Another Baptismal Date!

Good news everyone! We set a baptismal date with one of our investigators this week! We are really excited for him, and we're pretty confident that the date will go through. He's taking it pretty seriously, anti-Mormon literature hasn't even fazed him or deterred him from wanting to be baptized. I'll keep you all posted on how that goes. Pretty soon, we're having two members of the Seventy come and visit the mission. In october, we will be meeting with Elder Patrick Kearon and... I forgot his first name, but Elder Goldman of the seventy as well. I'm pretty excited about that. Elder Kearon's talk two general conferences ago was one of my favorites. His was the one about the scorpion and not disregarding what we know to be right. I'm really excited to meet both of them. Love you all!

Miracles Around Us

Another transfer is over, and I'm staying in Canoga Park another six weeks with Elder Walker. I'm happy about that, because things are going well here, and we're probably going to be having a baptism in the next few weeks. I'll be sure to keep you all posted on that. We had our monthly meeting with the Stake President yesterday and he said he was pleased with our progress. We have been seeing more and more miracles as we have continued to work. Our most promising investigator came to church yesterday for the first time. One of the members of the ward asked why he had continued to meet with the missionaries and what had attracted him to the church. He said: "I had always heard that Mormon missionaries were really pushy like Jehovah's Witnesses, but these missionaries weren't. They answered my questions and didn't try to push their religion on me. I have felt nothing but goodness from them." I was so happy to hear that. It really made me feel like I was doing my job right. I hope you all are happy and doing well!

Can you believe that It's almost the ten year anniversary of 9/11? I can't believe that was ten years ago. I still remember that day vividly. That was back when I lived in Orem and my mother would always test my blood sugar in the morning before I got up for school. Usually she would test it while I was still asleep, and I would wake up to her telling me what my reading was. I remember that morning I woke up to hearing her say "Oh my gosh... You're kidding me. Are you serious?" Things like that. I was thinking "Oh no... My blood sugar must be REALLY high..." It was really because my Uncle John was calling us about the Trade Center Towers getting hit. That whole day just had a dark feeling about it. Like Satan and his hosts were rejoicing.

The amazing thing is, it may have felt like the forces of evil had won a tremendous victory that day, but really they didn't. The country became more united than it had been in a long time. Petty barriers like race and politics no longer mattered. The whole country realized what was really important. Church attendance was higher than it had been almost ever before, and for a lot of people, families became the most important thing again.

I am grateful that God is good enough, and powerful enough, to take even the worst of tragedies and turn them into miracles. As long as we continue to follow God, evil will never be able to destroy us.

Be a Good Example

Hey everyone! Things have been going well over here. We helped a Romanian nonmember family move this week. They were some of the sweetest people I have ever met. They were astonished that we were willing to help them without accepting any money or service in return. They were just getting acquainted with the church, but they said when they finished moving they were going to take the lessons from the missionaries in their area. The power of an example is sooooooo important. We don't even realize the impact that our examples have on those around us. I can't tell you how many times I have had people take the lessons from us because they knew a member before who was a great example to them. I've unfortunately also met people that wanted nothing to do with us because they knew a member that was less than kind to them. I hope we can be a good example to others and help them come unto Christ through us. Anyway, Transfers are next week. I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Canoga park but we will see I suppose. It could go either way. Love you all!

Quick Note with Good News!

Hey everyone! I found out recently that a family that I found and taught when I was in Ridgecrest with Elder Dominguez was baptized two days ago. That brings me so much joy. When we first found them, we thought they were going to take a loooooong time to get baptized, that is, if it ever happened. It finally did though! I wasn't able to go to the baptism, since it was in Ridgecrest, but I heard it was a very spiritual experience and that all who attended were very moved. Needless to say, things are going well. I'm still learning ASL, but interpreting is getting easier and easier. Tomorrow, I will have been out for 14 months! I'm almost in the single digits now! Love you!!!!

Appreciating Being Appreciated

This week has been a good one. Elder Walker and I are learning more and more ASL. Our teacher really seems to like us, so she has been teaching us lessons that she reserves for only her favorite missionaries. Funny thing about her, she tends to swear a lot. Or...sign swear words. She's deaf, and she so used to not having anyone understand her, so she curses all the time. It's kind of weird, but we really like her. We have been teaching a lot of lessons lately, and we have a couple of investigators that could be accepting baptismal dates soon. I know that much of the success I have had has only been because of your continued prayers in my behalf. Thank you so much for those. I have literally received extra strength from them.

