Querida la Familia Irvine:
Life is busy, but the Lord blesses the obedient servants. Our district is obedient, but that doesn't mean we have our differences. But the Lord has blessed us greatly as we diligently serve in Arleta. The members that do help us, albeit a few, do a fantastic job. Hno's Juan Garcia and Alfredo Moreno are amazing! But it is frustrating when the second counselor says that he recognizes that the members ought to help out more and that it is the ward leadership's responsibility to help the missionaries, but he puts the burden on us! We already have enough to do: update the ward list, find and teach and bring back less actives, teach our investigators, among all things. It's a bit frustrating, but this is how the Church is worldwide for the most part, a lot of faithful members, some Sunday members, but a small minority put actions behind words and help the missionaries. Please help Derwood Ward not be one of these wards, it hinders the work and doesn't help the missionaries at all. Even if the members have lives, the missionaries are busy as it is with investigators. And referrals from members are golden! I testify of that!
My companion is Carlos Alejandro Sandoval Gonzalez, and his family currently lives in Monterrey (but he grew up in Guadalajara). He is hilarious, but I'm worried that his desire to work hard will wear him out. And he is a high stress individual too. He's very demanding, but I feel it is not going well with the other elders, we had a spat this morning. He didn't want to go to visit a place, so he got ready late and we ended up not going but wasted an hour going to a meeting point for the zone and coming back empty-handed. But a great elder, just has his moments. He is really good at soccer, and he loves the Beatles. He loves Guadalajara and hates Monterrey, because he was miserable there. His parents are converts, he has two brothers serving in Guadalajara and Veracruz. He wants to go to BYU for business school, and would love to play soccer there. His life story is amazing, but I don't have much time...
I love hearing from you every week..thanks for responding ;-)
Yesterday was amazing. We have tried all transfer to activate la Familia Torres, who was deeply offended, at least the father was. We contacted and taught them several times last week, and combined with their commitment last Sunday we really hoped they would come. We even called them half an hour before church to make sure they were coming! And they showed up! It was such a joy to see them! After (at least) a year of being inactive, they are back in the fold, now we have to keep them in the pastures of Arleta. I hope their kids will come along, because their oldest son is 16 years old and wants to be a rapper...that is really sad. But they came, and I was very pleased to say the least! We taught them from Preach My Gospel, of how to answer questions of the soul from the Book of Mormon. Great book by the way. And, I attended my first baptism as a missionary. Elder Villa and Elder Raleigh were able to get their investigator baptized, Briana Saldana, who is a granddaughter of local members (who are strong and faithful). Elder Raleigh's old companion baptized her, but it was pretty good. Now I know how excited I'll be when I'll be the one if the font, if the Lord sees fit to put me in that situation.
We lost a great investigator, Narciso Ramos. We have been teaching him for two weeks, and we found out on Saturday that he had a family emergency in Guadalajara, Mexico (the hometown of my companion) and will move there permanently to help his wife's mother (86 years old, broke her hip and can't walk). So we lost him! But he wants to be baptized! He struggled at first with baptism, that he was already baptized into the evangelical church, but the last few days he really understood why. He read almost 50 chapters of the Book of Mormon in about a week and a half, 40 of them in a space of 3 days. He knows the Bible very well, and he is truly a chosen child of God to receive the Gospel at this time. I loved teaching him, and I'm sad to see him go. He came to church and had a great time, and said he can't wait to go to church in Guadalajara! We're going to pass his phone number along to the mission office there to get him baptized! I know that those missionaries will be blessed by his knowledge and spirit. I love him and I'll miss him a lot. He was the only bright spot in our investigator pool. What timing! We get a referral from the MTC, deliver Finding Faith in Christ, teach him for two weeks, then he has to go back home permanently! It was meant to be, and I am so blessed that the Lord saw fit to send me here! He is a great man, I hope you could have met him! Pray for him to find the missionaries and be baptized!
