Week 16-November 25, 2013-East L.A.

Dear Everyone,

First off, Lydia is progressing great! She came to church yesterday and Maria was telling me that Lydia told her that when she gets baptized she wants to be the first one at the service so she doesn't pick up anyone else's sins hahah. So she is awesome. We had a word of wisdom and 10 commandments lesson yesterday which I was a bit nervous about, but she took it well. She said she usually drinks a cup of coffee each morning, but she said she'll drop it no questions asked! Turns out the member has more of a coffee problem than Lydia haha! So we are working on that! And on top of that they wanted to see antoher baptismal service that went on after church so we figured why not? 

Another great thing that happened at church yesterday is that Fernando and Chris came to church. I mentioned them waay early in my emails, if you forgot who they were. They had gone less active right after receiving the priesthood but they came yesterday! Chris, 12 years old, passed the sacrament for the first time. I went up and did it with him, he was so nervous, but happy at the same time that he got to be a part of it. It was a great sight!

It's weird to think November is about over... But I am getting along with Elder Ramos, he is very energetic, a little unfocused, but then again we are both pretty new haha. But he is great, a lot of positive energy and we are working harder and making more progress than before. I am really hoping that I get to stay in Boyle Heights for one more transfer. I love the Bishop, the ward, the missionaries, and East LA. But I guess we'll see. 

Bishop Garcia has been a great example to me. He has really demonstrated how leadership positions in the church are opportunites to serve. Yesterday, I went up to him to see if he could come and meet Lydia. But I had to wait for all these ladies and members because they were all saying thank you for the blessing, food, help, visit, etc. that he had done for them. I thought to myself "How does this guy have time for all this?" He has three really young kids, works, goes to English school at night and yet he still visits and helps all these members! How? I honestly couldn't tell you. All I can really say is that the bishop and his counselors are putting the shoulder to the wheel, that's for sure. And I am mostly impressed with the sincerity of each visit that I have been able to be a part of with him. These are attributes I want to have.

He served a mission in Mexico City, he had some funny stories about how him and his American companions got robbed and stuff haha.

But whatever happens next transfer, I'm sure it's for a good reason. I guess we will see! December 8th will be the last day of the transfer, which is Lydia's baptism as well. For Thanksgiving, we might be having two dinners, so I might explode. And we'll be having a soccer game in the morning versus Belvedere 1, my old ward. So everything is good in the hood right now!

Love you all!  

Week 15- November 18, 2013-East L.A.

Dear Everyone,

This week has been a good week. I feel like I learned something cool. We had exchanges with our district leader, Elder Patterson. I love Elder Patterson, so I have no problem going on exchanges with him. As the day went on, we had some great contacts, a lot of opportunities that came up and people that just randomly started talking to us, it was pretty cool. 

There was this one lady, who we passed off to the English elders who stood out to me. She had a bunch of grocery bags so we helped her take them to her house. On the way there she was telling us about how her sister or cousin (one of the two) had recently converted to "Mormonism." She said she really liked the change she saw in her and how happy she looked. She went on to explain how she really needs help and thinks that our church is that help she is looking for. Sharon, that was her name, told us about how she is a recovering heroine addict and has been off for 4 and a half months. She lost her kids and is now living alone because of this addiction she is overcoming. Elder Patterson and I got her address and all that and reassured her that the missionaries are going to help her. He also comforted her by saying that his brothers had gone through the same thing and are still fighting it. We went back to our house to eat and talked about it a bit more. Elder Patterson told me a bit more about his brothers and the struggle that they caused in his family. His parents are converts and out of the siblings, he seems to be the only real active one and he is the only one who went out on his mission. Some pretty hard stuff! 

But we kept talking about how every missionary has had something difficult happen to them before their mission. There have been some who have had loved ones pass away right before they left, some that may have been very babied until they came out here, some may have had some obstacle to overcome themselves, etc.. The point is, every one of these challenges that we have gone through before our missions were meant to prepare us for these 2 years. It made a bit more sense when I thought about President Becerra saying that we have been prepared to come out here. Now I know how. Tough things make us grow. 

