Surprise!

I'm getting transferred. in fact, Sister Kim is too! Who would have thought!? I sure didn't. There aren't enough missionaries in the mission so they are taking the sister missionaries out of the Central Park area and the ASL Elders are going to do their own deaf side of things as well as what we were doing. The Lord works in mysterious ways...The saddest part about this (for Sister Kim and I) is that this week we found not one, but TWO new investigators! Let me tell you about them...

Our first new investigator is Rachel*. The ASL Elders were contacting people at Lake Elizabeth and she asked for a pass-along card and agreed to have the missionaries over. On Tuesday night we went over to their apartment and found out that Rachel's husband, James*, is actually a less-active member of the church and his records just aren't in our ward yet. They have a cute one-year-old daughter named Kate*, too. We went with the intent of finding out Rachel's interest in the church. Rachel had already taken all of the missionary lessons in a different area before and she had all of the pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon out when we came. I could tell that she loves her family and she really wants to give the best to her daughter, so family is very important to her. She loves that the church makes a big emphasis on families. She has sincere questions and really wants to know for herself if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is Christ's church. We invited her to the Relief Society birthday party, which was actually the next day, and she came! It was great because the women in the ward were so welcoming and helped her to feel comfortable. It was a relief to us to know that if we were leaving (which we found out a few days later), then she would at least know people in the ward (they tend to leave less often than we do). Rachel came to church yesterday with her daughter (James works on Sundays so he isn't able to come) and as far as I could tell, it went well for her. I am just so grateful for the great members of the Central Park ward because now she has a support system to help her. By the way, she says that she is moving in the direction of baptism, so hopefully she keeps moving that way. I know that it will help her family more than anything.

Our second new investigator is Ashlee*. Ashlee met the sister missionaries in this area last year and didn't have the time to take the lessons then, but she kept the phone number and called us last week to see if we could meet. We said, "ABSOLUTELY!" and we met her this past Thursday at the church building. Sister Morgan was also able to be there, and we were so grateful for that. We took Ashlee on a tour of the church building and she was taking the tour with the intent of coming to church, not just out of curiosity. She asked about the "dress code" and where we're supposed to sit during sacrament meeting, but she was most interested in hearing about our basic beliefs, which was incredible to me. Ashlee is just graduated from high school this past year and her interest in the church grew as she observed some of her classmates that were members of the church. These members that she knew in high school went through a really difficult time because their father passed away pretty suddenly. Ashlee watched how they had such strength and faith and even excelled during that time. She told us that she went through a similar experience and she wants to have that same dedication to God. We taught her about how God calls prophets to teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ. We told her that even today God loves us so he called a prophet again. We had a November Ensign handy so we showed her a picture of President Monson and all of the other general authorities. She loved the idea that God has called a prophet again. We didn't get to share very much with her, but we invited her to be baptized and she said, "yes, I would like to" and then she asked, "how soon could I be baptized?" I didn't quite know how to answer that question. I know that you have to go to church at least three times before you can be baptized, but Sister Morgan stepped in and gave a great answer. She told her that as soon as she knows that this is true and she knows the commitments that she is making at baptism, she is ready to be baptized. I'm so grateful for the faithful members in this ward. They help us a lot.

So, the phrase "finders keepers" is not true, the ASL Elders will teach Rachel and Ashlee, but at least they're found. I hope that they can continue to learn and progress. 

General Conference is coming up this weekend! Yay! I'm excited to be able to watch it and to hear the Prophet and Apostles and other leaders in the church speak. So much revelation to be had! Have a great week!

*I changed their names

Up, Up and Away! Well I'm Still Here in Fremont

Did you check the weather report for Fremont this week? If you did, I think it would have reported rain for the entire week, because it did. It actually didn't turn out too bad because by the end we build up a tolerance for being wet, and sometimes members took pity on us and we got to share a lesson with them. It also meant that I didn't have to put much effort into straightening my hair because it would be styled by the rain by the end of the day anyways!

 

Last week Dave Anderson in the ward passed away so this week there was a memorial service for him at the church building. I've never really known anyone who has passed away (not including animals) and I didn't know Brother Anderson very well either, but it was a different experience to feel the reality of death. Two of the grandchildren shared memories that they had of their grandfather and how much he liked to fish. They remembered his testimony of the gospel and the impact that it had on their lives. While I was listening it made me wonder what people would say about me. Now I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, but it just made me think about how my actions have an impact on other people and what kind of impact I would like to make. I would certainly like to leave a legacy of faith, righteousness, and joy. I'll see what I can do about that :)

 

Heavenly Father showed Sister Kim and I that He really is preparing people and that seeds do eventually sprout. While we were sitting in our apartment calling people trying to set up appointments we received a phone call from someone that we didn't know, but their name was already in our phone (the phone stays in the area but missionaries come and go). Sister Kim picked up the phone and the woman on the other side of the line said that she had met us before and Sister Kim and I had no memory of meeting her so we realized that she had met the sister missionaries before us. She told Sister Kim that she would like to meet with us. What a miracle! Who knew that people actually called missionaries because they want to meet with them!? So we found a time that worked for her for this coming Friday. I really hope and pray that it works out!

