Thursday, July 28, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
The Final Update
Wow I can't believe I'm in my last week of my mission! Time has flown by and I have had a blast in San Diego!
Honestly this past week has been pretty uneventful except for a few things.
One cool thing is the Youkels. They are a part member family that the missionaries have been working with for years and there hasn't been much progress until like a month ago. The dad who is a member who is usually really goofy in lessons and stuff but he had this moment where it just clicked, he said "you know I need to be taking this more seriously. I'm probably one of the reasons my wife and son aren't baptized, I need to meet with the bishop and get this figured out so I can baptize them."
Ever since that moment they have changed so much. He used to not come to church very much but he has been coming more regularly even if his nonmember wife is working he will bring their two kids. They are both starting to actually read the Book of Mormon. It's so awesome. The soonest he can get the priesthood is October so his wife and son has baptismal dates for Oct 22!
The other cool thing that happened this week is we saw Alex Boye. He was a special guest at a mission president's devotional. There ended up being over 1000 people there and there were close to 50 investigators from the mission there. Alex Boye was cool, he is a little crazy but that's alright. We brought the Youkels and they really enjoyed it.
Yesterday Elder Searle and I were on exchanges with Elder Nelson who usually is in Tagalog work so that was a lot of fun.
Things this upcoming week are going to be crazy. Tomorrow we have exchanges with the Assistants. Friday we have another exchange but I won't be there. I will be at departure activities. So I will go to the San Diego temple for the last time with President and Sister Schmitt. Then we will spend the day with them. Eventually I think we will get on Facebook that day for a second so look out for me!
Other than that things are going great! We went on a 5 mile hike today... It was kinda hot but it's alright. It was fun I guess haha. Talk to you soon! Love ya!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Honestly this past week has been pretty uneventful except for a few things.
One cool thing is the Youkels. They are a part member family that the missionaries have been working with for years and there hasn't been much progress until like a month ago. The dad who is a member who is usually really goofy in lessons and stuff but he had this moment where it just clicked, he said "you know I need to be taking this more seriously. I'm probably one of the reasons my wife and son aren't baptized, I need to meet with the bishop and get this figured out so I can baptize them."
Ever since that moment they have changed so much. He used to not come to church very much but he has been coming more regularly even if his nonmember wife is working he will bring their two kids. They are both starting to actually read the Book of Mormon. It's so awesome. The soonest he can get the priesthood is October so his wife and son has baptismal dates for Oct 22!
The other cool thing that happened this week is we saw Alex Boye. He was a special guest at a mission president's devotional. There ended up being over 1000 people there and there were close to 50 investigators from the mission there. Alex Boye was cool, he is a little crazy but that's alright. We brought the Youkels and they really enjoyed it.
Yesterday Elder Searle and I were on exchanges with Elder Nelson who usually is in Tagalog work so that was a lot of fun.
Things this upcoming week are going to be crazy. Tomorrow we have exchanges with the Assistants. Friday we have another exchange but I won't be there. I will be at departure activities. So I will go to the San Diego temple for the last time with President and Sister Schmitt. Then we will spend the day with them. Eventually I think we will get on Facebook that day for a second so look out for me!
Other than that things are going great! We went on a 5 mile hike today... It was kinda hot but it's alright. It was fun I guess haha. Talk to you soon! Love ya!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Zone Meeting - Last One (7/12)
Hello!
Can't believe next week is my last p day! Pretty crazy! I'm going to keep it quick but this week I had my quarterly interview with President Schmitt. Pretty awesome! He was pretty relaxed with me since I'm going home soon haha. We just talked about what my plan is when I get home and keeping this good habits that I have gained on my mission.
Also went on exchanges with Elder Conrad! He is pretty hilarious! We had a blast together. I was Elder Conrad's District Leader when he first came out and he has definitely changed since then haha.
Had my last zone meeting. It was pretty good. We talked about enduring through trials. We shared a talk called "The Lords Wind" .
Love ya,
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Can't believe next week is my last p day! Pretty crazy! I'm going to keep it quick but this week I had my quarterly interview with President Schmitt. Pretty awesome! He was pretty relaxed with me since I'm going home soon haha. We just talked about what my plan is when I get home and keeping this good habits that I have gained on my mission.
Also went on exchanges with Elder Conrad! He is pretty hilarious! We had a blast together. I was Elder Conrad's District Leader when he first came out and he has definitely changed since then haha.
Had my last zone meeting. It was pretty good. We talked about enduring through trials. We shared a talk called "The Lords Wind" .
Love ya,
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Burgers, Ribs, Ribeyes, and Sausage (7/5)
Alright. Here's what's going down in San Diego!
Last Tuesday was awesome! Charlotte, one of my converts in Sweetwater, went to the temple for her endowment! Her session started at 7pm and we got permission to go from President Schmitt even though he knew we were going to be a little late getting home.
We got to the temple 20 minutes early and when I tried to use my new temple recommend that president gave me it didn't work because he forgot to activate it. So one of the temple workers had to call president and we ended up missing the session by a minute. But the temple president told us that we could go do initiatories and then afterwords we could go to the celestial room and meet them there after there session. It was so good to see one of my converts in the temple!
Wednesday was awesome! In the morning we did service for a part member family. Afterwards they made us burgers that were super good! Later that night we had dinner with a member and he made us these HUGE Ribeyes. They were so good!
After that we went to an appointment and then we had another dinner with a part member family and they invited Hollie and her two kids who are all non members. We recently started teaching them and they fed us ribs! They were so good I just wish I wasn't full from our first dinner haha.
Then we took the stake president out with us to go see one of our investigators named Mandy and that lesson went great! Mandy is awesome but she has been struggling a lot lately and so we have been helping her.
Friday we had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). It was my last MLC so president asked me to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon. MLC is always great but it lasts all day. I'm just glad they give us lunch in between haha!
Saturday we had to get ready for some stake meetings and we also met with our Ward mission leaders and also the high counselor over missionary work in the stake. We were supposed to go to the Mormon Battalion with one of our investigators but they cancelled on us.
Sunday Was awesome! In our first 3 hours of church there was a kid that was running past the church building and just decided to come inside and check it out. The first person he meets as he is walking in is our bishop and he comes and gets us and we were able to teach him the restoration with our Ward mission leader at church.
Yesterday (July 4th) was alright. We had to be inside by 6pm. That morning we helped serve food at the Ward breakfast. I was in charge of handing out sausage links. I was supposed to give everyone 1 sausage. Most of the people were fine but some guy kind of freaked out about only getting one sausage. I was like whatever haha it's just sausage, even though I do agree that 1 piece is kind of ridiculous.
Bye for now!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Last Tuesday was awesome! Charlotte, one of my converts in Sweetwater, went to the temple for her endowment! Her session started at 7pm and we got permission to go from President Schmitt even though he knew we were going to be a little late getting home.
We got to the temple 20 minutes early and when I tried to use my new temple recommend that president gave me it didn't work because he forgot to activate it. So one of the temple workers had to call president and we ended up missing the session by a minute. But the temple president told us that we could go do initiatories and then afterwords we could go to the celestial room and meet them there after there session. It was so good to see one of my converts in the temple!
Wednesday was awesome! In the morning we did service for a part member family. Afterwards they made us burgers that were super good! Later that night we had dinner with a member and he made us these HUGE Ribeyes. They were so good!
After that we went to an appointment and then we had another dinner with a part member family and they invited Hollie and her two kids who are all non members. We recently started teaching them and they fed us ribs! They were so good I just wish I wasn't full from our first dinner haha.
Then we took the stake president out with us to go see one of our investigators named Mandy and that lesson went great! Mandy is awesome but she has been struggling a lot lately and so we have been helping her.
Friday we had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). It was my last MLC so president asked me to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon. MLC is always great but it lasts all day. I'm just glad they give us lunch in between haha!
Saturday we had to get ready for some stake meetings and we also met with our Ward mission leaders and also the high counselor over missionary work in the stake. We were supposed to go to the Mormon Battalion with one of our investigators but they cancelled on us.
Sunday Was awesome! In our first 3 hours of church there was a kid that was running past the church building and just decided to come inside and check it out. The first person he meets as he is walking in is our bishop and he comes and gets us and we were able to teach him the restoration with our Ward mission leader at church.
Yesterday (July 4th) was alright. We had to be inside by 6pm. That morning we helped serve food at the Ward breakfast. I was in charge of handing out sausage links. I was supposed to give everyone 1 sausage. Most of the people were fine but some guy kind of freaked out about only getting one sausage. I was like whatever haha it's just sausage, even though I do agree that 1 piece is kind of ridiculous.
Bye for now!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Teaching and Changing Lives (6/28)
Hey Everyone! Hope things are going great! On Sunday I realized that I hit my 23 month mark... Where did the time go! Time has flown by so fast and I have just loved my mission! I have been able to see the gospel bless and change people's lives but most importantly I have seen the gospel change me and it's so wonderful!
This week was slower then last week but still pretty good! Even though a lot of our investigators were out of town we still stayed busy.
Last Tuesday we met with a part member family that missionaries have been working with for a long time! We went on splits and I went with their home teacher who is also the executive secretary. We were going to share a Mormon message with them called the hope of God's light but before we shared the Mormon message I told them to really think about why we were sharing this and how it applies to them. After we shared it with them the husband, who in the past hasn't been really supportive, told us that he needs to take this more seriously, he also said that if he would have been more supportive his wife probably would have been baptized by now. He was like I need to meet with the bishop, who do I call to set up an appointment and the member that was with me rose his hand and was like you gotta talk to me. They scheduled an appointment right there. It was perfect!