We are having some trouble finding our investigator, Cintya Acosta. She's pregnant with her second child (she's only 20!) and is thinking seriously about abortion. We talked to Pres. Goodrich and his counselor (who is amazing!) Pres. Calderon, and they want to meet with her as soon as possible, the problem is that she is never home unless we get really lucky. We have to save her soul, we have to find her! We ran into her Saturday night, but boy do we need to find her and talk to her and get her to the right people! For the worth of souls is great in the sight of God! I can't imagine how she's feeling, but I know that there are eternal consequences of being this selfish. I can't understand, I can't understand...it is sad how Satan has torn apart families and lives by attacking the holy and sacred powers of procreation. I now, sadly, understand the importance of the Law of Chastity. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for keeping it. Steven, I don't doubt you know how important it is, but don't even allow Satan to tempt you. It will bring you down the path of despair and unhappiness, because wickedness was never happiness. Pray for us to find her. We urgently need to.
Another investigator, Maribel Pelayo, needs your prayers. She has been with her boyfriend, Antonio, for 8 years and have a little boy, Antonio. She is feeling that he is using her as a maid, as a servant, and she feels that she has to split with him. She feels that this isn't working out, and we have tried our best to help her. We do want her to stay with her family, but we do want her to be baptized. If she splits, she can be baptized but will be in very difficult circumstances (doesn't work, I'm sure she's illegal). If she stays with him, she'll keep on feeling unloved, used, but the family will be together. I think the latter is good, but only the Lord knows. She's praying, so please pray and help her to recognize her answer. This is very important, the lives of two kids and even their salvation rely on this decision.
Other than those choice investigators (that is not all), please pray for the missionaries around the world, they are struggling or having success, like I am. It's weird to think I could have success and failure in a period of an hour.
I had my first exchange on Friday, with the zone leaders. Elder Petersen (Jake is his first name and he knows the Barlows from the Layton days), was my companion. Elder Sandoval went to his area with Elder Martinez (Petersen's companion). It was amazing! I loved it! It was so fun to teach with someone new, but a bit strange at the same time. We ran into some drunks who talked to us for half an hour and we couldn't extricate ourselves out of there either. But we taught and met potential investigators, including finally finding a family that had been on vacation for over a month. This family, la Familia Saenz, has been listening to missionaries since 1996, or something like that. I wonder when the light will go on for them, but it's the Lord's time. Elder Petersen is a great missionary. Really kind, really humble, and most of all, hard working. I love working with him, and I know he's doing one heckuva job over in his area. He interviewed Briana for Elder Sandoval, and really helped be my friend when I felt I was weak contacting people on the street in Spanish. He's really great! Pass the word to the Barlow's that Jake Petersen is doing well in San Fernando.
This work is true! There is no doubt! I know that this is a marvelous work and a wonder! I love being here, and I don't want to leave this area because I can just see the potential of the investigators the Lord has blessed me with. We dropped so many two to three weeks ago, and the ones we have now blow me out of the water. Continue to pray for the work, because we need anything we can get.
I hope all is well. Pray for the work, we need your help urgently. God bless all of you, and I love you all.
Sincerely,
Elder Irvine
Monday, September 17, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
September 5, 2007
Dear Irvine Family:
I'm sorry I had to be so frank, but I felt that I was left out to dry. And thanks for the quick response! That was uplifting to hear from the family after two long weeks! Actually, the mail isn't as depressing as everyone makes it seem. We're so busy, mail is more like a present once in a while. And it is sweet! And thanks for the response, it's great Mom had the chance to meet with her friends and our family!
