Week 12 - A Day in the Life of Elder Todd and Christmas Time is Here!

December 8, 2014

Howdy guys!! How goes it in VA?? Life is awesome in the Lord’s work. I can’t believe that I have already been here a whole transfer! I got my first transfer call last night...and I am staying with Elder Rivera in Sun Valley haha so no worries.

So I want to give you guys a little sample of a day in the life of Elder Todd:

Morning sports at the church

5:55-6:05 am About 10 different alarms go off, all over the apartment, forcing us to get out of bed to turn them off.

6:10 am   We are out the door to go over to the church which is 1.3 miles away to play basketball or "oompa loompa ball" (which is like indoor football). There are usually about 8-12 people there for sports.

Chef Todd cooking eggs for everyone

7:00 am We return to the apartment, and take turns showering and eating breakfast. (I always race upstairs to get in the shower first because our hot water heater is TEENY (like it fits under the counter in the kitchen). I usually make two scrambled eggs and eat it with a bagel and cereal for breakfast. We usually make a big smoothie with frozen fruit for everyone. Once a week I make french toast for everyone which is fun.

Breakfast with the homies

8:00 am Personal study. I usually switch off between reading the Book of Mormon and studying “Preach my Gospel.”  But I also mix in the Ensign magazine, my patriarchal blessing and other study stuff.

9:00 am Companion study. We talk about what we studied in personal study, read three pages out of the "White Bible" (the missionary handbook), watch a short DVD segment from "The District" and then do a role-play of something we will use later that day, like practice teaching a lesson, (which takes a while) or just street contacting someone. We then discuss our investigators and study other things.

10:00-12:00 We either have more studies if we don’t have appointments (because I am still in the 12-week training program) and language study, or we go to appointments.

12:00 noon.  Lunch for an hour. We usually come home if we are nearby, and do something like quesadillas with sausages and rice or frozen taquitos or frozen pizzas.

Isaac (front and center) is awesome!!
He feeds us well
if we don't have dinner plans.

1:00-5:00 pm We contact people! During these hours we usually don’t have many appointments, so we just visit people who are considered our "potential" investigators, or just go tracting.

5:00 pm  Dinner. We are blessed to usually have dinners with members, and the few times we don’t have dinners with the members, we usually eat with some of our close investigators or Isaac or Hermano Verduzco (our family away from home). They usually take us out to eat – which is fine with us!

6:00-9:00 pm  These are our most productive hours...we usually have appointments during these hours and most people are home – so if we just stop by we can usually teach them. The Hispanic people are SO friendly and welcoming, and so they often invite us in if they are home.

Nightly planning with Elder Rivera

9:00 pm  Return home and start nightly planning. This is when we plan what we will do during our next day, literally every hour of the day. We also plan what we will teach to those we will see the next day, and what we will study. We also set our goals for the day as far as how many lessons to teach. This is very important. It takes about a half hour, and then we hangout for the last hour of the day or so.

10:30 pm Lights out and bedtime!!

Thank you guys for fasting for my families, we fasted for them too. The support means a lot, and the fact that James fasted too just brings tears to my eyes!! You guys are the best!!

Christmas party at the church with the Spanish group

This week was awesome. By far the highlight was the Christmas party we had for the Spanish group on Saturday night! I posted lots of pictures of it.  It was so much fun and we had like 9 investigators show up and 2 less-active members!!  And that was just from half of Sun Valley...the other elders had a bunch show up too! The turnout was great, the food was delicious, and it was by far my favorite night of my whole mission. 

This is the Christmas tree that
Juan and Laura gave us!!

We rode over to the party with a few investigators, but then when we showed up, a family of three was sitting there and when I saw them I couldn’t stop smiling!! It was Juan Rivera, and his "wife" Laura Lopez (we are not sure if they are married yet) and their five-year-old son, Adrian. I actually think they have the most potential out of all of our investigators, and they are like family to us! They have fed us dinner twice already, and gave us an awesome Christmas tree with lights and stuff for our apartment!! They are awesome. Please keep them in your prayers.

I love the Flores kids so much!!!

