Almost one more month gone!

        I'm all smiles reading your letters.  It doesn't ever really matter what you all write about, just that you exist and you're my family and you're so good at writing every week.  Really, I'm so blessed. Not every missionary gets to hear from their parents and siblings every single week.  Good job, keep it comin'!

This week was really interesting.  It was one of those weeks where we pounded the pavement, knocked on doors, and talked to absolutely everyone, and couldn't seem to see results.  But as I was looking back over the week last night, we saw so many miracles this week.

One of our miracles is Carlo.  He's 14 and such an incredible person.  I really just feel blessed to know him.  He's an amazing example of being humble and teachable.  He hasn't been able to progress as much as he could  this week because he often has to help his family out, but I have high hopes for him.  He's really opening the door for his family to accept the gospel.

Another miracle this week was Ausencio.  He's not even our investigator yet, but he will be soon!  A few nights ago we went and knocked on the door of a former investigator.  As we were knocking on the door, Ausencio, who lives there too, came up the stairs.  He didn't seem super interested, so we just waited for the former investigator to come to the door.  We asked the former investigator about some of the things he learned a year ago when he talked with the missionaries.  Ausencio started listening.  The former investigator told us he wasn't interested, but Ausencio stuck around.  At first I was wary and wanted to get away because he is what we call "BIEN Catolico," or "REALLY Catholic" and seemed to just want to fight about the Bible.  Sister Bram explained very simply and clearly about the Apostasy and Restoration of the Gospel, and we both bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon.  His interest perked and he told us to bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon the next day.  We went with the book, showed him how to use the footnotes and study the Book of Mormon with the Bible, and talked about praying to receive answers.  He started reading right away.  We started another conversation with another person in the house, who really did just want to fight.  All the while, as we were trying to keep contention out of the house, Ausencio was flipping through the Book of Mormon and reading  passages.  It was amazing to see a literal change of countenance as he read from the Book of Mormon.  His speech became reverent and I could tell just by looking at him that he could feel the Spirit.   He even defended us against his friend, who was trying to attack us for not drinking coffee. He told him to speak respectfully to us, and then he promised that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray. Truly a miracle, to see the power of the Spirit working on someone and opening his heart.  I'll let you know what happens with him!

I love this work.  I love seeing the changes come in peoples' lives. Success is coming to our area, in different ways than we've expected.  The changes in peoples' lives truly come from the Spirit!

Una semana mas!

Well, while Derek is experiencing less Spanish in his life right now, I'm definitely experiencing more.  My new companion is here and she's from PANAMA.  So cool, right?  Her name is Sister Bram and four weeks ago, she was with her parents in Panama.  She speaks English but isn't comfortable with it, so it's Spanish Spanish Spanish 24/7.  A huge blessing for me, for sure.  It's a little exhausting, but it's just what I need!  Sister Bram is a great missionary and wants to be obedient and grow.  We're going to have a great experience together.  She's adapting pretty well, which is good, cuz she's not in Kansas (Panama) anymore!

We added a cool new investigator this week.  His name is Yuvi.  (YOO-bee)  His religious beliefs are definitely mixed.  His mom is evangelist, but he grew up Catholic, and then his wife doesn't want anything to do with it.  It's interesting to see how peoples' experiences really do prepare them to receive the gospel.  The religious confusion in his household actually appears to be a blessing, since he's now open to many types of ideas and doesn't close himself off.  He could accept the idea of modern-day prophets and a testament of Christ in the Americas.  We'll see where things go with him.  He's great, and one of the nicest people I've ever met.  Once again, the challenge will be with his family, who kind  of wanted to fight with us, but we trust that they'll be able to feel the Spirit and see the changes in Yuvi's life as he accepts the gospel!