 

This week we also met with the Toa family. They are from Tonga and about five of the children (20's and 30's aged children) live in an apartment in our area. They are not active in the church right now so we met with them this week. We found out that they are a great family with lots of enthusiasm for life and they also know that they need to be active in the church and they want to build their testimonies. We asked if they would like to take the missionary lessons and they said that they would like that so we'll be teaching them. The best part, though, was our short spiritual thought about the power of the Atonement. We watched this Mormon Message with them and bore our testimonies that the Atonement is real. No matter where they have been they can come back. This gospel is a message of love and hope without end. I know it is true, I wouldn't be here without it. I pray that their testimonies will be revitalized as they live the gospel and see the affect it has in their lives.

 

Elder Perry Came!

This week's biggest event was Elder Perry coming to town. We had to be an hour early to the meeting so that 15 minutes before it started we could be in our seats reading our scriptures or Preach My Gospel. It was held in a church building in the San Jose area so the Pleasanton Sisters picked us up on their way there (it was WAY too far to bike to). Sister Zorn (who came to San Jose with me from Temple Square) is serving in Pleasanton right now so I got to see her and that was fun. We made it to the meeting all in one piece and it turns out there are a lot of missionaries in the California San Jose Mission--about 200. When Elder Perry came in he wanted to shake hands with each missionary so we all went past him in a line to shake his hand and tell him our name, where we're from, and how long we've been serving. It took about a half hour to go through everyone, but now I can say that I shook Elder Perry's hand.

Elder Perry has such great enthusiasm for life and for the future and it was so great to hear him speak. He spoke first about the mormon.org campaign and how that is making people more interested in the church--it sounds very exciting. Then he spoke about how the God-given Priesthood organization in the church makes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unique. We can organize ourselves in such an incredible way that almost no other church organization can match. I hadn't thought about that before, but it sounds true. Then he spoke about the ward mission process--the way that missionaries find people to teach through ward councils. It helped me to understand better how things are theoretically supposed to work with missionary work. The best part, though, was feeling the power of his testimony of the Savior. He really is a special witness of Jesus Christ. 

As for the state of the work here in the Central Park Ward, we still don't have any investigators, although we passed on a referral to the Oakland Mission. So we're still working on being diligent and doing all that we can with what we have. 

This week Sister Kim and I went to a birthday party for one-year-old Vihaan. Vihann is the son of our eternal investigators. Since they are from India it was held at an Indian restaurant and it was quite the party with about 40 guests. It was Aladdin themed and the family was decked out in their traditional Indian dress. There was lunch provided and an incredible Aladdin palace cake made special for the day. Oh, there was a magician there too. Vihaan's parents really love him and I hope that someday they can go to the temple and be sealed as a family. That would be the greatest gift they could give to their son.

Sister Kim and I found out this week that you can't even count on church. The power at the church building blew out on Saturday so someone brought their generator to church so that some of the lights were on in the chapel so that we could have an abbreviated sacrament meeting. It was supposed to be ward conference this past Sunday and we were supposed to have ward council, but both of those were cancelled too. It was a little sad, but we got to spend some time visiting members with the Relief Society president so it worked out well.

Trying to Work Hard

A dinner appointment - in green!

It's summer...at least weather-wise right now! We paid for this nice weather with a cold and rainy day this past week but right now it couldn't be nicer. Sister Kim and I mistakenly thought that we could bike in the rain without getting too wet. It turns out not. We rode our bikes over to try and visit a less-active (who wasn't home) and we got absolutely soaked! So we came back home and changed and by that point, though, the rain was gone. So we blow-dried our bike shorts and got back on our bikes again and went out. The weather certainly played tricks on us that day. 

This week we had interviews with the mission president--President Watkins. He is such a wonderful leader and he really wants to help us to the best of his abilities. He was very well aware of the fact that Fremont is slow-moving when it comes to baptisms so he told me that what is most important is my input--diligence, enthusiasm, hard work--and the output is up to Heavenly Father's will and people's agency, things that I don't really have control over. So that is what I'm going to do and enjoy every minute of it!

We still don't have any investigators so we have been doing our best to visit as many people as possible: people who had investigated the church before (formers), people who have expressed interest before (potentials), less active members of the ward, and even some active members as well. This past Saturday all of our appointments fell through (we only had two) so we biked all around Fremont searching for people. We had some great successes. We learned that some people had moved, some people were just not interested in the slightest, we found out that some people exist (an improvement from not knowing if they actually live there), and some people were actually kind of interested, and one very sweet retired couple actually let us in! The wife is a member (but not active) and the husband is not a member. We chatted for a while and found out that she is a part of the Daughter of the Utah Pioneers group and he fought in the Korean war so Sister Kim talked with him about Korea for a little bit and I talked about my pioneer ancestry. She gave Sister Kim and I a glass of 7up and a loaf of homemade Amish bread to take home (the Amish bread was delicious by the way). So on Saturday we visited 14 homes in all and we contacted 75 people. It was a very full day. 

The members of the Central Park ward are absolutely wonderful. One of the Sisters in the ward, Sister Huber, is a great friend to the missionaries. Sister Huber is a convert to the church, she does hair for a living, and she is from Mexico. We went over to her home yesterday to read the Book of Mormon with her and she was in the middle of dying Erica's hair! It turned out to be wonderful because we got to get to know Erica and she got to know us a little bit. Erica is a wonderful Christian lady and even has some LDS ancestry. So while we were waiting for the color to set in Erica's hair we all read the Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi 9-11. Erica had never really read the Book of Mormon before so it was interesting for her to find out that it was written by prophets that testify about Jesus Christ just like all other prophets. We didn't really go much deeper than that but it was a great way for her to get exposed to the Book of Mormon. Hopefully it planted a good seed.