September 10, 2007

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