Week 81- March 2, 2015 - El Molino 3

Dear home,

Good week.

We started off with a branch family home evening on Monday. It was a

pretty fun activity in which we portrayed the plan of salvation

through a relay race and then we talked about how it relates to our

Heavenly Father's plan for us. That was nice.

We also had zone conference this week. This was pretty good. This

Tuesday (tomorrow) we are having elder Nielsen of the 70 (the one I

met a while ago in MLC) and some other higher ups from the church are

coming to update some iPad stuff for us. Should be some big changes

from what they were saying. So we shall see.

Later on, we had exchanges. I got to go with our good old english man,

Elder Bishop in El Sereno. Nothing too crazy there. Good stuff.

We've had some pretty good progress with one of the less actives we

are working with. His name is Helaman. He's a really good guy,

returned missionary and all that. But he has a had a roller coaster of

a life. About a month ago, he and his wife were on the brink of

splitting up, but their kids barely held them together. We were able

to talk to him when elder Stuart first got to the area and he pretty

much told us that he's going to leave all excuses behind (blaming his

wife, kids, work, school, etc..) and just start to come back to

church. Which has been great, because he hasn't missed church since!

And even greater, his nonmember wife came this past Sunday. She was

pretty cold to us last time we tried to teach her along her husband,

but when we visited the family yesterday, she was pretty happy! It's

been great to see because I feel like so many people make excuses for

everything when in reality it's just a lack of desire. If someone

really wants to do something, they will just do it! I will always

remember what one of the returning less actives we were working with

in Pomona told us: "People always have time to listen to you [elders].

All the excuses you hear from everyone are just because they don't

want to change and they don't know what they are missing out on." So

we are doing our best to help Helaman keep this streak he has going

on.

Other than that, investigators are doing pretty well. Mateo has his

date for this weekend, but we may have to postpone it a week just to

make sure his drinking is all good. But he has been doing great,

otherwise. He had a cousin pass away this past week and we went over

the plan of salvation with him. He's a great guy because he is very

spiritual sensitive and really sharp. It was great to see him

understand the plan that Heavenly Father has prepared for us.

Love you all!

Having a nice meal on p-day at Dog Haus

Visiting my frist area

Week 80- February 23, 2015- El Molino 3

Dear home,

This was a pretty good week. We had stake conference this weekend.

Just like it was back home, the Saturday night meeting was about Ward

councils and how we can better work together in the church. Elder

Ruben Acosta from the area 70 talked a lot about teaching and living

the gospel in the families. He went on talking about how there are

people who are active in the church and active in the gospel. The only

way we are active in the gospel is if we are strengthening our

personal relationship with God through personal prayer and scripture

study.

With Elder Ruben Acosta (far right)

Earlier in the week we had an interesting experience. Elder Stuart and

I were early to an appointment with a less active member so we decided

to lock our bikes up and walk a few blocks north to stop by someone

else. As we were walking down the street, someone honked at us and

rolled his window down. He got honked at, so he pulled over to the

corner and we met him there. We were both under the impression that

this was a member from the english Ward, because there aren't really

any white guys who honk and pull over for us. But as we walked up to

talk to him we found out otherwise. He told us he was getting ready to

yell at us some profanities and curse God and all this stuff, but he

said that as he pulled up he felt something strong holding him back

from doing it. Then he started crying and talking about how he has

been going through some tough things lately. Unfortunately he wouldn't

let us set a return appointment with him, but we did explain that that

feeling holding him back was the Holy Ghost. And that made him cry

even more! But it was pretty cool to see how the spirit works in

mysterious ways.

Due to lack of time I will just write another cool thing that

happened. We visited an active member who has an inactive brother that

lives with her. Elder Lane and I had tried to visit him a handful of

times, but had no success. Anytime he saw us, he would hide or make up

some false excuses to get away from us. At one point he even ran us

out of the house! But this time was different. It was like he was a

completely different person. We talked about the atonement and our

purpose as missionaries and how we want to help him get back to

feeling those blessings. And for the first time in over 2 years, he

came to church! He gave us a ride, along with another less active we

picked up on the way, and on a last seconds notice he even helped us

pick up our investigator, Lupita! Super cool miracle that I never

expected. It was pretty funny because after, elder Stuart and I had to

help with some other stuff so we couldn't say bye to the trio. But

they all went to dinner after and the less active we picked up (he's

85) paid for all their dinners hahah. Lord works in mysterious ways!

Love you all!!

Zone Activity

Elder Perez & Elder Stuart

Week 79- February 16, 2015

Dear home,

Happy Presidents' Day!

This was another cool week. I have to say that the surprise visit to

the area from my dad was pretty cool! Even though I didn't get to see

him, it was weird to think that he was in one of the houses I visit

frequently.