It's been kind of a frustrating few weeks with investigators.  We're picking up investigators and then losing contact with them over and over again.  We're really searching for those people who are prepared.  It's literally a needle in a haystack situation, especially with searching for Latinos.  But the work continues to move forward!  Similar to the last time when I trained, we're starting over completely with investigators, and it's a little weird to be the only one who knows what's going on, but I've seen the support of the Lord in so many ways.

Transfers... and a surprise!

Hola!

So, the end of the transfer!  I thought for sure that nothing would change with this transfer, since it's my first transfer in the area, but I was wrong!  President Wade called me on Thursday morning and called me to to train a new missionary!  Sister Perez is going to be transferred out of the area, and I'll stay here in Daly City with the new missionary.  It's exciting, and also scary!  I'm still getting to know the area, so my new companion and I will be learning a lot together.  I will get to meet her on Wednesday this week, so in my next letter I'll tell you about her!

This week was kind of up and down, like all weeks!  One of the highlights was that Nay came to a ward activity!  It was great.  The ward reacted really well and by the end of the night she had 4 or 5 new friends.  She's really lonely so I think it was great for her to see the love that's here in this ward.  Unfortunately, she didn't make it to church this week.  I think sometimes we as missionaries forget that a lot of people are coming from a very different lifestyle and that something that's almost automatic for us, like going to church EVERY Sunday, is not what's in their mindset. Many people see it kind of like going to the gym, or going to get a physical, or donating blood, I think.  It's something good that you do every once in a while and you feel better after you do it, but if you don't get to it, it'll have to wait until next week.  But what a blessing it is to have the scriptures to teach us about the commandments, and to know that every commandment God gives us is something that can be a constant and consistent blessing, as long as we are constantly and consistently
obedient.  We'll keep going with Nay and hopefully help her understand a little more about the importance of coming to church. 

We also spent a lot of time getting to know different parts of the area together.  That has turned out to be a blessing, since now I'll be the only one who knows anything about the area!  We've been finding a lot in new areas, trying to search for Spanish-speakers.  We've been finding a lot of Chinese people lately!  We've also been able to find a lot of new people, so now we're sort of going through the "sifting" process to find those who are willing to keep commitments.

I was able to give a talk in church this Sunday.  It was weird to hear myself speaking Spanish in the microphone, haha.  The talk went well, although as it is every time I give a talk, I don't remember anything I said.  Nobody gave me weird looks, so I'm assuming it was ok.   I can already tell that it will be difficult to talk about the gospel in English though, so be prepared to laugh at my accent (it's true, I'm getting an accent on words like "zone," "precision," "decision," etc.).

Last week of the transfer!

I can't believe we're already at the end of the transfer.  My first three
weeks here in San Fran crept by, but the last two have flown really
quickly.  Hopefully that means I'm getting more comfortable in the area and
I've been working harder!

This week was a lot better compared to last week.   It was still
humbling, as always, but in different ways.  After making a lot of
corrections, we started working a lot more effectively.  And after biting
the bullet and getting over my fear of confronting people, I finally took
the lead in making some corrections in the "false traditions" (that makes
it sound worse than it really was) that have existed in the area.
We've felt the support of the Lord backing us up in our efforts to try and
be more obedient and submissive to how He wants us to preach His gospel.
And personally, I've felt the weight lifted off my shoulders as I've
finally worked up the boldness to just open my mouth and follow the Spirit
to say what needs to be said within the companionship.  My companion is
great and totally willing to make changes and work hard.

This week we hit the pavement and haven't stopped!  We've only got one
solid investigator as of right now, even after many hours of searching, but
we're seeing the blessings of the gospel already in her life.  Her name is
Nay.  We knocked on her door and she let us right in immediately after we
introduced ourselves.  She has a lot of struggles in her life.  Her
children are way off the beaten path and they don't respect her.  It gives
her a lot of pain, and she wants to know about the gospel because she wants
to help them change.  She said that they won't ever change until they see
her change.  We've been trying to help her understand the principle of
agency and of what she can do to progress.  She has a good heart, and
really is desperate to find something to help her family.  She's let us
meet with her almost every day this week, and we're praying really hard
that she'll progress.

