You're in this for the long haul

Good morning everyone! We had a fantastic week last week and were able to go on three exchanges to finish off the transfer! We had some awesome finding experiences as well, two of which I will share below.

1) Elder Wilson and I approached this couple sitting on the sidewalk and started a conversation about the gospel (like we always do). The husband said, "I have a question that I've asked to a lot of different churches and I want to ask you. My question is this: What happened to the prophets and apostles in Christ's church?" ..... uhhhhh WELL LET US TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES IN CHRIST'S CHURCH!!!  While trying to restrain ourselves, we excitedly explained the message of the Restoration, and they were both super interested! They said they need to learn more and accepted the Book of Mormon gladly! They live in Compton, so we won't be able to teach them, but we basically just found the Compton missionaries two baptisms.

2) I was on an exchange in La Habra with my good friend Elder Mills, and we met this woman while knocking doors. She wasn't interested at first because we were "Mormon". We explained that Mormon is just a nickname and that we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "Oh!" She said, "You're LDS?! I have cousins who are LDS! They are great!" We told her that through the restoration of the gospel we can be with our families forever. "Oh my goodness," she responded, "THIS is the missing piece of my life! I've been praying for weeks to know what God wants me to do, and this is my answer!! We need to meet again! You need to teach me!" We definitely weren't expecting that response, but I'm not complaining!

This week we also finalized transfers with the Taggarts, and transfers are today! Elder Wilson only has 6 more weeks in his mission, so I could've either been released today so that he could train a new assistant before he goes home, or I could stay and then train another assistant after he goes home. While we were planning, Sister Taggart looks at me and says, "Elder Francis, you're in this for the long haul!" And that was that, I'm staying here in Anaheim! We have an insane transfer lying ahead of us, and I know that the Lord will bless us as we put our trust in Him.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church and just want to close with a quote I used from Elder Holland, "In whatever country you live, however young or inadequate you feel, or however aged or limited you see yourself as being, I testify you are individually loved of God, you are central to the meaning of His work, and you are cherished and prayed for by the presiding officers of His Church. The personal value, the sacred splendor of every one of you, is the very reason there is a plan for salvation and exaltation."

I know that the gospel is true, and that you are the reason for the Plan of Salvation! I love you!

-Elder Francis

1) Someone sprayed a fire extinguisher in the parking garage... so I had to run through it.

2) The view of the sunrise from our apartment. I love our apartment

3) Christ in the CAM

What even is exhaustion?

This week has been crazy!! It has taken everything in me to keep from
collapsing on the floor of our apartment the moment we walk in every
night. Despite it being so busy, it has been so good!
This week we had Zone Conferences, so for three days this week we got
to give a 2 hour training on the new missionary schedule and the
importance of companionship study to the entire mission. Preparing for
it was stressful, but it went really, really well, and the Lord blessed
us with His Spirit. I loved being to hear the comments from all of the
missionaries. They have such great faith and many of them are trying
so hard to be diligent and righteous. President Taggart gave an
incredible training about repentance that I learned a lot about. It
caused me to ponder my own perspective of repentance. Do I treat it as
something sacred and do I allow it to change me? Does it fill me with
gratitude and awe for the Atonement of Christ? Do I learn about Him
and His plan for me through my repentance?
In order to get work in our area done, we often went straight from our
meetings to our area, and went out to work without eating dinner.
Maybe that's a reason why I was so tired haha, but the Lord sure
blessed us for our sacrifice. We were able to put 3 people on date for
baptism last week! Two of those are Alex and Desiree Tovar, a young
couple with two small children, who we are so excited for!! Please
keep them in your prayers!
On Saturday, our investigator Nick got baptized!! After facing
unemployment, near homelessness, poverty, and great adversity and
temptation, he was able to enter the waters and fires of baptism and
become a member of the church. We have seen so many incredible
miracles with Nick, and it was a sweet, sweet experience to see him get
baptized. After coming up out of the water, he turned and faced the
congregation and just beamed! He waved at everyone hahaha and then
went back to the changing room. He bore a beautiful testimony of the
Restoration and the gospel, and just couldn't be happier.
Transfer calls are this week! We get to help with that as well, so I'm
excited to see all of the changes in the mission and for the work to
roll forward! I love you everyone!
-Elder Francis
1. Nick!
2. Me encanta empanadas

Trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good

This has been a crazy awesome!! Our investigator Nick is still working
strong towards his baptism this Saturday! Please keep him in your
prayers throughout the week! We also started teaching the Alvarez
family. They are religious and have a strong faith in Christ. When
they heard the claim we make, they were skeptical because they already
believe what they practice is true, but the wife Stephanie said, "I
know that I'm already saved... but I will read the Book of Mormon and
I will pray about it, because if this is true, I need to know." Their
family has a lot of potential!
This last week we also had Mission Leadership Council, where we got to
give a training on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. There was
a strong spirit, and my understanding of those principles grew more
and more as we got to attend two zone trainings in the days following.
The Holy Ghost is EVERYTHING in this work! It is the Spirit who is the
teacher, the testator, the converter. Our purpose as missionaries is
to simply be instruments through which the spirit can testify. We need
to be worthy vessels so as to allow the Spirit to do his work.
I gained a greater testimony this week of the importance and power of
the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for that sacred gift, and
the promise that is given to us as we worthily and worshipfully
partake of the sacrament every week. As we do, we qualify for it's
companionship and thereby retain a remission of our sins, we feel the
love of God in our lives and can be filled with His power as we learn
and do His will. I know that God lives, and that His hand is in this
sacred work. I love you everybody!

-Elder Francis
1) MLC
2) Sid (Elder Henkel) visited!
3) a moth was chillin on our window
4) UFO! Jk some guy got arrested down the street

Ask and ye shall receive!

Things have been going super good this week!! Our investigator Nick
was going to get baptized, but it had to be pushed back because he had
a concern with one of the commandments. The spirit guided the decision
though, and Nick has grown so so much in his faith and his conversion.
He knows that the gospel is true, and he knows that Joseph Smith was a
prophet. He will be getting baptized now on February 11!
On the bright side though, if you remember back in my last area in
Garden Grove my comp and I and the whole ward were praying to find a
family! Then, by a miracle, we found this family of 11 people, the
Gonzalez'! We started teaching them and the whole ward as praying for
them, but eventually they wouldn't keep their commitments and we had
to stop meeting with them. Then I left the area, and the missionaries
in that area now started teaching the Gonzalez family again, and they
were super ready for baptism!! Yesterday 4 of them got baptized and 2
more are coming in the next few weeks and months! I was so happy! The
Lord answers the prayers of His children, but He does it in His own
time.
Speaking of families, we met another awesome one this week that we
have started teaching! Alex and Desiree and their two kids, Zara and
Zander, who are 4 and 2. The lesson was kind of all over the place,
but the spirit was there, and at the end, Desiree said, "This is
something I think we want to pursue. We've been talking about it a lot
and we want this for our family." I bear my testimony that the Holy
Ghost is the teacher!! He is the converter! He is the testator and the
witness of the Father and the Son and it is only by the power of the
Holy Spirit that we can learn the truths of eternity.
Have a great week everyone! I love you!

-Elder Francis
Gonzalez fam! (We had to leave early, so I didn't make the pictures:/)
Hike we went on this morning!
Exchange with my good friend Elder Cromar