Week 23-Wedding!

It has been a good week over here in P town. Everyone is getting into
the Christmas spirit! As a result, we have been showing a lot of
people the Christmas video! It's great! Many people have been happy to
watch the video. Buuuuut we haven't really gotten any solid
investigators from it. Like none. But no worries! We are doing our
best! So I know everything will work out. It's the Lords will.
Holy smokes Mark and Lyndsey got married on Saturdayaturday!!!!!! That was
soooo amazing! There was such a special spirit during the wedding
ceremony. I just thought about the commitment they were making and I
imagined next year when they get sealed together. I'll admit, I cried
a bit, because I was just so darn happy for them. It was so great.
Next week is transfers!! And odds are, I will be leaving. Hey maybe
not! But probably. We've been asked to speak in sacrament meeting next
Sunday. So it's probably just gonna be like a farewell all over again!
Like dad said, I know this Ward just about as much as the one back
home, if not better! I love the people here so much. Through my six
months of service here, I've come to know and love this ward more than
I can put into words. The members here are so special, and I've made
so many friends in this ward that I hope I can stay in touch with
throughout my life.
Elder Cook is almost done with his training! He has grown so much over
these past three months. It's been so cool to watch him learn and to
learn and grow with him. I love that guy so much. It's gonna be sad to
leave him. I wouldn't mind staying with him another transfer. He's
great.
We have a good week planned. We are going caroling a lot and baking
cookies and taking them to people, because that's probably the only
way people will let us in. The members are feeding us on Christmas Eve
and Christmas, so we are well covered there.
Alrighty!  Ahhhhh I will see you on Friday over Skype!:) merry Christmas!
-Elder Francis
As you can see I was pretty much more excited an they were. In their
defense, Lyndsey was still way nervous and I kinda caught them off
guard with the picture.

week 22- Angie's baptism!

Crazy week! We have been doing a ton of finding, and it sadly hasn't
yielded much results in the form of people to teach. We have planted
many seeds throughout the week though, the Spirit has confirmed that
to me, and I am content with that as long as it is the Lord's will.
Besides, I can't really complain much anyway, because ANGIE GOT
BAPTIZED!!!!!!! Holy smokes that was so incredible. Angie was glowing,
her countenance was shining so bright, I could tell more than ever
before that she was made completely perfect through the atonement of
Christ. And it was so special for me to be able to perform that sacred
and life changing ordinance for her. After the baptism, as I was
getting back into my suit, all by myself, I took the opportunity to
speak with my Heavenly Father through prayer, and what a powerful
experience that was. I felt His overwhelming love for me and for
Angie, and I knew that this work is of eternal consequence. The spirit
was so powerful! I returned to the room just in time to hear Angie get
up and bear her simple and powerful testimony. A special spirit filled
the room as she declared her knowledge of the importance of her
baptism, and of the plan of salvation. It was so amazing.
Wow. What an awesome experience. It's days like that that remind me
why I'm here.
We had a visit from Elder Dube from the first quorum of the seventy
this last week. I got to talk with him quite a bit because his son is
at our apartment and in my district haha. We had a mission conference
with him, and that was awesome. It was humbling and inspiring, as
usual.
I've been pondering a lot lately on my own spiritual growth and on my
performance as a missionary. I could be doing a lot better, that's a
given by now haha, but I am happier with the work that I have been
putting forth lately. Especially this last week, we have been more
productive with our time, and I've been trying to work harder!
Yesterday at church though, I received the first impression that I
have been focusing too much on myself! Haha there's a shocker! So
throughout the rest of the day, I thought about others. Any time a
selfish thought came to my mind, a replaced it with a selfless one.
Man haha, I was so much happier yesterday! How great would it be if I
could master the attribute of charity. Someday.... But I will make
that a focus over this Christmas season.
I could write for days, but I'm out of time. We are still going strong
on our 40 day fast. The Christmas initiative is better than ever. This
next week is full of finding, so let's hope we can begin to build up
our teaching pool again. I know we can.
Christmas is coming up, so that's pretty awesome. Don't forget to take
time to remember the reason for the season!

