Lining it All Up!

The work continues onward in the Rama Vista!

We found 3 more investigators this week, and we have been seeing TONS of progress in a few families!

More Dugs!

Elder Gonzalez with a new friend!

One couple (a less-active and a non-member) are planning on getting married soon so that she can be baptized!

And another family is planning on getting divorced to do the same! Divorced from a previous marrige and married into a new one, that is! In Mexican culture that happens like all the time. Mostly because Catholics look on divorce with incredible disdain while ironically under-valuing the importance of the Law of Chastity at the same time lol.

Wilfires in the area recently make it look like something out of The Walking Dead

But anyway, lots of good stuff!

We are lining this up to be a great transfer next transfer. Looks like I may get to become a Trainer! Lot's of stuff coming to fruition looks like.

Thanks for all your support and hope you all have a great Pioneer Day!

Zone Conference and Miracles

Lot's of stuff went on this week!

Hector's baptism with the The Chavez Family

Firstly, we found 6 new investigators, so that's lit. The work is really pickin up! Also, I got to baptize Hector finally! We have been waiting since basically the first month I got to this area to baptize him and it finally came around. And what's great is that his whole Less-Active family was there at church for his dunk and confirmation (which I got to do too lol), and they have been talking about coming back for more time now, so yay! The Gospel Blesses Families!


Also, we had Zone Conference this week. It was so awesome, lot's of things learned! Also, I got to give a little 5 minute talk about Virtue and some missionaries in our zone have been telling me they have been applying some of the things I mentioned in their own lives! If only I knew how to study like I do now in high school!

Sparks Zone Conference

Posing at Zone Conference

P-day with fellow Zone members!

Sharing a ride with Elders Gonzales, Gurr and Torres

In this branch, we have been really trying to get everyone excited about missionary work. It has taken a while but it seems to be working! An awesome family here just gave us a referral for a family that they have known for 12 years! They are super ready and we are planning on setting them with a baptismal date very soon. Member missionary work yeah! And the whole Give and Get theory with referrals continues!

Trying to stay cool with our AC and two fans.

We got 3 more this week, and two of them are already new investigators! Funny story about that, the other Elders in the branch thought it was for their area, so they went and taught them, but they are actually in our area, so now they have to give them over.. #whoops

Talk to you all next week!

Super Hot July

Espars is a great, but it's really hot!

Loving the dogs!

Speaking of heat, we are laying it down! We found 4 new investigators this week and we are having Hector's baptism on this Wednesday (the one that had to be rescheduled)!

And another dog.

Did I mention its hot here in Sparks?

As well, something I have been doing a lot in this area since I've been here is using the "Give Referrals, Get Referrals" mindset. For those who don't know, referrals are basically when someone else (often missionaries) give you a name and address/phone number of a person that they think could become an investigator. We have given away ALOT in this area since I've gotten here, but have received almost none. BUTTT... we just got word that a really solid investigator just moved into our area, and we are about to meet her tomorrow. So yay! Faith proceeds the miracle!

And one more.

Also, hope everyone had a great America day! We were gonna go watch fireworks and take lots of pictures, but by the time we finished our day, they stopped the fireworks!
It's ok God know's I love this chosen land and that's all that matters!

Trying on a a mask at a member's house.

Not much else going on but we are doing great and my Spanish is making ground!
This random Honduran guy invited us into his house for tacos and he was surprised I even spoke Spanish and then asked which one of my parents is from Mexico because I have a little bit of an accent. wutlol. But yeah, it's doing well!

Found this baby bird after it fell out of its nest.

Learning tons about faith and diligence out here, and it's so incredible to see all the progress these families and individuals are making because of living the gospel.

Hope everyone has a great week!

4th of July and Diligence!

We had a pretty swell week this week.

Unfortunately, the baptism we had scheduled for Wednesday cancelled... on Tuesday. Hector's mom got sick and so we have postponed the baptism for next week. But he will get baptized regardless so it's alright!

Made a new friend!

Also we had to let a few investigators go this week, and a few let us go, so it has been a rough one. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! We brought our investigator Ruben to a baptism for the YSA ward and because the baptizee is Muslim, it's kind of a big deal, so our Mission President and tons of other missionaries were there. Ruben really felt the spirit there and is progressing well toward his baptismal date on the 22nd of July. As well, we set another investigator Carlos for that same date, so we should have a great July!

As well we found a couple more investigators and have tons of appointments set for this next week with potential investigators, so if all goes well we should find a few more soon. This area is great and there is lots of work, but, like every area, it can be frustrating to see so much potential and not be able to tap it. 

Elder G and I car selfie.

Anyways, we also did a lot of biking this week, and it has been pretty fun, and is definitely helping me lose mi barriga.

Also I forgot to mention, last week was transfers but pretty much everyone around me is staying the same. Which is good, because that means I will likely be in this area for 6 months, and at least for 4.5 months.

Cool stuff: We have permission on Tuesday (the 4th) to stay out literally as late as we want as long as we are watching fireworks with members. So we are getting that hooked up and we are gonna have a lit Cuatro de Julio!

There's this scary dog that is always on guard at this one house. He's a Catholic Pitbull.

I am loving it out here and am learning a lot. Not much else to mention, but hope you all have a great week!

There's this scary dog that is always on guard at this one house. He's a Catholic Pitbull.

Jumping Beef

Pretty shweet semana! 

We finally have a baptism this week! On Wednesday our investigator (who is 9) is getting baptised! We are excited because his taking the lessons has helped strengthen his less-active/part member family! They are doing family home evening now and making a real effort to get out to church.

