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My new companion - Elder Han!!!
(He and I did scouting together when we were ten years old.
Elder Han used to live in Ashburn, VA!) |
February 8, 2016
Hola everyone!!
What is new back in Virignia? Anything crazy? Any other big
storms that have hit the city lately?? Or are you still recovering from the
last one? How is school treating everyone??
So I am slowly transitioning into Spanish mode right now...and
honestly it has been harder than I thought! I have come to this area a few
times and each time I really haven't had much trouble with the language, but
since I have been transferred here I have realized how poor my Spanish is!! I
have a lot to get better at.
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Going to the airport for the last time as an Assistant to
pick up the new missionaries |
So I am serving in a Spanish branch that covers two stakes: the
Reno and Reno North Stake. We have about 100 people attending Sacrament meeting
on average, and it is awesome!! The Branch is divided up into three areas, and
we cover the central area that includes all of "downtown" Reno. There
are TONS of Hispanic people. Literally everywhere we go there are Hispanics. It
is awesome. We are teaching a bunch of people right now. We currently have 3
investigators who are on track to be baptized this transfer, one this Saturday!
The one this Saturday is a 9-year-old boy whose Mom is a returning less-active
member. It is my first time teaching a child, and its pretty hard actually. The other day, we had a lesson with him and
he got embarrassed about something and climbed behind the couch for the last 45
minutes of the lesson. Even with all of the coaxing and asking and begging from
us and his family and the members we brought with us, he didn't want to come
out. But he is a good kid and will be baptized this Saturday!
It is fun to serve in a branch with other missionaries
again. We all have dinner together every
day and that is a blast. We have two Hermanas and two other Elders that serve
with us. One of the Hermanas is Hermana Underly, who was in the CCM with me,
and goes home this transfer!!! It is so weird. But the other 4 missionaries in
the branch are all super solid and I love them a ton. As of right now the
Branch has 5 baptisms lined up for the transfer, which we are all excited
about.
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Saying goodbye to Elder Freeman...
he's done with his mission! |
The other two investigators that are going to be baptized soon
are both teenagers, and they are SUPER solid. One is a 17-year-old named Beba, who
is the sister of Mildred – who Elder Han recently taught and baptized when he
served in Sun Valley. Mildred then moved
to Reno after she and her husband divorced. Beba has been going through some hard
times lately and has been bullied most
of her life because she struggles with same-sex attraction. She used to have
suicidal thoughts and would smoke marijuana to get away from it all. However
Elder Han and Elder Baker(the guy that I replaced) began teaching her when Mildred
moved to Reno a few weeks ago. The Gospel has totally changed her life. She
hasn't been to school for 3 years because of all of the bullying, and two weeks
ago she went back because she finally felt confident enough. She has stopped
smoking weed, too, and she is on track to be baptized the 27th of this month!!
The other investigator is named Jonathan, a 16yr old who is
SUPER solid. He ran into Elder Han and Elder Baker about 2 months ago, but he
lived in the Sisters area of the Branch, and so they had to pass him off to the
Sisters. But then this transfer, we changed the areas a little bit, and we took
over the area that Jonathan lived in, so now he is ours! But he reminds me a
lot of Owen...he is so passionate about the Gospel! He read the Book of Mormon
in 4 weeks when he first got it and doesn't want to stop learning!! The only
reason he isn't a member is because his parents aren't so sure about it. His
dad is pretty much against it, and his Mom is on the fence about it. But
yesterday his Mom attended Sacrament, and he got up in Sacrament meeting and
bore his testimony, and it was super powerful!! He said, "I don't know
when, but I will be baptized." His Mom was really emotional throughout the
whole meeting, and yesterday we were all fasting for his parents hearts to be
softened...and I have no doubt that it definitely worked. His mom agreed to
have all 6 of us missionaries come over for dinner later this month, and
although his dad still isn't on board, his Mom's heart was definitely
softened yesterday. So we will keep you posted on how it goes with him!