On Wednesday we did service in the morning and afterwards I had to go babysit another Elder because he was sick and his companion went out and worked with a member. Then Elder Searle and Elder Kap went and worked in our area. It was kind of a long
On Friday we had Zone Conference with Poway and Ramona Zones. Since Zone Conference was at PQ President asked one of us to Conduct the meeting. Elder Searle and I did Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who was going to conduct the meeting, I lost haha. It's alright though, president asks a couple missionaries bear their testimonies on their purpose and he also has some missionaries share a short talk on a certain missionary topic. Usually he has missionaries that are going home do it. So he asked me to bear my testimony.
Zone Conference was awesome but during the meeting a member was calling us a lot because her roommate was going through a hard time and she wanted us to come give her a blessing and we felt really bad that we couldn't respond right away. But that night we met with them and her roommate has been going through a lot and has been really struggling. We had the opportunity to testify to her of the love that God had for and then we gave her a blessing. It was a really powerful lesson.
On Sunday we had a primary teacher and a young women's leader ask us on the spot to come and talk to their classes. It was kinda stressful but it actually went really well.
Yesterday I went on exchanges to do Tagalog work. I didn't understand what was going on at all. But I did help them get a potential family up in Ramona. I remembered a member in Ramona that had a Philippino family next door that they were trying to work with. So I talked to the member in a Ramona and set up a time for the Tagalog elders to go talk with them
This week has been good! See ya in 28 days :P
Elder Chris LaRochelle
This week was slower then last week but still pretty good! Even though a lot of our investigators were out of town we still stayed busy.
Last Tuesday we met with a part member family that missionaries have been working with for a long time! We went on splits and I went with their home teacher who is also the executive secretary. We were going to share a Mormon message with them called the hope of God's light but before we shared the Mormon message I told them to really think about why we were sharing this and how it applies to them. After we shared it with them the husband, who in the past hasn't been really supportive, told us that he needs to take this more seriously, he also said that if he would have been more supportive his wife probably would have been baptized by now. He was like I need to meet with the bishop, who do I call to set up an appointment and the member that was with me rose his hand and was like you gotta talk to me. They scheduled an appointment right there. It was perfect!
On Wednesday we did service in the morning and afterwards I had to go babysit another Elder because he was sick and his companion went out and worked with a member. Then Elder Searle and Elder Kap went and worked in our area. It was kind of a long
On Friday we had Zone Conference with Poway and Ramona Zones. Since Zone Conference was at PQ President asked one of us to Conduct the meeting. Elder Searle and I did Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who was going to conduct the meeting, I lost haha. It's alright though, president asks a couple missionaries bear their testimonies on their purpose and he also has some missionaries share a short talk on a certain missionary topic. Usually he has missionaries that are going home do it. So he asked me to bear my testimony.
Zone Conference was awesome but during the meeting a member was calling us a lot because her roommate was going through a hard time and she wanted us to come give her a blessing and we felt really bad that we couldn't respond right away. But that night we met with them and her roommate has been going through a lot and has been really struggling. We had the opportunity to testify to her of the love that God had for and then we gave her a blessing. It was a really powerful lesson.
On Sunday we had a primary teacher and a young women's leader ask us on the spot to come and talk to their classes. It was kinda stressful but it actually went really well.
Yesterday I went on exchanges to do Tagalog work. I didn't understand what was going on at all. But I did help them get a potential family up in Ramona. I remembered a member in Ramona that had a Philippino family next door that they were trying to work with. So I talked to the member in a Ramona and set up a time for the Tagalog elders to go talk with them
This week has been good! See ya in 28 days :P
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Redoubling Efforts (6/21)
Hey family!!
This week has been great! We followed the council in Doctrine and Covenants 127:4 and we redoubled our efforts! And we saw miracles! Being in a trio is awesome because every time we get a member to come out with us we can just go on splits and one missionary goes with the member and other two go and work somewhere else.
We added a 15 year old girl named Jackie that the sisters referred to us. She is awesome!! We met her twice this past week and she is excited to come to church and go to young women's!
We also added a family from Texas! The moms name is Holly and she has two kids and she is awesome! She has been going through a lot lately and is in need of the gospel! She also just so happens to be best friends with a less active family that we have been trying to work with!
There were quite a few other people that we added but those were probably my favorites!
The work is definitely picking up and we are working hard to see miracles!
Sorry it's not super detailed this week but I am loving it here in San Diego! Love you all!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
This week has been great! We followed the council in Doctrine and Covenants 127:4 and we redoubled our efforts! And we saw miracles! Being in a trio is awesome because every time we get a member to come out with us we can just go on splits and one missionary goes with the member and other two go and work somewhere else.
We added a 15 year old girl named Jackie that the sisters referred to us. She is awesome!! We met her twice this past week and she is excited to come to church and go to young women's!
We also added a family from Texas! The moms name is Holly and she has two kids and she is awesome! She has been going through a lot lately and is in need of the gospel! She also just so happens to be best friends with a less active family that we have been trying to work with!
There were quite a few other people that we added but those were probably my favorites!
The work is definitely picking up and we are working hard to see miracles!
Sorry it's not super detailed this week but I am loving it here in San Diego! Love you all!
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Mission Conference (6/7)
Hey Everyone!
Elder Searle and I are doing great! We get along super well and work well together.
Not going to lie don't really feel like emailing this week haha. We did have a pretty good week though. Friday we had meetings ALL day but it was pretty awesome. We had a mission conference with Elder Hamula of the Seventy and then afterwards we had a special MLC with Elder Hamula.
Here are some things Elder Hamula talked about:
Transfers are next Tuesday, hopefully I stay with Elder Searle! But as of lately I haven't been staying with my companions very long.
Elder LaRochelle
Elder Searle and I are doing great! We get along super well and work well together.
Not going to lie don't really feel like emailing this week haha. We did have a pretty good week though. Friday we had meetings ALL day but it was pretty awesome. We had a mission conference with Elder Hamula of the Seventy and then afterwards we had a special MLC with Elder Hamula.
Here are some things Elder Hamula talked about:
- When you are rejected, you have experiences that only Christ’s disciples have. ... The Savior was persecuted, yet said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” ... Such compassion and mercy that is in Him should be extended to others.
- I tell you this in the name of Jesus Christ. You would not be where you are if there were not souls to save. Dig deeper, try harder. There are souls to save in every area in this mission!
- Promise – If you will become converted to the Book of Mormon, hell will have no power to take you off the strait and narrow course.
- Casualness – cultivate the virtue of sobriety – to be serious-minded. ... Spiritual sobriety permits you to see things that others cannot see. To see the signs of the times. To hear the word of the Lord. When there is too much noise, you cannot hear the Spirit, which is a still, small voice that is quiet and whisper like. Connection – because Mormon was of a sober mind, he was visited of the Lord. (Mormon 1:15). To take it to the next level – let go of casualness. Have joyful countenances, but let go of casualness.
- What does it mean to be a witness of the “name of Christ” (D&C 107:23-24)?
- Christ’s Identity – His characteristics, attributes, virtues. Every week, you take upon yourself the name of Christ. You agree “to be Him to the people to whom you are sent.” “You have got to be Him.” Through you, they see Him and hear His voice.
- Christ’s Work and Labor. Agree to do His work. The work of the Lord is the salvation of souls – the most important work in the universe. When we say “Amen” to the sacrament prayer, we are agreeing to do His work, not your own. You serve in this work until you can’t anymore.
- Christ’s Authority and Power. We assume the power and authority that name gives you.
- “You get no revelation unless you are willing to ask questions.”
- THE DOCTRINE OF YOU:
- D&C 130:18-19: We gain intelligence through our diligence and obedience. Light and truth can be taken with us in the resurrection.
- Obedience/Diligence - permit us to gain knowledge and intelligence. The call to be obedient and diligent is the call to gain light and knowledge. You choose the degree to which you will be obedient and diligent.
- TREES. You are like trees. Trees are symbolic of our lives – we have roots, branches, and fruit. Trees grow slowly, not fast. The best trees grow slowly, to endure every weather condition. Don't resist the pruning, or being planted in another area.
- WAR IN HEAVEN. The war in heaven continues today – it was transferred from heaven to earth. ... You were among the most valiant of all of our Heavenly Father’s children. You knew and loved Him. You gave everything to Him in that great war. Because of your exceeding love and faith, you were reserved to come in these last days, to fight again as you fought before. ... You are the noble and great ones. But you can’t do this on your own. Your power rests in the authority given you and your abiding faith. Go and exercise the same faith you did in the beginning.
- You overcame Satan by: (1) The Atonement of Jesus Christ (blood of the Lamb); (2) Your testimony; and (3) Consecration of soul (loved not their lives unto the death). (Rev. 12:11).
- Jesus was fully consecrated and fully committed.
- You have the privilege to ask God concerning your standing with Him. Then listen. We say a lot of prayers without listening. Slow down from getting off your knees. Slow down while praying – take time to listen. God will answer by: (1) feeling to your heart; thoughts to your mind. Even if the answer does not come immediately, keep listening. (2) Look for His voice while reading the scriptures. And (3) Wait upon the Lord when listening to His servants. If it seems that God is waiting to answer your prayer, God is proving you to see if you are sincere.
Transfers are next Tuesday, hopefully I stay with Elder Searle! But as of lately I haven't been staying with my companions very long.
Elder LaRochelle
Trio
Hey Everyone!
Transfers were today and Elder Searle and I both stayed but... We were also joined by Elder Kap! Elder Shurtliff who is a missionary in the zone said that this president putting me in hospice because it's my last transfer haha.
I'm pretty excited about being in a trio though! I have always wanted to be in a trio and it finally happened my last transfer. I'm pretty excited that Elder Searle stayed though he is a good guy and we get along really well.
This past week was pretty good though. Last Tuesday after p day we had a baptism interview for the Tagalog Elders. The guy that got interviewed told the elders that after he was baptized he was going to go start a branch when he goes back to the Philippines. He was a pretty awesome guy.