It's so great to be a missionary.  We see miracles literally in everything
we do.  One day this week, every corner we turned, we ran into someone that
we'd had contact with before.  It was literally three in a row--a former
investigator crossing the crosswalk right in front of us, an investigator
who we lost contact with sitting on a bench by the road after we took a
wrong turn, and a potential investigator walking down the street right
after we got rejected at someone's door.  Three people, all of whom we
thought we'd lost contact with, contacted again in less than an hour!
Tender mercies are all around and Heavenly Father is aware of everything
that's going on in all of His children's lives!  It's truly amazing.

Funny story of the week--I got my first black eye!  Well, it's not really a
"shiner," but you can see it, haha.  On a windy day we stopped in front of
a house to get something out of the trunk.  I opened the trunk and leaned
in to get what I needed.  As I straightened up, a big gust of wind caught
the door of the trunk and it slammed into my face by my right eye.  Ow!  It
must have looked hilarious.  It hurt!  I was just glad it didn't get my
nose.   I should have taken pictures of when it was bruised-looking.
Luckily I'm almost always tired, so I have dark circles under my eyes
anyway and you can't really tell I have a black eye!  Bahaha.  And no, no
vision problems or headaches or concussions or structural damage.  

Una semana mas

Hola!

This was one of the most difficult weeks of my mission.  Like, really.
 Whew.  It's sometimes hard to work a lot and then not see the results of
your labors.  This week was very humbling because there are a lot of things
I realized I need to change about myself and how I've been doing the Lord's
work this transfer.  When I first got to this area, I was super nervous
because I was the new missionary, and even though I was the senior
companion, I felt like I couldn't take the lead because I didn't know the
members or the area.  This week we went on exchanges and I had to repent of
that hesitancy, because I realized that the things I had been trained to do
when I first got here are not the things I've been doing in my new area.  I
let self-doubt get in the way of what I knew to be the Lord's way of doing
His work, so I didn't speak up when I saw things that were not being done
right.  My companion, Sis. Perez, is a truly excellent missionary with an
incredible amount of will and dedication to her calling.  However, there
were some things that have been part of the "tradition" of the area that
aren't exactly correct, and she was trained in that environment.  Together,
we're working hard this week to change that and to work in the Lord's way.
 It was humbling to admit that I hadn't been speaking up to correct things,
but now I have a testimony of the importance of not being ashamed, ever, of
what's right.  In this case, it wasn't anything major, but it still
influences the success of the area.  And the same principle can be applied
to the commandments.  We shouldn't ever change what we know is right to fit
the culture that exists around us.  The Lord is plain in telling us what we
need to do, and we should be plain in defending and acting on what we know
is right!  And when we don't do what we know is right, the amazing gift of
the Atonement is there so we can make the choice to repent and change.

I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's so simple, but it's
the most beautiful thing there is.  Like it says in 1 Nefi 15:14, the
gospel tells us how we can come unto Jesus Christ and be saved.  The plain
and precious truths of the gospel really have been restored in this day and
age so that we know EXACTLY what we need to do to come unto Christ.  The
world will tell us that we don't have to do anything to be saved--just say
we want to and then we're saved--or that there is no such thing as
salvation, or worse, that there's no such thing as sin.  But the truth is
that if we have faith in Jesus Christ, truly and sincerely repent of our
sins, are baptized by the priesthood authority, receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and continue in obedience and
fidelity to our covenants, we will receive eternal life.  There is nothing
more beautiful than the truth that the power of the priesthood has been
restored so we can progress through this gospel and be perfected through
the Savior.  It truly is "good news!"

tracting, covenants

Hi everyone!  Wow, it seems like it was 100 years ago that I talked to you
on the phone.  At the same time, the Christmas phone call seems like it was
just yesterday.  I don't know what to think anymore. 

