Conference weekend

Well this week has been soooo amazing! We received some awesome training at Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday on extending commitments and helping those we teach to keep their commitments. We were then able to take that training to the zone on Thursday. Commitment is such an essential principle in this life. It is what propels us through this life. Just as we extend invitations to our investigators, the Lord has extended the commitment to all of us to "Come follow me." It is our commitment to that invitation that determines whether or not we receive all of the promised blessings He has in store for us, even all that He has.

Then of course, GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Sunday morning we went over to the Chavez family's house for breakfast. It was great, and our recent convert Samantha invited her friend Chalena, so after watching the morning session together, we taught her the Restoration, and she really liked it! We are hopefully going to start teaching her now!

I had an awesome experience this conference. As I prepared for it, I prayerfully pondered about several questions that I want to receive an answer for from general conference. The first question I wrote and the driving question I had for this conference was "How can I come to know God?" If any of you were able to watch the Sunday afternoon session, then you'll know that Elder David A Bednar spoke on exactly that subject! I was so happy! I started telling the people I was sitting by, "That was my question! That was my question!" There was such a wonderful spirit that came with general conference, and I can't wait to study the talks again and again over the coming weeks and months.

Our district went on a fun hike today! I'll add some pictures of that too! We get to go to the temple next Tuesday!! I'm so excited! So that'll be my Pday next week. Thanks for reading everyone, have a fantastic week!

-Elder Francis

1) Conference at the Chavez' 

2-3) The hike this week!

Happy Fall Y'all!🍂

It's been an awesome first week of fall! A theme that has reoccurred throughout this entire week is families! In our zone we've placed a big emphasis on finding and teaching families, and every day th

On Wednesday we had district finding, where each companionship in our district split up in our area and tried to find people for 90 minutes. We picked a street and started knocking, and over the next hour or so, we found 3 families who all wanted us to come back! Also, nobody was even mean to us, which never happens!

At the end of that night it was around 8:50 and we were headed home, but rather than turn in 5 minutes early, we decided to pull over and knock on one more door! So we tried to follow the spirit and ended up on a random street at a random house. We knocked on the door, and this guy opened up. Totally not interested! "Are there any families in the neighborhood that could benefit from this message?" We asked..

 "nope." 

"Alright, well have a wonderful night!" As we turned to walk away, he stopped us-

"Actually, wait!... There is one family you can visit. Their little baby just got very sick and they might need a shoulder to cry on"...  Booyah!! (Well not the baby part) Miracles miracles all around!

It would almost be nice if the story ended right there. We visited that family the next day, and  after sharing with them briefly about the Plan of Salvation, they weren't interested in learning more. Often uin life and on missions we have incredible experiences that seem to end in disappointment, but if we can see them with an eternal perspective, we see the ultimate end goal, which is bright and encouraging. We see that what may seem like a failure is simply a moment of doubt in a far greater plan filled with hope and faith and love. 

On Saturday I was able to go on an exchange with my good friend Elder Seegmiller. Throughout the day, we had three different experiences where people we met had recently lost beloved family members. Each of them turned into tender moments where we were able to teach eternal truths about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration of the priesthood. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation! Thanks for reading, have a great week everyone!

-Elder Francis

I love to see the temple, I went inside last week 🎶

This week was incredible! As I mentioned in last week's email, we are looking for families in the zone right now, and over the past few weeks we have been led to several that show a lot of potential. One definitely worth mentioning is a family of 12 that we found! (That's right. 12. And no they are not Polynesian) the kids range from age 19 to 2! They are named-hopefully I can remember- Sergio, Rosario, Jackie, Janet, Esperanza, Vicky, Annalisa, Dulce, Vanessa, Brian! Whew! It's been difficult to teach them all at the same time, understandably, so last week we taught half of them and the two older ones accepted the invitation to be baptized! Jackie and Esperanza! We are going back tonight to hopefully teach the rest of them! The Lord truly answers prayers, I have no doubt about that! Please keep the Gonzales family in your prayers, thank you so so much!

We also got to go on exchanges with the South Korean missionaries, Elder Kim and Elder Kim! Yup, they have the same name. I was with Elder Donghyun Kim (also called "soccer" Kim) in their area in Irvine! It was great! A lot of the places we went were places I had been when I served in the YSA, so that was really awesome. 

