January 20, 2014-Letter from Elder Perez to his brother Jakob, explaining in sports term, the inner workings of a mission

 So here in the mission every six weeks we have what we call transfers. This is when the missionary has the opportunity to get called and change areas, companions, leadership positions, etc.. 

Sometimes I look at the mission as a big sports league and our president is the manager. He'll put the shooters with the rebounders, the dunkers with the passers, and the defenders with the good offensive players (analogy). But sometimes he will put two passers together or two big time dunkers together so they can have a bit of a harder time and learn. 

Recently I got a transfer call and I am leaving Boyle Heights and going to Lincoln Heights, Arroyo ward. And I have been called to be a zone leader. If you don't know what that is, ask papi. But Going back to the analogy, I have pretty much been put with two veterans, one being a hall of famer and one a prety experienced guy (I am in a trio). So it's gonna be cool. We get calls on Saturday night, and the whole mission anxiously waiting around their phones like it's draft day. Getting these calls literally feels like getting another mission call. It's cool how it works out haha.

Week 25- January 27, 2014- Lincoln Hights, East L.A.

Hello everyone,

  Sorry I didn't write yesterday, we were helping some people in the zone move from house to house, so here we are emailing now. This past week was interesting. Some really cool things happened, and also some really dumb things happened. First, the cool things! 

So we had another sweet temple trip with this lady named M. C. She is virtually a single mom with two really sharp kids, R. (11) and J. (7). The reason she is single is because her husband was a bit of a problematic person who decided to take the wrong path. None of us had ever met him though. Until that night at the temple trip! He decided to join along and he was very impressed, felt the spirit, and received a "reality check" and realized he had to change. So we set an appointment with him for a later date. 

Another cool thing: Long story short, this really humble couple straight from Jalisco basically invited themselves to be baptized and are going strong. 

Last Cool thing: So we were walking around on Friday and then all of a sudden we stopped and Elder Blanchard asked if we could say a prayer, so of course we did. Elder Blanchard prayed specificlly that we could find a family ready to receive us. Later on, we knocked on a door and the neighbor opened up! The neighbor is a maid at one of our investigators' house, super humble lady who has a husband and a kid. Sounds like a family to me... So we are going by her seperately now. Awesome!

Dumb things: So a newer missionary in our district managed to have one of his investigators fall in love with him so they passed them off to us. But now they don't want to get baptized... So that has been cool...

Dumb thing 2: So T., M's husband guy, received a text from us confirming the appointment we had. Then he responded a bit negatively and was all machista and didn't let us go over... So that was  that.

But all in all, it's been a good time here in Lincoln Heights, I am learning a lot! I can't imagine what I could teach others haha, but I guess we will find out! Love you all!!

Week 24- January 20, 2014 - Boyle Heights, transfer to Lincoln Heights-East L.A.

Dear Everyone,

          So you know that feeling when you go down a really fast waterslide and you have your eyes closed? And then when you hit the bottom, you just don't know what's going on. Just a very confusing time as you flail around and find the surface.

Well, that's how I feel right now. I will be starting my new transfer in a new area, with 2 new companions (we are in a trio for some uknown reason) and as a leadership position (Zone Leader). My new companions, Elder Christensen and Elder Blanchard are both great missionaries who know what they're doing. Elder Blanchard was AP last transfer and this is his last transfer. Elder Christensen has been out for a bit over a year and knows what he's doing. So I am pretty excited, nervous, anxious, happy, etc.. Don't quite know what to think, but I guess I'll figure it out with time.

           I will miss Boyle Heights dearly, I left just how I wanted, with a baptism! I made a lot of friends there, and learned a lot from the members and missionaries there. The good thing about my new area, Lincoln Heights, is that it's just north of Boyle Heights so it is not too much of a drastic change.  But I will miss my family there in Boyle Heights, one day I hope to see them all again! 

Martin got baptized this past week, unfortunately, am not going to be able to send pictures this week because I wasn't expecting to email at the Arcadia Temple (foothill building) today. But here I am. Elder Ramos is very excited to take over the area, I know he will do great things. I am excited to learn as well and grow. Love everyone, hope it goes well!