This week was really interesting.  Poor [G] and [L] didn't come to
church this week.  She's so scared of the consequences of her family's
sentiments against the church.  We lost contact with her for over a week,
but last night we went by her house and she was there!  She told us that
she's been reading from the Book of Mormon every morning and every night,
and that every time she opens it and reads a scripture, she feels like it's
just for her.  It was a relief to hear her experiences with the Book of
Mormon and to know that she's still having spiritual experiences.
Hopefully she'll be able to put those experiences in action and continue to
come to church even though at this point she doesn't have permission from
her husband to be baptized.

Another miracle--[J] Carlos.  I have high hopes for him.  We contacted him
once two weeks ago, but then lost contact again and planned to just write
his name down for other missionaries to try again.  This week, however, we
decided to go tract on his street, and as we turned the corner, we saw him
sitting there on his porch.  We taught him a lesson right there on the
sidewalk.  He went to a baptism once in Mexico, over 10 years ago, but he
still remembers that the Spirit there was so strong that he started
crying.  He has the desire to seek after that Spirit again.  He's going to
face a lot of opposition from his wife, but we hope she, like [G]'s
husband, can soften her heart.

This week has been a tough one with finding.  Tracting here is a little
different... lots of doors slammed, lots of hurtful comments.  But also
lots of good experiences!  We met a Filipino lady who said that when she
reads the scriptures, she feels filled.  She said that she knows God has
more for her than what she gets at her church, so she studies the
scriptures to receive her own revelation.  She's definitely very prepared.
We told her about the Book of Mormon and she was open to it.  Hopefully the
Filipino elders can have success with her.  She was a tender mercy in my
day--a reminder that there are people who are literally being prepared by
the hand of God to receive the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week I've been thinking about covenants.  As I took the sacrament this
week, I was blown away by how amazing it is that everyone who is partaking
of the sacrament is fortifying a personal relationship with their Heavenly
Father.  He knows our thoughts, our desires, and our sins, and that moment
when we renew our covenants with Him is so sacred.  I'm about to finish the
Book of Mormon again, and this morning I read Moroni 1-6 and I was really
touched by how sacred the baptismal covenant is, and how merciful Heavenly
Father is in His plan for our lives.

Hi fambly

Hi everyone!  It was good to talk to you!  Also it was a little weird.  But
so good!  It was good to hear your voices.  And Elder Croft--wow!  Haha, I
wasn't expecting that at all.  That kind of freaked me out haha.

Thank you for being such an amazing family.  I am so blessed to have a
family that is faithful in the church and is living the gospel.  Please
keep doing what you're doing.  Every day I become more and more grateful
for everything that I've been blessed with in my family.  The fact that the
gospel has always been the center of our home is something that is such a
huge blessing, and it's a blessing that many people don't have.  Please
always stay faithful to your covenants and keep moving forward!

This week was interesting.  We had some disappointments, but it's helping
me learn to trust in the Lord's plan.  This week [G] and [L], two
of our investigators with a baptismal date for May 27th, decided to not
come to church.  They're facing some pretty strong opposition from
[G] husband ([L]'s dad).  He's totally against what they're
learning and doing as they read the Book of Mormon and go to church.  He
told her not to listen to us because we're out to destroy families.  He
told her "They're trying to break up families.  That's why they abandoned
their families!"  When she told us that it was hard to not get angry at
him, but I know that if we don't try our hardest to have charity for him,
we'll never be able to help him feel the spirit that his wife and daughter
have felt.  We're praying hard that his heart will be softened and that
Graciela and Lupita will have the courage to be able to choose what they
know the Spirit has told them to choose.

Our teaching pool is pretty small right now, so we're spending a lot of
energy trying to work with members and contact new people.  If the mission
is a refiner's fire, then tracting is the "slow-cooker" stage of that
refiner's fire.  It's definitely challenging to develop patience, but it's
one of the attributes that I most need to work on, so it's good.