Visiting with Mateo has been great. He is doing super well and is

making a lot of progress. We take Antonio on lessons to him sometimes

because they used to work together in the same restaurant. Antonio

says he's seen him change a lot, that it's almost like a different

person. Looks like the gospel truly changes people!

Elder Stuart and I have been working really well together. We have

been talking to a lot of people and have been in tune pretty well. But

just like I noticed when I first got here to this area, elder Stuart

pointed out that we get shut down a lot more in this area than in

Pomona, east LA etc.. But it doesn't really matter. Something I've

noticed is that it doesn't matter how much we get shut down or told

off, the Lord provides miracles from other places. I feel like I've

seen that a lot. He just asks that we do our best, and He'll provide

the rest.

A perfect example of that is at church. A former investigator came to

church for the first time in a long time. She is the sister of one of

the members in our branch and had been living with her brother for

almost a year. While she was living with her brother she was

investigating and was progressing pretty well. The only thing was that

she never got baptized and ended up moving out. Then out of the blue

she came in on her own! She got to church earlier than her brother

haha. The gospel principles class was great for her too. We talked to

her afterwards and she said she felt like she got some doubts resolved

and is really considering baptism! Super cool. The only problem is

that she lives outside of the mission... But either way, very cool.

And on top of that, it seems like the more contacting and referrals we

give out, the more we get back. Some may call it karma, but I believe

it is the grace of the lord Jesus Christ.

Other than that, things have been going well. I am really enjoying

Pasadena and all its richness. Love you all!

Week 78- February 8, 2015- El Molino 3

Dear home,

This week was great. Elder Stuart and I started our companionship off

really well with a lot of work. It was actually one of the smoothest

weeks I've had in a long time.

We started off with a great visit with a less active member we are

working with. It's been a huge uphill battle for him. He is a returned

missionary but not too long after he came back home he slipped into

inactivity. Ever since then, it's been quite a roller coaster. But we

got to have a lesson with just him, which was great because when his

wife is there (non member) it usually doesn't turn out so well. He

came to church this Sunday with his 2 daughters, which was awesome. It

was the first time I had seen him go since he came the first week I

got here. Hopefully we can help him give a big push forward to

overcome his trials now.

Mateo is also doing super well, too. We haven't been able to see his

wife lately, but he's been doing really well, actually better than we

thought. He has been reading the Book of Mormon to his wife and

cutting down a lot more on alcohol and coffee. It's cool because he

always tells us something he learns from the Book of Mormon before we

start. For an old guy, he's pretty sharp!

We also had something cool happen with Lupita again. I still can't

decide if it's a miracle or not, though hahah... We had a lesson in

which my patience was tested. Actually, almost every lesson is a bit

of a patience tester. She's been an on and off investigator for years,

and anytime we teach her it seems like everything goes in one ear and

out the other. No matter how simply we try to teach it. So I told

myself and Elder Stuart that if she doesn't come to church this week,

we were going to stop teaching her. But lo and behold, she came to

church! So we will have to figure out another way in which we can help

her understand more if she keeps this up...

Elder Stuart and I are working really well together so we feel that

there are going to be a lot of great things ahead of us soon. 

Love you all!

Week 77 - February1, 2015- El Molino 3

Visiting the Temple

At the temple with Luis

Wendy's baptism

Wendy's baptism

Dear home,
This week was awesome. We started off with exchanges, I went to El
Sereno with elder Elm (despite the name, it is not a very serene
place...). Which went well. Elder Lane had a cool miracle in our area.
President Villanueva (our mission president) wanted to meet with luis
a couple of times to see if he was ready for baptism or not. Luis is
someone that has been taught for almost 7-8 months now! He understands
everything and always complained to us how no one would baptize him
haha. The problem was his church attendance. Been to church a lot,
just not very frequently, due to work. Which was a worry of mine. But
after the interview with President Villanueva, he said that he is more
than ready to be baptized, and to baptize him asap. So that's what we
did! President said that even though his church attendance may be
spotty, he needs the blessings that come from being baptized.

We had another awesome miracle with Norma and Mateo. We taught Norma
the restoration and Mateo was doing awesome in helping out with the
lesson and making sure she understood. She accepted a baptismal
invitation to be baptized alongside her husband in March! At the end,
she said an amazing prayer expressing how she hopes she can prepare
for baptism and learn well. Cool stuff.
Later in the week, we had a visitors center temple trip with the
branch. We brought less actives, investigators, and recent converts.
It was great! The sister was a bit over the top... And she didn't have
a companion... But what our investigators/members don't know, won't
hurt them...

Transfers came by and my companion, Elder Lane, left to another area
and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Stuart. He started his
mission in Pomona and I was in his district. So it's good to see him
again! He is the district leader now. It seems like I'm getting a
break from extra leadership responsibilities.
There was something else I wanted to mention but I forgot... If I
remember I will send it...
Love you all!