This week has been up and down. The past two p-days have been absolutely busy! So much for being a day of rest! It's even harder because we have to wash our car. Then we found out after a great zone conference that we had a nail in one of our back tires, so we had to get that fixed last week, but because we went on Saturday (mission office's p-day) we couldn't get the authorization number, so we had to go this last p-day. Frustrating! But it is a luxury and a blessing in this hot weather. At least three times this past week the temperature was in the 100's. It was really hot. Doing contacts in the street was a pain but a pleasure, we're always getting potential investigators. It was really hot. We found out that one of our investigators, Maribel Pelayo, who were are only teaching to get her daughter Myra baptized, wants to split from her boyfriend. They've been living together for 8 years, and are unmarried. She's married in Mexico, and so it's hard to get a divorce here in CA. And, her boyfriend (they call them spouse like husband but that is never the case) is waiting for his naturalization papers to clear. So they aren't getting married anytime soon. Then, she said that she wants to split with him. She knows the Gospel can change her life. It has. They're so happy whenever we come over, and they are truly a great family in all respects of the word. It is really comforting for her, and she wants to change. She knows cohabitation (union libre) is wrong, and she wants to get married, but Antonio (boyfriend) doesn't have any interest in that or being baptized. We are praying for her to make the right decision, either get separated then baptized or just have Myra be baptized and them stick together for the family's sake. We're waiting on what she has decided, they were out of town this weekend for Labor Day. I hope she got an answer for herself, she's a great person! I love them so much! That was a shocker though, I have to say. It was the last thing I expected! But the mission field is full of surprises. We are teaching a wonderful couple, the Ramos. Narciso, the legal husband, is a progressing investigator! I love him! He read the first 19 chapters of the Book of Mormon in three days in between our visits! He is a Christian, so when we pray he goes off on his own prayer. But he does know how to pray like us, which makes it so much easier. And, he pays his tithing to his church, which makes me grateful for the Lord's guidance to this man. His wife was feeling ill, so we gave her a blessing. They're progressing! I have given three blessings in Spanish in the last 2 weeks! I feel the Spirit so strong in each blessing, and I know the investigators do. They look different, emotionally touched and changed. I gave a blessing to one of our troubled investigators, Cervando Torres, who lived a bad life of gangs and drugs and now is on house arrest. We taught him and then I gave a blessing to him, my third. He definitely felt the Spirit, his trial is today. But he wants to change, I really feel that he wants to start anew, and we kept on saying that this is his last chance to change for the better, that the Lord is giving him a great opportunity to change his life. I hope he'll follow through and change his life around. We brought a less active's son, Omar Torres, to teach with us. He's heading in that direction, he wants to be a rapper. So it was kind of an eye-opener, we hope. But that day was amazing! Sorry it's so cluttered but it was Sunday we taught Cervando and the Torres' family. Hermano Torres was offended, greatly offended. He hadn't gone to church in several years from what we could tell. He wouldn't tell us who or what happened, but that something happened. We started visiting them a few weeks back, and we knew it'd be a long road back. We went over to invite Omar to teach, he came and we went back. Then, we invited the parents to teach another investigator nearby. They said yes! We went, she wasn't home. A few nights earlier we visited this investigator, Cintya, and found out she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. It was an emotionally draining experience. It made me think of how precious life is, and how she was willing, she wanted to, throw this child's life away so she can go to school and work, and raise her 3 year old child Miguel. That lesson really hit me hard, of how valuable life is, of how every child has the absolute right to live, it is not an opportunity. I'm so grateful that you, Mom and Dad, were sealed in the temple so I could be born in the covenant, it is a great blessing in my life! So we wanted the Torres' to fellowship her and help her. It was disappointing she wasn't there. But we went back and shared Pres. Faust's talk on forgiveness, with the story about the Amish. Elder Sandoval read the entire talk, and we bore our testimonies throughout. I cried, we cried. I could tell Hno. Torres was really thinking about this talk. About forgiveness. Then, he said more or less, "This next Sunday...me or my wife or my kids, will be at church." Elder Sandoval cried, I was in shock. When it set in, when I finally realized what he said, I couldn't help but promise him that he'll be blessed, that his family will be blessed, that this is a huge step, yes, but that it is the right thing to do. I cried. I couldn't believe the mercy of the Lord with us that night. We promised him blessings for his willingness to follow the Lord and left. We walked out of their, I was a bit in shock. No way, I thought, he's coming to church! We got in the car and started screaming our heads off! We were so overjoyed to know that a family is coming back to the fold! It was truly a great blessing that night! I can't really say much else, but that Hno. Torres is a chosen soul of the Lord. He is so humble, and this member truly hurt him, cut him to the core. And he had the courage, after a few visits by the missionaries, to put that aside and committed to come to church this coming Sunday. It really hurt him, and I know the pain will subside, the pain will finally go away. We were so blessed! We have a reference from a great couple in the ward, the Martinez's, and we have taught the first and part of the second lesson to their neighbors, the Clemente's. The wife attended church this past week with their son, because the father is ill and is not really doing well with his diabetes. We've had two breakfast appointments, both delicious, then we taught them. And we have an opportunity this week (went yesterday and have another on Friday) to eat breakfast, chat, then teach! They're interested, and it all started when Hno. Clemente asked about Boy Scouts for his son (he was a Scouter for 20-odd years). Wow! We have been blessed with great members, and great investigators! Our investigators now are 10 times better than the 8 we dropped two to three weeks ago. Quality is better than Quantity. The Field is Ready for the Harvest!
