I saw those videos I knew this is what he needs to quit. So we introduced him to the 12 step program that the church has and he actually made a goal to cut back on smoking and drinking. He even committed to stop drinking coffee! It was pretty amazing!
Thursday we had dinner with the Beitlers! They are doing great and they should be getting callings pretty soon which is awesome! We brought their home teacher with us and he is a super solid member. After dinner we went on splits and I went with the Beitlers home teacher to see a returning less active to get him ready for the priesthood and temple. This less active just recently got out of prison and he is making efforts to do what's right and surround himself with good people.
On Friday morning I woke up and just felt not good. I felt exhausted and weak and my stomach kinda felt irritated. I thought it was going to go away so we started our day off by borrowing the Spanish elders car while they were in district meeting. We tried some people that we don't get to very often because they live further away. We tried a couple people and no success and I said a prayer in my heart and asking Heavenly Father where we should go right now and we drove by a house of a less active that I had previously tried before and didn't seem to interested. When I saw the house I felt the spirit and I knew that's where we needed to be. So we pulled over and knocked on the door and no answer and we heard someone in the back yard so we peaked over the fence and asked if Yvonne was there and she told us that she was Yvonne and at first she told us that she wasn't interested and I just asked her a few questions and I testified to her that we weren't here by accident and that God had sent us. Then she opened up to us and told us that she has been struggling recently and she had actually prayed out loud and asked Heavenly Father to send her a sign and to send her help and then we show up. I once again testified to her that this is not a mistake and that God had sent us here to help her. It was a really cool experience and she is going to talk to her non member husband about us coming over to talk with them.
After we returned the car I continued to feel weak and sick and we figured out that I had a pretty bad case of heat exhaustion from being out in 100 degree weather a lot. So we went and got some medicine and rested for an hour or so. After that I felt a lot better and we had an amazing lesson with a lady and her less active husband. He is doing great and is making an effort to do what he needs to do to become worthy again which is awesome. We talked to the bishop and we are going to get them both temple recommends to do baptism at the temple.
Sunday we had a ward missionary fireside and president Schmitt spoke. It was pretty awesome. Lately president Schmitt has been enforcing having lessons in members homes and the fireside was at a members house which was good. The fireside was in the members backyard and they had a fireplace and a coy pond and stuff it was really nice.
Yesterday we had Z-Conf and it was long but really good. We took pictures.
Talk to you later
-Elder LaRochelle
This week was alright. We are definitely seeing the area improve and the bikes are definitely helping us get more done. The bad thing is that it's been so hot lately. Most of the week it's been in the 100s.
Last Tuesday we didn't do anything to exciting we just played sports with another zone. After p day our appointment cancelled so we spent most of the night contacting less actives and formers on this one sketchy street haha. This drunk lady tried to bash with us which was really funny haha. This one time this guy was yelling something at us so we decided to go talk to him and when we started Walking toward him he started walking away from us haha.
On Wednesday we got a call from an administrator from an assisted living place who is a member of the church and he wanted 6 copies of the Book of Mormon so I strapped 4 of them to my bike and biked uphill in over 100 degree weather up there haha. We actually talk to quite a few people that live there that are less active. There's this one lady that can't hear at all pretty much so we type everything out on our iPad for her. She forgot that she was baptized which is super funny. We told her that she was baptized and she was like "oh... Well I guess I need to stop being bad and go to church" if it only was that easy for everyone we teach haha XD.
On Wednesday we also made progress with one of our investigators. He has a smoking and drinking problem and the past few months he hasn't really made an effort to quit but he knows he needs too. Usually we would have dropped him but I felt like we shouldn't drop him yet. We recently discovered the videos the church has put out for the 12 steps to addiction recovery. When I saw those videos I knew this is what he needs to quit. So we introduced him to the 12 step program that the church has and he actually made a goal to cut back on smoking and drinking. He even committed to stop drinking coffee! It was pretty amazing!
Thursday we had dinner with the Beitlers! They are doing great and they should be getting callings pretty soon which is awesome! We brought their home teacher with us and he is a super solid member. After dinner we went on splits and I went with the Beitlers home teacher to see a returning less active to get him ready for the priesthood and temple. This less active just recently got out of prison and he is making efforts to do what's right and surround himself with good people.
On Friday morning I woke up and just felt not good. I felt exhausted and weak and my stomach kinda felt irritated. I thought it was going to go away so we started our day off by borrowing the Spanish elders car while they were in district meeting. We tried some people that we don't get to very often because they live further away. We tried a couple people and no success and I said a prayer in my heart and asking Heavenly Father where we should go right now and we drove by a house of a less active that I had previously tried before and didn't seem to interested. When I saw the house I felt the spirit and I knew that's where we needed to be. So we pulled over and knocked on the door and no answer and we heard someone in the back yard so we peaked over the fence and asked if Yvonne was there and she told us that she was Yvonne and at first she told us that she wasn't interested and I just asked her a few questions and I testified to her that we weren't here by accident and that God had sent us. Then she opened up to us and told us that she has been struggling recently and she had actually prayed out loud and asked Heavenly Father to send her a sign and to send her help and then we show up. I once again testified to her that this is not a mistake and that God had sent us here to help her. It was a really cool experience and she is going to talk to her non member husband about us coming over to talk with them.
After we returned the car I continued to feel weak and sick and we figured out that I had a pretty bad case of heat exhaustion from being out in 100 degree weather a lot. So we went and got some medicine and rested for an hour or so. After that I felt a lot better and we had an amazing lesson with a lady and her less active husband. He is doing great and is making an effort to do what he needs to do to become worthy again which is awesome. We talked to the bishop and we are going to get them both temple recommends to do baptism at the temple.
Sunday we had a ward missionary fireside and president Schmitt spoke. It was pretty awesome. Lately president Schmitt has been enforcing having lessons in members homes and the fireside was at a members house which was good. The fireside was in the members backyard and they had a fireplace and a coy pond and stuff it was really nice.
Yesterday we had Z-Conf and it was long but really good. We took pictures.
Talk to you later
-Elder LaRochelle
Another Busy Week
From September 6 ......
Hey everyone! This week was pretty slow. We have been spending a lot of time finding new people to teach. We have also been dropping some people that weren't progressing. It's all good though it was a good week!
Last Tuesday we went bowling. We invited a less active and a couple of recent converts to come with us, but the less active ended up having to take his mom to the hospital. It what was fun though.
On Wednesday we went and volunteered at the food bank which was fun. They always give us a box of food after we finish helping them which is pretty cool.
So we had a strange thing happen this week and the story starts a couple weeks ago when Elder Callahan and I borrowed a car for the night. We had some people the high priest group leader wanted us to go see. We pull into this mobile home park and we were trying to contact a less active that lived in the park but we didn't have the mobile home number so we just asked the first person we saw and asked if they knew this girl we were looking for. When we asked this guy he told us that the girl we were looking for lived at that mobile mobile home which was pretty cool. He went to go get her and Elder Callahan and I looked at each other and we were like this is a pretty sweet miracle!
When the girl came out we told her that the high priest group leader asked us to stop by and see her and she looked super confused. I saw that she was confused and was like do you not know who the high priest group leader is and she shook her head no still looking confused so I was like do you even know who missionaries are and she shook her head no and was like I think you have the wrong person and walked away haha it was really awkward.
So this is when gets even more weird. Later on Wednesday we get a call from an unknown number asking if we could help him move a pool table. I was like sure...? Haha so he comes and picks us up and he ends up being a member of the church from Jamul. He told us that his brother in law lives in our ward and that's how he got our number. So we are driving and we pull into the same mobile home park where the girl lives and Elder Callahan and I look at each other like "there's no way it's the same place." There are like 100 mobile homes and there's no way it's the same one. So obviously we end up going to the same exact place with the girl that had no idea who we were haha. It was pretty awkward. No one said anything about it though. We all just avoided the situation haha. I feel kinda bad that we didn't bring it up. We were probably brought there to talk to her about the gospel. If it's meant to happen maybe we will run into her again haha.
On Friday we had zone meeting which was pretty awesome. Elder Callahan gave a "stepp" talk which is a short talk we have to prepare every month on a certain topic that President Schmitt decides. "Stepp" stands for scripture, testimony, experience, preach my gospel quote, and a promise. Elder Callahan did a great job for his first time though.