On Wednesday we had DLC (District Leader Council). It was pretty good. When I was a district leader I had some DLC's that were mostly business where they talked about how missionaries are doing and what not. Elder Searle and I try and make it a more spiritual meeting that helps lift the faith of the district leaders. We were lucky to have really good district leaders last transfer, one of them used to be a zone leader and the other just became a zone leader.
Friday we had Zone Meeting. It actually went really well. I can't believe I only have one more Zone Meeting on my mission. Crazy. After that we drove another set of missionaries down to Spring Valley to pick up there car that was in the shop. Thursday and Friday were actually really slow days. Slow days are hard days but we are working hard to change that.
Sunday as a zone we fasted that each companionship in the zone could add 5 new investigators this week. Later that night we were walking through an apartment complex and we talked to a guy named Cheyanne and he told us that he wasn't very religious and I felt the spirit tell me to ask why so I asked him why he wasn't religious and he told us because he had been through a lot of tough trials and God didn't help him so he came to the conclusion that God didn't exist. We testified to him boldly that God lived and that He had a plan for him. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and I made him give me his word that he would read it and pray about and then text us by Sunday. He agreed and took it. It was an amazing lesson and I felt the spirit very strong
And yesterday we saw lots of miracles to add to that. We stopped by a former investigator named Monica and she said that she really enjoys us coming over and sharing messages with her. She pretty much bore her testimony and told us she felt the Holy Ghost so that was awesome! Right after that we tried some new move in referrals that we got from a ward missionary that's a real estate agent. We tried the new move in but he wasn't interested so we knocked on some doors around the house and met an awesome family from Texas that are really good friends with a less active family in the Ward.
Right after that a member texted us and asked if we could help move some couches for him. So we went over to his place and we took his old couch out and as we were taking it out he asked if we had a couch and we told him that we didn't so he just gave it to us haha it was pretty awesome. After that we went to another family in Ward and picked up two of their couches that they were giving to this other family haha.
During that service a former investigator texted us and asked if we could stop by and when we stopped by she was having a hard time and the reason we dropped her before that was because she wasn't keeping commitments so we testified and promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that if she followed Christ and kept his commandments that she would be blessed and strengthened. It was a really powerful lesson.
I think that's it for this week! Love you all!
Elder LaRochelle
Transfers were today and Elder Searle and I both stayed but... We were also joined by Elder Kap! Elder Shurtliff who is a missionary in the zone said that this president putting me in hospice because it's my last transfer haha.
This past week was pretty good though. Last Tuesday after p day we had a baptism interview for the Tagalog Elders. The guy that got interviewed told the elders that after he was baptized he was going to go start a branch when he goes back to the Philippines. He was a pretty awesome guy.
On Wednesday we had DLC (District Leader Council). It was pretty good. When I was a district leader I had some DLC's that were mostly business where they talked about how missionaries are doing and what not. Elder Searle and I try and make it a more spiritual meeting that helps lift the faith of the district leaders. We were lucky to have really good district leaders last transfer, one of them used to be a zone leader and the other just became a zone leader.
Friday we had Zone Meeting. It actually went really well. I can't believe I only have one more Zone Meeting on my mission. Crazy. After that we drove another set of missionaries down to Spring Valley to pick up there car that was in the shop. Thursday and Friday were actually really slow days. Slow days are hard days but we are working hard to change that.
Sunday as a zone we fasted that each companionship in the zone could add 5 new investigators this week. Later that night we were walking through an apartment complex and we talked to a guy named Cheyanne and he told us that he wasn't very religious and I felt the spirit tell me to ask why so I asked him why he wasn't religious and he told us because he had been through a lot of tough trials and God didn't help him so he came to the conclusion that God didn't exist. We testified to him boldly that God lived and that He had a plan for him. We gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet and I made him give me his word that he would read it and pray about and then text us by Sunday. He agreed and took it. It was an amazing lesson and I felt the spirit very strong
And yesterday we saw lots of miracles to add to that. We stopped by a former investigator named Monica and she said that she really enjoys us coming over and sharing messages with her. She pretty much bore her testimony and told us she felt the Holy Ghost so that was awesome! Right after that we tried some new move in referrals that we got from a ward missionary that's a real estate agent. We tried the new move in but he wasn't interested so we knocked on some doors around the house and met an awesome family from Texas that are really good friends with a less active family in the Ward.
Right after that a member texted us and asked if we could help move some couches for him. So we went over to his place and we took his old couch out and as we were taking it out he asked if we had a couch and we told him that we didn't so he just gave it to us haha it was pretty awesome. After that we went to another family in Ward and picked up two of their couches that they were giving to this other family haha.
During that service a former investigator texted us and asked if we could stop by and when we stopped by she was having a hard time and the reason we dropped her before that was because she wasn't keeping commitments so we testified and promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that if she followed Christ and kept his commandments that she would be blessed and strengthened. It was a really powerful lesson.
I think that's it for this week! Love you all!
Elder LaRochelle
Elder Holland!! (5/31)
Hello Family! This week has been crazy busy with Meetings and such! On Wednesday we had MTE's president Schmitt gave us some awesome training and then I went with Elder Taylor to his area in Poway. Elder Taylor is still in training but he lives in an apartment with another set of missionaries and one of the other missionaries that loves there is Elder Callahan! It was good to see him again and he seems like he is doing pretty well. He has been out for close to a year now and he has been on a bike pretty much the whole time! Every time I see him he never fails to remind me that he is still on a bike haha XD!
Elder Taylor and I had a pretty good day though! We met with one of there investigators that has been kinda flakey about setting a baptismal date. One thing I love about going on exchanges is that you can be as bold as you want with people because they will only see you one time. So i was a little bold with her and it worked and she accepted a baptismal date! Later that night we stopped by a less actives house and Elder Taylor was like so this Ryan Reynolds. And I was like oh ok and then it kinda clicked in my head and I was like wait like Ryan Reynolds the actor? And he was like yeah that's him. At first I thought he was lying but I guess he is an inactive member. We knocked on his door though and his wife had a bad day or something because she didn't even open the door she just told us how's not a good time. So I knocked on Ryan Reynolds door but never met himHaha.
Thursday we MTE follow ups and we shared the miracles that happened in all the areas and then President gave more training and then right afterwards some other elders in the zone had some baptisms and they asked us to teach during the intermission so that was cool.
Friday we had a mission Conference with Elder Holland!! It was pretty awesome! We didn't get chastised! He started off the meeting by shaking all of our hands and after he shook our hands he thanked us for letting him have a personal interview with each of us. He told us that as he shook our hands he looked into our eyes to see what kind of missionaries we were. It was pretty awesome! I'll put more notes from the meeting at the end of my email. Elder Holland was actually really funny. He told us that he wanted to do a question and answer segment and he turned and asked our mission president if that was ok and President Schmitt kind of shrugged his shoulders and Elder Holland said " Well I guess I can do whatever I want unless someone more senior then me walks in" it was pretty funny. He told us that he has the reputation to go kind of ballistic in some meetings but he said he didn't feel like he needed to talk about obedience or anything so that was nice haha. Elder Hollands final words while leaving the chapel were "Work hard". It was so awesome to be with an Apostle, as a mission we did everything we could to be sanctified and ready for him. We wanted him to be able to feel the spirit by just being with us that day.
Sunday I spoke in one of our wards. They had a youth speaker cancel so I got to be the youth speaker which was awesome haha. I talked about how we can recognize and reject false teachings? Or something like that.
Well I think that's it for this week! This Friday we have another Mission Tour this time with Elder Hamula from the First Quorum of the 70 sot hat will be exciting!
Elder Holland Notes:
Elder LaRochelle
Elder Taylor and I had a pretty good day though! We met with one of there investigators that has been kinda flakey about setting a baptismal date. One thing I love about going on exchanges is that you can be as bold as you want with people because they will only see you one time. So i was a little bold with her and it worked and she accepted a baptismal date! Later that night we stopped by a less actives house and Elder Taylor was like so this Ryan Reynolds. And I was like oh ok and then it kinda clicked in my head and I was like wait like Ryan Reynolds the actor? And he was like yeah that's him. At first I thought he was lying but I guess he is an inactive member. We knocked on his door though and his wife had a bad day or something because she didn't even open the door she just told us how's not a good time. So I knocked on Ryan Reynolds door but never met himHaha.
Thursday we MTE follow ups and we shared the miracles that happened in all the areas and then President gave more training and then right afterwards some other elders in the zone had some baptisms and they asked us to teach during the intermission so that was cool.
Friday we had a mission Conference with Elder Holland!! It was pretty awesome! We didn't get chastised! He started off the meeting by shaking all of our hands and after he shook our hands he thanked us for letting him have a personal interview with each of us. He told us that as he shook our hands he looked into our eyes to see what kind of missionaries we were. It was pretty awesome! I'll put more notes from the meeting at the end of my email. Elder Holland was actually really funny. He told us that he wanted to do a question and answer segment and he turned and asked our mission president if that was ok and President Schmitt kind of shrugged his shoulders and Elder Holland said " Well I guess I can do whatever I want unless someone more senior then me walks in" it was pretty funny. He told us that he has the reputation to go kind of ballistic in some meetings but he said he didn't feel like he needed to talk about obedience or anything so that was nice haha. Elder Hollands final words while leaving the chapel were "Work hard". It was so awesome to be with an Apostle, as a mission we did everything we could to be sanctified and ready for him. We wanted him to be able to feel the spirit by just being with us that day.
Sunday I spoke in one of our wards. They had a youth speaker cancel so I got to be the youth speaker which was awesome haha. I talked about how we can recognize and reject false teachings? Or something like that.
Well I think that's it for this week! This Friday we have another Mission Tour this time with Elder Hamula from the First Quorum of the 70 sot hat will be exciting!