-Elder Francis

Tales from the Hood-week 21

We passed Eduardo over to the Spanish elders this week, so we aren't
sure of his progress. I don't think he will be getting baptized this
Saturday, but he is still keeping his commitments. Angie, however, IS
getting baptized!! As a matter of fact, she has asked me to baptize
her and my companion to confirm her!!! I'm so excited!! It's gonna be
fantastic!
Our next transfers are the Monday in between Christmas and New Years!
The timing isn't the best, but at least I will be here for sure on
Christmas! What will happen after that, I'm not sure!
Lyndsey's wedding is on the 19th! I'm so excited for that too! They
are doing awesome:)

We have been doing a lot of finding this last week, and we have been
using the new video that the church came out with for Christmas called
A Savior Is Born!  You should definitely watch it! And
share it!
We've had a bit of a crazy week this week. In a good way. It's all in
my journal, but for today I'll share one very crazy experience haha.
So we were visiting a potential investigator named Jose. He lives in
the most ghetto part of our area where we generally try to avoid at
night, but it was 8:30 and we had nothing else to do so we decided to
try Jose.
From a distance we see Jose and another man sitting out on his porch.
Jose wasn't wearing a shirt, and they were being really loud, so I
asked my companion his thoughts on whether or not we should follow
through with it. He says, "well we are already here." We see Jose go
back into his place. We approach the porch, and Jose emerges from the
apartment, carrying a rifle. I look on the ground and see half empty
kegs, yes kegs, of beer, and it was at that point that I began to
question our presence there. He greets us, and my companion says, oh is
that a BB gun?" ..... Jose gives a Hispanic chuckle, "jajaja sure
we'll call it that.".... Oh elder Cook.
We get him to put his gun away, and started talking to his buddy,
whose name was Crook. Crook got a kick out of Elder Cooks name,
because they rhymed. He asked for my name, I told him, and he said,
"no way.... Is that seriously your name?" I told him it truly was. He
said, "that's my girlfriend's mom's name. She just died today."
"Man, I'm so sorry." I said.
"Eh that's okay. Why are you guys here?"
We told him that we have a message about Christ. Crook couldn't
believe it. I guess he took me and his girlfriend's deceased mother
sharing a name as a sign from God, so he pulled out his phone, started
recording us, and said, "okay, what's your message?"
We shared the new Christmas video with them and told them about the
importance of Christ's life. Crook recorded it all, and kept on
inviting his buddies passing on the street to come watch with him.
"Come on, these guys are cool!" He would say. So yeah, I'm cool with
Crook and Jose now.
Both Jose and Crook listened so intently. Afterwards they said, "wow
that was beautiful". At that point they each started telling us about
all of the sins they are committing and have committed. Poor guys.
We testified of the power of the atonement to them and got out of
there. After all, we are only 18 and 19 year old Mormon boys from
Idaho. I have no doubt that the Lord was softening the hearts of Crook
and Jose and making sure we were safe. I felt that as we were leaving.
I have been trying so hard lately to be more diligent and obedient in
all that I do. I desire so badly to change and be an effective tool in
the Lords hands. I'm so eager and excited for this special Christmas
season in which I will have the opportunity to come closer to Him as I
spend it all in the service of others. I love being a missionary with
all my heart, and although I constantly wish I was better, I have
faith that the Lord has a plan for me, that He understands my
frustrations and my concerns, and that through the power of His
atonement I can find relief, peace, and hope in a future that is as
bright as Christ Himself. He is my light and my life, and He is truly
the reason for this special season. 

