Empanadas

Hey everybody!
This week has been running from one thing to the next to the next to the next, but it has been really good! We dropped off departing missionaries, picked up new ones, gave trainings, updated the transfer board, conducted a temple grounds tour, and ate some empanadas!
Our investigator Nick has been making such good progress. This last week we had dinner with the elders quorum president, President Storland, and his family, and we brought Nick and then taught him in their home. At the end of the lesson, President Storland offered to
give him a ride to church, and he came! Nick loved it and felt the
spirit so strong, and he wants more than ever to be baptized on the 29th.
We also have been meeting with active members more. Last night we went
over to one who we have been working with, Brother Davis, who took us
across the street to meet his neighbors. We met Jesus and Carmen, who
invited us in. We taught them the Restoration and invited them to be
baptized. They wanted to learn more first and agreed to meet
regularly! We have another appointment with them for this week! Having
their neighbor friend Brother Davis there made them so much more
receptive to the message of the gospel!! I have a testimony of the
importance of member missionary work!
This week we also had the privilege to be joined in our companionship
by one of my good friends, Elder Valenzuela from Guatemala City. He
returns home from his mission tomorrow morning, and it has been such
an awesome treat having him with us for the past week! He is an
incredible missionary who has been changed so much by his two years of
service. I hope that I can be like him at the end of my mission.
Have a great week everyone! I love you!
-Elder Francis
1) the assistant trio and the Taggart's (pardon the rain)
2) we matched!
3) some friends from the YSA ward at the temple tour!

If ye will have faith in me...

It's been an awesome week and a great way to end the transfer here in Anaheim! Elder Wilson and I will be staying together! We also get to have a tag along for the next week, Elder Valenzuela from the spanish program. He is leaving back to Guatemala next week after completing his mission, so he gets to spend his last week with us! He's been a Zone Leader and is an awesome example, so we are excited to have him with us!

We put our investigator Nick Garcia on date this last week!! We had an awesome lesson with one of his fellowshippers. He has had a hard time keeping his commitments lately, and during our lesson he was saying, "Ultimately, I just want to be saved. That is my greatest desire." We thought for a minute, then opened up to Moroni 7:33-34, which says: 

"33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

34 And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved."

He read that and said, "Wow... those verses are for me.... I've been going round and round circles with you guys. To move forward, I need to commit. Commitment is what I need. I need to be baptized." Yes Nick! Yes you do! So he committed to be baptized on January 29th! We are very excited for him.

We had MLC this week, and Elder Wilson and I got to give a training on setting goals! Then we were able to attend two Zone Trainings and see it get taught to the mission. It's kind of a weird feeling sitting in a training meeting that you gave. The spirit was so strong in all 3 meetings, and I know that it is the true teacher.

We also got to go on two exchanges this last week, which was a blast! I love getting to serve around the incredible missionaries here. I was able to go with an Elder Reinsch and an Elder Lindsey. It was so much fun! We are so excited for the upcoming transfer and have set some high goals, and I know that the Lord will bless us for it! I love you all!

-Elder Francis

1. MLC

2, 3.  Zone training

And a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone! A special thanks goes to those who sent
cards and/or gifts to me while I am out on my mission (and yes, that
includes you grandpa), even a little card is so appreciated! I love
all of you!
We had such a fantastic Christmas week here in Anaheim! We got to
attend the Christmas Devotionals for the missionaries here, where
missionaries from around the mission performed musical numbers or read
poetry. There were some musical numbers that were so incredible!! I
love music so much.
And it's a good thing I do because we got to go out caroling several
times this week! That was a blast! We went with the zone on Christmas
Eve to the Downton Disney area and sang carols to the people walking
by! It was awesome!
Another highlight of the week (of course) was being able to talk to my
family yesterday. I'm so grateful for how much the Lord has blessed
them over my nearly 18 months of a mission so far. I love you family!
We got to visit a ton of people this week and share the Spirit of
Christ(mas) with them. It is such a special time of year, and people
are often kinder and more charitable. It was awesome to see how the
Lord led us to those who may have felt alone or discouraged, and
blessed us with His spirit, so that we could lift their spirits.
Again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'll be in bed by  10:300
so give an extra shout for me at midnightt! Love you all!

-Elder Francis
1-2) days 1 and 2 of the Christmas program! See if you can find me in both days!
3) my new pad!
4-5) The whole family and Christmas morning!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas everybody! We've had such a great week here in Anaheim
sharing the light of Christ's gospel during this Christmas season.
We've had a ton of success sharing the Christmas video and finding
people to teach. Everyone seems to be a little more willing to hear a
message about Christ's love for us.
We had the awesome chance to go on two exchanges this week with two
sets of Zone Leaders from Orange and Santa Ana. Funny story of the
week: On Saturday I was with Elder Cooper on exchanges, and we started
talking to a YSA aged girl walking down the street. She was super
interested in everything we had to say! We taught the whole
Restoration of the gospel and she accepted a copy of the Book of
Mormon! We asked for her number and address and she gladly gave them
to us! As she started walking away, she turned and said, "And hey, hit
me up when you wanna go out sometime" and winked at us...... So we
made like Joseph and, "got [us] out".
We had an awesome rest of the day though and got to meet a lot of
people. Anaheim is quite the melting pot. Last week alone we've met
people from Egypt, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil, New Zealand, Tonga,
Samoa, Ecuador, El Salvador, Korea, The Philippines, Vietnam,
Thailand, Mexico(of course), and probably more. Hooray for culture!
I love this season so so much! And I've come to love it all the more
as a missionary, especially as I have pondered the wonder and glory of
Christ's birth, life, and Atonement. It is beautiful to me that the
Savior and Redeemer, the Creator of the World, was born in a humble
stable, some 2000 years ago, without wealth or splendor, to be our
example. He was born to end all goodbyes and to fix all mistakes. He
was born to overcome anguish, regret, depression, and fear. He was
born to provide a way for each of us to return to our heavenly home. I
know that Jesus Christ lives today. He is real. I am coming to know
Him more and more and I love Him with all of my heart! Merry Christmas
everyone! I love you all!