Elder Holland Notes:
- “Joyful but serious” – that’s a good combination in missionary work.
- “All service in the Church is lateral. It is not vertical. God loves the Nursery worker just as much as He loves President Monson"
- "I want you to love every minute of your mission; to cherish your mission."
- “This is your apostolic moment.” You are “little a” apostles. You are doing work as close to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency as you will ever have."
- “The most important thing in the universe is the salvation of a human soul.”
- “Obedience is the first law of everything. Agency exercised in the act of obedience.”
- “You do it God’s way.” and say “Lord, I accept and do it your way.”
- "When you are obedient, that leads to the Holy Spirit. This is the way you work miracles."
- “You are obedient all the time, with exactness, to the extent you can be.”
- "I cannot promise you any number of other converts, but I promise and demand at least one convert – yourself. You are the most important convert."
- “You are to go home and be faithful to this (Gospel/Church) for the rest of your life.”
- “You can never go back to what you were before!”
- “You are God’s investigators and He is teaching you lessons.”
- “There is no going back!”
- “Let’s be persistent.”
- "We need to get the lessons and doctrine from the head to the heart."
- "We want you to have this in your soul!"
- "People do not know how much you care until they know how much you love."
- "I want you to love the Book of Mormon!"
- "Work hard. Love every minute of it."
Elder LaRochelle
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Octopus for Dinner (5/24)
Hey Everyone! This week has been great! It's been another super busy week but also a good one!
Last Wednesday we had a conference call with another set of zone leaders and we planned MTE's that happen tomorrow. MTE stands for missionary training exchange it's when a couple zones get together and they do an exchange between zones. The Zone Leaders plan who goes where and then the mission president looks over it and makes sure it looks good. So if all goes according to plan I should be going back to Ramona. A different Ward in Ramona but still Ramona so that's pretty awesome.
Later that day on Wednesday we helped a family move out of the Ward. The Ward here is actually really awesome. I'm excited to be serving here, there was a lot of people there to help, even the bishop who was still in his suit because he just got off work.
On Thursday we did some baptismal interviews for a mom and her 2 daughters so that was pretty cool. I interviewed one of the daughters and she asked who could baptize her and I told her that someone who held the priesthood could do it and she then asked me to do it but once I told her that the missionaries that were teaching her could do it she was like oh well I definitely want one of them to do it. I was so kinda relieved haha I didn't want to take that opportunity from the missionaries that taught her.
On Friday we went to 2 district meetings in our zone. We are supposed to go to a district meeting in each district once a transfer, but it was good, we have good missionaries in our zone.
Saturday was a long day. We have been dropping a lot of investigators because they aren't progressing so on Saturday we walked around some apartment complexes for a couple hours and talked to quite a few people and got a few people's addresses and stuff . Something that's really nice about being in San Diego, is that when we street contact people even if they're not interested we can still give them a card to the Mormon Battalion historic site. The Mormon Battalion is actually pretty cool. They re-did it a couple years ago and made it really interactive for kids and stuff and the sister missionaries run it so people always have a good time going.
Later that day on Saturday we had a meeting with the high councilor over missionary work and he took us out to dinner to a Korean BBQ place. It was pretty good except he made us eat an octopus! It actually wasn't that bad. Elder Searle was kind of freaking out about it before hand which was funny. At the end of the night we planned and went right to bed because we ended up walking 7 miles that day and were so tired haha.
Yesterday I went on an exchange with Elder Shurtliff. Elder Shurtliff was actually MTC companions with my trainee Elder Andersen. We had a pretty good day and taught some of their progressing investigators.
I think that's it for this week!
This coming week is going to be SOO busy haha. Elder Holland is actually coming to our mission on Friday! So that will be exciting!
Love ya!
Elder Chris 😃
Last Wednesday we had a conference call with another set of zone leaders and we planned MTE's that happen tomorrow. MTE stands for missionary training exchange it's when a couple zones get together and they do an exchange between zones. The Zone Leaders plan who goes where and then the mission president looks over it and makes sure it looks good. So if all goes according to plan I should be going back to Ramona. A different Ward in Ramona but still Ramona so that's pretty awesome.
Later that day on Wednesday we helped a family move out of the Ward. The Ward here is actually really awesome. I'm excited to be serving here, there was a lot of people there to help, even the bishop who was still in his suit because he just got off work.
On Thursday we did some baptismal interviews for a mom and her 2 daughters so that was pretty cool. I interviewed one of the daughters and she asked who could baptize her and I told her that someone who held the priesthood could do it and she then asked me to do it but once I told her that the missionaries that were teaching her could do it she was like oh well I definitely want one of them to do it. I was so kinda relieved haha I didn't want to take that opportunity from the missionaries that taught her.
On Friday we went to 2 district meetings in our zone. We are supposed to go to a district meeting in each district once a transfer, but it was good, we have good missionaries in our zone.
Saturday was a long day. We have been dropping a lot of investigators because they aren't progressing so on Saturday we walked around some apartment complexes for a couple hours and talked to quite a few people and got a few people's addresses and stuff . Something that's really nice about being in San Diego, is that when we street contact people even if they're not interested we can still give them a card to the Mormon Battalion historic site. The Mormon Battalion is actually pretty cool. They re-did it a couple years ago and made it really interactive for kids and stuff and the sister missionaries run it so people always have a good time going.
Later that day on Saturday we had a meeting with the high councilor over missionary work and he took us out to dinner to a Korean BBQ place. It was pretty good except he made us eat an octopus! It actually wasn't that bad. Elder Searle was kind of freaking out about it before hand which was funny. At the end of the night we planned and went right to bed because we ended up walking 7 miles that day and were so tired haha.
Yesterday I went on an exchange with Elder Shurtliff. Elder Shurtliff was actually MTC companions with my trainee Elder Andersen. We had a pretty good day and taught some of their progressing investigators.
I think that's it for this week!
This coming week is going to be SOO busy haha. Elder Holland is actually coming to our mission on Friday! So that will be exciting!
Love ya!
Elder Chris 😃
"Another Week at the Office" - Elder Searle (5/17)
Hey sorry I don't know how long my email will be, we went to the temple today and we just got home not to long ago after we went shopping. The work in PQ is kinda slow but it's alright. Elder Searle and I are working hard and getting stuff done!
Elder Searle and I are getting along super well! We are pretty good friends already and teach really well together. The cool thing is that we both like Archery! Accept he used his bow for hunting and I was in competitions and stuff, but it's still pretty cool!
This week was pretty long and busy!
Last Wednesday we had Zone Meeting which went well! I realized that I will only have to teach 2 more Zone Meetings on my mission! Pretty crazy to think about that!
Thursday was pretty awesome! That Morning we got a call from the fleet Coordinator and he told us that since we had a pretty clean driving record we were getting a new car and that our old was going to another set of missionaries in the zone. He told us that we needed to go to the mission office later that day and pick up the car! We still drive a corolla it's just Red instead of Gray and it only had 6 miles on it when we picked it up!
Friday night we accidentally scheduled double dinners one from each Ward. One of the dinners the member invited his neighbor who is Less active and the other dinner was with one of our bishops. After our dinners we were so excited because we were going to take one of our investigators to a baptism! We even had a less active member pick her up to bring her to the baptism! But when we got to the baptism we ended up waiting an hour and half before the branch president told us that the person who was going to be baptized wasn't going to be able to make because of health reasons. So that was a little bit of a bummer but it's all good because at every convert baptism in the mission there is a set of missionaries that teach the restoration, so the sisters taught our investigator and less active member the restoration which was good.
Saturday night we had dinner with our other bishop who is a lawyer and lives in a HUGE house. Elder Searle was telling me that he has his own firm and they working with Donald Trump on something so that's pretty cool. After dinner President Schmitt asked us to go to a food drive with some other missionaries and talk to some nonmembers there. The truck that was supposed to drop off food was super late and so we didn't get a chance to do to much service before we had to go but it was still a good experience.
On Sunday we went to another mission presidents Devotional. This one was in Poway so I saw a bunch of people I knew from Ramona so that was pretty awesome!
Today we went to the temple and when we were there I saw an older guy with a beard and a pony tail that looked really familiar and then I realized who it was. He was Charlotte's father in law (Charlotte is someone I baptized in Sweetwater). I got a chance to talk to him and he told me that Charlotte is going to the temple prep classes and that her son turned 8 in March and got baptized! It was so amazing to hear that! Hopefully when Charlotte goes through the temple I'll be able to go with her!
Well that's it for this week! Love ya
Elder LaRochelle
Elder Searle and I are getting along super well! We are pretty good friends already and teach really well together. The cool thing is that we both like Archery! Accept he used his bow for hunting and I was in competitions and stuff, but it's still pretty cool!
This week was pretty long and busy!
Last Wednesday we had Zone Meeting which went well! I realized that I will only have to teach 2 more Zone Meetings on my mission! Pretty crazy to think about that!
Thursday was pretty awesome! That Morning we got a call from the fleet Coordinator and he told us that since we had a pretty clean driving record we were getting a new car and that our old was going to another set of missionaries in the zone. He told us that we needed to go to the mission office later that day and pick up the car! We still drive a corolla it's just Red instead of Gray and it only had 6 miles on it when we picked it up!
Friday night we accidentally scheduled double dinners one from each Ward. One of the dinners the member invited his neighbor who is Less active and the other dinner was with one of our bishops. After our dinners we were so excited because we were going to take one of our investigators to a baptism! We even had a less active member pick her up to bring her to the baptism! But when we got to the baptism we ended up waiting an hour and half before the branch president told us that the person who was going to be baptized wasn't going to be able to make because of health reasons. So that was a little bit of a bummer but it's all good because at every convert baptism in the mission there is a set of missionaries that teach the restoration, so the sisters taught our investigator and less active member the restoration which was good.