Weeks 19 and 20

So this week was pretty slow, not too much happened in the form of
finding or teaching. But we were able to meet with someone we recently
found named Madonna and Eduardo.
Madonna is pretty awesome at this point. She wasn't responding to our
texts so we stopped by and she was like, "hey I kept hoping you guys
would text me but you never did! I read some of your book!" Turns out
she wasn't receiving our texts, so we resolved that, but we were
pleasantly surprised to get that response to say the least haha. So we
are meeting with her again this week to share an actual lesson.
We had a great lesson with Eduardo this week too. He understands why he
needs to be baptized and has read from the Book of Mormon since the
last time we met with him. His parents, however, don't understand why
he needs to be baptized. And because they don't speak English, and the
family is so central to the gospel, we are passing Eduardo over to the
Spanish elders, where they will hopefully be able to resolve the
concerns with his family and help them all progress towards the
gospel. I know that it was the best thing to do!
Other than those two, not much has happened this past week. A lot of
people were out with their families for thanksgiving, so we weren't
able to meet with some of our investigators, like Angie. But she did,
however, come to church yesterday and is still progressing towards her
baptism on the 12! We stopped by their house, and Angie's dad was out
front, waiting to pick the kids up. He was against having Angie get
baptized at first, so we took the opportunity and talked to him about
how awesome Angie is, and how our purpose as missionaries is to help
others come closer to Christ, and how the gospel will bless Angie as
she gets older and has to make choices. He really softened up and
thanked us for what we were doing, so I have no worries about him not
letting Angie get baptized.
Lately I have been pondering a lot  on my own spiritual progression
and how well I am submitting to the will of the Lord. It is always so
humbling to take that time to self reflect haha, because I see truly
how much progress I can still make. But how wonderful of a blessing is
that?! That perfection isn't just given to us but that we truly have
to work at it throughout our entire lives and into eternity. I can't
imagine how much more I will appreciate those attributes when I
finally attain them, or when I see them in others. I will someday be
able to look back and see just how far I've come. Eternal Life is
progression.

Week 18

This week was another good one! We got a kid named Eduardo on date for baptism! He's scheduled for December 12th.  He isn't quite as solid as Angie is, but I believe that he will be ready by then if he keeps his commitments and comes to church. His parents are Catholic though, and don't speak English, so we aren't really sure how it will all go down. It's a little crazy at this point.

Soooo I have officially acclimated to the weather here.. I went out and bought some sweaters today because I have been getting cold at night, despite it being like 60 degrees.

Angie AND Juanita came to church on Sunday! It was Juanita's first time!! Hooray!!! Hopefully they can both continue to progress towards the waters of baptism.

This last week my companion and I decided to do something called the 40 day missionary fast. It is from a talk called being purified, and it's purpose is just that, to be purified so that we can more fully qualify for the spirit and submit to the will of the Lord in our work. We did the math and because we started yesterday, we end on December 24, just in time for Christmas. It's like our birthday present to Christ! So yesterday we fasted from food and drink. While we were fasting, we wrote down on a personal list all of the things that the spirit prompted us to fast from for the next 40 days. Some items that showed up on my list were, "singing regular/non church music" which I would often do while going about my day, but not anymore. Another was "gossiping" and another was "saying the word gay" which I had kind of gotten into the habit of saying thanks to Elder Dube. 

And that's been my week! Love you so much!

Here I am with Elder Hansen

Week 17

This week was great! We taught more lessons this week than any other
so far! Our teaching pool is starting to grow and the work is starting
to pick up! Hopefully we can continue to improve and maintain our
level of dedication and diligence, because we have a lot of potential
for this ward over the next 7 weeks of Elder Cook's training.
Despite our incredible successes, this week it was really hard to find
motivation to stay hard at work and continue in our finding and
teaching efforts. There were some days where I did Not want to go out
and find haha, but I can say that I pushed through it and did my best
to work as hard as I could! I might not have had the best attitude the
whole time haha, but we worked hard and it paid off!
Angie Bainbridge accepted the invitation to be baptized this week!!!
She and her mom have decided on December 12!!! How great is that!?!?
Angie is like the smartest 9 year old ever! She just paid attention so
well and answered all of our questions perfectly. She just emanates
the light of Christ, and readily accepted the invitation to be
baptized. Her father, however, is Catholic, and might not approve her
being baptized. So please keep her in your prayers.
So we also had zone conference this week! It was great! I learned a
ton and decided that I need to be more dedicated, diligent, and
consecrated to my missionary purpose! So I am going at it with a
renewed vigor!
And another highlight of the week is that we got to go to the temple!!
There was a temple tour and Mark and Lyndsey came! So we got to go
too!!! I just love the temple soooo much. And even though we just
toured the grounds, the spirit was so strong and sacred. They have
olive trees on the grounds and I got a short opportunity to sit in the
shade of an olive tree and ponder and just feel the spirit. I loved
it. I can't wait till the next chance I get to go to a session. Go as
often as you can!
And that's pretty much how my week has gone! Here are some pictures from our Pday hike and the temple.
-Elder Francis

