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

Elders, you won't believe what just happened...

Hey everybody! We've seen so many blessings this week, especially with our investigator Nick. He is getting baptized this Saturday and Satan has really been trying to keep that from happening. Due to his financial situation, on Tuesday he was going to get his phone shut off. We were pretty worried because it's gonna be super difficult to stay in contact with him without a phone (I can't imagine how people did it in the old days). We felt impressed to invite him to pray and pray for the Lord to help him. Later that night we got a call from Nick, "Elders, you won't believe what just happened...." immediately after praying for help, he received a phone call. It was a couple asking if he could do some work for them! With the money he received he was able to pay his bills!
Then on Thursday we learned that he was about to get kicked out of his apartment. We were also really worried about that, because it is harder to progress in the gospel when you're homeless. He vented to us about his stresses and trials. All we could really do was invite him to act on his own, so Elder Wilson invited him to go to a park and read his scriptures and pray until he received an answer. Later that night, we got a phone call, "Elders, you won't believe what just happened..." Nick did what we asked, and as he prayed, felt like he should go talk to his landlord one last time. He did, and she told him that he could stay!! I bear my testimony that the Lord is actively involved in the lives of His children, and as we seek Him out we WILL receive guidance, direction, and strength for our lives. Nick is more excited than ever to be baptized! He knows the gospel is true and is so eager to live it.
In addition to our exciting updates with Nick, we also got to go on two exchanges last week. We may or may not have gotten flashed by a woman on one of them, but it's all a part of the experience! We've seen so many blessings in the past week as we have witnessed the glorious message of the gospel change the lives of God's children as they apply it in their own lives. I love my mission so much.

-Elder Francis
1) Elder Wilson's Polaroid
2) just a couple of best friends driving a van
3) lunch after District Meeting

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!