Saturday night we had dinner with our other bishop who is a lawyer and lives in a HUGE house. Elder Searle was telling me that he has his own firm and they working with Donald Trump on something so that's pretty cool. After dinner President Schmitt asked us to go to a food drive with some other missionaries and talk to some nonmembers there. The truck that was supposed to drop off food was super late and so we didn't get a chance to do to much service before we had to go but it was still a good experience.
On Sunday we went to another mission presidents Devotional. This one was in Poway so I saw a bunch of people I knew from Ramona so that was pretty awesome!
Today we went to the temple and when we were there I saw an older guy with a beard and a pony tail that looked really familiar and then I realized who it was. He was Charlotte's father in law (Charlotte is someone I baptized in Sweetwater). I got a chance to talk to him and he told me that Charlotte is going to the temple prep classes and that her son turned 8 in March and got baptized! It was so amazing to hear that! Hopefully when Charlotte goes through the temple I'll be able to go with her!
Well that's it for this week! Love ya
Elder LaRochelle
Happy Mother's Day! (5/10)
Hey Everyone!
Things are going great up in PQ!! Elder Searle and I are getting along great and working hard! We are seeing lots of miracles! The members out here are awesome and are so willing to help but PQ has always been known to not have a lot of work. But we have a lot of potentials and some investigators we are working with.
We had MLC earlier this week which was awesome except that it lasts like all day. But it's alright we received a lot of awesome training but the purpose of fortifying and follow up.
Sunday was awesome! Made my last call on the mission! Kinda crazy to think my mission is almost over. :/
Sorry for the short email! Hopefully next week there is more to talk about!
Elder LaRochelle
Things are going great up in PQ!! Elder Searle and I are getting along great and working hard! We are seeing lots of miracles! The members out here are awesome and are so willing to help but PQ has always been known to not have a lot of work. But we have a lot of potentials and some investigators we are working with.
We had MLC earlier this week which was awesome except that it lasts like all day. But it's alright we received a lot of awesome training but the purpose of fortifying and follow up.
Sunday was awesome! Made my last call on the mission! Kinda crazy to think my mission is almost over. :/
Sorry for the short email! Hopefully next week there is more to talk about!
Elder LaRochelle
Transferred to P.Q. (5/3)
So the big news obviously from my email subject is that I got transferred... again haha. My new companion is Elder Searle (it sounds like pearl but with an "s"). He has been out for about 8 months and he is from American Fork Utah just like Elder Fraughton.
Another interesting thing about my new area is that we are double covering. Im covering the PQ 1st and PQ 3rd Ward. PQ is a pretty rich area so there isn't a ton of work so that's why we double cover.
Things in La Mesa 1st Ward were going great though. We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday and a lot of less actives came as well so Sunday was an amazing day.
We still have Connie one of our investigators that's 88 years old still on track to be baptized on May 28th.
We have another guy we are working with named James. He walked into the church last week and some members started talking to him and we came and talked to him and at first he wasn't to interested in talking with us but then he talked to a member of the bishopric and afterwards he was so ready to talk with us. He was at church on Sunday and he loved it and he told us that he wants to be baptized he just needs to know if this is true and our bishop asked him if he felt the spirit at church and he said that he did and our bishop asked if he thought that was his answer and you could just see it click in his head and then he just started to cry and he nodded his head and he said that he knew it was true.
We also had a family in the Ward call us tell us that they talked to this Hawaiian family about coming to church and they came on Sunday it was awesome.
I also went on exchanges with the Assistants. I went to there area with Elder McNaughtan. I came out with Elder McNaughtan so it was cool to serve with him for the day. The Assistants cover a singles ward near a couple of colleges so for most of the day we contacted people at SDSU and Grossmont college. SDSU is a pretty big party school so we didn't see much success there but it was still a good day. We had one of there recent converts come out with us for like 7 hours or so! It was great! He is pretty awesome and is really excited about the work.
Well I think that's it for this week!
Love you all,
Elder LaRochelle
Another interesting thing about my new area is that we are double covering. Im covering the PQ 1st and PQ 3rd Ward. PQ is a pretty rich area so there isn't a ton of work so that's why we double cover.
Things in La Mesa 1st Ward were going great though. We had 7 investigators at church on Sunday and a lot of less actives came as well so Sunday was an amazing day.
We still have Connie one of our investigators that's 88 years old still on track to be baptized on May 28th.
We have another guy we are working with named James. He walked into the church last week and some members started talking to him and we came and talked to him and at first he wasn't to interested in talking with us but then he talked to a member of the bishopric and afterwards he was so ready to talk with us. He was at church on Sunday and he loved it and he told us that he wants to be baptized he just needs to know if this is true and our bishop asked him if he felt the spirit at church and he said that he did and our bishop asked if he thought that was his answer and you could just see it click in his head and then he just started to cry and he nodded his head and he said that he knew it was true.
We also had a family in the Ward call us tell us that they talked to this Hawaiian family about coming to church and they came on Sunday it was awesome.
I also went on exchanges with the Assistants. I went to there area with Elder McNaughtan. I came out with Elder McNaughtan so it was cool to serve with him for the day. The Assistants cover a singles ward near a couple of colleges so for most of the day we contacted people at SDSU and Grossmont college. SDSU is a pretty big party school so we didn't see much success there but it was still a good day. We had one of there recent converts come out with us for like 7 hours or so! It was great! He is pretty awesome and is really excited about the work.
Well I think that's it for this week!
Love you all,
Elder LaRochelle
Just start driving! (4/26)
Hello Family and friends! The mission is great! Everyday on the mission we see miracles and we see first hand how the gospel literally changes people's lives.
I'll give you some highlights from my week
We have an investigator named Connie she is 88 years old and she is the sweetest lady. Her boyfriend is a members and she has come to church two weeks in a row now! We had an appointment with her earlier this week and she accepted a baptismal date!
We also have an investigator named Scott. We felt impressed to knock on his door and he told us that he used to be married to an LDS lady and that missionaries hadn't talked to him since 1988. He is a really cool guy and he is really searching this out for himself now. We had a lesson with him this past week and we brought our bishop with us!
So when we got to the area our bishop gave us a long list of people that he wanted us to stop by and see. We have seen most of them except for a few. One of them was Greg Radondo. We tried stopping by in the past to his address but no luck and then on Sunday night we were walking to the car and this guy 20 ft ahead of us starts yelling random things and then later he looks and stares at us and I just say hi to him and we get in the car and as we were putting the address into the gps the guy starts walking toward our car and I start freaking out a little and tell Elder Godby just to start driving so we do and the guy starts waving his hands in the air trying to get us to pull over. So we pull over and he tells us that his name is Greg Radondo. We area little shocked but we start talking to him and he told us to that he has been really struggling lately. We bore our testimonies to him that he needed to get back in church and how it could really bless and help him.
Those are just a few of the miracles that we have seen this week!
Love you all!!
Elder LaRochelle
I'll give you some highlights from my week
We have an investigator named Connie she is 88 years old and she is the sweetest lady. Her boyfriend is a members and she has come to church two weeks in a row now! We had an appointment with her earlier this week and she accepted a baptismal date!
We also have an investigator named Scott. We felt impressed to knock on his door and he told us that he used to be married to an LDS lady and that missionaries hadn't talked to him since 1988. He is a really cool guy and he is really searching this out for himself now. We had a lesson with him this past week and we brought our bishop with us!
So when we got to the area our bishop gave us a long list of people that he wanted us to stop by and see. We have seen most of them except for a few. One of them was Greg Radondo. We tried stopping by in the past to his address but no luck and then on Sunday night we were walking to the car and this guy 20 ft ahead of us starts yelling random things and then later he looks and stares at us and I just say hi to him and we get in the car and as we were putting the address into the gps the guy starts walking toward our car and I start freaking out a little and tell Elder Godby just to start driving so we do and the guy starts waving his hands in the air trying to get us to pull over. So we pull over and he tells us that his name is Greg Radondo. We area little shocked but we start talking to him and he told us to that he has been really struggling lately. We bore our testimonies to him that he needed to get back in church and how it could really bless and help him.
Those are just a few of the miracles that we have seen this week!
Love you all!!
Elder LaRochelle
A week of miracles (4/19)
Hey everyone!!! This week has been awesome!
On Wednesday we had an awesome day! We met with one of our investigators named Cordell. His family is from Uganda and he is super cool!
We also took a member named Chuck out with us to see one of our investigators named Hattie. Chuck is pretty awesome! He helps us out a lot and he is returning back into activity.
Later on that day we went on splits with with the young men's president and the Bishop. I went with our bishop and his wife down to Chula Vista to give a potential investigator a blessing that's in the hospital. Elder Godby went with the Schwalgers, a Hawaiian family in the Ward, to see one of our investigators named Lastell. She just recently got here from Hawaii and we street contacted her a couple weeks ago.
When bishop and I got to Chula Vista our potential investigator had already left but we called her and met her at her house and gave her a blessing and we added her. Her name is Catherine and she just moved here from Washington. She was seeing the missionaries in Washington and went to church and stuff up there. She is really cool!
Thursday we had interviews with President Schmitt and later that night we had a meeting with the mission and stake presidency. We also taught Tina she has met with missionaries before but our bishop just recently got back in contact with her so we are starting to teach her again.
Friday I went on exchanges back to Del Cerro! I was with Elder Balderree! He is a pretty cool missionary! Del Cerro has been struggling lately so while I was there we worked pretty hard to get things going for them! While I was there I talked to a guy on the street and he was wearing a cowboy hat and I told him that I liked his hat so he took it off and he gave it too me haha! It was pretty cool!