Week 16

This week was pretty slow, up until yesterday. We didn't have much
success at all in our finding efforts. It wasn't til yesterday that we
were able to meet with Jorge Flores, and give him the first blessing
he has ever had, and also the Bainbridges, where we set up an
appointment to come teach their family the restoration for this
Wednesday. Hopefully at that appointment we will be able to get Angie
on date for baptism! We also received a referral last night, and they
are already progressing, so we are going over tonight to meet her.
Awesome!
Something that was NOT awesome, was that I got super sick this week.
Tuesday morning I woke up and just felt awful. It was the first time
that I've been sick and had no mother figure to comfort and care for
me. We also had no medicine at the apartment, so I had to wait to go
get some. That day we got up, had elders Dube and Durney come give me
a blessing, and I fell back asleep while my companion studied. After
studies we went out and taught a lesson, came back for lunch and I
took a nap. Then we went out and did finding for several hours, came
back for dinner and I took another nap. Then we went out and taught
some lessons and finally I could come back and sleep. So we have
stayed busy all week despite my sickness. I've been loading up on the
vitamin C and am finally feeling a lot better. It is not fun being
sick on a mission.
We went over to the Cannons last night and shared a message and had
brownies and ice cream! It was a lot of fun haha, they are an awesome
family. Sister Cannon also referred me to a barber shop, which I went
to this morning. She texted the lady in advance and paid for most of
my hair cut so it only cost me 5 bucks!. I also was
able to teach the salon lady a lesson while she was cutting my hair,
and she wants to come to church! Coolio!
My companion is getting better and better at talking to people. Slowly
but surely. We are now 4 weeks into his training, and things are
starting to pick up hopefully. This week should be an awesome one.
Well my 4 month mark was yesterday! Time sure flies! But it also feels
like an eternity haha. I am 1/6 of the way through my mission, and
that feels good to say, but I still have 20 months left!!

Week 15-Bonsai!!

This week wasn't very awesome. We walked a lot, did a lot of finding that wasn't very successful, and had like 4 investigators drop us. It was rough, but I have been obedient and have been working really hard, so I feel good about it despite how things turned out.

Although, we were visiting an inactive lady and it turns out she has a 9 year old daughter that has not been baptized! She said that they want to start coming back to church and that she wants her daughter to be baptized! Neat! So we will see where that takes haha, hopefully into the waters of baptism once again!

That was a pretty cool experience.

Something pretty amazing happened on Friday of this week. Through some of Elder Dube's connections in Anaheim, each of our companionships got a bonsai tree this week! A BONSAI!!!! I have secretly wanted my own bonsai tree basically my entire life, and now I finally have one! We named it Mr. Myagi. It is 12 years old already! It is a mini tree! And we set it back on our balcony, along with a bamboo mat we picked up at the store, and I like to go sit on the mat and center my chi and ponder the scriptures and the universe. We pruned it and wired it this morning, so it looks even cooler than it did before.

My companion is a very skilled juggler, and because of that, I've actually gotten pretty good at it myself. We have been using it in our finding! It's worked pretty well actually, so that's cool. We also have been using family history a lot this week and that has been pretty successful also.

I've put a lot of thought into how a mission is like a mini life and it's so true. We leave our parents for a season and get a new father, have our own sons, learn and grow constantly as we are faced with new challenges and callings. We learn lessons and principles that will bless us long after we depart, and we help others in that same quest for truth and knowledge. We face trials and adversity, but learn to turn to the Lord and rely on Him. All the things we do on a mission are the goals and challenges of a lifetime! It's awesome!

-Elder Francis

Week 14- Thelma's baptism!!

This week has been so great!  Street contacting is definitely more difficult than tracting haha, but I have been working on it a lot. Elder Dube is sooooo good at it. He is great at talking to people, so I have been watching and learning from him. But we have been doing it a lot more this week and I feel like I am getting better at it.

 Thelma got baptized!!!!!!!!!! Barely.... We got a call on Thursday telling us that Thelma was in the hospital. My heart dropped into my stomach. We rushed over as fast as we could! We get to her room to find tiny little Thelma laying on a big hospital bed. She had lost 10 pounds overnight, putting her at like 90 pounds. We walked in, and she gets a huge smile on her face and shouts, "Elders!" I walked over to her, she took my hand in hers and said, "thank you so very much. I just knew you would come." And that just melted my heart. I sat down next to her and held her hand while she told us what happened. She had collapsed in the middle of the night due to a blood pressure spike or something like that. We gave her a blessing and left the rest to the Lord.