Yesterday we had a workshop for the youth of the ward, on how to share the gospel and the book of mormon with friends as well as how to work with less actives, and it went great! Then, they fed us delicious lasagna! And we had the opportunity to talk with the stake president, who is amazing! He's going to teach some neighbors with two elders in my district! Pres. Gomez is a stud!
We are so busy, and I am always tired. But I'd rather be tired and busy then be lazy and be under the Lord's condemnation. My companion and the district have been having some problems with rides. They seem to think that when he says 'let's go', that's a suggestion, that they have 10 minutes to get ready to go. So when we pull out and almost leave them, they get angry. But, he does have a temper. We talked for a while about it last night, it's because they've had this attitude from the last transfer and they want to be funny, apparently. So we're going to talk about it in district meeting tomorrow. I think his temper and their complacency makes discord. Plus, he goes to bed late after doing all his things (which takes a while, calls to investigators and the zone leaders, etc), and is a bit rough around the edges with his attitude. It has been rough sometimes, but it's been a great learning experience of patience and humility. He just has to learn to be a bit more patient...he's a high stress individual.
We have a baptism set for September 22nd, so we'll see how that goes. I have to say, members at lessons beats just a lesson with missionaries anyday! Hno. Moreno bore his testimony and she committed to baptism a week ago...what a miracle!"
Character is the manifestation of what you are becoming. Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in trials and testing of life."- Elder Richard G. Scott"
Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family."- Pres. Ezra Taft Benson"The greatest of undeveloped resource is faith; the greatest of unused power is prayer."- Roger W. Babson
I know the Church is true. I know families can be together forever. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that he translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. I know that this mission is the right thing to do, I know that this is a great blessing yet a small sacrifice. I know that there are people out there waiting to be taught, that are being prepared by the Lord for me to teach and testify.
Steven- I hope you are doing well, stay strong and do your schoolwork!
Kristy- Work hard, study hard, push yourself, that's how you get success! And be obedient to every rule to have the Spirit with you.
Mom- Just do what you do, and keep studying the scriptures. Be supportive of the missionaries, they need strong member's help.
Dad- I'm praying for you to know how to help the missionaries. Keep on plugging away, because eventually someone will pick up the torch and everyone will catch fire!
Grandma- I love you Grandma, I hope you're doing well! I'll be sending more pictures soon, but life is busy! I'm doing my best Grandma, and I love you.I love you all. Stay safe and stay strong! Hope all is going well!
Love,
Elder Irvine
I'm sorry I had to be so frank, but I felt that I was left out to dry. And thanks for the quick response! That was uplifting to hear from the family after two long weeks! Actually, the mail isn't as depressing as everyone makes it seem. We're so busy, mail is more like a present once in a while. And it is sweet! And thanks for the response, it's great Mom had the chance to meet with her friends and our family!
