He's not as tall as you think, but he is as bald

Good afternoon everybody! This week was filled with some of the most powerful teaching and learning experiences I've had as a missionary!
It began last Tuesday with Zone Conference! We were taught by the leaders of the mission and trained again on some of the fundamental aspects of missionary work, that is, planning, finding, and teaching. It was a good refresher. It's always good to go back to the basics. In high school I played tennis, and in tennis, the best players are the ones that have honed and mastered the fundamentals. Every time I'd try to get fancy or showy, the quality of my playing would go way down! In missionary work, whenever we get too focused on the complexities of the work, the quality of our work decreases! The same principle applies to our testimony of and conversion to the gospel.
Then, on Sunday, we had the honor and privilege of being taught by Elder Dallin H Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! He was here on assignment with Elder Joaquin Costa of the Seventy visiting the Anaheim East Stake, and asked to meet with all of the missionaries serving in the mission! We each got to shake their hands. They are both really happy men, and I felt comfortable and loved around them.
Elder Costa told his conversion story, and spoke on the power of the Book of Mormon. I loved his talk, and I definitely feel that I can do better to use the Book of Mormon in my work. As a mission, we were just invited by our mission president to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. We did it last year too, so I'm reall excited to do it again. If you start today and read 4 pages a day, you'll finish just in time for the new year!
Elder Oaks talked about a couple different things. It was weird to hear his voice in person because it is so familiar from conference and videos. He made everyone laugh, and he told jokes throughout his talk. He spoke on this year's emphasis on the worldwide missionary program, Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. He defined true success as a missionary. He talked about principles of conversion and commitment, and how to be more effective teachers. I got so many incredible notes and quotes, and his teachings definitely will change my mission.
More important than what was said, however, was what was felt! The spirit at the meeting was powerful and undeniable. I received insight and guidance for my life. I was happy and I felt at peace. The spirit confirmed to me the reality of Elder Oaks' call and authority, as well as the truth of his words. The spirit is everything. If we can learn to interpret and live by it's promptings, we've got it made! 
I'm so grateful for the spirit that I've felt this week and every week, and I'm grateful for all of you! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Francis
Here's a little throwback for y'all to the day I entered the field
with my trainer Elder Burks!! He wasn't even halfway through his
mission in this picture, and now he's a zone leader and goes home in
two weeks! I'm so proud of my papa

Blessings on blessings on blessings

Well, if you couldn't surmise from the subject of my email this week, it was a great one! The Lord guided us to many new people to teach and we had a lot of cool experiences. I'll share just two or three:

1. Juan. We met Juan while tracting on Tuesday morning. We taught him the Restoration and he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! "When can we come back?", we asked.
 "Well you see," he said, "I am here visiting my aunt from Mexico. I will only be here for a few more days, and I don't know when I will be free again.... Could you come back later today?"
...... Lemme think about tha-YES WE CAN COME BACK!
 So we did later that afternoon. By that time Juan had read and prayed about the assignment we had left with him. This is how the conversation went:
"How did you feel as you read and prayed, Juan?"
"It's hard to describe... I felt this overwhelming feeling of peace"
"That's awesome. Where do you think those feelings come from?"
"They come from God."
"Exactly, so what does that mean?"
"It means that the book is true!"
Yes Juan! Yes it does!!! Although we can't keep working with him, I hope that the missionaries in Mexico will, and that he will continue to progress and act on the answer that he has received.

2.On Wednesday, I got to go on an exchange with Elder Nguyen (pronounced "win") from the Vietnamese program! We had had a pretty slow day, but at the end of the night, we decided to try the house of a member that the ward council asked us to visit. A young Hispanic woman opened up, which wasn't a good sign because we were looking for a guy named Rob .... As it turns out, Rob moved over two years ago. But this woman, named Eileen, just had her first daughter, Scarlett, two months ago and was happy to hear what we had to say! She also accepted the message of the Restoration and a Book of Mormon and set an appointment for next week. What an awesome way to end the exchange!

3. You're probably getting tired of reading so I'll keep this one brief. On Thursday we met a man who totally wasn't interested, but we asked, as we always do, "Who do you know who would be more interested?" This particular time, Elder Sirrine asked, "Who do you know who is going through a difficult time in their life right now?"
The man surprisingly perked up, and told us to try his neighbor. So we did, and we met Antonia, who let us in and voiced concerns about her wayward son Tony. We went back later that night and taught both of them the Restoration, which they accepted! They committed to read and pray every night together!

The Lord blessed us so much this week! But it in good times as well as trying, I am just so grateful to be a missionary. I love it so much.

Have an incredible week everyone!

-Elder Francis

The sisters in our ward have been passing out a picture of them
saying, "thank you so much, we love you!" To all of the ward members
they have dinners with. So this is the one we came up with:

Word of Wisdom....Seriously?

We had a fantastic week here in sunny SoCal! Here's some of the highlights: Tuesday we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council). This month's theme is the Book of Mormon! So we had a training on that, and then taught it to the zone on Thursday! I have really come to love the Book of Mormon since coming out on my mission. 

Saturday we went on exchange with the assistants to the president! That was sooooo great! I was with Elder Thornton, and I got to go to their area for the day. Man, if you ever want to see how an area should be run, spend a day in Anaheim 3 North. It was a great learning experience for me, and my conviction and desire for the work were renewed. Elder Thornton is so awesome. One highlight of the day was at dinner time: We were having dinner with a Sister Lozano and her four kids. Her oldest son Oscar was there with his wife Veronica and friend, Johnny.
Veronica and Johnny weren't members, and those three were pretty rowdy. They were in the living room drinking beer and using foul language while we were at the dinner table. At the end of dinner, Sister Lozano says, "Stand up Elders! You're teaching all of us!" ...Great... I was a bit nervous, especially considering that Elder Thornton felt strongly that we should teach and prepare a lesson on the word of wisdom for our dinner message... Out of all the lessons.....Haha so we did! It turned into an awesome discussion about God's love for His children. The spirit was so strong! At the end of the lesson we asked if we could sing to them, so we sang Nearer My God
to Thee. Everyone was so reverent and a special and powerful spirit filled the room. Johnny said the closing prayer, and then said "I've been going through some tough times lately, and this was just what I needed. I know that you Elders are sent from God." Yes we are! The spirit is so amazing.

Yesterday, Samantha was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost!! Also, we got a visit from the Fehrs! They are a family that got baptized back in Orange. It was great to see them again, and to see Samantha glowing with the spirit.


That's about it for this week! Thanks for reading everyone, I love you all!
-Elder Francis
We think we're cool:

MLC

The Fehrs! (Minus Alicia and Xavier)

I like to look for rainbows....🌈

🎶Hey all you people! Hey all you people! Hey all you people won't you listen to meeeeee!🎶

Ive got some amazing news!..... Samantha Chavez got baptized yesterday!!!! 🎉😆🎉 For those of you who may have forgotten (or didn't take the time to read... don't worry, I know how it goes) about Samantha, Elder Sirrine and I knocked into her family after following an impression from the spirit, taught her the Restoration, and invited her to be baptized not even 6 weeks ago. Her mother Marlin was a less active member, who has returned to activity. They accepted the gospel readily back into their lives, and Cuco, Samantha's Catholic father, has been very supportive as well. He came to the baptism, loved it, and actually started asking questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, so we got to teach him a bit too! I had the privilege of baptizing Samantha. That was one of the highlights of my life. There was such an incredible peace at the service. The spirit impressed upon my heart the smiling approval of our Father in Heaven, and I felt so much love for their precious family! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to know them and be a part of their conversion to the gospel. I love being a missionary!!

Other than that, we really didn't have all that much going on this last week. We got two brand new missionaries in the zone this week! We helped them set up their iPads and got to know them a bit better. First is Elder Mills, from Vancouver Washington. He's like 6'5", weighs 280lbs and has bright red hair! Then we have Sister Sainan, from Thailand! She just learned English in the MTC! She's awesome haha. She had never been on a plane before, so we asked how she was able to get through all of the airports and connecting flights all by herself without speaking any English. She responded, "I just prayed!" So there you have it folks, if you're ever in trouble or need some help, just pray! It'll all work out! Thanks for reading everybody. I love you all!

-Elder Francis
Okay, don't let her face fool you, Samantha was super nervous before her baptism. Trust me, she actually did want to be baptized!
Also, Marlin took all of her pictures with the chrome filter!