Say hi to all my family and stuff. I've been meaning to write a letter to Omi and Romina, I will get on that. The razor is awesome. Thanks for everything!

Love you all!

Week 23-January 13, 2014 -Boyle Heights, East L.A.

Dear Everyone,

The Book of Mormon is true! This past week we had the mission president from the District videos that I had to watch before I went out came and taught us some great things. Brother Donaldson is his name. What stood out to me was pretty much how awesome and true the Book of Mormon is. He titled it as the "Patriarchal Blessing of our day." I'll explain that a little more in a bit. But he shared with us the similarities of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. Check this out:

When Christ died where was he put? And where did Moroni put away the Gold plates? Both in a tomb like place

How did they both get out? An angel moved the rock on Jesus' tomb and an angel helped Joseph Smith remove the stone off of the plates

When Jesus died on the cross, there were three apostles as a witness. Jesus also had his other 8 apostles (judas was dead) who were His witnesses.

The Plates initially had three witnesses, which later, there were another 8.

When Jesus resurrected, where did He go? He got translated up to Heaven!

When Joseph Smith finished translating the Book of Mormon, the Plates were translated up to heaven as well!

Pretty Crazy stuff.

The reason he called it the "Patriarchal Blessing of our time" is because of how he paralleled it to the Restoration. I'm not going to go too in depth on this one but it starts like this:

Jospeh Smith Sr.=Lehi

Joseph Smith = Nephi

Brigham Young = Mosiah

etc...

So after hearing all this mind blowing stuff, I have decided to restart reading the Book of Mormon, but in Spanish. I have been getting a lot out of it so far in these first few chapters I have been getting a ton out of it. And in Spanish, so that's been awesome.

This past weekend we had a baptism, yay! Victoria and Christian got baptized, Martin held off because he was feeling really sick and he wanted it to be a good experience so we are doing his baptism next week. Elder Ramos and I have been working really hard to find, teach, and baptize and have some good things ahead. It's been pretty awesome here, but I have a feeling this is going to be my last week in Boyle Heights, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can!

Love you all!:)

Bautismo de Veronica y familia

Week 22- January 6, 2014 - Boyle Heights, East L.A.

Dear Everyone,

This week was cool. Can't quite think of anything out of the ordinary that happened. I feel like the days are just starting to blur together, it's kinda weird. Thanks, looking forward to getting the calendar, did you send the flag as well by any chance? 

We are doing pretty great as a ward. It looks like we are having a bunch of baptisms this month. Like I had said in one of the last emails, Victoria postponed her baptismal date to this upcoming Sunday. And this seems a lot more sure now, so we are super excited. It's been pretty neat to see how people change as time goes on and as the open up. Goes to show, people really can change!

Oh now I remember something cool that happened. So we had exchanges this past week and I went with our new district leader, Elder Ostler. The exchange started off kinda rough since he lost his planner and we couldn't really plan anything until the morning. So we finally got all set up in the morning and ready to go. We had a decent afternoon, nothing too crazy. A member who wanted us to go by his wife had us over for dinner. I was about to explode. And I'm gaining some good weight now. Anyways! We ate and then began our lesson. Everything was going pretty fantastic. Actually really great! She said the prayer and began to cry, spirit was awesome. We had given her a baptismal invite before she said the prayer, but that was it. But then after the prayer, I had this really strong prompting to give her a date for the 26th of January. Which was a bit strange for me. Especially since I had no idea what date Elder Ostler wanted for her. But I couldn't ignore it. Elder Ostler was starting to set up the appointment for next time they could go over, but I (nicely) cut him off and followed that prompting. And she accepted it! It was pretty crazy cool. I was hoping Elder Ostler wasn't going to be upset that I went rogue and set a random date, but it turned out, that was the exact date he wanted to set with her, but wasn't going to until later. So that was cool. Spirit is awesome. 

We only have about 2 weeks left in the transfer and I have a strong feeling I'm going to get moved so I am trying to make the most of what I have left. This week we are having an Ex-Mission President from San Diego, the one from the District 2 (videos I had to watch before I came out) who is going to teach us something or something like that so that should be nice.