-Elder Francis
1) Merry Christmas from your favorite missionaries
2) Shout out to Joe Pratt. Thanks for the stocking!

Happy Holidays!

Hey everybody! I don't have a ton of time today, so my update will be
short. We had a great week this past week! We had Mission Leadership
Council and we got to attend Zone Trainings for the missionaries,
which was super awesome. There are just some incredible missionaries
in the mission, and it was so great to hear all of their insights and
comments and stories on the attributes of faith, hope, and charity.
We also had an exchange, and I was able to go back to my old area in
Garden Grove! We got to see some of the people that I worked with and
taught. It brought the sweetest memories of my time there. I love
Garden Grove.
We also found out that our most progressing investigator, Ana, is
moving to Mexico for the next 3 months. We've only taught her a few
times, but she said, "While I'm there, I am going to read the entire
Book of Mormon!" Hopefully the missionaries down in Mexico get in
contact with her so she can be baptized!
We've had some awesome finding experiences lately and have been led by
the spirit to people who needed to hear our message. I know that we
are on the Lord's errand and that this is His gospel! Have a great
week everyone!
Video:  1 year of Mission Leadership Councils

Burgers!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We have had a great week in
Anaheim, especially as we've been able to use the Christmas
initiative, "Light the World"! Elder Wilson and I got to take
departing missionaries to the airport, and then pick up the brand new
ones! We also got to train the District and Zone Leaders throughout
the mission.
On Thursday the advent calendar that the church has prepared for the
month of December was kicked off with a Worldwide Day of Service! For
District Meetings each District Leader found a service activity for
all the missionaries in their district, and we all went and served! We
went to a middle eastern bakery and helped clean the kitchen. We even
got free lunch afterwards, bonus!
Elder Wilson and I were able to work with a lot of part member
families this week, and have high hopes for some of the nonmembers
that we got to teach. Part-member families are a golden source of
potential investigators because they have loved ones who have already
tasted the goodness of the gospel! It's an immediate support system!
Today for the birthday of my good friend Elder Dube, we went to "The
Catch" and ordered the "OMG" (oh my goodness) burger. 10 pounds of
meat!!! There were only 8 of us!! I can proudly say that I defeated my
1.25 pounds in like 10 minutes flat. So... much.... burger....
Tomorrow we get to train the Mission Leadership Council on faith and
hope! I've learned so much about these two Christlike attribute from
our opportunities to study and prepare for our training tomorrow. To
close, I'll share a quote on hope that I found and love:
"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the
shadow of our burden behind us... Hope sweetens the memory of
experiences well loved. It tempers our troubles to our growth and our
strength. It befriends us in dark hours, excites us in bright ones. It
lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns
discouragement to determination."
I love you everybody!
- Elder Francis
1) best buds
2) elevator selfie with departing missionaries feat. Sister Taggart!
3) worldwide day of service
4) the omg burger

Give thanks and Light the World!

What a week!! It's been super eventful, but I'll try and keep the email short.
First off! The church came out with a new video for Christmas! It's
called Light the World! Not only that, but to help light the world,
the church has made an advent calendar for the 25 days of December
leading up to Christ, with a Christlike attribute to live each day!
The video and the calendar are all available on Mormon.org! Check it
out pleeeeeease!
We've had a ton of miracles this week! Elder Thornton and I had more
time to find people to teach, and find we did! We did our best to
follow the spirit in all of our finding, and it was neat to see how
the Lord led us to those who He needed us to see. For example, we were
led to a less active member who wants to be sealed in the temple to
her fiancé. Except.... her fiancé isn't a member! We can fix that! We
are going back to teach Claudia and her fiancé the first lesson later
this week.
Thursday was Thanksgiving!🦃 We got well taken care of. We had two
dinners and a service activity at the Honda Center in between them
both! We got to help at a huge event where thousands of homeless
people were fed a Thanksgiving dinner. It was awesome!
At the end of the week I was able to go back to my old area in Garden
Grove to attend the baptism of Elijah, Andrew, and Michael Finona, who
are three kids that Elder Sirrine (my last companion) and I found!
Their grandmother Julie, is raising them and three others, and I was
able to teach them all the first few lessons before I was transferred
out! It was so sweet to go back and witness their baptism.
To top off the week, Elder Thornton and I had transfer calls! We
called all of the Zone Leaders and told them where all the
missionaries would be getting transferred and who their new companions
would be. That was a little intimidating! These phone calls literally
change lives! It went well though, despite a few Zone Leaders getting
mad when we told them they would be getting transferred.😢
Transfers affected us too... Elder Thornton was is leaving for Santa
Ana, and I'm now with Elder Wilson, who was newly called as an
assistant! He's awesome and I'm super pumped to be serving with him
for the next few months. This week we get to go to the airport again
and pick up new missionaries, give some trainings, plan for MLC, and
who knows what else! Thanks for reading everybody, I love you!

-Elder Francis
1) Thanksgiving service
2) Finonas baptism
3) Transfer Calls!
4) Elder Wilson and I