New companion, Elder Stuart

Out to dinner with the branch president

Luis' baptism

With Jose Romero

Week 76- January 26, 2015 - El Molino 2

Dear home,

This week was another good one here in Pasadena.

We started off with interviews with President on Tuesday. My interview

with President was pretty brief. Nothing super eventful there. But it

is always great to see president Villanueva's great example of charity

and the warmth that he gives off. He is a great man.

We had a cool miracle this week. Mateo, the investigator, is still

doing awesome. He came to church and everything. But the last lesson

we had with him, we saw his wife walk past and we invited her to sit

down with us. I had never taught her or anything, but I had talked to

her on the phone a few times to see how she was doing health wise and

how Mateo was doing and we gave her a blessing of health once. She was

actually the one who was originally investigating the church but she

ended up not wanting to change. But she sat in with us! We taught

about temples and family history. I showed them my little "Mi Familia"

booklet with my family members, some pictures, and some stories. They

liked it a lot! Norma (Mateos wife), was talking about how she will

ask one of her family members for a family tree she has. It was

awesome! She wasn't able to make it to church because she was sick.

But it seemed to have surprised Mateo too, because he went to church

and he said that he will make sure he commits her to come next time.

We are going to be visiting them both as a couple now in a few days

(they are in their early 70s).

We also got to visit Jose Romero this week. He's been progressing

really well and been keeping all the goals that he had set with our

branch president. The branch is doing awesome at taking care of him as

well. Jose found a job and our Ward mission leader bought him work

boots without even asking. But last night we had a bit of a

heartbreaking lesson. He said he has been having flashbacks of some

pretty bad stuff he did when he was in a gang and on top of that he is

facing the possibility of having a pretty bad illness. To make matters

even worse, his mom and sisters he lives with don't support him or

really care for him at all and satan is making him doubt his

testimony. We sat and watched 21 year old Jose express all these

doubts and trials in tears. We really felt for him. Although, he has

all these whirlwinds and fiery arrows attacking him, he still wants to

serve his mission. We ended the visit by giving him a blessing and a

big hug as well.

This week we also had exchanges with the English elders. I stayed in

my area with the English district leader. It was pretty cool haha. We

had a lesson in English and then one in Spanish. We taught a lady that

we found recently named Maria Luna. We gave her the restoration

pamphlet to read and she read it! She was able to pretty much teach us

the restoration! It was cool, she has a date for baptism for the

beginning of March. But Elder Brown (the English elder) ended up

getting pretty sick so we had to go home a bit early. Nevertheless, it

was a cool experience.

I have been able to learn a lot this past week and I know I am in the

right place at the right time right now!

Love you all!

Week 75- January 19, 2015 - El Molino 2

Dear Home,

This week was another good one. I can't really tell if it's going fast

or slow anymore, but either way, it's going!

We started off by going on exchanges again. I went with Elder Bishop

again, but this time in his area, El Sereno. Not too much different

than the first exchange I had with him. Still thinks Americans are

dumb. Oh well! He's going to have to live with it whether he likes it or

 not haha. But overall, it was good. He is a pretty good missionary.

Later in the week, we had a lesson with Rudy and his girlfriend Fatima

with the help of Antonio and Angie. We had a plan to briefly

teach the restoration, and we only had like 15-20 minutes. Angie

invited her dad, which didn't really turn out too well... Anytime we'd

try to ask Rudy or Fatima anything, he'd butt in and go on a tangent

about what he thought and all this random stuff. It was getting a bit

out of hand, to say the least. Even though the lesson didn't turn out

how we wanted it, it was cool because Rudy was standing up for the

church to his dad. We had to leave but Rudy and Antonio gave us a ride

home. Turns out that the dad is kind of out there when it comes to

religion because he'll read one thing from one religion and then

another from a different one and he just ends up mixing it all

together into confusion. The cool thing too, is that Rudy and his

girlfriend have plans to get married in the upcoming month or so, so

that was cool to hear. And on top of that, they both came to church!

It seems like Fatima's heart is slowly but surely being opened to the

gospel.

I keep forgetting to take a picture with Jose Romero to send to you,

but he is doing really awesome. He is set on going on a mission! It's

 crazy to think just about 4-5 weeks ago he was homeless and aimless

and now he has been going to church without fail and wants to go on a

mission. He has been leaving smoking behind (a problem he's had for a

while) and our branch president talked with him and helped him start

with a plan so that he can get progressing towards his mission. So far

so good! He's been helping us with lessons and rides and such, as

well.

Mateo is also doing pretty well. He has a date for the beginning of

March so that he can have time to completely overcome alcohol. But

he's doing awesome. We have been able to find some cool p, new people

as well. Even though our teaching pool isn't huge, it has been getting

better thanks to the lords help in putting miracles along our path.

Love you!