Another quick example of that: My trainer was probably one of the more challenging if not most challenging companions I'm going to have on my mission. Not really going to go into detail with that at the moment, but he was a tough companion to work with! But at the end of the 10 weeks I was with him, I had learned a lot, and I guess President thought I had too, so it wasn't too hard to begin training my new companion, Elder Ramos. Everything happens for a reason! 

Which brings me into a highlight of the week I wanted to share. So last night was great, Lydia, Maria's friend who is planning to get baptized in a few weeks came with us to watch a baptismal service from another ward, which was great. Afterwards we had a set lesson we were going to go to. But it turned out they canceled. So here we were sitting in the projects a little unsure which of two families to visit as the back up. We decided to go to the Mejillas. Hno. Mejilla is the Elder's quorum president, but the rest of his family is less active. His 20 year old son opened the door and let us in. We began teaching the Restoration to him and his girlfriend, and it started bringin back memories for him. Then he paused and teared up and said he wants to go back to church. That he doesn't want to feel bad about seeing his dad walk out the door to go to church alone anymore. It was a great talk with him. Brian, that's his name, told us that he woke up that morning in not a very good mood, and he told his girlfriend: "I think the Elders are coming today." And lo and behold we were there! He took that as a sign. As he should have haha. LAter in the night he gave us a ride home and opened up to us a bit. I am really looking forward to seeing him back at church.

As for Rosa. We haven't had any contact with her or her son this past week. I woke up the other day with a feeling that she has passed away. And I keep having weird dreams that involve them. We have tried calling, texting, even passing by their house, but no response. Which is unusual because he normally always responds back pretty quickly. So I continue to pray for them. But for some strange reason, I feel like she is not here on this earth anymore. But I will let you know what ends up happening later on.

Luckily we do have a Thanksgiving dinner! It's going to be with Maria and Lydia, and we are going to get to meet a lot of Lydia's family at the dinner as well. So I am pretty excited. Lydia is progressing pretty well. She is even encouraging her cousin who lives nearby to go to church with her. Possibly the next baptism after Lydia!:) But I will keep you informed and see what happens. Sounds like the ward is doing great at home! Keep up the good work at home. Tell Elder Meersman and Lee to keep up the good work as well, have they been visiting Connor by any chance?

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Elders Perez & Patterson

Week 14- November 12, 2013- East L.A.

Dear people at home,

    

 That's great to hear that Joe got his mission call to go to Rome! Congrats to him. Also glad to hear that Tanner is turning in his papers and all that good jazz. It's weird to think that our whole priest quorum is splitting up to all these places and in a few years we're all gonna be back together. But for now, off to missionary work! 

The weather here is cooling off a bit too, according to all the hispanics here, it is freezing. But it's perfect weather haha. My companion is doing great, we are being a lot more productive than I had been a few weeks ago. I am also coming home a lot more tired than I had been before, but that's the way I like it haha. 

Yesterday was a pretty cool day. We had a young family that we're teaching come and also Lydia, one of our members' best friends who she lives with. Elder Ramos and Elder Mancia spoke in church and both gave great Spirit filled talks. That night, we had a great lesson with Lydia and Maria about the plan of Salvation and we gave her a baptismal date for the 8th of December which we are very excited for! Her response to our invitation was: "who would deny these feelings?" Which was just the response we wanted to hear! 

Rosa, well she is doing really poorly. As I said before she had to get her other leg amputated, and this Saturday she had a heart attack. Everytime we talk to Oscar over the phone he just sounds completely defeated. Which is very rough to witness. I feel like there is something I should be doing and have to be doing to fix it all but I just can't. So it's been a bit rough with them recently. 

