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