We committed our other investigator with a baptismal date, Ruben, to live the Word of Wisdom, and he was super down! He gave us his coffee and we dumped it, I think that's the 3rd coffee canister I have dumped on my mission, lol. He also tried to give us his really expensive alcohol but we told him we couldn't really take it, so he dumped it out on the ground! It's crazy how much people can change when they start on the right path.

Dumping a member's coffee stash

We taught another family recently, and as we were teaching them they told us that they came to the conclusion that they need to be baptised! The only problem is that they both work on Sundays, so we are working on that now. Also! We used our bikes this week! It has been a while, but it was fun. We might have to use them a bit more often, as we are starting to run short on miles for our car. It's a great time to bike. Pretty much 90's every day! (Eww)

After a day of biking in the heat.

Had some awesome food at a Peruvian members house called Lomo Saltado(Jumping Beef), it was really good, and then I made the mistake of dumping about a pound of Peruvian hot sauce on it and I proceeded to die. Probably the hottest thing I have ever had. But it was still really good so I got seconds.

Learning a lot about diligence and patience this week. When you try your hardest to get someone to make commitments and they say they are going to and then they flake out, it sucks! It makes me realize how much Heavenly Father want's us to make correct decisions and how happy he is when we do! 

Cool Harley seen in our area.

Not much else this week, Hope everyone has a good one! 

Sorry these pictures are bad, there's really not much to take pictures of in Sparks. gonna keep looking for stuff tho!

Feliz Dia De Los Padres!

Lot's of great stuff went down this week! Still reflecting back on our great trip to the Temple in Reno.

A snapshot from our recent Temple visit.

We went to a place called Texas Meltz here in Reno on Monday, it was lit. All of their sandwiches are named after cities in Texas! I was going to get the Plano (cold deli sandwich, also where I'm from), but I was in the mood for a melt, so I snagged the Austin Melt. It tasted just as liberal as it sounds! No but it was really good.

New sandwich place down the road from our apartment. The Texas city names of the sandwiches make me homesick.

Speaking of food, I have had some great Latin foods recently. I have recently had posole, arepas, carne asada, tres leches, microwave burritos, and tons of other sick authentic morreno cuisine. This diet is really hard to keep up when we get fed like crazy. Like seriously we were given about 8 pounds of tres leches cake on Friday. :/rip

But we were working really hard this week and happened to talk to alot of non-hispanic people on the street, so we ended up giving a total of 6 referrals to the English speaking Sisters in our area, and they found a couple investigators from them I believe! #theyOweUs

Pic from last weeks temple trip. It was really windy up there so I apologize for whatever the heck my hair is doing.

We recently taught a less active named Sergio about temples and told his that his time had come to start preparing for the temple, and he was like wuuuuuuuuut. But he's super pumped, and his non-member wife may be getting baptised soon! Also we were able to find 3 new investigators this week, so we were happy. Now we just need to get some of our investigators back on track so we can see them progress.

Also, I gave a talk in church this Sunday about the relationship between Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as father and son. First all-Spanish talk, yay!

But everything has been great in Sparks! Happy Father's day to everyone!

Sorry for lack of pics. not much to take pictures of in Sparks unfortunately! 

Picnics, Sickness, and Temples!

Had a wonderful week this week!

Elder Gurr and myself getting ready to head out.

P-day we had an awesome picnic as a zone where we were able to play frisbee and sand volleyball. Of course I brought my a-game to volleyball, but unfortunately I was bringing so much heat that I burnt me feet (bars). No but actually the sand was so hot that I got like heat blisters so RIP my feet. Thanks everyone for paying your tithing so we get to drive a car!

A view of Reno and the mountains from Sparks.

Then the next day I unfortunately caught a missionary bug and got pretty sick. Complete with projectile vomiting! It had been a while! And I feel bad but it was obviously super contagious, because then Elder Gurr got it the next day, then my companion Elder Gonzalez got it the day after that. But luckily it's a short lasted sickness so I was able to work later that day!

Attending a Temple visit with one of my Gardnerville members as she received her endowments.

Elder Gonzalez and I at the Temple with fellow missionaries.

The Reno Temple.

THEN!!!! One of my old less actives that I was teaching in Gardnerville went to the Reno Temple to receive her endowments, and I received permission to go with her and another missionary that taught her, and it was sick! She had an incredible experience and thanked me profusely for helping her get there. It was a wonderful reminder to me that I am out here doing the Lord's work, bring happiness and peace to all who need it. I love this work! Speaking of, we set another investigator with a baptismal date this week. His name is Carlos, and he is a roommate of a recent convert. Before our lesson had even started in which we had planned to set him with a date, he asked what all he needed to do to be baptised! So that was easy! But of course there must be opposition in all things, and this week it manifested itself in that Victor and Zulma will have to put off their baptism for a little bit until we get some things figured out. But Zulma apparently had an amazing dream recently in which there was a tree that was unfortunately not growing. She was watering it and trying to help it in any way she could but nothing was working. Then, she said, we (the missionaries) came in and watered the tree, and it began to grow. She said that she believes that we are feeding her the truth so she can grow her faith. Sounds a lot like Alma 32 huh?! So they are prepared and will be baptised soon.

The Sparks Zone.

I was on exchanges with my District Leader Elder Torres on Friday, and we had a crazy cool miracle. We were just routinely visiting a former investigator, and she answers the door and they swear they both recognize each other from somewhere. Eventually Elder Torres realize that she was literally the first investigator he had ever had, and met her like his second day in the mission. She had moved from Reno (where he taught her) to Sparks like a year ago and we happened to decide to go visit her that very day. Miracles!

Nothing else really. I bought a jump rope Monday and have been using it pretty much daily along with some other band/body weight exercises. Gotta get my swole back somehow.

#DileAdiosAmiLonja