She got released the next day, just in time for her baptismal interview, which she of course passed with flying colors. Her baptism on Saturday went perfectly. All of Beulah's family, the Theobalds were there. And they are amazing. After being best friends with Thelma for over 50 years, they never gave up on her! Everyone was quite emotional haha, especially me. I was crying practically the whole time. Because I know how much this baptism meant for Thelma and the Theobalds. I felt the spirit so powerfully, and the veil was so thin. I knew that Clyde was watching with approval and love from the other side. 

I have never felt as much joy and happiness as I did on Saturday. It was eternal and Godlike. Thelma will be able to be sealed to Clyde now, and the unimaginable sorrow and pain she felt just weeks ago for her lost husband has been replaced with the hope and love of Christ. She now has the companionship of the Comforter, and she will never have to feel that sadness again.

And all because we acted on a prompting to go knock on a door and reminded a daughter of God that she has not been forgotten.

Love

-Elder Francis

Week 13 - Temple trip

The temple this morning was AMAZING!! I have been waiting for the chance to go since I left home, and have been preparing myself for it since then. And man, it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. Walking into the celestial room, being showered with light through windows that shimmered like the sun's rays on the ocean. The walls were trimmed with gold, and the crystal chandelier shined like thousands of diamonds. I was just so overcome with the spirit. It filled me with love and light and I tried to imagine what the celestial kingdom will be like. I sat and prayed and read the scriptures and received so much comfort and strength. I was so sad to leave, even though I was the last one haha. I wish we could go more than once every quarter, but I am so so grateful that we get to.

I got my new missionary this week! His name is Elder Cook, and he is also from Idaho haha. He is also a big guy, and his voice sounds just like Russell from UP except a little deeper hahahaha. To be blunt, I have been going crazy trying to figure out what to do with all of our time while also teaching him what he needs to know. I realized like a slap in the face how I literally have no idea what I'm doing out here. It's awful haha I go to bed every

night completely wiped. But we somehow made it through the first week. Booyah. And, crazy enough, Thelma is getting baptized this Saturday.  I know, I can't believe it either! And for the most part, everything is
pretty solid. We already have the program lined up. So I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Week 12-transfers

I hope all of you guys absolutely loved conference as much as I did!
I loved SO MANY of the talks given! I'll just talk about a couple.
First, PONDERIZE! I'm definitely going to start doing that. As we do,
he said that it will provide a higher place for our thoughts to go,
and that was an answer to my question of how I can better train and
master my thoughts. 
I loved the talks of the first presidency sooooo much. They all did an
amazing job. I especially like President Eyring's, and I applied to
myself as a missionary and the callings I will receive as one! I also
got a lot out of Elder Cooks and Elder Oaks. How about those new
apostles?! I secretly kept on thinking dad might get called hahaha. I
am really excited to hear from them more. I especially liked Elder
Renlunds testimony.
We had an awesome last week of the transfer! On the 1st I got a
package from Moroni and Deb and that made my week! It had letters from
all of their kids and some candy!
We got leadership and transfer calls this past week, and I have been
asked to train next transfer, and so has my companion. I will be
staying in P1, and he will be moving to Yorba Linda 3rd, which is
right next door and is in our zone. We get our greenies tomorrow, and
I'm excited and kinda nervous! But I know that it is all in the Lord's
hands. I'm really glad that I get to stay in the ward for at least
three more months!! I love the ward so much! More good news, we got a
call from Buelahs son this last week, and we scheduled the date of
Thelma's baptism for October 17r! Less than two weeks away!!
How amazing is that?! I am sooooo excited for her!! Even MORE good
news, Mark and Lyndsey are getting MARRIED!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!
 On Dec 19th! So I will be able to go. And more importantly,
 they are getting sealed a year from now!!! And I will be able to go to that
too!!!! Oh my gosh that is going to be the best day of my life!
We realized at the beginning of last week that we were at 78 lessons
for the transfer, so we thought to ourselves, "let's go out with a
bang". We were able to meet our goal of teaching 22 lessons last week,
and ended the transfer with exactly 100 lessons taught. Mr. Monk
would've liked that haha. More importantly, all of the lessons were
really meaningful, not just numbers.
 I love you!
-Elder Francis

My Zone

My district