The Hot and Winding Road

Hello everyone! This week has been a good one (they always are). We have been searching and searching for new people to teach. We have been knocking doors, dropping by part member families, and we even picked up trash on a road in the 100 degree weather in our church clothes. We thought that ought to attract some attention, and it did. We had people pull over and talk to us, tell us thank you, and we even a hispanic family come out of their house and give us a bunch of food. It was hard (and really, really hot and sweaty), but it was totally worth it. We also had a missionary homecoming in our ward yesterday. The Elder had just gotten back from a mission in Mexico, and could hardly speak english anymore. Luckily, I won't have that problem when I get back. I also signed the sacrament prayers yesterday for the first time. I was so nervous, but I think I did okay. I have been learning a lot, and I hope to keep it up after I get home. We have an investigator who we will be extending a baptismal date to this next week! I'll let you know how that goes.


My Zone leader responsibilities are to train the district leaders once a week, and we also give trainings at the huge zone conferences every three months. When the district leaders collect their numbers for the week, they call us and report them to us. We then send them to the mission president. We also have meetings with the stake president and our mission president to talk about how the work is going in our stake/zone. We also have something called Zone Leader Conference once a month, where the zone leaders get together and meet with the mission president and the Assistants to be trained. In some ways its harder, and in other ways it's easier than being district leader. Mainly because there are always two zone leaders (my companion is a zone leader too), while there is only one district leader per district (So my companion wasn't a district leader with me). It really helps having someone with the same responsibilities as you.

I hope you all are doing well and are having a great summer!

Father's Day Message

We've had a few pretty interesting experiences these past few days. We taught a Buddhist monk in one of their temples! He was wearing his robe and everything. That was one of the most unique lessons I have ever had. He seemed sincerely interested in what we were saying, but his way of thinking was so different from ours that it felt like we were speaking two different languages. He kept talking about the flow of energy, and the knowledge of the universe being inside each of us and we just have to find it. Very interesting. He said he wanted to come to church, so we'll see what happens.


In the spirit of Father's day, I just wanted to share the words of my favorite hymn with you. I invite you to think about the words and what they truly mean.


O my Father, thou that dwellest, in the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence and again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood, was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose, thou hast placed me here on earth.
And withheld the recollection of my former friends and birth.
Yet oftimes a secret something, whispered, "You're a stranger her.
And I felt that I had wandered from a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father, thru thy Spirit from on high.
But until the key of knowledge was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav'ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason, truth eternal, tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence, when I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you in your royal courts on high.
Then at length, when I've completed, all you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation, let me come and dwell with you. (Hymns, p 292)


I am so grateful for my Father in heaven and all that He does for me. None of us would be here if it weren't for Him. I am also grateful for my Father. Dad, if you're reading this, I love you. Happy Father's day. Happy father's day to all the wonderful fathers out there. Love you!

Trials Bring Blessings

Hey everyone. We had a hard but rewarding experience this week. We were invited by a member in our ward to go give a blessing to a nonmember family whose mother was dying of cancer. While we were there, they asked a lot of questions and we had a pretty spiritual experience with them as we talked about God's plan and what we did as missionaries. A few days later, the mother of that family passed away. As soon as we heard about what happened, we drove over to their house and left a note on their door, saying that if they needed any help with anything, they could call us and we would be there. While we were by their house, they came out and wept with us. We talked about where their mother was and that she was only in a new phase of life. They opened up to us and told us about how much they appreciated what we had done for them. I am so grateful that God is good enough and powerful enough to take these difficult trials that we have, and turn them into miracles for our benefit. I firmly believe that this family's hearts have been opened to the gospel because of their difficult experience. I believe that they, along with their mother, will accept the gospel someday. Because of this difficult trial they are going through, they will receive blessings beyond comprehension. How blessed we are to know the truth, that this is not the only life. We will see those we love again, I know it. I hope all of you are doing well and that you always remember who you are and who it was who made this all possible.

All in a Week's Work

It's been a crazy week in Canoga park so far. We've had quite a few strange experiences this week already. First of all... Our car broke down on Friday, so we had to take it in to the shop. They told us it would take until Tuesday to fix... That presented a problem. Our area is pretty big, too big to walk. I'm also on the no bike list, because the mission doesn't doesn't want to risk my blood sugar dropping from biking, and then have me be far away from home so I can't get any sugar. I sort of agree that biking all day would be really hard for me. Anyway, we didn't know what we were going to do, till my companion had a brilliant idea, Tandem bike. He called members in our ward (All of them laughed when he asked) if they had a tandem bike we could borrow. We finally found one, and we have been using it for the past few days. It's easier for me, cause I don't have to pedal the whole time, or steer. So basically Elder Lyman has been dragging me all over town on a tandem bike. Picture this, two men dressed in identical white shirts and ties, wearing red and blue helmets, pedaling in unison on a tandem bike. Needless to say, we have gotten TONS of weird looks. We've had people shout "I love your bike!!!" As they drove past... kids shouting that we were gay... a stoner asking if we got twice the effing momentum on our effing sweet bike... It's been quite the experience.
The other weird story is that we had one of our deaf members ask us to come help her put her cat into it's cat carrier. When we got the call, we were like "Uh... Okay. How hard could that be?" Well, when we got there, we found out. The cat was MEAN. When we got close it started growling like a tiger. Our first plan was to have Elder Lyman throw a towel over the cat and try to pick it up while it was confused. Yeah, that didn't go well. You know how in cartoons mean cats will like suddenly turn into raging tornadoes of claws and teeth? That's pretty much what happened when he tried to pick the cat up. I was holding up the carrier and he was trying to put the cat in, but the cat was sticking its claws out and blocking itself from going in the door. Elder Lyman finally dropped the cat after getting clawed like 20 times. Then, the cat started running up the walls and falling to the floor over and over again... So our next brilliant plan was for me to try to catch the cat while it was falling with the cat carrier. That didn't work either. Finally, after using a broom and a table to corner it, we got the cat in the carrier. It was ridiculous. Other than that... Things are good! Sign language is going well, I already know the alphabet! So I can spell everything I say to deaf people, but that's pretty much it so far. I hope you all are doing well! Love you!!!