The familia Flores hasn’t made much progress this week...they are always home and we can teach them whenever but they just don’t keep their commitments!!  I gave their grandpa a blessing in Spanish this week cuz he has been sick, so hopefully they can see how that helps and want to keep their commitments. But I love their family so much. Their littlest boy, Chuckie, has opened up to me and loves me - haha!! He is always showing me his toys and stuff.  I love it!!

We haven’t been able to contact the familia Lira since last week...kind of a bummer. We have stopped by many times but they are never there! It’s just the workers working on their house. But we are hoping to catch them soon, because they said they are moving in this week, so we will see. Hopefully the fasting works.

I love you guys!!!! Have a great week!! The church is true!!

Elder Todd

The house homies (me and my three roommates!)

With Juan, Laura, and Adrian at the Christmas party!

Elder Rivera and I found Hawaiian shirts in the closet,

so we showed up to the Zone Activity wearing them!!

The Sparks (Nevada) Zone

Week 11: Thanksgiving, Dogs in the Night, and the New "He Is The Gift" Video

With Elder Rivera (right) and our two roommates

December 1, 2014

Hello everyone,

I had another great week! I am having a lot of fun. Because we opened a new area, we have been working on building up our pool of people to teach. We now have a pretty good-sized pool and we are hoping to turn it into a group of new members! I honestly think that the group we have has tons of potential. Everyone we talk with seems really interested, the problem is just getting them to progress on their own and keep their commitments. The Hispanic population is really nice and open, but because of this, they agree to like everything. Each week we have like 5 or so people tell us they will be at church, and then we even call them Sunday morning and they will say they will be there, but then they don’t show up, so that part can be frustrating, but we just need to give it time. 

Turkey on Turkey Day

But Thanksgiving was good for me! It didn’t feel like Thanksgiving at all, though. We had a breakfast appointment with this German woman and her 5 CRAZY dogs, and it was actually really good food. Her dogs were like loud as heck and barking so that made it interesting. And then we played football as a zone in the afternoon from like 2-5, which was super fun because I have been dying to play some football since last football season! It was actually really nice on Thanksgiving Day…like 60 degrees and sunny so it was perfect! We were all out in our shorts and t-shirts which was really fun. Then we had a dinner with a family from Australia, which was fun. Their family actually reminded me of our family, except they are in the next phase of life. They have 6 kids too, but their oldest is like 10 years older than me and is married and has two kids. Their youngest is in middle school, about Grace's age. But they had a normal thanksgiving dinner with turkey and potatoes and stuff so that was fun. 

With all the Elders at Isaac's house on Thanksgiving

Because there are 3 sets of elders in our ward, we all usually eat dinners together, so we went with all 6 of us to those meals. Then after dinner we went over to Isaac’s house for another "dinner" but it was mostly just a hangout for an hour with like 10 other elders. I posted a picture of that. And that was just about it for my Thanksgiving Day. Every Thursday we do a long weekly planning session, so we did that too. Our mission president told us that we could only go to two meals, so unlike the elders back at home in Virginia, I didn’t go to 5 dinners…haha.

So the big thing that came out this week is the new "He Is The Gift" video that the church is putting out worldwide this December.  It’s a 3-minute video to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas and remind everyone of the greatest gift we have ever received…which is the gift that Christ gave us of His life. It’s a great, powerful video that you guys should check out!  The church is taking over YouTube starting December 7th and continuing for the rest of the month.  The header and all the advertisements will be by the church. They will also have billboards in Times Square in New York City for a lot of the month. Here's the video - it's awesome:

On a different note, one night this week I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard like this whining noise and I couldn't figure out what it was, so I sat up in bed and this little dog came running up to me!!! I was so baffled and i was still half asleep so i was literally scratching my head as to what was going on. The members who own the house were out of town, so we were in charge of feeding their dogs and stuff. The dogs can get in and out of their house on their own, and they are good dogs, but we had left the door to our loft open that night, and the dog just marched in and somehow the door shut behind it, so it couldn’t get out! So anyways, i woke up and saw this dog and i had no idea what the heck to do with it, so i decided to just leave it.