Saturday we felt inspired to go see this less active lady in the Ward. When we stopped by we asked if the member was there and some older lady told us that the person we were looking for was her mom and she is in an assisted living place. So we started talking to her and she started crying and told us last week her husband died and she was having a pretty hard time with it so we shared a couple scriptures with her and she said we could come back on Monday!
Sunday was AMAZING we went to a mission presidents Fireside in Santee. I was pretty excited because that's the same stake, Bostonia, one of my old areas was in. Since we border Santee we were invited to sing in the choir and while we were practicing the Beitlers walked in!!!! I love the Beitlers I baptized Don while I was there and he later baptized his daughter! It was so good to see them!! They told me they were bearing their testimonies during the fireside! It was so awesome!!! I love this work!! It's so amazing!
I think that's it for this week!!
Bye love you all!
Elder LaRochelle
On Wednesday we had an awesome day! We met with one of our investigators named Cordell. His family is from Uganda and he is super cool!
We also took a member named Chuck out with us to see one of our investigators named Hattie. Chuck is pretty awesome! He helps us out a lot and he is returning back into activity.
Later on that day we went on splits with with the young men's president and the Bishop. I went with our bishop and his wife down to Chula Vista to give a potential investigator a blessing that's in the hospital. Elder Godby went with the Schwalgers, a Hawaiian family in the Ward, to see one of our investigators named Lastell. She just recently got here from Hawaii and we street contacted her a couple weeks ago.
When bishop and I got to Chula Vista our potential investigator had already left but we called her and met her at her house and gave her a blessing and we added her. Her name is Catherine and she just moved here from Washington. She was seeing the missionaries in Washington and went to church and stuff up there. She is really cool!
Thursday we had interviews with President Schmitt and later that night we had a meeting with the mission and stake presidency. We also taught Tina she has met with missionaries before but our bishop just recently got back in contact with her so we are starting to teach her again.
Friday I went on exchanges back to Del Cerro! I was with Elder Balderree! He is a pretty cool missionary! Del Cerro has been struggling lately so while I was there we worked pretty hard to get things going for them! While I was there I talked to a guy on the street and he was wearing a cowboy hat and I told him that I liked his hat so he took it off and he gave it too me haha! It was pretty cool!
Saturday we felt inspired to go see this less active lady in the Ward. When we stopped by we asked if the member was there and some older lady told us that the person we were looking for was her mom and she is in an assisted living place. So we started talking to her and she started crying and told us last week her husband died and she was having a pretty hard time with it so we shared a couple scriptures with her and she said we could come back on Monday!
Sunday was AMAZING we went to a mission presidents Fireside in Santee. I was pretty excited because that's the same stake, Bostonia, one of my old areas was in. Since we border Santee we were invited to sing in the choir and while we were practicing the Beitlers walked in!!!! I love the Beitlers I baptized Don while I was there and he later baptized his daughter! It was so good to see them!! They told me they were bearing their testimonies during the fireside! It was so awesome!!! I love this work!! It's so amazing!
I think that's it for this week!!
Bye love you all!
Elder LaRochelle
Elder L and Spud Boy (4/12)
This week has been great! Man does Elder Godby love his potatoes! He introduces himself as a spud boy haha.
Elder Godby and I are working hard though! We have seen a lot of cool miracles like:
1. A couple of days ago during our companionship study we had a lady come knock on our door. We open the door and there is this sweet old lady on our porch and she asked us for some reading material, so we taught her the restoration and gave her some pamphlets. We told her that if she read and prayed she could come to know that it was true and she told us " oh don't worry I already know it's true" very sweet lady. The sad thing is that here husband is Muslim and not open to us coming by and teaching her.
2. On Wednesday we had our bishop come out with us! His name is Bishop Herrod and he is one of the greatest bishops ever! We took him to an appointment and afterward he told us that he wanted us to stop by someone's place. He told us that he was kinda worried about it because the lady we were going to go see lived in assisted living place and the lady's family didn't want her talking to members of the church. So he was kinda nervous but he said we were going to do it anyway haha. So we met Tina Anderson and she is just the sweetest old lady. She loves the church and wants to be baptized!
3. Oh yeah can't forget, dinner with the Schmitts! So the great thing about having the Mission president in our Ward is that sister Schmitt takes care of our dinner calendar! But she signed up for dinner this Thursday and they asked us to bring someone to dinner. So we invited a part member family and it turned out really well! We invited the part member family to church and they said they would try and at the end of our lesson president asked his son Clayton who is 8 years old to say the prayer. In his prayer he thanked Heavenly Father for his new friends and he asked that his new friends would be able to come to church so that was kinda funny.
4. Yesterday we were trying some less active homes and we got in the car and we felt impressed to knock on some random guy's door. When we knocked on the door this very nice man named Scott answered and asked if we wanted to come in. He told us that he has kids that are LDS but that he wasn't. He told us that he has seen missionaries walk past his house for years but no one ever knocked on his door. He invited us back though so that was cool.
This week has been awesome! Today we also went to the temple!!! I think that's it for this week!
Love ya!
Elder LaRochelle
Elder Godby and I are working hard though! We have seen a lot of cool miracles like:
1. A couple of days ago during our companionship study we had a lady come knock on our door. We open the door and there is this sweet old lady on our porch and she asked us for some reading material, so we taught her the restoration and gave her some pamphlets. We told her that if she read and prayed she could come to know that it was true and she told us " oh don't worry I already know it's true" very sweet lady. The sad thing is that here husband is Muslim and not open to us coming by and teaching her.
2. On Wednesday we had our bishop come out with us! His name is Bishop Herrod and he is one of the greatest bishops ever! We took him to an appointment and afterward he told us that he wanted us to stop by someone's place. He told us that he was kinda worried about it because the lady we were going to go see lived in assisted living place and the lady's family didn't want her talking to members of the church. So he was kinda nervous but he said we were going to do it anyway haha. So we met Tina Anderson and she is just the sweetest old lady. She loves the church and wants to be baptized!
3. Oh yeah can't forget, dinner with the Schmitts! So the great thing about having the Mission president in our Ward is that sister Schmitt takes care of our dinner calendar! But she signed up for dinner this Thursday and they asked us to bring someone to dinner. So we invited a part member family and it turned out really well! We invited the part member family to church and they said they would try and at the end of our lesson president asked his son Clayton who is 8 years old to say the prayer. In his prayer he thanked Heavenly Father for his new friends and he asked that his new friends would be able to come to church so that was kinda funny.
4. Yesterday we were trying some less active homes and we got in the car and we felt impressed to knock on some random guy's door. When we knocked on the door this very nice man named Scott answered and asked if we wanted to come in. He told us that he has kids that are LDS but that he wasn't. He told us that he has seen missionaries walk past his house for years but no one ever knocked on his door. He invited us back though so that was cool.
Love ya!
Elder LaRochelle
Just the Facts (4/5)
It has been a long week!
General Conference was good
We had MLC. It was good
We saw lots of people, some of it was good.
We saw this less active he was worried that we were drinking tap water so he gave us a free gallon of water.
We have been working super hard and seeing a lot of people and we have some pretty strong potentials for baptisms.
Our bishop is a stud! He goes out everyday to go see people! I love this ward though, and I like serving with Elder Godby he is a hard worker and we get along pretty well!
Today we went to a couple museums that are downtown. Every Tuesday a couple museums are free downtown so that was cool.
Sorry for the short email I'm super tired!
Elder LaRochelle
General Conference was good
We had MLC. It was good
We saw lots of people, some of it was good.
We saw this less active he was worried that we were drinking tap water so he gave us a free gallon of water.
We have been working super hard and seeing a lot of people and we have some pretty strong potentials for baptisms.
Our bishop is a stud! He goes out everyday to go see people! I love this ward though, and I like serving with Elder Godby he is a hard worker and we get along pretty well!
Today we went to a couple museums that are downtown. Every Tuesday a couple museums are free downtown so that was cool.
Sorry for the short email I'm super tired!
Elder LaRochelle
Family (3/29)
Yesterday we street contacted a guy that seemed pretty upset with us before we even talked to him. So I said hey man what's up and he kinda shrugged us off. Somehow I convinced him to talk to us for a little bit and he told us about how he prayed to God as a kid that his dad would stop beating his mom but he never stopped. I told him that I knew God loved him and that he had a plan for him and that we have our trials for a reason.
After we talked to him I thought about my life and how I have had it so easy. Coming on my mission has helped me to understand how important my family is to me and how I want to treat them right. I'm so grateful that I have a family that loves me and cares about me.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elder LaRochelle
After we talked to him I thought about my life and how I have had it so easy. Coming on my mission has helped me to understand how important my family is to me and how I want to treat them right. I'm so grateful that I have a family that loves me and cares about me.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elder LaRochelle
Whitewahsed Out. Whitewashed In. (3/22)
Hey everyone sorry my email is so late it has been a CRAZY past couple of days. We had to be up at 4 am to take Elder Fiso who was serving in La Mesa to the airport to go home to Hawaii.
But here is the crazy news! I got transferred today! So did Elder Pimsuwan! We got Whitewashed out. Elder Pimsuwan went to Lakeside Ward and I stayed in the zone I just got transferred to La Mesa 1st ward... President Schmitts ward. Kinda scary but it's all good I'm excited! I'm still a district and Zone Leader. My new companion is Elder Godby! I was his district leader in Santee. He was my zone leader.
So we got whitewashed out of Del Cerro and whitewashed into La Mesa 1st Ward. We also had a set of sisters that went home last transfer, so that makes 3 areas in the zone that got whitewashed!
So I'll just take you through my crazy week.
Last Tuesday we went to point Loma for p day. They have an old lighthouse up there and some other cool stuff. I'll send pictures and stuff though.
Wednesday was a really good day! We taught 5 lessons that day. It's hard to find days where we can put a lot of time in our area. So whenever we get a chance we go for it.