Love you all!

ps good to hear everyone I have ever talked to is reading this hahah. Chao!

Week 21, December 30, 2013 -Boyle Heights, East L.A.

Feliz Navidad!

So This week was Christmas, didn't quite feel like it because the weather has been in the 80s and something about the Boyle Heights enviornment didn't quite reek Christmas Spirit. But it was pretty cool spending time with the missionaries and members on this day. And of course talking to my family! Those were I think the fastest 40 minutes ever! So it turns out that Elder Garry, the zone leader in my district, has a dad that served in Fort Lauderdale the same time you did Papi! Except he was English Speaking. His name is Steve Garry from Canada. If that rings a bell, thought that was cool. Small world!

I forgot to take a picture of it, but Lydia gave me a ring that has ETTE (except the second E is backwards) which means Endure To The End. I was super touched! She said she gave it to me to remind me to always endure to the end and also remember the feelings and such at the baptism. I was very honored and touched that she did that! And on top of that she gave us each a tie. So I think I got pretty spoiled this Christmas along with all the other boxes I got!

So Victoria and her family didn't get baptized this weekend, but it looks like she is going to get baptized the 12th of January, so we are still pretty excited. January is going to be an awesome month for us, last night we added 2 baptismal dates to Janurary making 6 for the month! So we are looking to get a lot of stuff done this month! A bit nervous, but super excited for what's to come.

Starting Tuesday, we will be using facebook. So I can use my own facebook and everything now. I please ask to not send me messages or I will have to block my family. But you can like my stuff and comment, just don't message or try to contact me on there. I am excited to see how it goes, the purpose of Facebook is to find more people, especially in those hours where not a lot goes on during the day. So we shall see how that goes. Just don't get me trunky! I also gave a talk on Sunday, first talk in Spanish! I think it went pretty well ahah. But all is well here in Boyle Heights

Hope everyone has a great New Year!! 

Week 20 - December 23, 2013 - East L.A.

Dear everyone, 

Ok well this letter won't be too long since we have skype stuff this week. 

This week was pretty awesome, we finally got to visit Rosa with Oscar at the Hospital! Just a reminder for those who forgot, she recently had her remaining leg amputated and had been through some pretty intense health problems. But we finally got to see her and she looks awesome. I can see in her eyes that she has the determination to get better. 

In order for her to leave the rehabilitation center, she has to be able to take herself out of her wheelchair and into another chair/toilet/bed etc.. She is super determined to get out of there, and still has her sense of humor and everything. 

Just to give a little more background on her and what kind of person she is: she has lived in the same house in Boyle Heights for 50+ years and doesn't plan to move from there anytime soon. About 30-ish years ago, she was a huge activist in Boyle Heights. She did a lot to take care of the area and keep it safe. She actually won some award from the police department for all the work she did. Oscar told us this story that he walked in the house and there was one of the candidates for mayor of Los Angeles talking to her trying to get her to back his campaign. If the mayor-to-be had won her over, he would have won all Boyle Heights over, which was a big deal apparently. He told me that in a matter of days, everyone in Boyle Heights switched from the other candidate to the one that had talked to Rosa. So she was a pretty big deal back in the day! This Cuban lady has seen a lot through her time! 

Another cool thing I wanted to share concerning one of our investigators. So we have this family that has a baptismal date for this Sunday! But the mom feels a little shaky now, has feelings that maybe she might mess up and not be strong after being baptized, unlike the kids who both want to be baptized and think they can all make it for that date. And something really cool happened before we left. We had Eduardo, the oldest son (15) say the closing prayer and he saaid an awesome prayer, specifically asking for his mom to be ready for that date. 

The member I brought and I,(we went on splits because we had too many lessons for just Elder Ramos and I to go by) and I'm sure everyone in there, were super touched by the Spirit. We are hoping that she takes those feelings and recognizes them as the confirmation she needs. So we are praying and probably going to fast pretty soon that she can make it for that date so she can be baptized with her sons. 
so that's some cool stuff that happened this week, I will keep filling you in on Wednesday!! 

Love you all! (here is a picture of Rosa and Oscar)