It made me happy to hear that the missionary I trained was appreciative of my efforts. It's always so wonderful to hear things like that, because to be honest, missionaries are pretty neglected people at times. Very rarely do people tell us that they appreciate what we do. Often the ward members are really hard on us, they are constantly finding things we aren't doing well enough, and they kind of set a standard for us that nobody could ever dream of reaching. Oh well, I guess it helps us to make sure we are always on our best behavior.

I hope things are going well for all of you! Love you!

Serving the Deaf

Things have been going well in West Hills! Elder Walker and I have been pushing for the missionaries in our zone to find, teach, and baptize more. We have been seeing results from it as well. Elder Walker and I have been using sign language more and more frequently lately. We have been going home teaching with deaf members, interpreting in more meetings (Like Pioneer day), and doing a lot of service for deaf members.

On a stranger note, we had to give a deaf member's dog a blessing the other day. We tried to tell this sister that we weren't sure if the Priesthood was meant for animal blessings, but she was insistant. We ended up giving the blessing anyway. It was really strange, but the dog actually ended up recovering. I guess it's not really a mission until you have an animal blessing story. It has been a huge growing experience being thrown into sign language like this. I never thought I would be able to converse with deaf people. I know that God truly blesses His missionaries. I have seen so many miracles as I have served out here, too many to count. I hope everything is going well for all of you!

Diving Into Sign Language

Hey everyone, this week has been pretty good for me. Now that Elder Lyman has left, I have been forced to study sign language harder than I did before. I have been learning a lot, but it has also been really hard. I'm grateful that our heavenly Father allows us to go through hard things, so that we can learn and grow from them. Elder Walker has been a great companion so far too. He is from Star valley, Wyoming and is a great guy. I realized recently that I haven't had a single hard companion yet and I am over halfway done with my mission. All of my companions have been great. I hope that doesn't mean that I'm going to get a brutal one soon. We'll see I guess. It's good to know that whatever happens, that is what God wants for me. Love you all!

Transfers! (Post from July 11, 2011)

Hey everyone, I'm really short on time because transfers are today. Elder Lyman is leaving, and I'm getting Elder Walker in his place. I'm pretty nervous, because with Elder Lyman gone, I'll have to start ASL interpreting in Sacrament meeting. Keep me in your prayers! I'm really going to need them. I love you all and hope you are doing well!

Limitless Happiness and Freedom

This has been a pretty crazy week for me. We went on exchanges this week, and I got to serve in the Korean branch for a day. We taught some Korean investigators some simple english (Well, my Korean-speaking companion did, I mainly just stood there). It was a cool experience though. It helped to see how the work is going forward in all corners of the world and in almost every language. I also had a surprise visit from my Dad this week. He was in town for a business trip, and he was put in the hotel two blocks away from me, and so with the mission president's permission we went out and had lunch together. It was really nice. I am very grateful for this holiday we have to remember our freedom and the country we live in. Not only should we remember the freedom we have in this country, but the spiritual freedom our Heavenly Father has given us. There is a battle for our freedom still raging all around us. Our Heavenly Father wants us to be free, and Satan wants to enslave us. I know that the plan of salvation is not only the plan of happiness, but also the plan of freedom. If we continue following our savior, we will not only attain limitless happiness, but also limitless freedom. I hope all of you had a great Independence Day!

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!!!

How Do You Say "Korean" in Sign Language?

Big news everyone! I'm getting transferred again! Yep, I'm going to Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley! I'm also serving in a deaf ward! Yep, I suddenly have to learn sign language. In addition to that, I'm going to be a zone leader now... and the Zone I cover includes the Korean district. Many of the Korean Elders speak almost no English... So I'll probably have to learn some Korean too. Yeah the stress level in my life just tripled lol. My new companion's name is Elder Lyman. I've met him a few times before, and He seems like a great missionary. Other than that I don't know much about him. From what I've seen though, I'm sure he and I will get along great. Because transfers are today though, I have hardly any time to write. I hope you'll continue to pray for me! Now I'll be needing them more than ever. I so appreciate all of your support. Love you all!