Freakin' SUNSHINE (the dog) on my bed!!!

So i went back to sleep and ignored it, but then like a half an hour later I woke back up and it was now on my bed, still whining!! I was so confused and bewildered; I had never slept with a dog before!! So this time i was like all right – it needs something, because a dog doesn’t just whine for no reason! So then i got worried that like the dog needed to pee or something and the thought occurred to me that it might pee on my bed or somewhere in our loft!! So then I was like HECK NO – no more of this dog non-sense!! So I tried to get it to follow me to the stairs, where i could take it down and open the door, and thankfully it followed me without too much effort. Then i opened the door and it ran out. Who knew a cute little dog named “Sunshine” could cause so much trouble for me!! 

Another funny thing that happened this week:  we were in the middle of a lesson and we got a text on our phone from an unknown number that said "Please help…my llamas r out" and because we were in a lesson we didn’t make a big deal out of it.  But Elder Rivera showed me the text and we both looked at each other like "whooo in the heck is that...?"  So we texted them back and were like – who is this and tried to figure out who it was! It turns out that it was a crazy investigator from a different area who got the wrong number and was looking for some different missionaries. But apparently they have 12 llamas and they get out a lot, so the missionaries are always over there trying to bring them back – haha.

Helping to remodel the Lira's house

Speaking of service, this week we were able to help the Lira family big time! They are remodeling their house and tore a ton of drywall and wood out of their old trailer. Literally like 3 tons of garbage. And so a guy in our ward has a big 25-foot trailer and a huge truck that we used and piled all the garbage onto, and took it to the dump! It was like a three-hour ordeal, but of course that was right up my alley – so I was loving every minute of it!! And Brother Lira couldn’t believe it all. 

Hauling the Lira's garbage away on a 25-ft trailer

We paid for the dump and everything, and he was overwhelmed with all the help we gave him! We still haven’t had the chance to teach them too much, but they are moving in in two weeks, and hopefully once they are settled then we can actually teach them. It is hard to teach them because whenever we go over they are working like painting or something, so we are kinda waiting on them. 

The Flores Family's Dog

But the Flores Family is doing great. They are progressing slowly. The kids are actually making the most progress, and the parents told us yesterday that they are really interested in what we have to offer because after we taught them about the Book of Mormon and how to pray, their oldest son, Junior, has been really excited about praying. And they said that he has never been so excited to pray, so we must be doing something right. This got us excited and we are going back tonight to teach them more. Please keep these two families in your prayers.

Also keep Victor Andrande in your prayers. Elder Rivera was teaching him when he used to be there. He didn’t get baptized, but was really interested so we went back and found him and he agreed to be baptized this Saturday!! But he didn’t come to church yesterday, so we have to push it back a week, but he has lots of potential. He is doing everything we ask of him and loves learning about what we have to teach. He is 18 and a senior in high school and he is way cool! His grandma and cousin are both inactive members, so we are trying to get them all to come back to church.  Please pray that he will follow through with getting baptized this month. We have a mission-wide goal to have 100 baptisms in December, which is one per companionship across the mission. We have all been praying that we can make this happen, and we hope that Victor can be our baptism for this month. 

Hey Mom – I got the thanksgiving package!!! Thanks for all the food and treats, and thanks to the rest of the family for the notes you all wrote me. I love getting mail from you guys. Everyone is jealous of me because I get so much mail and packages, so that is fun.

Well I don’t have much more time, but I love you guys!! Thanks for everything. 

Love,

Elder Todd

Umm..yeah.

In the back of the tractor-trailer

Week Ten: Spanish Parties, Spanish Food, and FEASTING (on the Word of God)

All the Mexicans are rubbing off on me...

November 24, 2014

Hey guys!!

My brother James on his baptism day -
with my family back in Virginia.

How is it going?? James – Little Bro!!!! I am so proud of you for getting baptized!  I can’t believe you’re already eight years old.  And that is awesome that you read 5 chapters in your new scriptures the very next morning!!! That is so great. It brought tears to my eyes.

I am having so much fun out here. I can’t believe how fast time is going though...we are already in week 5 of the mission...? What the heck?? But this week was fun. We had zone conference all day on Wednesday, so that was very motivating and fun. Lots of good stuff learned there. The weather is pretty cold here...like 40s and 30s all day. When the sun is out it’s not too bad, but if it is a cloudy day then we just about freeze walking in between appointments and stuff. 

Verduzco and me at the party

On Friday we had a Thanksgiving party for our little group and the Rama Vista, and it was so much fun!! Lots of great Spanish food and Spanish fun.  And we had another party yesterday for one of our little investigators. Hector and Crista (aka the Flores Family) has 5 kids, and their little girl turned 6 yesterday! They couldn’t afford a cake so we took one over and sang happy birthday and also shared a few short object lessons with them. They loved it. They are a great family who I think has lots of potential. They are just not very consistent. Every time we plan a church tour or a lesson, they always have something pop up. So we have found that not planning and just showing up is actually better. 

The English ward that we are part of is a great ward. The only problem is that they need more  strong families, which is something our ward at home has a lot of. So like with this Flores family, I wish there was a family to have FHE (Family Home Evening) with them or something, but it doesn’t work!! I was actually thinking about it the other day and the Jones family (Waide and Penny's family) would be perfect to work with them!! I don’t know all of the kids’ ages of the Jones family, but the oldest kid in the Flores family is about Zach's age so I thought that would be a perfect fit!!  But oh well.

We demolished that freakin bush in like 30 mins
with the Lira Family

The Lira Family is awesome too. They are moving into their remodeled house this December, and will live in our area. They are a great family with a lot of potential, and they have given us great opportunities to serve them. We have become quite close with them. I posted a picture of us tearing out bushes in their yard. We haven’t had too many teaching opportunities so far because most of our time with them is spent doing service. But we have left with them a Book of Mormon and they said they would read the introduction, so we will see what happens there.

So because this week is Thanksgiving, it has been on my mind a lot. And when we think of Thanksgiving, what do we think of? I think of FOOTBALL and FEASTS! And in the scriptures, in chapter 31 and 32 of 2^nd Nephi (in the Book of Mormon) it tells us to FEAST on the words of Christ. And we often hear that “we are what we eat,” so if we FEAST on the words of Christ (like my awesome brother, James, showed us how to do) then we can become spiritual giants. And this can help us share the gospel with others and bring them the same happiness that we enjoy.  

I love you guys. Thanks for all the support you guys give me. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Love,

Elder Richmandawg

Service project - unloading food for the needy in the area

Lesson learned from Elder Rivera...
don't spill water ALL over your seat and then forget about it.

Week Nine: Life in Sun Valley (aka DOG Valley)...Crazy Shooters, Burning Weeds, and Sharing the Gospel

November 17, 2014

Hello everyone!!

Service project...burning the weeds

Everything is great here. I am having a blast. This was another fun week. On Tuesday my companion and I had the chance to do some service for the Familia Lida!! They are a great family that is moving into the area.  We were able to help them tear out all of the dried tumbleweeds and sagebrush in their backyard and then we made a big fire and burned it all. It was a lot of fun. We came across them one day when we were biking around the valley, and asked if they needed help. They said yes, so we did some service right there for them, but told them we could come back another day, wearing clothes that were a little better for service. So on Tuesday went back and spent some time with them. They are super nice, and we have been able to slowly teach them small things. They are Christian, so we have been praying and fasted yesterday so that we can teach them more. They have 4 kids, ages like 16, 14, 11 and 8 - so a lot like our family!!   Please keep them in your prayers.