After zone meeting we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Godby came to Bostonia with me and Elder Callahan went with Elder Binkley. Elder Godby said he was pretty excited to be in a biking area for the day. Because of how our appointments were scheduled we ended up biking A LOT. At the end of the day he was like "I want to go back to my car area" haha. We had a really good day though. We saw quite a few people. One cool experience we had was when we were biking we passed by a less active's house that I have been to once before, and I felt like we needed to turn around and go see him so we did. When we stopped by the dad came outside and talked with us for a little bit and he told us that he had been struggling lately and he was glad that we came by and he said that he really needed us to come by and talk with him. I thought that was really awesome :).
We had dinner with the Beitlers that night and we taught Taylor about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about how God gives us so many blessings like the ability to repent and be baptized and to have the Holy Ghost with us to help us. After we were done teaching her we asked her if she had any questions and she asked "so if God gives us so much how can I show my appreciation back to him?" My jaw dropped haha, I couldn't believe that a 10 year old just asked me that question haha. The Beitler family is so amazing! I just want to take them to every appointment and just have them see all the less actives and investigators we are teaching just tell them listen to the Beitlers haha.
On Saturday we had an interesting experience, we were riding our bikes and I put my bike in 1st gear because we were going up a hill and the shifter ended up inside my bike tire haha It's a little messed up now but I pulled over to the side of the road and I told Elder Callahan that I was going to ask the person that lives in the house that we broke down next to if I can use her tools real quick. I walked up to the gate and there was a lock on the gate but it wasn't locked so I took it off and went into her yard and Elder Callahan was like we probably shouldn't go in her yard but I felt like it was going to be OK. I walked up to the front door and knocked and there was no answer so I walked around back into the back yard and we found an older lady there. We asked if we could use her tools and she was like "sure!" Haha she told us to go on the other side of her house here is a shed where we can get some tools so we walked over there and borrowed some of her tools and talked with her for a second and she told us that she has family that is part of the church and we talked a little more and offered to help her do service. We are going to go back sometime soon and drop off some cookies and see if we can talk to her some more.
Sunday was a pretty good day! Sister Beitler told us how she feels like no one really knows who she is at church. So we told her that if she bore her testimony then everyone would know who she was haha. She was like yeahh I'm good, so we told her that we would bare our testimonies if she did and she was deal! We bore our testimonies first and then she went and she did an awesome job! Brother and sister Beitler both have very powerful testimonies. Don actually got the priesthood on Sunday and both brother and sister Beitler got their temple recommends on Sunday which is awesome! After church we went over and we set up lds.org accounts for them and got them started on family history. Don put his grandfather's name in and then it expanded out a lot which was awesome! It got them both pretty excited to do more family history haha. Nhulong also got the priesthood and his temple recommend on Sunday which is awesome.
Yesterday the ward had a temple trip. The temple is usually closed on Monday but they opened it yesterday for Labor Day which was cool. The ward scheduled a couple of endowment sessions and to do baptisms for the dead so we went with the Beitlers and Nhulong. The temple was SUPER busy yesterday but everyone had a good time and there were a lot of people from the ward there which was awesome.
Things are going great here in Bostonia! Hope you are all doing alright. Hope to hear from you soon :).
Elder Chris LaRochelle
7404 Armstrong Pl.
San Diego, California 92111
Just in case you forgot my address ;P
-Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone! This week was pretty slow. We have been spending a lot of time finding new people to teach. We have also been dropping some people that weren't progressing. It's all good though it was a good week!
Last Tuesday we went bowling. We invited a less active and a couple of recent converts to come with us, but the less active ended up having to take his mom to the hospital. It what was fun though.
On Wednesday we went and volunteered at the food bank which was fun. They always give us a box of food after we finish helping them which is pretty cool.
So we had a strange thing happen this week and the story starts a couple weeks ago when Elder Callahan and I borrowed a car for the night. We had some people the high priest group leader wanted us to go see. We pull into this mobile home park and we were trying to contact a less active that lived in the park but we didn't have the mobile home number so we just asked the first person we saw and asked if they knew this girl we were looking for. When we asked this guy he told us that the girl we were looking for lived at that mobile mobile home which was pretty cool. He went to go get her and Elder Callahan and I looked at each other and we were like this is a pretty sweet miracle!
When the girl came out we told her that the high priest group leader asked us to stop by and see her and she looked super confused. I saw that she was confused and was like do you not know who the high priest group leader is and she shook her head no still looking confused so I was like do you even know who missionaries are and she shook her head no and was like I think you have the wrong person and walked away haha it was really awkward.
So this is when gets even more weird. Later on Wednesday we get a call from an unknown number asking if we could help him move a pool table. I was like sure...? Haha so he comes and picks us up and he ends up being a member of the church from Jamul. He told us that his brother in law lives in our ward and that's how he got our number. So we are driving and we pull into the same mobile home park where the girl lives and Elder Callahan and I look at each other like "there's no way it's the same place." There are like 100 mobile homes and there's no way it's the same one. So obviously we end up going to the same exact place with the girl that had no idea who we were haha. It was pretty awkward. No one said anything about it though. We all just avoided the situation haha. I feel kinda bad that we didn't bring it up. We were probably brought there to talk to her about the gospel. If it's meant to happen maybe we will run into her again haha.
On Friday we had zone meeting which was pretty awesome. Elder Callahan gave a "stepp" talk which is a short talk we have to prepare every month on a certain topic that President Schmitt decides. "Stepp" stands for scripture, testimony, experience, preach my gospel quote, and a promise. Elder Callahan did a great job for his first time though.
After zone meeting we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Godby came to Bostonia with me and Elder Callahan went with Elder Binkley. Elder Godby said he was pretty excited to be in a biking area for the day. Because of how our appointments were scheduled we ended up biking A LOT. At the end of the day he was like "I want to go back to my car area" haha. We had a really good day though. We saw quite a few people. One cool experience we had was when we were biking we passed by a less active's house that I have been to once before, and I felt like we needed to turn around and go see him so we did. When we stopped by the dad came outside and talked with us for a little bit and he told us that he had been struggling lately and he was glad that we came by and he said that he really needed us to come by and talk with him. I thought that was really awesome :).
We had dinner with the Beitlers that night and we taught Taylor about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about how God gives us so many blessings like the ability to repent and be baptized and to have the Holy Ghost with us to help us. After we were done teaching her we asked her if she had any questions and she asked "so if God gives us so much how can I show my appreciation back to him?" My jaw dropped haha, I couldn't believe that a 10 year old just asked me that question haha. The Beitler family is so amazing! I just want to take them to every appointment and just have them see all the less actives and investigators we are teaching just tell them listen to the Beitlers haha.
On Saturday we had an interesting experience, we were riding our bikes and I put my bike in 1st gear because we were going up a hill and the shifter ended up inside my bike tire haha It's a little messed up now but I pulled over to the side of the road and I told Elder Callahan that I was going to ask the person that lives in the house that we broke down next to if I can use her tools real quick. I walked up to the gate and there was a lock on the gate but it wasn't locked so I took it off and went into her yard and Elder Callahan was like we probably shouldn't go in her yard but I felt like it was going to be OK. I walked up to the front door and knocked and there was no answer so I walked around back into the back yard and we found an older lady there. We asked if we could use her tools and she was like "sure!" Haha she told us to go on the other side of her house here is a shed where we can get some tools so we walked over there and borrowed some of her tools and talked with her for a second and she told us that she has family that is part of the church and we talked a little more and offered to help her do service. We are going to go back sometime soon and drop off some cookies and see if we can talk to her some more.
Sunday was a pretty good day! Sister Beitler told us how she feels like no one really knows who she is at church. So we told her that if she bore her testimony then everyone would know who she was haha. She was like yeahh I'm good, so we told her that we would bare our testimonies if she did and she was deal! We bore our testimonies first and then she went and she did an awesome job! Brother and sister Beitler both have very powerful testimonies. Don actually got the priesthood on Sunday and both brother and sister Beitler got their temple recommends on Sunday which is awesome! After church we went over and we set up lds.org accounts for them and got them started on family history. Don put his grandfather's name in and then it expanded out a lot which was awesome! It got them both pretty excited to do more family history haha. Nhulong also got the priesthood and his temple recommend on Sunday which is awesome.
Yesterday the ward had a temple trip. The temple is usually closed on Monday but they opened it yesterday for Labor Day which was cool. The ward scheduled a couple of endowment sessions and to do baptisms for the dead so we went with the Beitlers and Nhulong. The temple was SUPER busy yesterday but everyone had a good time and there were a lot of people from the ward there which was awesome.
Things are going great here in Bostonia! Hope you are all doing alright. Hope to hear from you soon :).
Elder Chris LaRochelle
7404 Armstrong Pl.
San Diego, California 92111
Just in case you forgot my address ;P
-Elder LaRochelle
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Nhulong got baptized!!!
This week has been pretty awesome. Elder Callahan and I have been working really hard on finding new people to teach since all of our solid investigators are baptized now. The bikes we inherited last week are helping us a lot. We are able to get around faster now and see more people. We actually taught more lessons this week then we have any other week that I have been here which is great!
Last Tuesday we went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead which was awesome! While we were down there I got Don and his daughter Taylor each a set of the pocket set of scriptures because they wanted a full set of scriptures. When we went to drop them off Elder Callahan and I played a joke and pulled out the huge set of scriptures that we give to people that can't read small print. When we gave the big set to them they were like thanks... Haha it was pretty funny.
On Thursday we did service for the Stewart family. The Stewarts are Nhulong's fellowshippers. The Stewart's just moved here not to long ago and they needed some major work done on their yard. Since we don't get a whole lot of rain here people's homes aren't really made to withstand lots of rain. So we had to build a wall just in case so there house doesn't flood.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Schmidt in his area which was good. He is training as well so we stuck the two new guys together in the walking area haha :P. Elder Schmidt goes home at the end of the transfer but training is keeping him from slacking off which is good. Elder Callahan did a good job taking over the area while I was gone and got a lot done which is good.
Saturday was an awesome day. Nhulong got baptized!!! His baptism went well and he had a lot of non members there which was awesome. After the baptism one his friends moms came up to us and asked if she could have a Book of Mormon in Mandarin Chinese and it just so happens that Elder Callahan carries around a Book of Mormon in Mandarin Chinese just in case. Haha, just kidding. We told her that we would get one as soon as we could.
On Sunday we had 3 confirmations! Don and Amber had to wait until this week to get confirmed because of stake conference last week. But it's all good. It was good for the ward to see that we are doing work here. On Sunday Nhulong's friend's mom (the same one that wanted a Chinese Book of Mormon) came to church which was really cool! We are seeing a lot of cool blessings here in San Diego :).
Yesterday was pretty normal. We had our old lady lunch in yesterday. That when the missionaries in the stake have lunch with older people in the stake. They are usually a lot of fun though. It's pretty funny usually at the lunch all the missionaries sit together and then the older people sit together and we tried to mix it up this time and sit with the older people and they yelled at us and told us that the missionaries sit at their own table haha XD. It kinda funny but after we eat we sing to them and share a message. After lunch we went to this nursing home where we teach quite a few people that can't make it to church. Pamela also lives there. She got baptized not too long ago.
Yesterday we actually added a lady that lives there that can't hear very well. So we had to type out things we wanted to ask her on our iPads in huge lettering. It was a pretty weird lesson but we gave her a large print Book of Mormon and she asked how much it costed and I told her it was free and she thought I said 3 but she eventually figured out what we meant. She also asked for a large print bible so we told her that we would bring her one next time and she asked how much it was again and I told her that it was free and she thought I said 3 again haha. It was an interesting lesson but she wants to read the Book of Mormon and we invited her to pray to know if it's true.
Well that's it for this week. Hope you are all doing well. Keep Elder Callahan and I in your prayers that we will be able to find people that are ready to accept the gospel. I know this church is true!
Love,
-Elder LaRochelle
Last Tuesday we went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead which was awesome! While we were down there I got Don and his daughter Taylor each a set of the pocket set of scriptures because they wanted a full set of scriptures. When we went to drop them off Elder Callahan and I played a joke and pulled out the huge set of scriptures that we give to people that can't read small print. When we gave the big set to them they were like thanks... Haha it was pretty funny.
On Thursday we did service for the Stewart family. The Stewarts are Nhulong's fellowshippers. The Stewart's just moved here not to long ago and they needed some major work done on their yard. Since we don't get a whole lot of rain here people's homes aren't really made to withstand lots of rain. So we had to build a wall just in case so there house doesn't flood.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Schmidt in his area which was good. He is training as well so we stuck the two new guys together in the walking area haha :P. Elder Schmidt goes home at the end of the transfer but training is keeping him from slacking off which is good. Elder Callahan did a good job taking over the area while I was gone and got a lot done which is good.
Saturday was an awesome day. Nhulong got baptized!!! His baptism went well and he had a lot of non members there which was awesome. After the baptism one his friends moms came up to us and asked if she could have a Book of Mormon in Mandarin Chinese and it just so happens that Elder Callahan carries around a Book of Mormon in Mandarin Chinese just in case. Haha, just kidding. We told her that we would get one as soon as we could.
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| Nhulong is actually 14. He looks a lot younger. |
On Sunday we had 3 confirmations! Don and Amber had to wait until this week to get confirmed because of stake conference last week. But it's all good. It was good for the ward to see that we are doing work here. On Sunday Nhulong's friend's mom (the same one that wanted a Chinese Book of Mormon) came to church which was really cool! We are seeing a lot of cool blessings here in San Diego :).
Yesterday was pretty normal. We had our old lady lunch in yesterday. That when the missionaries in the stake have lunch with older people in the stake. They are usually a lot of fun though. It's pretty funny usually at the lunch all the missionaries sit together and then the older people sit together and we tried to mix it up this time and sit with the older people and they yelled at us and told us that the missionaries sit at their own table haha XD. It kinda funny but after we eat we sing to them and share a message. After lunch we went to this nursing home where we teach quite a few people that can't make it to church. Pamela also lives there. She got baptized not too long ago.
Yesterday we actually added a lady that lives there that can't hear very well. So we had to type out things we wanted to ask her on our iPads in huge lettering. It was a pretty weird lesson but we gave her a large print Book of Mormon and she asked how much it costed and I told her it was free and she thought I said 3 but she eventually figured out what we meant. She also asked for a large print bible so we told her that we would bring her one next time and she asked how much it was again and I told her that it was free and she thought I said 3 again haha. It was an interesting lesson but she wants to read the Book of Mormon and we invited her to pray to know if it's true.
Well that's it for this week. Hope you are all doing well. Keep Elder Callahan and I in your prayers that we will be able to find people that are ready to accept the gospel. I know this church is true!
Love,
-Elder LaRochelle
Pretty Great Week!!!!
ELDER L. IS CATCHING UP FROM THE WEEK OF 8/25...
This week has been pretty great!!!!! I'm really glad I'm staying in Bostonia for another 6 weeks but I guess transfer meeting was pretty crazy last week. I don't know if I told you this yet but they are actually making our mission smaller now. They aren't making our boundaries smaller just less missionaries. When I came into the mission we had 250 missionaries and 50 senior missionaries. Now we have 200 missionaries and less senior missionaries. The reason we have less is because they are making new missions in other parts of the world so they are sending less missionaries here. But at transfer meeting they closed down the Ramona zone and combined it with Poway zone and now there is only a Ramona district which is kinda crazy. They also combined the Sweetwater English zone with the Sweetwater Spanish zone. President called the Sweetwater zone when I was there the Sweetwater international zone because in the zone we had English, Lao, Tagalog and now Spanish missionaries so now it's even more of the international speaking zone which is pretty cool. Elder Nielsen actually spent the last 3 months of his mission in a Tagalog/English speaking area they called it "Taglish" haha.
On Wednesday while transfer meeting was going on we had lunch with the Spanish elders because we were the only missionaries in the zone that weren't going to transfer meeting. After transfer meeting was over our zone leaders called us and told us about the zones being combined. They also told us that Elder Fraughton's old area got combined with the YSA ward so there apartment was being shut down. We went with the Spanish elders to help clean out the old apartment. While we were there the Spanish elders picked up their bikes that the Grossmont elders were using and Elder Callahan and I asked if we could borrow them. So we inherited some bikes! No more walking for us haha! I got a purple beach cruiser and Elder Callahan got bike that's like 3 sizes to small for him haha but whatever it works.
Actually when we got the bikes mine had two popped tires and needed lights on it so we went to a bike shop and bought the stuff we needed and we took it to a less active guy in the ward that's a professional bike mechanic so he fixed them up for us. He said he saved us like $40-50 dollars each with all the stuff he did to them to tune them up or something which was nice of him.
On Thursday we had DLC which was sweet. After transfers we only have two districts in the zone now because Grossmont got shut down and the zone leaders are now in my district. So DLC was kinda small but it's all good. We also had splits on Thursday which was sweet. Before we met for splits we went out to dinner with some members and as we were leaving the restaurant a lady asked if we wanted a watermelon and we said sure so she opened her trunk and there was like 20 watermelons in her trunk haha. She told us that some guy gave her a whole tractor load of watermelons haha. So the members dropped us off at the church with our watermelon and we were going to put it in the Spanish elders car while we were splits but on the way over to the car I dropped the watermelon and Elder Callahan was pretty distraught about it. The funny thing is that before I dropped the watermelon there was nobody really around and as soon as I dropped it like 20 members from the Spanish branch came out of nowhere and started giving me a hard time about wasting a good watermelon. Then the Spanish members picked it up off the ground and started eating it haha.
Friday was kinda rough we had a lot of people cancel on us but it's all good. I taught district meeting to my new district, it went great! I love having a bigger district. In smaller districts sometimes you don't get a whole lot of participation but now that I have the zone leaders in my district I'm hoping district meetings turn more into a discussion instead of me talking the whole time haha. When I first got here there was a lot of disobedience and stuff going on but now they are being more obedient and they are seeing the blessings from doing so. They are actually teaching solid people now which is great! After district meeting we helped some members move out which is kinda sad because they were awesome members but it's all good.
Saturday was AWESOME! We had two baptisms... Two of them!!!! Don and Ambers baptisms went great! I baptized Don for his baptism. After I baptized him I hung my clothes up all nicely and then right before we start the next baptism bishop walks up to us and said it might be a good idea for one of us to get in a baptism suit because the person baptizing Amber might not be able to lift her out of the water. So I had to get back into my wet clothes and help with that baptism too. President Schmitt and the stake president came to Don's baptism which was cool.
Saturday night we also had stake conference and Bostonia got quite a bit of attention for the work that's going on here recently which was awesome!
Sunday we had stake conference and afterward Elder Callahan and I had a meeting with the stake president, one of his counselors, a member of the mission presidency and the Bostonia young men's president (there were a lot of presidents there haha). We had a meeting about Nhulongs baptism. Nhulong lives outside our boundaries but spends a lot of time at his fellowshippers house and has a weird family situation but it's all good they said he is good to go to get baptized next Saturday!!
Things are going great here! We have been blessed with a lot of miracles.
Hope all is going well back home :).
-Elder LaRochelle
This week has been pretty great!!!!! I'm really glad I'm staying in Bostonia for another 6 weeks but I guess transfer meeting was pretty crazy last week. I don't know if I told you this yet but they are actually making our mission smaller now. They aren't making our boundaries smaller just less missionaries. When I came into the mission we had 250 missionaries and 50 senior missionaries. Now we have 200 missionaries and less senior missionaries. The reason we have less is because they are making new missions in other parts of the world so they are sending less missionaries here. But at transfer meeting they closed down the Ramona zone and combined it with Poway zone and now there is only a Ramona district which is kinda crazy. They also combined the Sweetwater English zone with the Sweetwater Spanish zone. President called the Sweetwater zone when I was there the Sweetwater international zone because in the zone we had English, Lao, Tagalog and now Spanish missionaries so now it's even more of the international speaking zone which is pretty cool. Elder Nielsen actually spent the last 3 months of his mission in a Tagalog/English speaking area they called it "Taglish" haha.
On Wednesday while transfer meeting was going on we had lunch with the Spanish elders because we were the only missionaries in the zone that weren't going to transfer meeting. After transfer meeting was over our zone leaders called us and told us about the zones being combined. They also told us that Elder Fraughton's old area got combined with the YSA ward so there apartment was being shut down. We went with the Spanish elders to help clean out the old apartment. While we were there the Spanish elders picked up their bikes that the Grossmont elders were using and Elder Callahan and I asked if we could borrow them. So we inherited some bikes! No more walking for us haha! I got a purple beach cruiser and Elder Callahan got bike that's like 3 sizes to small for him haha but whatever it works.
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| Our noble steeds! |
Actually when we got the bikes mine had two popped tires and needed lights on it so we went to a bike shop and bought the stuff we needed and we took it to a less active guy in the ward that's a professional bike mechanic so he fixed them up for us. He said he saved us like $40-50 dollars each with all the stuff he did to them to tune them up or something which was nice of him.
On Thursday we had DLC which was sweet. After transfers we only have two districts in the zone now because Grossmont got shut down and the zone leaders are now in my district. So DLC was kinda small but it's all good. We also had splits on Thursday which was sweet. Before we met for splits we went out to dinner with some members and as we were leaving the restaurant a lady asked if we wanted a watermelon and we said sure so she opened her trunk and there was like 20 watermelons in her trunk haha. She told us that some guy gave her a whole tractor load of watermelons haha. So the members dropped us off at the church with our watermelon and we were going to put it in the Spanish elders car while we were splits but on the way over to the car I dropped the watermelon and Elder Callahan was pretty distraught about it. The funny thing is that before I dropped the watermelon there was nobody really around and as soon as I dropped it like 20 members from the Spanish branch came out of nowhere and started giving me a hard time about wasting a good watermelon. Then the Spanish members picked it up off the ground and started eating it haha.
Friday was kinda rough we had a lot of people cancel on us but it's all good. I taught district meeting to my new district, it went great! I love having a bigger district. In smaller districts sometimes you don't get a whole lot of participation but now that I have the zone leaders in my district I'm hoping district meetings turn more into a discussion instead of me talking the whole time haha. When I first got here there was a lot of disobedience and stuff going on but now they are being more obedient and they are seeing the blessings from doing so. They are actually teaching solid people now which is great! After district meeting we helped some members move out which is kinda sad because they were awesome members but it's all good.
Saturday was AWESOME! We had two baptisms... Two of them!!!! Don and Ambers baptisms went great! I baptized Don for his baptism. After I baptized him I hung my clothes up all nicely and then right before we start the next baptism bishop walks up to us and said it might be a good idea for one of us to get in a baptism suit because the person baptizing Amber might not be able to lift her out of the water. So I had to get back into my wet clothes and help with that baptism too. President Schmitt and the stake president came to Don's baptism which was cool.
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| Photo from Don's baptism. |
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| Amber and her father-in-law. |
Sunday we had stake conference and afterward Elder Callahan and I had a meeting with the stake president, one of his counselors, a member of the mission presidency and the Bostonia young men's president (there were a lot of presidents there haha). We had a meeting about Nhulongs baptism. Nhulong lives outside our boundaries but spends a lot of time at his fellowshippers house and has a weird family situation but it's all good they said he is good to go to get baptized next Saturday!!
Things are going great here! We have been blessed with a lot of miracles.
Hope all is going well back home :).
-Elder LaRochelle
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Temple Visit
Elder L went to the temple this week and didn't have enough time for a formal email. Here's a picture, though.
Busy In Bostonia
FROM AUG 18 .....
This week has been pretty good we are seeing a lot miracles and a lot of good things are happening in Bostonia.
Last p-day we went up to a camp in Ramona to play sports with another zone. We went with the Lakeside elders and got there before everyone else so we decided to go on a hike. It was a pretty short hike but it was pretty steep.
After p-day we had dinner with Amber and set up her baptism program!
On Wednesday we had an appointment with Nhulong. He lives in Claremont but his fellowshippers live in our ward and it's pretty complicated. We don't know if we are allowed to teach him so we are waiting for the stake president to call us back haha. Either way he is doing great! He brought one of his friends to church on Sunday which was awesome! Don also had his interview for baptism and passed!
On Friday we had dinner with the Beitlers. We added their 10 year old daughter Tayler. She has been coming to church pretty much every week for a couple months now but Don wanted us to wait on teaching her until she felt comfortable and she wants to get baptized now. The stake president came to our lesson with them and it went great!! Don also asked if I would baptize him on Saturday! Elder Callahan is going to confirm him which is pretty sweet!
On Saturday morning we volunteered at the food bank and after we were done volunteering they gave us a free box of food which was awesome. The crazy thing is on Sunday after church we call a potential investigator up and he is having a hard time and he told us that he doesn't have any food in his house, so we told him that we would come by in a couple minutes so we ran home and picked up the box of food we got from the food bank and gave it to him.
He is really struggling though but we told him that God is still watching out for him. We told him how we got the food and everything. It was a pretty cool miracle!!
Like I said, things in Bostonia are going great. We had transfers today and elder Callahan and I are both staying! We MIGHT be getting a car but probs not haha. If we don't get a car we might get bikes. We have TWO baptisms this Saturday and hopefully one next Saturday!
Love you. The Church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
This week has been pretty good we are seeing a lot miracles and a lot of good things are happening in Bostonia.
Last p-day we went up to a camp in Ramona to play sports with another zone. We went with the Lakeside elders and got there before everyone else so we decided to go on a hike. It was a pretty short hike but it was pretty steep.
After p-day we had dinner with Amber and set up her baptism program!
On Wednesday we had an appointment with Nhulong. He lives in Claremont but his fellowshippers live in our ward and it's pretty complicated. We don't know if we are allowed to teach him so we are waiting for the stake president to call us back haha. Either way he is doing great! He brought one of his friends to church on Sunday which was awesome! Don also had his interview for baptism and passed!
On Friday we had dinner with the Beitlers. We added their 10 year old daughter Tayler. She has been coming to church pretty much every week for a couple months now but Don wanted us to wait on teaching her until she felt comfortable and she wants to get baptized now. The stake president came to our lesson with them and it went great!! Don also asked if I would baptize him on Saturday! Elder Callahan is going to confirm him which is pretty sweet!
On Saturday morning we volunteered at the food bank and after we were done volunteering they gave us a free box of food which was awesome. The crazy thing is on Sunday after church we call a potential investigator up and he is having a hard time and he told us that he doesn't have any food in his house, so we told him that we would come by in a couple minutes so we ran home and picked up the box of food we got from the food bank and gave it to him.
He is really struggling though but we told him that God is still watching out for him. We told him how we got the food and everything. It was a pretty cool miracle!!
Like I said, things in Bostonia are going great. We had transfers today and elder Callahan and I are both staying! We MIGHT be getting a car but probs not haha. If we don't get a car we might get bikes. We have TWO baptisms this Saturday and hopefully one next Saturday!
Love you. The Church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
MTEs
This week we had a couple of exchanges and we did a lot of service again. The ward when I got here wasn't really active in wanting to do missionary work and some of the missionaries that have recently served here haven't been the most obedient and so the ward hasn't really noticed the missionaries. But on Sunday everyone was coming up to us and letting us know that they appreciate the hard work we are doing which made my day :).
On Wednesday we had MTE's which is when 3 zones or so get together and President Schmitt gives us some training. And then we do a big exchange between the 3 zones. My first MTE President Schmitt came outwith me and my trainer and I was only like 2 weeks out haha. This MTE President Schmitt went out with Elder Callahan and another missionary in his area. I had Elder Corum come with me to my area. Elder Corum has been out for 20 months and is a really good missionary. He is super funny and he looks a lot like Elder Wendel haha.
Elder Corum and I had a pretty good day though. We saw Nhulong (Brother Stewart told me it was Nhullng but we asked him and he said its Nhulong haha) Nhulong is doing great though! He is so stoked to get baptized! He has a date for August 29!
We also saw Don Beitler and he is doing great! His wife is a returning less active and she has been having some questions lately. On Sunday they actually talked about it in priesthood and relief society and it answered her questions and she is doing great now! :) It's so crazy how that happens. It seems like every time the Beitlers have a question they talk about it at church! :) God has a plan for them and this is the path that they need to be on! The stake is really excited for his baptism! This Friday the stake president is coming to our lesson with them and next week the elders quorum president wants to come to a lesson. He has already been in a lesson with a counselor in the mission presidency and he has already met our mission president. It's pretty crazy how prepared he is.
Thursday we exchanged back and had a testimony meeting with the other zones that were part of the MTE. After that it was pretty normal we had splits and went and saw Stephanie and we were going over to teach her and we show up and they are getting ready for a birthday party so we helped them instead and then taught a real quick lesson on the importance of service and why we do it.
Friday we had Zone Meeting and the stake president came and talked to us. The stake president in the Santee stake is awesome! He recently got in a surfing accident and injured his back and he told us the story of what happened in his accident and how he saw miracles in life at that moment and it was a pretty amazing story. After zone meeting we had exchanges with Lakeside elders and I was with Elder Felix for the day in his area.
Elder Felix is from PA and we had a pretty good time together. We did some service for someone they are teaching then we saw some of their investigators and other people we were teaching. We had dinner with the stake relief society president and had a good time getting to know them.
Saturday morning we helped one of our investigators move which kinda sucked but it's alright. Their daughter was there and she is less active and she seemed to really reach out to us and appreciated us helping and stuff so that was cool. She told us that we could stop by if we were ever in the area. The rest of the week was pretty normal though.
I think that's it for this week. Elder Callahan and I are doing great and seeing a lot of miracles in the Bostonia area :). Hope all is going well!
Love you and the Church is true
-Elder LaRochelle
On Wednesday we had MTE's which is when 3 zones or so get together and President Schmitt gives us some training. And then we do a big exchange between the 3 zones. My first MTE President Schmitt came outwith me and my trainer and I was only like 2 weeks out haha. This MTE President Schmitt went out with Elder Callahan and another missionary in his area. I had Elder Corum come with me to my area. Elder Corum has been out for 20 months and is a really good missionary. He is super funny and he looks a lot like Elder Wendel haha.
Elder Corum and I had a pretty good day though. We saw Nhulong (Brother Stewart told me it was Nhullng but we asked him and he said its Nhulong haha) Nhulong is doing great though! He is so stoked to get baptized! He has a date for August 29!
We also saw Don Beitler and he is doing great! His wife is a returning less active and she has been having some questions lately. On Sunday they actually talked about it in priesthood and relief society and it answered her questions and she is doing great now! :) It's so crazy how that happens. It seems like every time the Beitlers have a question they talk about it at church! :) God has a plan for them and this is the path that they need to be on! The stake is really excited for his baptism! This Friday the stake president is coming to our lesson with them and next week the elders quorum president wants to come to a lesson. He has already been in a lesson with a counselor in the mission presidency and he has already met our mission president. It's pretty crazy how prepared he is.
Thursday we exchanged back and had a testimony meeting with the other zones that were part of the MTE. After that it was pretty normal we had splits and went and saw Stephanie and we were going over to teach her and we show up and they are getting ready for a birthday party so we helped them instead and then taught a real quick lesson on the importance of service and why we do it.
Friday we had Zone Meeting and the stake president came and talked to us. The stake president in the Santee stake is awesome! He recently got in a surfing accident and injured his back and he told us the story of what happened in his accident and how he saw miracles in life at that moment and it was a pretty amazing story. After zone meeting we had exchanges with Lakeside elders and I was with Elder Felix for the day in his area.
Elder Felix is from PA and we had a pretty good time together. We did some service for someone they are teaching then we saw some of their investigators and other people we were teaching. We had dinner with the stake relief society president and had a good time getting to know them.
Saturday morning we helped one of our investigators move which kinda sucked but it's alright. Their daughter was there and she is less active and she seemed to really reach out to us and appreciated us helping and stuff so that was cool. She told us that we could stop by if we were ever in the area. The rest of the week was pretty normal though.
I think that's it for this week. Elder Callahan and I are doing great and seeing a lot of miracles in the Bostonia area :). Hope all is going well!
Love you and the Church is true
-Elder LaRochelle
Monday, August 10, 2015
More Blisters
From August 4 -
This week was pretty awesome!!! Elder Callahan and I are getting along pretty well and we are seeing a lot of miracles!
Last Wednesday I taught district meeting and afterwards we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Binkley to his area!!! We had a great day and we get along really well. It was Elder
Callahan's first exchange and he took over the area and did great! They taught like 5 lessons!
On Thursday we had interviews with President Schmitt. Since I was with my zone leader we had to be there early to set up a room for him to do interviews and we also got donuts and chocolate milk for everyone which was fun :)!
My interview with President was great! He answered a lot of my questions and we got to know each other a lot better. Elder Callahan and I figured something crazy out though. I was in President Schmitts first group of missionaries and Elder Callahan will be his last!
After the interview we went with lakeside to split some wood again. Got more blisters haha XD but it's all good we had a good time. We finished chopping all the wood though so no more blisters hopefully.
On Friday we helped someone move and then afterwards we helped one of our investigators set up her wedding! She lives with a less active member and they are getting married so she can get baptized! Her name is Amber and she has been ready for baptism since I got here!
Friday night we went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with Pamela our recent convert!! Elder Callahan and I got do baptisms too. Elder Callahan baptized someone for the first time that night so that was cool!
Our recent convert had a great time though. She did however have a little accident at the temple. Pamela uses a walker because she broke her neck like 2 years ago and she is still recovering. But as she was getting into the font she slipped on the stairs and she broke 2 bones in her leg. The crazy thing is after she fell she got right back up and did the baptisms and watched everyone else get baptized and the next day she decided to go to the hospital and found out she broke her leg.
Sunday was a pretty awesome day! We gave 3 blessings that day. And we added a new investigator named Nhullng Vu (just so you know I did spell that right haha). Nhullng is 14 and has been coming to scouts for the past 2 years and has become interested in coming to church now. He wants to be baptized and we have only taught him once! Pretty crazy stuff! When I leave Bostonia we will probably have like 4 or 5 baptisms which is really crazy!
Right now we have
Things are going great here in Bostonia :) Lots of miracles :) Hope everything is going well for you.
Love you. The Church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
This week was pretty awesome!!! Elder Callahan and I are getting along pretty well and we are seeing a lot of miracles!
Last Wednesday I taught district meeting and afterwards we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Binkley to his area!!! We had a great day and we get along really well. It was Elder
Callahan's first exchange and he took over the area and did great! They taught like 5 lessons!
On Thursday we had interviews with President Schmitt. Since I was with my zone leader we had to be there early to set up a room for him to do interviews and we also got donuts and chocolate milk for everyone which was fun :)!
My interview with President was great! He answered a lot of my questions and we got to know each other a lot better. Elder Callahan and I figured something crazy out though. I was in President Schmitts first group of missionaries and Elder Callahan will be his last!
After the interview we went with lakeside to split some wood again. Got more blisters haha XD but it's all good we had a good time. We finished chopping all the wood though so no more blisters hopefully.
On Friday we helped someone move and then afterwards we helped one of our investigators set up her wedding! She lives with a less active member and they are getting married so she can get baptized! Her name is Amber and she has been ready for baptism since I got here!
Friday night we went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with Pamela our recent convert!! Elder Callahan and I got do baptisms too. Elder Callahan baptized someone for the first time that night so that was cool!
Our recent convert had a great time though. She did however have a little accident at the temple. Pamela uses a walker because she broke her neck like 2 years ago and she is still recovering. But as she was getting into the font she slipped on the stairs and she broke 2 bones in her leg. The crazy thing is after she fell she got right back up and did the baptisms and watched everyone else get baptized and the next day she decided to go to the hospital and found out she broke her leg.
Sunday was a pretty awesome day! We gave 3 blessings that day. And we added a new investigator named Nhullng Vu (just so you know I did spell that right haha). Nhullng is 14 and has been coming to scouts for the past 2 years and has become interested in coming to church now. He wants to be baptized and we have only taught him once! Pretty crazy stuff! When I leave Bostonia we will probably have like 4 or 5 baptisms which is really crazy!
Right now we have
- Don Beitler for August 22
- Amber Helkin for August 22
- Jonathan Mott for August 29
- We will probably have Nhullng for September 5
- And Taylor Beitler (Don's daughter) for September 5 as well!
Things are going great here in Bostonia :) Lots of miracles :) Hope everything is going well for you.
Love you. The Church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Sunburn & Blisters
From July 28 -
Hey Y'all!!
This was one heck of a week! Not really. It was a pretty normal week. Nothing too exciting. No car accidents. Elder Callahan was supposed to get his staples out Friday but the doctor that put them in went out of town so.... We are trying to find someone that has a medical staple remover. Sister Bietlers was a nurse and can get into this professional medical store. She is going to see if they have one for him.
Wednesday was a longggggg day. When we first logged into the iPad planner app it said that we had 54 new referrals! 54!!!! So on Wednesday we spent a good part of the day contacting referrals. Some of the referrals are like 5 years old so when we stop by to drop off a bible they requested and they are like...thanks... You guys are a little late... Haha.
Thursday morning we had DLC with all the District Leaders and the Zone Leaders. They didn't have too much to talk about. Just updates with iPads and making sure our districts are using them effectively and all that stuff.
After DLC we went to the Garcias and helped them repaint their table. The table had black paint on it. So she bought sand paper for us to sand it with and she didn't buy the right sand paper so it turned out to be a lot harder then we thought. After 2 hours of sanding this table in the heat we are just super tired and sweaty and sun burnt so we call Brother Connors to see if he would be available to give us a ride because we were like an hour and a half walk from home. He is a teacher and he told us that during the day he doesn't do to much because it's summer and if we ever need anything we could give him a call. So we did and he gave us a ride! :)
Friday we had district meeting with the Lakeside elders that went pretty well. They have had a hard time switching over to the iPad planners and so I talked about sustaining our leaders and doing the will of the Lord. I told them that this is the way our leaders want us to do it and this is the way our Heavenly Father wants it done and we should do it because we love them. It went well and they are getting better. After D-Meet, Lakeside asked if we could help do service. They told us we were going to be chopping wood and Elder Callahan and I were thinking it was going to be the diameter of like a good size branch and so we show up and they put a piece of wood the size of a car tire in front of me and then hand me an axe. We were there for like 2 hours and it was like 97 degrees outside and we were sooooo tired and sweaty. I had like 10 blisters afterwards and we got more sunburnt haha.
Later that day we had a lesson with the Bietlers! We finished teaching Don everything he needed to know for baptism and he is getting baptized on the 22 of August! After we had the lesson with him we went to the stake pioneer activity with them and we had a good time. The Bietlers have a 3 year old named Brody and he got to ride a miniature horse and was pretty happy about that haha.
On Saturday morning we helped the Zone Leaders with their baptism. The girl that got baptized was named Carly and she is pretty awesome. She sang at this past mission presidents fireside. Her parents aren't too supportive of her joining the church but they came to the baptism and enjoyed it. There were a lot of people at the baptism which was great! At every convert baptism we have, while the people that participated in the baptism are changing back into normal clothes the missionaries teach the restoration to everyone there and since one of the missionaries did the baptism I had the opportunity to teach with Elder Binkley at the baptism.
Sunday was a pretty normal day. We taught gospel principles and after church we went over to the Bietlers and went over the baptismal interview questions with Don and he is super prepared!! I'm so excited for his baptism it's going to be amazing!
Yesterday was a pretty good day. We had an old lady lunch that happens once a month. The whole zone gets together and has lunch with some of the older people in the stake. After lunch we sing some songs to them and share a spiritual thought with them. It's pretty fun.
Yesterday we also met with Stephanie who we street contacted like a week ago or so. We had an appointment at 7 with her but she forgot but we were able to reschedule for 8:45 the same night. We very briefly talked to her and her mom about the Book of Mormon and then ran home so we wouldn't be late haha but she is planning on coming to mutual on Wednesday and to church on Sunday.
Well that's all I have for this week. Enjoy! Hope you are all doing great! :)
Love you and the Church is true
-Elder Chris LaRochelle
Hey Y'all!!
This was one heck of a week! Not really. It was a pretty normal week. Nothing too exciting. No car accidents. Elder Callahan was supposed to get his staples out Friday but the doctor that put them in went out of town so.... We are trying to find someone that has a medical staple remover. Sister Bietlers was a nurse and can get into this professional medical store. She is going to see if they have one for him.
Wednesday was a longggggg day. When we first logged into the iPad planner app it said that we had 54 new referrals! 54!!!! So on Wednesday we spent a good part of the day contacting referrals. Some of the referrals are like 5 years old so when we stop by to drop off a bible they requested and they are like...thanks... You guys are a little late... Haha.
Thursday morning we had DLC with all the District Leaders and the Zone Leaders. They didn't have too much to talk about. Just updates with iPads and making sure our districts are using them effectively and all that stuff.
After DLC we went to the Garcias and helped them repaint their table. The table had black paint on it. So she bought sand paper for us to sand it with and she didn't buy the right sand paper so it turned out to be a lot harder then we thought. After 2 hours of sanding this table in the heat we are just super tired and sweaty and sun burnt so we call Brother Connors to see if he would be available to give us a ride because we were like an hour and a half walk from home. He is a teacher and he told us that during the day he doesn't do to much because it's summer and if we ever need anything we could give him a call. So we did and he gave us a ride! :)
Friday we had district meeting with the Lakeside elders that went pretty well. They have had a hard time switching over to the iPad planners and so I talked about sustaining our leaders and doing the will of the Lord. I told them that this is the way our leaders want us to do it and this is the way our Heavenly Father wants it done and we should do it because we love them. It went well and they are getting better. After D-Meet, Lakeside asked if we could help do service. They told us we were going to be chopping wood and Elder Callahan and I were thinking it was going to be the diameter of like a good size branch and so we show up and they put a piece of wood the size of a car tire in front of me and then hand me an axe. We were there for like 2 hours and it was like 97 degrees outside and we were sooooo tired and sweaty. I had like 10 blisters afterwards and we got more sunburnt haha.
Later that day we had a lesson with the Bietlers! We finished teaching Don everything he needed to know for baptism and he is getting baptized on the 22 of August! After we had the lesson with him we went to the stake pioneer activity with them and we had a good time. The Bietlers have a 3 year old named Brody and he got to ride a miniature horse and was pretty happy about that haha.
On Saturday morning we helped the Zone Leaders with their baptism. The girl that got baptized was named Carly and she is pretty awesome. She sang at this past mission presidents fireside. Her parents aren't too supportive of her joining the church but they came to the baptism and enjoyed it. There were a lot of people at the baptism which was great! At every convert baptism we have, while the people that participated in the baptism are changing back into normal clothes the missionaries teach the restoration to everyone there and since one of the missionaries did the baptism I had the opportunity to teach with Elder Binkley at the baptism.
Sunday was a pretty normal day. We taught gospel principles and after church we went over to the Bietlers and went over the baptismal interview questions with Don and he is super prepared!! I'm so excited for his baptism it's going to be amazing!
Yesterday was a pretty good day. We had an old lady lunch that happens once a month. The whole zone gets together and has lunch with some of the older people in the stake. After lunch we sing some songs to them and share a spiritual thought with them. It's pretty fun.
| The Zone! |
Yesterday we also met with Stephanie who we street contacted like a week ago or so. We had an appointment at 7 with her but she forgot but we were able to reschedule for 8:45 the same night. We very briefly talked to her and her mom about the Book of Mormon and then ran home so we wouldn't be late haha but she is planning on coming to mutual on Wednesday and to church on Sunday.
Well that's all I have for this week. Enjoy! Hope you are all doing great! :)
Love you and the Church is true
-Elder Chris LaRochelle
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
"The Stench of Cats Penetrated Me to My Very Soul"
This week we did a TON of service. Last Tuesday after P-day we were going to go help this non-member that called us to help pack up his stuff because he was moving. We show up and he asked us if we could help dig a grave for 3 of his cats that he had to put down that day instead. Elder Callahan said sure thing not knowing before hand that we were not going to be digging a hole in nice soft Utah soil. It wasn't soft at all haha it was clay and it was really hard haha. We actually started digging a hole and found his dead dog he buried 5 years ago so we had to cover it up and start all over in a different spot. The clay was so hard that I was using an axe to break up the clay and the whole time we were doing this the guy was smoking and drinking .
We finally finish digging the hole and a member picks us up to help him rip out some carpet that got ruined by a cat. We show up to his house and we have gloves and masks on and we can still smell the disgusting stench from the carpet. The story is that the dog would shut the door on the cat and trap it in the room and then the cat would saturate the carpet with vile and disgusting bodily excretion. At the end of the day Elder Callahan and I smelt disgusting and I was covered in dirt and my clothes wreaked of cats and sweat. Needless to say we took showers and went straight to bed after planning.
Wednesday night we went on splits and I had the opportunity to go with President Collins he is the second Counselor in the Mission Presidency. We went and saw the Bietlers and had an amazing lesson with them. We talked about the priesthood with Don and his wife who is less active. We shared the Mormon message called "sanctify yourselves" it's about a little league football team that gets struck by lightning and a newly ordained Elder has to give a boy a blessing or he might not make it. As I was preparing for this lesson I felt so inspired to share this with them and when I did the spirit was so strong and President Collins bore a powerful testimony about the priesthood that brought us all almost to tears. Don talked about how important his family was to him and that's why I think I was inspired to talk about the priesthood because his family needs the priesthood in their lives and President Collins had the perfect testimony to share with them. I felt so good after the lesson I know that we talked about the right thing and I know it was inspired by God.
Elder Callahan went with a different member of the ward and it went really well! Elder Callahan is a really good missionary.
On Thursday morning we went back to the guy with the 3 dead cats to help him pack up the truck. He told us he had a lot of stuff so we brought 3 other sets of missionaries with us to help. We walk in the house and my allergies hit me like a brick wall. The stench of cats penetrated me to my very soul! I tried my best to keep working but after I set a stack of papers in a box a bunch of cat hair puffed up in my face and I was done. My eyes were itchy, red, and watery. My nose was running, my throat was itchy, and I was getting rashes all over my arms and neck. Elder Funckes, who is also allergic, and I decided it would be best if we went outside to get some fresh air. I ended up getting a banjo though. It was pretty beat up but Elder Fraughton knows someone that might be able to fix it in his ward.
Saturday it rained... All day which is crazy since we are in a drought. We actually woke up to thunder which was pretty cool since I haven't seen thunder and lightning in like a year haha. Made me think I was back in Ohio for a second haha. Since I have been in California I think it's rained like 5-6 times haha. We ended up avoiding the rain pretty well though. We had a lot of members and people we were teaching give us rides. We did service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant at the Bietlers that morning. We helped them fix his sprinklers in his yard. After that I practiced singing a musical number with Elder Fraughton and two other sister missionaries.
Sunday went well. I think this ward is really starting to reach out to us though. This ward has had a lot of old and "trunky" missionaries (trunky means they think about home a lot and aren't too dedicated to working). I think having a brand new missionary is just what this ward needed. After church we had an early dinner because we had a Mission Presidents Fireside that night and I had to be there early to practice the musical number I was singing with Elder Fraughton and Sister Wilde and Pilkington.
At the fireside assigned recent converts get to bear their testimonies and the mission presidency shares Mormon Messages. There is a missionary choir and missionaries perform musical numbers and stuff. Our performance went well. Elder Fraughton and I messed up a little but it's all good. I think he wants to sing again at the August M.P. Fireside before he goes home. The M.P. Fireside is amazing though. Their was a recent convert who bore her testimony and she couldn't stop crying during it because of how much this gospel and church has been a blessing for her and her mom. It hit me so hard and I felt the spirit so powerfully as she was bearing her testimony. I just felt so blessed to be able to be born into this church and I feel like sometimes I can take that for granted and that's why it's so important that we have our own personal conversion even if we were born in the church.
Yesterday was a pretty normal day. We did a lot of walking and talking and teaching. Walking isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It gives us an opportunity to have members come out with us more and we get to talk with a lot more people. As of this morning I have lost 46 lbs and I come home in less then a year as of Sunday! That's it for this week :).
Love you the church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
We finally finish digging the hole and a member picks us up to help him rip out some carpet that got ruined by a cat. We show up to his house and we have gloves and masks on and we can still smell the disgusting stench from the carpet. The story is that the dog would shut the door on the cat and trap it in the room and then the cat would saturate the carpet with vile and disgusting bodily excretion. At the end of the day Elder Callahan and I smelt disgusting and I was covered in dirt and my clothes wreaked of cats and sweat. Needless to say we took showers and went straight to bed after planning.
Wednesday night we went on splits and I had the opportunity to go with President Collins he is the second Counselor in the Mission Presidency. We went and saw the Bietlers and had an amazing lesson with them. We talked about the priesthood with Don and his wife who is less active. We shared the Mormon message called "sanctify yourselves" it's about a little league football team that gets struck by lightning and a newly ordained Elder has to give a boy a blessing or he might not make it. As I was preparing for this lesson I felt so inspired to share this with them and when I did the spirit was so strong and President Collins bore a powerful testimony about the priesthood that brought us all almost to tears. Don talked about how important his family was to him and that's why I think I was inspired to talk about the priesthood because his family needs the priesthood in their lives and President Collins had the perfect testimony to share with them. I felt so good after the lesson I know that we talked about the right thing and I know it was inspired by God.
Elder Callahan went with a different member of the ward and it went really well! Elder Callahan is a really good missionary.
On Thursday morning we went back to the guy with the 3 dead cats to help him pack up the truck. He told us he had a lot of stuff so we brought 3 other sets of missionaries with us to help. We walk in the house and my allergies hit me like a brick wall. The stench of cats penetrated me to my very soul! I tried my best to keep working but after I set a stack of papers in a box a bunch of cat hair puffed up in my face and I was done. My eyes were itchy, red, and watery. My nose was running, my throat was itchy, and I was getting rashes all over my arms and neck. Elder Funckes, who is also allergic, and I decided it would be best if we went outside to get some fresh air. I ended up getting a banjo though. It was pretty beat up but Elder Fraughton knows someone that might be able to fix it in his ward.
Saturday it rained... All day which is crazy since we are in a drought. We actually woke up to thunder which was pretty cool since I haven't seen thunder and lightning in like a year haha. Made me think I was back in Ohio for a second haha. Since I have been in California I think it's rained like 5-6 times haha. We ended up avoiding the rain pretty well though. We had a lot of members and people we were teaching give us rides. We did service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant at the Bietlers that morning. We helped them fix his sprinklers in his yard. After that I practiced singing a musical number with Elder Fraughton and two other sister missionaries.
Sunday went well. I think this ward is really starting to reach out to us though. This ward has had a lot of old and "trunky" missionaries (trunky means they think about home a lot and aren't too dedicated to working). I think having a brand new missionary is just what this ward needed. After church we had an early dinner because we had a Mission Presidents Fireside that night and I had to be there early to practice the musical number I was singing with Elder Fraughton and Sister Wilde and Pilkington.
At the fireside assigned recent converts get to bear their testimonies and the mission presidency shares Mormon Messages. There is a missionary choir and missionaries perform musical numbers and stuff. Our performance went well. Elder Fraughton and I messed up a little but it's all good. I think he wants to sing again at the August M.P. Fireside before he goes home. The M.P. Fireside is amazing though. Their was a recent convert who bore her testimony and she couldn't stop crying during it because of how much this gospel and church has been a blessing for her and her mom. It hit me so hard and I felt the spirit so powerfully as she was bearing her testimony. I just felt so blessed to be able to be born into this church and I feel like sometimes I can take that for granted and that's why it's so important that we have our own personal conversion even if we were born in the church.
Yesterday was a pretty normal day. We did a lot of walking and talking and teaching. Walking isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It gives us an opportunity to have members come out with us more and we get to talk with a lot more people. As of this morning I have lost 46 lbs and I come home in less then a year as of Sunday! That's it for this week :).
Love you the church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Transfers, Trainers, Trainees, and T-bones
Hello everyone this week has been pretty eventful. My new companion is Elder Callahan and he is from Sandy Utah.
Last Tuesday after P-Day I was with Elder Felix from Lakeside Ward for the day and we went and saw one of his recent converts. She was having a hard time because she found out that she was going to jail. She is caught up in word of wisdom problems and her life is really just a mess now. We tried to help her and at that point my testimony was strengthened of why we have the commandments that we have. A lot of people we talk to feel like the commandments restrict our lives but in reality they make us free and happy.
Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. Since I'm training this transfer I had to go to a Trainer Meeting. After that we had Transfer Meeting and that's when I knew Elder Callahan was going to be my companion. After that meeting we had a Trainer Trainee Meeting. After that meeting we had a Leadership Meeting for district and zone leaders. Needless to say I had a headache afterwards haha. We had a pretty good day though. We taught 7 lessons which is a lot for a walking area!
Friday was a very different day haha. We had Zone Meeting all morning in preparation for stage 2 of iPads. Stage 1 is just getting the device and stage 2 is when we get the area book planner app. On the app we will have all of our plans and all the information about the area in the app and stage 3 is when we get online proselyting like Facebook.
After Zone Meeting we did some service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant. After the service we were running late so the other Elders said that they would give us a ride after we changed. So we went and changed real quick and on our way to our appointment Elder Bryant, who was driving, had to make a u-turn. He didn't check before turning and we got t-boned by a Silverado.
The truck was only going like 20 mph and all of us are fine except Elder Callahan who hit his head on the side of the car and cracked his head a little. We had to call 911 and a fire truck and an ambulance and a couple police officers came and said he should go to the E.R. Elder Callahan said he would be alright because sister Schmitt was coming to check it out (Sister Schmitt is an E.R. doctor). Sister Schmitt said he would need a couple staples so the mission doctor came to our apartment at like 11 pm and put 4 staples in his head and left haha. Elder Callahan is doing fine though it was a good bonding moment haha.
Everything else is going great here! The members are starting to really trust us and help us by giving us names to visit which is great. Our zone leaders told us that our area is doing the best in the zone which is great to hear. Hopefully we'll keep it up.
Training is definitely a lot different then having a companion that's going home soon, but life goes on and I will adjust. Elder Callahan is a good missionary and wants to be obedient which is great.
Oh yeah one more thing - I have lost 41 lbs!!!
Well that's it for this week. Love you the Church is true!
-Elder LaRochelle :)
Last Tuesday after P-Day I was with Elder Felix from Lakeside Ward for the day and we went and saw one of his recent converts. She was having a hard time because she found out that she was going to jail. She is caught up in word of wisdom problems and her life is really just a mess now. We tried to help her and at that point my testimony was strengthened of why we have the commandments that we have. A lot of people we talk to feel like the commandments restrict our lives but in reality they make us free and happy.
Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. Since I'm training this transfer I had to go to a Trainer Meeting. After that we had Transfer Meeting and that's when I knew Elder Callahan was going to be my companion. After that meeting we had a Trainer Trainee Meeting. After that meeting we had a Leadership Meeting for district and zone leaders. Needless to say I had a headache afterwards haha. We had a pretty good day though. We taught 7 lessons which is a lot for a walking area!
Friday was a very different day haha. We had Zone Meeting all morning in preparation for stage 2 of iPads. Stage 1 is just getting the device and stage 2 is when we get the area book planner app. On the app we will have all of our plans and all the information about the area in the app and stage 3 is when we get online proselyting like Facebook.
After Zone Meeting we did some service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant. After the service we were running late so the other Elders said that they would give us a ride after we changed. So we went and changed real quick and on our way to our appointment Elder Bryant, who was driving, had to make a u-turn. He didn't check before turning and we got t-boned by a Silverado.
The truck was only going like 20 mph and all of us are fine except Elder Callahan who hit his head on the side of the car and cracked his head a little. We had to call 911 and a fire truck and an ambulance and a couple police officers came and said he should go to the E.R. Elder Callahan said he would be alright because sister Schmitt was coming to check it out (Sister Schmitt is an E.R. doctor). Sister Schmitt said he would need a couple staples so the mission doctor came to our apartment at like 11 pm and put 4 staples in his head and left haha. Elder Callahan is doing fine though it was a good bonding moment haha.
Everything else is going great here! The members are starting to really trust us and help us by giving us names to visit which is great. Our zone leaders told us that our area is doing the best in the zone which is great to hear. Hopefully we'll keep it up.
Training is definitely a lot different then having a companion that's going home soon, but life goes on and I will adjust. Elder Callahan is a good missionary and wants to be obedient which is great.
Oh yeah one more thing - I have lost 41 lbs!!!
Well that's it for this week. Love you the Church is true!
-Elder LaRochelle :)
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