This week has been up and down. The past two p-days have been absolutely busy! So much for being a day of rest! It's even harder because we have to wash our car. Then we found out after a great zone conference that we had a nail in one of our back tires, so we had to get that fixed last week, but because we went on Saturday (mission office's p-day) we couldn't get the authorization number, so we had to go this last p-day. Frustrating! But it is a luxury and a blessing in this hot weather. At least three times this past week the temperature was in the 100's. It was really hot. Doing contacts in the street was a pain but a pleasure, we're always getting potential investigators. It was really hot. We found out that one of our investigators, Maribel Pelayo, who were are only teaching to get her daughter Myra baptized, wants to split from her boyfriend. They've been living together for 8 years, and are unmarried. She's married in Mexico, and so it's hard to get a divorce here in CA. And, her boyfriend (they call them spouse like husband but that is never the case) is waiting for his naturalization papers to clear. So they aren't getting married anytime soon. Then, she said that she wants to split with him. She knows the Gospel can change her life. It has. They're so happy whenever we come over, and they are truly a great family in all respects of the word. It is really comforting for her, and she wants to change. She knows cohabitation (union libre) is wrong, and she wants to get married, but Antonio (boyfriend) doesn't have any interest in that or being baptized. We are praying for her to make the right decision, either get separated then baptized or just have Myra be baptized and them stick together for the family's sake. We're waiting on what she has decided, they were out of town this weekend for Labor Day. I hope she got an answer for herself, she's a great person! I love them so much! That was a shocker though, I have to say. It was the last thing I expected! But the mission field is full of surprises. We are teaching a wonderful couple, the Ramos. Narciso, the legal husband, is a progressing investigator! I love him! He read the first 19 chapters of the Book of Mormon in three days in between our visits! He is a Christian, so when we pray he goes off on his own prayer. But he does know how to pray like us, which makes it so much easier. And, he pays his tithing to his church, which makes me grateful for the Lord's guidance to this man. His wife was feeling ill, so we gave her a blessing. They're progressing! I have given three blessings in Spanish in the last 2 weeks! I feel the Spirit so strong in each blessing, and I know the investigators do. They look different, emotionally touched and changed. I gave a blessing to one of our troubled investigators, Cervando Torres, who lived a bad life of gangs and drugs and now is on house arrest. We taught him and then I gave a blessing to him, my third. He definitely felt the Spirit, his trial is today. But he wants to change, I really feel that he wants to start anew, and we kept on saying that this is his last chance to change for the better, that the Lord is giving him a great opportunity to change his life. I hope he'll follow through and change his life around. We brought a less active's son, Omar Torres, to teach with us. He's heading in that direction, he wants to be a rapper. So it was kind of an eye-opener, we hope. But that day was amazing! Sorry it's so cluttered but it was Sunday we taught Cervando and the Torres' family. Hermano Torres was offended, greatly offended. He hadn't gone to church in several years from what we could tell. He wouldn't tell us who or what happened, but that something happened. We started visiting them a few weeks back, and we knew it'd be a long road back. We went over to invite Omar to teach, he came and we went back. Then, we invited the parents to teach another investigator nearby. They said yes! We went, she wasn't home. A few nights earlier we visited this investigator, Cintya, and found out she was pregnant and wanted an abortion. It was an emotionally draining experience. It made me think of how precious life is, and how she was willing, she wanted to, throw this child's life away so she can go to school and work, and raise her 3 year old child Miguel. That lesson really hit me hard, of how valuable life is, of how every child has the absolute right to live, it is not an opportunity. I'm so grateful that you, Mom and Dad, were sealed in the temple so I could be born in the covenant, it is a great blessing in my life! So we wanted the Torres' to fellowship her and help her. It was disappointing she wasn't there. But we went back and shared Pres. Faust's talk on forgiveness, with the story about the Amish. Elder Sandoval read the entire talk, and we bore our testimonies throughout. I cried, we cried. I could tell Hno. Torres was really thinking about this talk. About forgiveness. Then, he said more or less, "This next Sunday...me or my wife or my kids, will be at church." Elder Sandoval cried, I was