The highlight of my week was being able to attend the sealing of my first convert in the mission field, Lyndsey Hyer. When she was baptized a year and a week ago, her boyfriend Mark was just returning to activity after not being involved in the church for 18 years. Half of his life! A few months later, they were married! Then on Saturday, they were sealed together for time and all eternity. Being able to witness that was one of the highlights of my life! The ordinance was beautiful and simple and brought me so much closer to my Father in Heaven. The spirit washed me over with the calmest peace, the greatest love, and the deepest gratitude that I have probably ever felt. I witnessed for myself a portion of the great joy that is spoken of in Doctrine and Covenants 18. It is amazing! Truly, their sealing was a miracle.

I am so grateful for my mission, thank you everyone for all of your love and support. It's days like Saturday that make everything so so worth it. I love you all!

-Elder Francis

1) sweet fog that rolled in from the coast

2) also, I was translated!

3) Elder Kim and I

4) Lyndsey's baptism on September 12,2015

5) Mark and Lyndsey's sealing on September 17, 2016 (I know, you can hardly recognize me)

Opposition in All Things

Hey everybody! This week had its ups and downs, that's for sure, but it was great and we were very blessed. Monday night we had a lesson with our investigator named Jason! We really tried to teach according to his needs, and there was a strong spirit in our lesson with him. We invited him to be baptized, and he accepted!!! We set his date for Nov. 6th. We left that lesson on a spiritual high, so we went back to the car and--- it was gone.... Our car was gone. This little Mexican man says, "Oh was at your car? It just got towed." Darn you Satan.....
So we started the 3 mile walk back to our apartment, at 9:30 at night, in the most dangerous city of the mission. (As a matter of fact, we are just several miles east of Compton!)
The next day we went to go get the car back with our vehicle coordinator Elder Westergard, who is a good friend. They gave us a discount at the towing company for being missionaries, so it only cost me my left arm and firstborn son. I had left my wallet in the car, so we went to go get it and pay, but it wasn't in there... "I must've taken it into the apartment without realizing" I thought. We got back to the apartment and scoured for my wallet, but no luck. We called members, went to places we had been, searched the car, nothing. I think someone from the towing company stole it. I'm mostly sad because my D.A.R.E. graduation card was in there, along with my Eagle Scout card and student I.D. for Senior year. Major bummer.
Later that day we taught a man named Khanh. We invited him to be baptized and he also accepted!! The rest of the week went on to yield a lot of blessings and good results. We had a temple tour of the Newport Beach temple, which Jason and our recent convert Samantha came to! They both loved it! Jason also came to church Sunday! He is onfire!!
I'll leave it at that for this week. We are trying very hard to find and teach families in our area right now. The ward needs strong families to strengthen and lift it. Please pray that we will be led to one. Thanks so much everyone for all of your love and support. I love you!
-Elder Francis

Around the world in 2 days!

ㅗ겨어오 여로러양!!! Mệnh chồn ủ nến kệ em! Hey everybody! I got to go on two exchanges this week with both the Korean and Vietnamese missionaries, hence the trilingual greeting! (Don't try google  translating the Korean or Vietnamese, I just typed random stuff that looked cool) being in the same zone as the Korean and Vietnamese programs has been one of the highlights of my time here in Garden Grove, they have some of the coolest missionaries in the mission! There is only one English district in the zone, so most of the English and Spanish missionaries don't really know the Asian elders, and they are missing out! I love it here!
First I was with Elder Stumpf from the Korean program. We had a great day together and I got to interview two investigators for baptism. We had to have a translator, so that was interesting experience, but it went well, and they got baptized yesterday!
On Saturday I went to the Vietnamese program with Elder Duong (pronounced "Zung"), and that was also a lot of fun! I got to help him teach English to a Vietnamese people (by "help him teach English" I mean that they would ask me for pronunciation on different words that were hard to read). There was also a huge martial arts convention for old Vietnamese people at the church building, so we got to help out with that! I'll attach a sweet video.
Other than that, not much happened! Our ward got a new bishopric, and we are really excited to be working with them and the new dynamic.
This next week is the last week of the transfer already! Time flies!
Have a great week everybody!

-Elder Francis

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: