April 23, 2018

Life is Good

Here are some funny kids of a part member family.

MOMMA

So this past week was pretty good for Elder Ballard and I. I am feeling much better now, but my stomach has had some pain that's decreasing every day. We got to meet with Rick last week but not this week because he is so busy, but he's a really cool guy and we will hopefully see him this week. We have pretty much lost contact with Efren which is sad. We did get to meet with Magnolia a couple of times this week which was awesome and she came to church and passed her baptismal interview and will be baptized next week!! We are SO excited for her and all the progress she is making, she is honestly so cool and I have loved working with her! I can't remember the referrals you are talking about so I guess they didn't work out haha, but last week was good 4/20 was very popular around here, we had 2 different exchanges, one with our district leader and one with the assistants to the president which were both a really good time. 

That's so weird that you met Sister Staker's mom haha ya we haven't served in the same zone yet but she works in the VC so we see each other every now and then and we did a musical number together a month or so ago which was fun. But ya if I see her today I'll tell her our mom's know each other haha. 

Ok I think that's it for this week, I'll send some pictures over messenger in a second! Love you!

We ate an early dinner with them after church on Sunday

And here we are eating something called Fu Fu which is a Nigerian food that is slimy and spicy and you eat it with your hands, and the weirdest part is you don't chew the food, you just throw it in and swallow.

Oh and when I was on exchanges with Elder Mendez we accidentally took the exit to San Francisco and we had a nice drive through Treasure Island and back so that was funny haha, navigation skills are strong over here!

April 16, 2018

The work goes on... even if you're sick

Here is Sis Frandsen, the sis-in-law to the Sis Frandsen married to the Pres. So President's brother is here in the mission as a senior couple.

MOMMA!!!

I am doing a lot better now, we had a pretty good week but yesterday I got pretty sick, I woke up at 5 and from then till I went to bed at around 10:30 I used the bathroom 13 or 14 times (I weigh 5 lbs less today). I guess I'm happy I didn't throw up but holy cows I don't know where all or this stuff was coming from, I think the worst part was having to use church toilet paper for like 6 of the bathroom trips. 

We got a mini missionary yesterday who was just a priest from a stake in this mission and so I didn't want to stay home and rest and ruin his day so we went to church. Also our investigator Magnolia came to church which was so awesome!! She also met one of her coworkers there and they were so happy to see each other so instant fellowshipper! We didn't find anyone too solid this week, I'm not sure why but it's been pretty hard to find. 

Zone leading is going pretty well, had a zone meeting last night which went well, we are behind on the goal we set so we got everyone together to re-ignite the fire and hopefully we'll all be working harder to achieve our goal of 20 more baptism by the end of June. 

And backup just a second, new house?! I need a little more information about that! Are we moving? Does it have to do with the compound? 

Love you mom!! I'll send some pics in a bit😊 

Here's me trying to smile, haha. And us at zone leadership council, where we relay all the information from MLC which is mission leadership council to the district leaders.

I don't remember taking these pictures....
 

So I'm smiling in this bottom one because I'm not part of this musical number for a funeral

We walked about halfway through this door but were too scared and came back haha, too many bad experiences with dogs!

Here are 2 pics from last p day, we went to the institute building and played scrud and ping pong, I always teach other missionaries scrud

Here is me waiting for laundry to finish

April 9, 2018

Finding the One...

Tracting in the rain, which is always a good time

So this past week was really good and kind of busy. We have been struggling to find new investigators for a little while now and we finally found one on Saturday! His name is Efren and he is a pretty cool old Mexican guy, we were just tracting and I sort of explained who we were and what we were talking about and asked if we could come in and share our message and he said yes!! That's pretty cool because we don't get let in the door like that very often. He doesn't believe in a church because of the things he has seen in other churches. So we taught him the message of the restoration and left him with a Book of Mormon and told him to read it, we will be texting him in the next couple of days and hopefully get to see him and follow up on his reading. 

We also got to conduct the fireside meeting Por qué yo Creo (why I believe) which had a great turn out, the equipment worked better for the translation and Elder Ballard did a good job conducting the meeting. And it's always fun to see the other missionaries throughout the mission come with LA's RC's or investigators.

Today we are going to chik fil a and the institute building to play ping pong and pool and what not, so it should be a good day.

4 months to go! Pictures coming soon! 

We got a ticket for parking in a spot for more than2 hours😡

Classic frowning selfie 

Frowning selfie, but at chick fil a

Morning Sports... man I look so tired, haha

Taking selfies on our couch, checking out the filters and being a weirdo

  

April 2, 2018

General Conference - So Good!

Nice Bay Area sunset photo from up in the temple parking lot

this one you can see the sunset but not me

MOMMA!!!

This week was really good for Elder Ballard and I we started out the week Visiting with Michael which was good and he seems to be happy and ready to continue onward, we look forward to working with him on a weekly basis. Oh ya and we also had transfer calls and Elder Ballard and I will both be staying this transfer which is awesome! I'm just so unsure if I will move before I die or if I'll be released from being a Zone Leader before I die. Just a lot of unsurety about what will happen in these last 3 transfers.

 

Yes, We did get to watch it and WOW how crazy is it that the last conference I have in the mission is like the best one yet! So many powerfull talks, honestly it would be easier to tell you the ones I didn't like as much but that's probably not appropriate haha.(I asked which talks he liked best)  Looking briefly over some of my notes, I think I remember Elder Brian K Taylor's talk being pretty good, but I'll just have to read them again like it was counseled by President Nelson up until next conference. 

Elder Ballard and I were able to pick up a new investigator this week who told us he wants to be baptized so that's super great! His name is Rick and he has a ton of enthusiasm and we are really hoping it doesn't die out because he has a really beautiful family, sadly his wife does not seem as interested as he is. He investigated in the past and the missionaries stopped seeing him because he was just so busy with work, and he still is. But he wants to make the commitment, he just needs to get work off on Sundays and hopefully things will go smoothly with him:)

I told Elder Ballard Hi for you, he says Hello Daytons 

Wow, can you believe it's already April, that blows my mind! It has been a great time up until now and I've still got a some time to do some work, I feel like the Lord has blessed me in many ways since coming here to the Bay Area, I've learned a lot and grown up a little too. But more importantly for me, I feel like He has blessed my family back home. And maybe you just do a good job of taking happy looking photos but you all look so happy, and united as a family, and that makes me so happy! I love you all and am grateful the Lord always comes through with his promises, that the families of missionaries will be blessed.

Here's me and Elder Fakahao at service

Not a bad view!

The end of our last district meeting this transfer, sad to see some people are leaving us!

March 26, 2018

Baptism!

Michael's Baptism!

MOMMA!!!

So this week was one of the more stressful/awesome weeks we have had in a little while. So beginning of the week we finished teaching Michael, and he passed so we were happy about that. And we were also preparing for the missionary concert that we were organizing, so like working on a couple songs for that and making the program for that, and making baptismal programs for Sunday. So when Sunday came around it was just kind of stressful all day untill we got home, at like 11 haha. So we got up and went to coordination meeting with our ward mission leader and then we set up translation equipment and got the hymns and all that ready for sacrament meeting because we just do that every week. All of the church services went pretty well, during the 2nd hour we took Michael to look at baptsimal clothes and then right after the 3rd hour is when we had the baptism and it was super packed which was really cool. Everything went as according to plan as it can in the Spanish ward haha. His parents came which was pretty cool to be able to meet them, they are from Mexico and aren't members. And then after his baptism there was of course a bunch of food so we stayed and ate a late lunch and then after a bit we had our song practice before the concert which started at 6:30. And the concert was such a good time, there were a ton of missionaries and other people that came to watch. It was just missionaries performing and Elder Ballard and I were in the Last 2 songs so I was just kind of sitting waiting for them trying to keep my throat clear haha. But it all turned out pretty good, the last song especially was pretty sweet! We go to see some recent converts during the week as well so that was good, the same family that Michael just married into has a good amount of recent converts and they are soooo awesome! And, That was pretty much our week I believe, I'll send the pictures I took through messenger because I have them on my phone. Love you!!!

Here's us printing up Michael's baptism program

  

Food with the family

Selfies...

Successful concert at the Temple Visitor Center!

March 19, 2018

Testimony of Prayer

MOMMA!!!

So my week has been pretty good. It has been pretty good weather here, a little rainy now and then but I think that's keeping the temperature down which is good. We were able to visit with Michael a couple of times this week which was nice, his baptism is going to be this upcoming Sunday, so we are pretty excited for him! So this whole past week was really bad for finding, we worked really hard but we're just not finding anyone interested in listening to us. I think it was Thursday or Friday my comp Elder Ballard had the idea for us to pray specifically for a referral from someone so we could go teach. And then Sunday night we get a referral from my son, Elder Bird, who set a lesson up for us with some guy. It was kind of hard to find where he lived because we went to the address and there are usually a couple of people living in different sections of houses here in Oakland, so we asked 2 people and they said they didn't know him. But we got his number and found out he did live there so he came out and brought us in and we sat down with him and his cousin and they both seemed really interested and we will be seeing them some time this week! Their names are Eswar and Minor. So ya that strengthened my testimony of prayer for sure. We had only been praying for referrals for like 2 days and we got one so that was pretty cool. 

Thanks for getting everything set up for Mase and I to go to college! I'm super excited! And when do y'all head out for that conference trip in TX? 

Your casual selfie throughout the week

With Brig having a smart phone now he starts "emailing" early in the morning 😀

Good Morning - man I'm so tired

Starting the day right - made myself poached eggs

March 12, 2018

Spring Break

Brig's new thing is not to smile in his selfies 😕😩

MOMMA!!!

Wow I can hardly remember this past week at all for some reason haha, but I don't think it rained very much that I can remember and Elder Ballard and I are getting along really well. It was never bad before but now we are pretty chill. I'm not sure where I'll serve before I die and go home. But I do remember those girls from efy/San Diego! That is so crazy they are home haha. (Twins that reported on their missions in the San Diego 7th ward that Brig was friends with as a teen) I vaguely reremember when they got their calls. I like Oakland a lot, it's pretty crazy here so that's a good time, I'm jealous that y'all get to go to the beach though! Are you done with the renovations? So when is spring break?

So we had some pretty good lessons this past week which was really nice. One of them was with Michael who is on date right now and he's doing pretty good progressing towards that date, the 25th of March. It's just been kind of hard to maintain contact with him frequently, and we still have a few lessons left to teach him but we are still hopeful he will be ready by his date.
The other lesson was with Carolina who is a super solid person the missionaries found through tracting around Christmas time and told us to come back in a few months and we started teaching her last week and she has a lot of real intent trying to find the truth. She already has a friend who is a recent convert and so we had her friend come to this most recent lesson and a different member came as well for the male present so we could get in. The lesson went well and she said she would be baptized when she finds out for herself that the book of Mormon is true!! So we are excited about her progress.

Let's see what else happened, we went on exchanges this past week which was fun, I went with Elder DeWitt again which was cool, he's from AZ, we were in our area this time and he doesn't speak Spanish so when exchanges happen like that, with other language programs it's pretty much one person doing everything all day haha.

Today we will be getting haircuts and playing basketball as always. We just finished grocery shopping and it's 7:45am so that's good, I'm just writing in my notes rn so I can copy and past the message later.

Just got a hair cut and i decided to keep adding to my draft. Basketball was good today but wow did I do terrible. So the rest of our day just looks like laundry lunch and we will hop on the computers to email!

Elder Lythgoe is on the left 

Me and Elder DeWitt from when we picked them
up for exchanges

  

it was so foggy at the temple yesterday

I still make the classic bagel, egg, cream cheese
sandwich sometimes

Basketball at the church

          

Juan is the best! Feeding Brig again!