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More Three Amigos...this time with me, Elder Han,
and Elder Krey |
This week we had a lesson with Jonathan, and he lives on the
most northern part of our area, up on a mountain, and it was our first time to
his house for both of us, so we got to the top of the hill, but we didn't know
which house was is, there were about 4 in the vicinity, so we called Jonathan,
and he was trying to explain to us which house was his, but while he was doing
so, Elder Han drove us right into this giant pit of mud, which was topped with
snow and ice....so needless to say, our 2015 Toyota Corolla got stuck. We had a
Priest of an English ward, Kyler, come and join us for the lesson, so that
Jonathan could build some friends with people at his high school (because the
branch we cover is so big it covers like 6 or 7 high schools) and he got stuck,
too! We were already late for our appointment so we decided to ditch the cars
and worry about them after the lesson. We had a great lesson, and we left about
15 minutes early so we could get to our next appointment on time, but we got
outside and we couldn't get the car un-stuck. We finally were able to push the
car out with the help of Jonathan and Kyler who was with us. So we hopped in
the car and took off for our next lesson, which was a good drive away. But then
about 30 seconds later, Kyler called us and told us he was stuck too...so we
flipped around and tried to help him get out, but he was way deeper in the mud
than we were. So we called Jonathan and asked him to bring his Dad's truck over
to the mud pit and tow him out, and his dad came but didn't think it would be a
good idea to pull it out for some reason, and insisted on putting plywood under
the tires and getting out that way. Finally, after 20 minutes of lots of
pushing and pulling we got the Priest out, and we all were able to get out of
there. We were both CAKED in mud and our car was covered in mud, too. We raced
over to our next appointment with Beba, and we were 40 minutes late, but we
were able to have a GREAT lesson with her, too. But it was a hilarious
experience, standing deep in all of this mud and running around trying to find
plywood....certainly one for the journal!!
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| Last time picking up the greenies in the van |
With all of these youth that we have been working with, I have
noticed a common theme. With both teenagers we are teaching and also Kyler, who
was baptized a few months ago(Sis. Stevenson taught him), all of them have said
that before they started meeting with the missionaries, the "Mormons"
have always interested them. They all said that they have been curious about
the church before they met with the missionaries, but didn't have enough
confidence to ask their parents or their friends about it, until someone
approached them. We can all learn some lessons from this, because hearing this
made me look back on my high school days, and really I felt some regret, that I
hadn't shared the gospel with as many people as I could've. I remember many
times when people would ask me about the church, and I would answer their
question, but I didn't ask them if they wanted to learn more!! So we all need
to be constantly looking for opportunities to share the Gospel, and really pay
attention to the Spirit, because the Holy Ghost knows who we need to talk to.
This is why as full-time missionaries, we talk with EVERYONE we see. Literally
anyone walking down the street we stop and talk to them. I have set a goal for
the rest of my mission not to let a single person I see go by without talking
to them, and inviting them to come closer to Christ.
Alma 13:24 "For
behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is
for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his
word at the time of his coming in his glory."
I know that there are
people all around us who are prepared to accept the Gospel in their lives, and
Heavenly Father needs our help to do so. He will help us know what to say, we
just have to be willing to open our mouths and speak up! I am grateful for the
time that I have to share the Gospel with everyone. I love it and I know that
it is true, and that it changes lives.
Have a great week everyone! I love you!!
Love,
Elder Todd
p.s.
all the pictures of the water plant I uploaded are from last p-day, one of our
investigators in the Prater ward worked at this plant, and he took us on our a
tour!! It was really neat, to see how it works. The plant takes in all of the
raw sewage from Reno and Sparks(which includes lots of gross stuff) and 12
hours later they have clean drinking water that they dump into a nearby
river...and they have a 100% turn around rate! I wish I had more time to
explain how it all works, but basically bugs do 80% of the work, and break down
all of the gross waste and then they put some nitrogen and chlorine in the
water, and then take it back out, and BAM you have clean water. It was pretty
gross and also extremely interesting to see how it all works! Here are some pics:
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