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
Monday, September 28, 2015
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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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
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