Friday was rough. We had to help some sisters make a baptismal program. Then we did service and then we had to give a baptism interview that night. The sisters didn't go over the questions with the person being baptized so there was some things that came up and we had to hurry and schedule her to have another baptism interview with President Collins from the mission presidency so that she could still make her baptismal date for Saturday.
Saturday president Collins interviewed the girl that was going to be baptized like an hour before the baptism. Kinda stressful but it all worked out and she was able to be baptized.
Yesterday morning we found out about transfers. We also did service. Then we dropped Elder Fiso off at the mission home for his "Trunky day" . All the missionaries that are leaving get together and go on Facebook and have a testimony meeting and hang out its pretty cool. So Elder Pimsuwan and I were with Elder Vance for the day pretty much. We had two dinners since we were double covering... It was pretty crazy... Lots of food.
Well I think that's it for this week ! Bye love ya
Elder LaRochelle
Sent from my iPad
But here is the crazy news! I got transferred today! So did Elder Pimsuwan! We got Whitewashed out. Elder Pimsuwan went to Lakeside Ward and I stayed in the zone I just got transferred to La Mesa 1st ward... President Schmitts ward. Kinda scary but it's all good I'm excited! I'm still a district and Zone Leader. My new companion is Elder Godby! I was his district leader in Santee. He was my zone leader.
So we got whitewashed out of Del Cerro and whitewashed into La Mesa 1st Ward. We also had a set of sisters that went home last transfer, so that makes 3 areas in the zone that got whitewashed!
So I'll just take you through my crazy week.
Last Tuesday we went to point Loma for p day. They have an old lighthouse up there and some other cool stuff. I'll send pictures and stuff though.
Wednesday was a really good day! We taught 5 lessons that day. It's hard to find days where we can put a lot of time in our area. So whenever we get a chance we go for it.
Friday was rough. We had to help some sisters make a baptismal program. Then we did service and then we had to give a baptism interview that night. The sisters didn't go over the questions with the person being baptized so there was some things that came up and we had to hurry and schedule her to have another baptism interview with President Collins from the mission presidency so that she could still make her baptismal date for Saturday.
Saturday president Collins interviewed the girl that was going to be baptized like an hour before the baptism. Kinda stressful but it all worked out and she was able to be baptized.
Yesterday morning we found out about transfers. We also did service. Then we dropped Elder Fiso off at the mission home for his "Trunky day" . All the missionaries that are leaving get together and go on Facebook and have a testimony meeting and hang out its pretty cool. So Elder Pimsuwan and I were with Elder Vance for the day pretty much. We had two dinners since we were double covering... It was pretty crazy... Lots of food.
Well I think that's it for this week ! Bye love ya
Elder LaRochelle
Sent from my iPad
Another Busy Week (3/15)
Hey Everyone!!
This week has been Pretty Busy!
Last
Tuesday we played Softball for P-day! It was pretty awesome! The Church
owns a baseball field right next to the church and we have keys for
it!
we had to prepare for Stake Packet
Meeting. It takes a couple hours to put all the information in and then
we have to send it the stake presidency.
Wednesday
morning during studies The Assistants called us and said that their car
is at the shop so they are going to take our car... just kidding haha
they said they just need a ride to the institute because they had an
appointment. we had to prepare for Stake Packet Meeting. It takes a
couple hours to put all the information in and then we have to send it
the stake presidency. After that we had to go pick up the assistants and
take them to the mission office so they could pick up the mission Van
and drive it around because their car wont be done until Friday.
Thursday was crazy! We had zone meeting at 10:30 am and i had a dr. appointment at 10 am
so we had to rush out of my doctors appointment to make it to zone
meeting on time. We were like right on time though which was awesome.
Zone Meeting went well! Elder Pimsuwan and I trained on some things and
then we had a couple missionaries that are going home train. We were
kinda freaking out a little bit though because President Schmitt texted
all the zone leaders and asked them when their Zone Meetings were
because he was going to try and attend as many as he could. He didn't
come to ours though.
After Zone Meeting we had
Weekly Planning which take a couple hours. Then Later that night we had
Stake Packet Meeting with the Stake Presidency and Mission Presidency
and all the Ward Mission Leaders in the stake. We just talk about all
the things that are happening in the zone and how the missionaries are
doing. It was pretty awesome.
Friday We had to
wake up Early and take a missionary down to the temple because he goes
home at the end of the transfer. So we dropped him off and we were with
his companion for the next couple hours but we had to go to the mission
office and pick up the assistants and drop them off at the car
dealership to pick up their car that was in the shop.
Sunday we got a new bishop and he is awesome he already gave us two referrals!
I think thats it! bye
Monday, March 14, 2016
Zoo
From 3/1/2016...
Hey family and friends. We went to the zoo today it was a lot of fun. Elder Pimsuwan was really excited to go. The bad thing is now I'm really tired and don't feel like writing a long email.
Last Tuesday we were supposed to go to the Mormon battalion but it didn't work out which is disappointing.
Wednesday we went on exchanges with the La Mesa 1st Ward elders. I was with elder Vance for the day. He is in training. We had a pretty good day though.
Thursday was fun. We played tennis in the morning with some other missionaries in our zone. Afterwards we did a service project for another missionary. His girlfriend broke up with him and then got married so he wanted to get rid of the letters he got from her so we burned them in a metal can.
Friday we did service for a bishop in a different Ward. We helped him move boulders to make a wall out of the boulders.
Saturday a former investigator called us and told us that he needed our help so we go to his place and he his sitting on the sidewalk with an autistic girl that's crying. The girl left her house and went and banged on the guys door. We went and talked to the girl and her mom came out. We added the mom though!
Sunday we called the mom and she told us that she needed our help. So we show up and and the autistic girl was laying on the sidewalk and was really upset at her mom and sister. She started screaming and cussing about her mom and sister. Elder Pimsuwan somehow convinced her to get off the ground. We ended up having to go to another appointment before we could get her to go inside. Right before we left she got really mad and started chasing her mom around and was trying to hit her. It was pretty crazy. So please pray for her and her mom. It's pretty sad actually, no one will help the mom. She isn't allowed to take her daughter to the hospitals and the police and fire department won't help her when she wont go home.
Yesterday we had MLC and watched the new Easter initiative video! Ok that's it for this week bye love you guys.
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Hey family and friends. We went to the zoo today it was a lot of fun. Elder Pimsuwan was really excited to go. The bad thing is now I'm really tired and don't feel like writing a long email.
Last Tuesday we were supposed to go to the Mormon battalion but it didn't work out which is disappointing.
Wednesday we went on exchanges with the La Mesa 1st Ward elders. I was with elder Vance for the day. He is in training. We had a pretty good day though.
Thursday was fun. We played tennis in the morning with some other missionaries in our zone. Afterwards we did a service project for another missionary. His girlfriend broke up with him and then got married so he wanted to get rid of the letters he got from her so we burned them in a metal can.
Friday we did service for a bishop in a different Ward. We helped him move boulders to make a wall out of the boulders.
Saturday a former investigator called us and told us that he needed our help so we go to his place and he his sitting on the sidewalk with an autistic girl that's crying. The girl left her house and went and banged on the guys door. We went and talked to the girl and her mom came out. We added the mom though!
Sunday we called the mom and she told us that she needed our help. So we show up and and the autistic girl was laying on the sidewalk and was really upset at her mom and sister. She started screaming and cussing about her mom and sister. Elder Pimsuwan somehow convinced her to get off the ground. We ended up having to go to another appointment before we could get her to go inside. Right before we left she got really mad and started chasing her mom around and was trying to hit her. It was pretty crazy. So please pray for her and her mom. It's pretty sad actually, no one will help the mom. She isn't allowed to take her daughter to the hospitals and the police and fire department won't help her when she wont go home.
Yesterday we had MLC and watched the new Easter initiative video! Ok that's it for this week bye love you guys.
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Working Hard or Hardly Working
From 2/23/2016...
This week was awesome! I love it down here! I loved being in Ramona but it was kinda killing me that there wasn't very much work! Elder Pimsuwan are working hard and we are so busy its awesome!!
This week was awesome! I love it down here! I loved being in Ramona but it was kinda killing me that there wasn't very much work! Elder Pimsuwan are working hard and we are so busy its awesome!!
Recently
our Mission President set a standard of excellence for us. The zone has
been struggling to reach the standard of excellence so Elder Pimsuwan
and I are working hard to lead by example and its working.
Last
Tuesday after P-Day we were trying some potentials and this guy walked
up to us and asked us if we believed in Aliens haha . he then told us
about all these weird theories he has and we quickly ended the
conversation and asked him who he knew that could use a message and he
told us that his neighbor could so we went and tried his neighbor and
she was super nice her name was Melissa and she lives with her mom and
she has an autistic sister but they werent home.
Wednesday
we did service most of the morning and then later that day we met with
Dayle who is a recent convert with a lot of health problems. We brought
our ward mission Leader with us whos name is Brother Eggett! Brother
Eggett is pretty awesome and loves to do missionary work!
Friday
we went to the other districts district meeting which was good. Elder
Pimsuwan and i brought Pizza for them. after dmeet we did service at
mount Helix which is just a park. We picked up trash along a trail and
on the side of the mountain. I found some homeless persons home i think.
I didnt see anyone living there but there was a lot of trash and beer
bottles and stuff it was pretty crazy.
Saturday
morning our bishop asked us to fill the baptismal font for a family
that was visitng san diego to baptize there daughter so family could be
there. Later we had our District meeting, Elder pimsuwan taught this
week but it was a rough meeting because the A.P.s were on exchanges with
a missionary that was struggling a little bit. THe missionary that was
with the A.P.'s is from the south and is very loud haha so it was hard
to keep him focused but its all good.