in shock. When it set in, when I finally realized what he said, I couldn't help but promise him that he'll be blessed, that his family will be blessed, that this is a huge step, yes, but that it is the right thing to do. I cried. I couldn't believe the mercy of the Lord with us that night. We promised him blessings for his willingness to follow the Lord and left. We walked out of their, I was a bit in shock. No way, I thought, he's coming to church! We got in the car and started screaming our heads off! We were so overjoyed to know that a family is coming back to the fold! It was truly a great blessing that night! I can't really say much else, but that Hno. Torres is a chosen soul of the Lord. He is so humble, and this member truly hurt him, cut him to the core. And he had the courage, after a few visits by the missionaries, to put that aside and committed to come to church this coming Sunday. It really hurt him, and I know the pain will subside, the pain will finally go away. We were so blessed! We have a reference from a great couple in the ward, the Martinez's, and we have taught the first and part of the second lesson to their neighbors, the Clemente's. The wife attended church this past week with their son, because the father is ill and is not really doing well with his diabetes. We've had two breakfast appointments, both delicious, then we taught them. And we have an opportunity this week (went yesterday and have another on Friday) to eat breakfast, chat, then teach! They're interested, and it all started when Hno. Clemente asked about Boy Scouts for his son (he was a Scouter for 20-odd years). Wow! We have been blessed with great members, and great investigators! Our investigators now are 10 times better than the 8 we dropped two to three weeks ago. Quality is better than Quantity. The Field is Ready for the Harvest!
Yesterday we had a workshop for the youth of the ward, on how to share the gospel and the book of mormon with friends as well as how to work with less actives, and it went great! Then, they fed us delicious lasagna! And we had the opportunity to talk with the stake president, who is amazing! He's going to teach some neighbors with two elders in my district! Pres. Gomez is a stud!
We are so busy, and I am always tired. But I'd rather be tired and busy then be lazy and be under the Lord's condemnation. My companion and the district have been having some problems with rides. They seem to think that when he says 'let's go', that's a suggestion, that they have 10 minutes to get ready to go. So when we pull out and almost leave them, they get angry. But, he does have a temper. We talked for a while about it last night, it's because they've had this attitude from the last transfer and they want to be funny, apparently. So we're going to talk about it in district meeting tomorrow. I think his temper and their complacency makes discord. Plus, he goes to bed late after doing all his things (which takes a while, calls to investigators and the zone leaders, etc), and is a bit rough around the edges with his attitude. It has been rough sometimes, but it's been a great learning experience of patience and humility. He just has to learn to be a bit more patient...he's a high stress individual.
We have a baptism set for September 22nd, so we'll see how that goes. I have to say, members at lessons beats just a lesson with missionaries anyday! Hno. Moreno bore his testimony and she committed to baptism a week ago...what a miracle!"
Character is the manifestation of what you are becoming. Strong moral character results from consistent correct choices in trials and testing of life."- Elder Richard G. Scott"
Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family."- Pres. Ezra Taft Benson"The greatest of undeveloped resource is faith; the greatest of unused power is prayer."- Roger W. Babson
I know the Church is true. I know families can be together forever. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that he translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God. I know that this mission is the right thing to do, I know that this is a great blessing yet a small sacrifice. I know that there are people out there waiting to be taught, that are being prepared by the Lord for me to teach and testify.
Steven- I hope you are doing well, stay strong and do your schoolwork!
Kristy- Work hard, study hard, push yourself, that's how you get success! And be obedient to every rule to have the Spirit with you.
Mom- Just do what you do, and keep studying the scriptures. Be supportive of the missionaries, they need strong member's help.
Dad- I'm praying for you to know how to help the missionaries. Keep on plugging away, because eventually someone will pick up the torch and everyone will catch fire!
Grandma- I love you Grandma, I hope you're doing well! I'll be sending more pictures soon, but life is busy! I'm doing my best Grandma, and I love you.I love you all. Stay safe and stay strong! Hope all is going well!
Love,
Elder Irvine
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