Sun Valley should be called "Dog Valley"
because of all the dogs.
(And chickens too!  Here's a chicken - just chillin')

I think that if i could i would rename Sun Valley to Dog Valley. Every house has like 15,434 dogs…it’s ridiculous. Like the other day we go to visit an address that was a referral and outside they have 4 dogs chained up and stuff, and we maneuvered our way around them and then we knocked on the door and from inside we heard like 3 more dogs come running up to the door...Rivera and I just shook our heads and laughed cuz of how outrageous it is. And then there will be dogs just chillin everywhere, like in the streets and everywhere. And another thing about Sun Valley is that it is DARK at night. There are like NO street lights and rarely do people have lights on the front of their house, so it can be scary at times. The other night we pulled up to a house for an appointment, and Rivera hopped out of the car, and this dog bolted out of nowhere and started barking and stuff, and so Rivera instinctively jumped on the hood of our car. I was still in the car so I was just laughing and laughing. I got a kick out of that, cuz he’s scared of dogs. 

This is only like a tenth of the police cars
and SWAT vans on my street for the crazy shooter...

One interesting thing that happened this week was we were studying and our roommates left for the day, but we were still studying and like 10 minutes after they left they called us and were like "Yo! You guys gotta come outside!!" and so we darted outside and just like 100 yards down our street were about 20 cop cars and armored SWAT vans and news crews and the whole works and they blocked a road off, so we went up to the cop and asked him if we could go through the road block, or if we needed to go around, and he was like "well if you go that way, then you will be shot by a mental man with a deer rifle." so that answered our question. But apparently some crazy guy was threating to go kill everyone or something, so his neighbor called 911. But no worries, I wasn’t shot…and neither was my companion.

Sal Verduzco (left) is the ward mission leader
and Isaac Zurito is his friend and roommate -
they are awesome to us

So a little bit more about Issac Zurito and his roommate, Sal Verduzco. These two guys are like my favorite people in the world. Verduzco is the Ward Mission Leader for the Rama Vista, which i served in for one week. But the thing is he actually lives in the boundaries for my little group, but he has been going to the Rama Vista (Vista Branch) for like 8 years, so he hasn’t switched over. But then just last week the stake president issued an announcement that everyone has to go to their respective wards, so now he is going to come to our little branch. But this has caused a lot of drama because nobody in the Rama Vista wants him to leave. He is basically like the branch president, because overall the leadership in the Rama is not too great, so everyone goes to him for support and help. We will see what happens. But he is a great example of consecrating himself to the Lord because he works until 5 everyday, but then as soon as he gets off he calls us missionaries and asks where he can meet us to take us to lessons and dinners if we don’t have any and pretty much be our father. He is so great. He is hilarious too. He reminds me of Grandpa, just his humor. And he doesn’t speak much English so he always asks me how to say things in English – which is fun. His roommate, Issac, I don’t know as well, but he is basically the same thing. He is always taking us out to eat and this man is all about his style. He refuses to wear a tie more than once so he always gives us free ties because he just loves shopping and buying ties, so after he wears them once then he gives them away. His closet is crazy amazing, he has at least over 500 ties, like every color and shape and design you can think of. He also gave me a new watch that is way too fancy for me for free. But they are both awesome. They already invited me to come to their house for Christmas, so I think that is what we will do.

So we have our feet on the ground here in Sun Valley, and are finding tons of people to teach. The only problem with the Hispanic people here is that they are flakier than freakin frosted flakes. I would say that like 95% of the people we talk to readily agree to have us come back, and we set up an appointment. But then i would say like 30% of those appointments actually go through. So that can get frustrating sometimes, but oh well. The people that have lots of potential and have actually shown some real deep interest include the Familia Lida, Juan Gonzalez, Hector and Crista and their family, Veronica and her family, and Mickey Sotelo. If you could keep them in your prayers, that would be great. Mickey has been an investigator for a few months, and we would drop him except he came to church yesterday for like the first time in a few months so we are going to follow up on him and see what the deal is. Also keep Alma Lopez in your prayers.  She is a recent convert who has gone inactive who we are trying to bring back to church.

Well that about sums up my week so far.  I know that this church is true. Don’t be afraid to share the knowledge we have about it with everyone. I know we will be blessed if we do.

Love, 
Elder Todd

We got the "Greenie" package that my family sent

My comp and I and a younger "mini missionary"
that we had with us for the day

All the crap we burned

My goofy roommate...I tried to convince him to
go out and do missionary work dressed like that.
(He was waiting for his clothes to dry!)