Sunday
and Monday were both pretty normal though. Elder Pimsuwan and I are
great though we are getting members at lessons and talking to everyone
and seeing a lot of miracles.
I think thats it for this week!
Love ya
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Enjoying Life With Elder Kim
From 2/16/2016...
Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good even though we still had a lot of meetings.
On Wednesday we spent a big chunk of the day filling out "Stake Packets". They are papers that we hand out to the missionaries in our zone asking about numbers and of lessons and investigators at church and names of investigators and recent converts and all that stuff. We then collect the packets and put the information on the computer and then we meet with the mission presidency, stake presidency, the high counselor over missionary work and the ward mission leaders of all the wards in the stake. It takes a few hours to put all the information in though.
After we put all the information in the computer we had to plan for Zone Meeting which took an hour or so. Wednesday was pretty long though haha.
Thursday we had weekly planning and we had the meeting with the stake and ward leaders and stuff
Friday we had Zone Meeting which was good. This wasn't the first zone meeting I have taught at but its the first one I have planned so it was interesting but good.
Saturday we went to the Mormon Battalion with Rose and Eddy which was awesome. We also stopped by this guy that our Ward mission leader wanted us to stop by to offer service. We stopped by and met max he was totally down to let us do service for him.
Sunday we had stake conference that was a broadcast from salt lake it was really good. We didn't have anyone at church though which was a bummer.
Yesterday was a really good day we had a lot of lessons and had some members come out with us.
That's it for this week! Love you guys!
Elder LaRochelle
Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good even though we still had a lot of meetings.
On Wednesday we spent a big chunk of the day filling out "Stake Packets". They are papers that we hand out to the missionaries in our zone asking about numbers and of lessons and investigators at church and names of investigators and recent converts and all that stuff. We then collect the packets and put the information on the computer and then we meet with the mission presidency, stake presidency, the high counselor over missionary work and the ward mission leaders of all the wards in the stake. It takes a few hours to put all the information in though.
After we put all the information in the computer we had to plan for Zone Meeting which took an hour or so. Wednesday was pretty long though haha.
Thursday we had weekly planning and we had the meeting with the stake and ward leaders and stuff
Friday we had Zone Meeting which was good. This wasn't the first zone meeting I have taught at but its the first one I have planned so it was interesting but good.
Saturday we went to the Mormon Battalion with Rose and Eddy which was awesome. We also stopped by this guy that our Ward mission leader wanted us to stop by to offer service. We stopped by and met max he was totally down to let us do service for him.
Sunday we had stake conference that was a broadcast from salt lake it was really good. We didn't have anyone at church though which was a bummer.
Yesterday was a really good day we had a lot of lessons and had some members come out with us.
That's it for this week! Love you guys!
Elder LaRochelle
Elder L.A. and Elder Thai Boy
From 2/9/2016...
Hello Everyone!!
Hello Everyone!!
This Week has been Great!! Elder Pimsuwan and I are getting along great and I love serving in the Del Cerro ward.
We had a TON of meetings this week so its been crazy busy but its all good!
Last
Tuesday after P-day Elder Pimsuwan and I had to go to the mission
office and pick up a new missionary. At the beginning of every transfer
when we get a new group of missionaries in, the zone leaders are
responsible for taking one of the new missionaries out that night from 6-9 pm
and showing him what it's like to be a missionary and also housing them
that night. So Elder Pimsuwan and I had Elder Thomson for the night and
we went and saw one of our investigators named Rose. It was probably an
interesting visit for Elder Thomson because Rose is in her late 20s and
her house is super super messy and they just like to party and all that
but we tried to make him as comfortable as we could. At the end of the
night we went home and Elder Pimsuwan called a recent convert. There was some miscommunication and the recent convert got really upset and it
kind of freaked Elder Thomson out but we assured him that things like
that don't happen very often and the recent convert eventually calmed down
and apologized for freaking out haha.
Wednesday
was super super good! We started off the day by taking Elder Thomson to
the Mormon Battalion. All the new missionaries go to the Mormon
Battalion when they first get here.
Also last P-day I emailed one of my
previous zone leaders, Elder Arntsen, and told him that I was serving in
the ward he served in. He replied back and told me that he just got into
the area and was planning on being up where we were and decided to take us
out for dinner so that was way cool!
Thursday
we had a conference call with some other zone leaders in the surrounding
zones to plan MTE's (Missionary Training Exchange). During MTE's a
couple of zones get together and we receive training then go on exchanges
between zones. The Zone Leaders plan who goes with who and then we send
it to President and he changes everything to the way its supposed to be
haha!
That night we also had a JustServe meeting for the stake which was alright haha.
Friday
we had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). During MLC all the zone
leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders get together and receive training from
President Schmitt and then we as Zone Leaders present that training in
Zone Meetings to the rest of the zone. MLC was really really good
though.
Saturday morning I taught our district
meeting. Since Elder Pimsuwan and I are Zone Leaders and District
Leaders we also have to teach District meeting but we switch off every
week. We also went the other District's meeting haha.
Sunday
I got to meet the ward and I found out that there are a couple of families
that were in my first area that moved to this ward so it was good to
see them again. I also found out that I am serving in the Riewerts ward!
That is Brother Riewerts parents, so that's pretty cool!
Yesterday I was in Spanish work with Elder Browne for the day because of MTE's.
Elder Browne is a super cool dude and an amazing singer! we had a blast
yesterday and got along super well! Yesterday we went to go see one of
their investigators named Leo who is 10 years old. While we were trying
to teach him, his friend kept interrupting and saying that he
had a question. It was really funny because he would like "I have a
question... I'm a really good drawer." haha we tried to tell him that
those aren't questions but he kept doing it so at the end of the lesson I
was like "I have a question.. you should read the book of Mormon with
Leo haha."
Lots and lots of meetings! And more
to come! But its all good! Life is good and our zone is on fire! We
had 3 baptisms this past weekend and one more this next Saturday in the
zone!
Hope you are all doing great!
Love you,
Elder Chris LaRochelle
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Back to the City
From 2/2/2016...
Hey everyone! So a month ago or so we found out that we aren't allowed to have transfer meeting anymore. So the way they do transfers now is the Assistants send out a call sheet to the Zone Leaders that have all the new companionships. Then the Zone Leaders send it to us and call us and tell us who is leaving and who is coming in the zone and where everyone is going and then Tuesday morning all the missionaries that are dealing with a transfer meet together and exchange companions.
Hey everyone! So a month ago or so we found out that we aren't allowed to have transfer meeting anymore. So the way they do transfers now is the Assistants send out a call sheet to the Zone Leaders that have all the new companionships. Then the Zone Leaders send it to us and call us and tell us who is leaving and who is coming in the zone and where everyone is going and then Tuesday morning all the missionaries that are dealing with a transfer meet together and exchange companions.
So
yesterday we found out that i was being transferred toWSan Diego East Zone
in the Del Cerro ward With Elder Pimsuwan. He is from Thailand. I also
became a Zone Leader this transfer. The cool thing is that President and
the Assistants live in the zone and we are super close to everything.
the down side is since we have 3 sets of sisters and 3 sets of Elders
and one of the sets is the Assistants and the other set one of them is a
district leader. That means Elder Pimsuwan and I are Zone leaders and
District Leaders. Yay responsibility again haha.
Last
Tuesday we went to Camp Wildwood and had a BBQ and played sports with
another zone. After P-day we had dinner with Julie Stites she is recent
convert and her husband isn't a member so when we meet with her she
usually takes us out to dinner which is awesome! She struggles sometimes
because she wants to be sealed to her family forever but she can't yet since
her husband isn't a member. I testified to her that I know God has a
plan for her and that everything will work out.
Wednesday
was a pretty busy day! Elder Barnes had a meeting to go to and so did
some other missionaries so we went on exchanges and I was with Elder
Seavey for the morning. We went and did service for the guy with all the
sand bags which was awesome! The rest of the day we were able to meet
with a couple less active families and a couple part members families
which was awesome.
Friday we did service most
of the day! Its crazy how much service people need done up here. In the
morning we filled up sand bags for a family that had some flooding
problems last time it rained. Luckily we had a jeep for the day since we
were low on miles we borrowed another set of missionaries car because
they had a lot more miles. We ended up filling about 40 sand bags and
had to stop because the Jeep couldnt hold very much more. After that we
went to a horse therapy place and did weeding for them. They do therapy
for special education kids and wounded veterans.
Sunday was a crazy day! For 5th Sunday
in 3rd hour the 2016 ward mission plan was announced and then there
specific people that spoke about certain topics. Elder Banes and I
talked about creating a Family mission plan and setting goals as family
to do missionary work. Since we were focused on missionary work for 5th Sunday
our bishop thought it would be a good idea to invite President Schmitt
to speak in our sacrament meeting. He did a super good job though and it
really got the members pumped up to do missionary work.
This past week we also found out that Nathan has to wait until he is 18 to be baptized because his dad wont let him. He turns 18 in October so its not too bad. He is an awesome dude though, he is super committed and wants to get more involved but his dad wont let him. He still is able to go to seminary in the morning and he has read Preach My Gospel and everything. It's really a bummer that he can't be baptized though.
This past week we also found out that Nathan has to wait until he is 18 to be baptized because his dad wont let him. He turns 18 in October so its not too bad. He is an awesome dude though, he is super committed and wants to get more involved but his dad wont let him. He still is able to go to seminary in the morning and he has read Preach My Gospel and everything. It's really a bummer that he can't be baptized though.
Yesterday
we had dinner with the Sommers. The Sommers are awesome missionaries.
They invited a less active family and a part member family to meet
us. We were able to get to know the two families better and hopefully
start teaching the kids in the part member family!
Well I think that's it for this week! Love you guys!
-Elder Chris LaRochelle
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