This month, we are working hard to prepare people for baptism for December. December will be a big month for our mission! And my companion and I will just be a small part of it. I feel like I have been progressing a lot as a person. I keep getting comments that I look/act older than 18. There was actually a persian guy we were talking to who thought I was persian too! And everytime I look in the mirror and see that I have a missionary name-tag on I still can't believe it, but it's cool. Makes me wonder how I'll be a year from now. 

Dinners and stuff recently have been a bit spotty cuz none of the hermanas really get how our list work, but when we do have dinners, they are fantastic haha. Laundry we either do it down the street or in our apartment complex. You don't have to send me the backpack by the way, just the razor, I got a backpack so it's all good! My companion and I have been assigned to work with the young men in the ward as well. So if you have done anything cool or fun that you think would be good to do, please share haha. But other than that things have been going well. Sorry this letter is a little short. Love you all! 

Week 13- November 4, 2013-East L.A.

Dear Everyone who reads this,

I got my new companion this past Tuesday. His name is Elder Ramos and he came from Virginia but he was born and raised in Honduras. So he doesn't really have a problem with the language haha. He is 20 years old, I still haven't gotten a companion that is not in his 20s... It was funny cuz he thought I was in my 20s and that I had at least a year in the mission. His reaction to when I told him I am only 18 and that I have only been in the mission for 3 months was pretty funny hahaha. But he is helping me learn a lot. One thing that really stands out to me from him is how he testifies and bears testimony. It's pretty cool to see! So we make a good team, in my opinion.

This week, we set a baptismal date with Eduardo!! I wrote about him a few emails ago. We are very excited to help him get to that date. He knows what he needs to do and has desires to do so. So the work continues with him! And we had a member present in that lesson which I think helped him feel comforted a lot. So good things are coming ahead!

This Wednesday we visited Rosa and Oscar again. And again Oscar asked what Elder Ramos' first name is so now he calls us Pablo and Jose ahahha. But we came in and I saw that Rosa's wheelchair was empty. Which worried me a lot! So Oscar started explaining what was going on. They have or are about to amputate her remaining leg. At this point, Oscar started crying, which I had never seen or never thought to see (Oscar is a big 6 foot 5 rougher kinda guy who doesn't mind giving people a piece of his mind). I was sad to hear that Rosa had been taken to the hospital for this. Oscar told us that Rosa told him that he had to be at the house to "make sure that my boys are taken care of." Which flattered me a lot. Oscar let me talk to Rosa on the phone, and she seemed a bit out of it. I told her you (mami) said hi and she said hi back and that was nice of you to think of her. So pretty much Oscar went on to tell us that he feels very frustrated and a bit helpless. I reassured to him, with the power of the spirit that I felt there, that everything was going to be ok, even if she passes away. And then he cried a bit more. It was a very touching moment for me to be there and to see that I was making an impact on someone. After we said the closing prayer he got up out of his big lazy chair and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and told me he loved me and thanks for all the support/help we have been. I felt pretty good after that haha.

Sunday was a pretty cool day too! We had an investigator and her young family come to church! Made me happy, and they looked happy as well, so it worked out haha. After church, well more in the evening, we stopped by Reyna and her family, who has been inactive, with the bishopric. I love the bishopric from our ward. They are very on top of it. It was fast Sunday and they hadn't even gone home to eat until after they finished visiting all the less actives and people who need help. Which was like at 7:15 at night! Our bishop, bishop Garcia, is a great example of caring for each individual. In the meeting we had with Reyna, he never got mad at her or scolded her for not being at church. Instead, he just tried to find ways to help her in a loving way. She seems to be in a bit of a pickle, especially with her oldest son who is 20 and a complete punk. He has a kid who he will not take care of. A girlfriend that moved out. And in response, he just sits around all day getting high and drunk. Pretty depressing. But the bishopric and us missionaries are going to continue to work with her and her family. It's gonna be hard, but I know we can make some sort of impact.

 

Love you!!

Elder Ramos and Elder Perez