Week 27-Rockin Awesome Temple Tour

Hey everybody! It's been a great week here in the Orange Hills YSA
ward! We had a lot of success in our finding and our teaching and we
were blessed to be able to meet many of the goals that we set this
week. One of my favorite parts was the opportunity we had to go on a
tour of the temple with one of our investigators, Andrew. He is sooooo
awesome! We have been teaching him for almost a month now, and he is
going to get baptized. The entire tour he was asking questions about
the temple and baptism and the church. He even said that he has been
thinking about going on a mission after he gets baptized! Like what?!
How awesome is that?!
I also personally love every opportunity I get to go to the temple,
even if it is just walking around the grounds. There is such a special
spirit that resides at the temple, and I wish we could go more often
than we do, but I should be happy with what I'm given haha.
I also got the chance to go on exchanges with one of the Assistants to
the President, Elder Pratt. He is a champ! We had a great time and
talked a lot about how we can raise the zone and the mission. I
learned a lot and just got inspired to be better. Exchanges are such a
great learning opportunity. Lucky for me, I get to go on exchanges
like twice a week.
I've thought a lot about how we can best help the zone, and I'm coming
to learn that success comes so much from a personal level. One must
make a decision within themselves to submit to the Lord, to be
obedient, to be consecrated in the work. Without that personal
commitment, no amount of goals or trainings will avail to much at all.
At the same time, one person can have a great effect on one around
them. One person, through their example and obedience, can inspire
within many a desire to make that personal decision. Romans 5:19!
Have a great week everybody!
-Elder Francis
Here is Elder Keuhne (Elder Johnsons previous companion), Andrew, and
yours truly!

Week 26 - Walkin on Sunshine

Hey errybody! It's only been like 4 days since my last Pday, but it
has been pretty eventful! Our car got broken into! Haha that was
crazy!  The back window got smashed, even though the car was unlocked
hahaha, and E. Johnsons violin got stolen!! And his new running
shoes!! Poor guy. Neither of our iPads, wallets, or the gps was taken
though, so I don't know what our robber was thinking. We got the car
fixed and it barely even kept us from our work.
That same day, I stubbed my toe super bad. I thought it was broken. E. Pruitt, who was a medic in two tours in Afghanistan, looked at it and  said it probably wasn't. Nonetheless, it hurt way bad. I've been
limping around like a zombie or something for the past few days. I
didn't realize how much of the day missionaries are on their feet!
It's been awful! As a result of the jam, I haven't been able to sleep
very much, because my foot has been keeping me up at night. But the Lord keeps me going, and we have been able to get some great work done  over the past few days. We had two investigators at church yesterday!  Sadly, we were supposed to have four there! But I'm happy we got two.
We also had an awesome YSA broadcast last night where President Nelson spoke. It was incredible! If you are YSA aged, hop on LDS.org and  watch it!

This week has been great out here! It's been crazy to see how the Lord
has placed so many YSAs right in our path, when compared to the family
ward where we rarely found them! I have no doubt that the Lord is
guiding us to those whom He is preparing. The Lord's hand and those
sent to do His will are all around us! And as we gain the spiritual
eyes to see and the ears to hear, we begin to discover how truly
all-encompassing the Savior and His atonement is. It reveals a world
of wonder and beauty that we could never imagine, a world touched by
the hand of God that is truly sublime.
Thanks everybody! Love your emails! Have a great week!

-Elder Francis

Week 24 and 25 - Transfers

Hey everyone! It's taken me a while to send out a group email, but

here it is. You can always just write me personally too, but this will

probably be easier for me.

You might be thinking, "Elder Francis, Thursday isn't your Pday, why

are you being disobedient?" Well in response to that, we went to the

temple today!! It was sooooo awesome! So that pushed Pday to today.

This past week and a half have been insane! For those of you who don't

know, I was called to serve as a zone leader for the orange zone! So I

packed my stuff and left good ol P town, the land of my inheritance,

and came to a zone full of strangers. I'm serving in the Orange Hills

YSA ward, which covers the entire Orange and Irvine stakes, with Elder

Johnson. Thankfully we split the ward with sisters, so they cover the

Irvine stake.

Being a zone leader is way different! I'm learning so much about the

work that I didn't even know existed before, and even the past week

and a half has been such an incredible learning opportunity. It's also

come with its challenges, but the Lord has a plan for me and I know

that I can overcome anything as I rely on Him. Just yesterday we had

my first zone training, where Elder Johnson and I trained the zone on

how to be more effective in our planning and goal setting. I don't

necessarily like the teaching part, but I love how much I have to

learn about the principles in order to teach it effectively.

The work so far has been extremely successful here! We have 4

progressing investigators and 2 on date for baptism! I don't know what

it is about my charming smile but people just can't say no to it! Jk

it's probably the spirit. We have found 4 new investigators in the

past week, and have been very successful in our finding and teaching

efforts. We had 3 investigators at church on Sunday!! Crazy! The Lord

is just pouring out blessings right now and my heart is just filled

with love and gratitude for these precious people.

Our New Years was pretty boring.

I've been thinking a lot about how we can help the zone and we decided

on setting a goal for every companionship to have positive, gospel

related contact with at least 12 people every day. If everyone does it

then that will be 1000 every week! I know that that goal will improve

the work in our entire zone, and that it will lead to more

investigators and more baptisms, because it all starts with opening

your mouth.

I loved going to the temple this morning! The spirit was powerful and

my heart and soul were just filled with the love of God. There's

nothing like it.

Anyway, thanks for all the love and support! Have a great week!

-Elder Francis
Oh and I always love getting personal emails and stuff so don't
hesitate if you ever wanna write me!