Retrospection

 Wow, that was fast.

I will be home in 1 week. I've had 19 companions, 4 areas, 2 mission Presidents, trained 4 times, 12 of my friends have been baptized, and I've only actually paid for a haircut 1 time.

Looking back I can confidently say that I have been successful. Could I have done more? Yes. Was my heart always in the right place? No. Yet, I am an absolutely changed person. I have learned who Jesus Christ is. I know I am a son of God. I know priesthood power is real. I have experienced life-changing repentance. I've given up my will to do what God wants Instead. I have truly desired to help others come unto Christ.

My entire life changed sometime way back in my 2nd transfer when I woke up from a silly dream. I dreamt my companion and I were running around a neighborhood goofing off and ended up knocking on a door. A kind old man answered and let us in. We sat down with him and soon realized he was Deaf. In the dream I knew ASL and so I started signing with him.

Then I woke up.

I don't really share my dreams much but I felt like I should tell one of the other elders, Elder Eli Hendricks, about this one. He shocked me by telling me it meant I was to become an ASL missionary. I had no idea we even had ASL in our mission.

After that my entire life was changed. Pretty soon I found myself in Fremont, struggling to learn ASL. And then in Fremont for 18 months straight.

If I never shared that dream I never would have become an ASL Elder. I would have stayed english and travel the course of a normal mission. Instead I was tied to Fremont.

Fremont is full of Indians. This prompted me to learn Hindi. 

Later I was on exchange with Elder Holladay. We had just picked up some groceries and were sitting in the car when we both got a notification to hop on duolingo so we didn't lose our streaks. We opened it up and were surprised to see not only were we both learning Hindi, but we were on the exact same lesson! 

That was the beginning of Hindi work. 

Then we started going on exchange every week to try and teach Indians. There was a direct and plain to see correlation between the amount of study and prayer we did for Hindi and the amount of miracles and doors opened. So many Indians have now had a chance to hear the truth. Not many seriously accepted it. But many of those curry covered hearts now have a seed planted inside.

It never would have happened if I didn't talk about a silly dream. 

Now I know ASL. I will be serving Deaf people in the church the rest of my life. 

Now I know a ton of Hindi. I will be doing all I can to invite Indians to come to Jesus Christ for the rest of my life.

I know this is God's work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are trying to save all of their children. That's the plan- we do all we can to save everybody by helping them come unto Christ and learn who he really is. Sometimes that means you have to serve in Fremont for a total of 20 months and play around with 2 languages. Sometimes it means you need to leap out of your comfort zone with no parachute and accept that the landings gonna hurt the first few times. Sometimes you cry because of the thought that some soul should perish. Sometimes you get to stand in the water and baptize one of God's precious children in the name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Ghost. It all works out when we try our best. God is in charge. Curveballs aren't actually Curveballs, it's just God's plan.

New

 

Had Cincinnati Chili with our Branch President. Then I had leftover Cincinnati chili for both breakfast and lunch the next day.

Elder Johnson made 40 waffles.

Had a Deaf event at a mall. Somehow there were like 10 hearing people there and 3 Deaf people. 2 of the Deaf people were pretty clear about how they didn't want to talk with us because they were Christian. I was like hey we worship and love Jesus too. They actually told me we worship a different Jesus. In ASL. I've never had that happen in ASL before. Plenty of times in english. 

The other Deaf person was Aaron, a great fun member of our branch who knows every single thing about every single bus ever.

Went to a legendary Zone Conference. President taught us a lot about prayer. One thing I've been trying to do is start prayers and then not close them. Now I always remember I'm still “in a prayer” so I can just talk with God throughout the day and be more mindful of what i'm doing and thinking.

We started helping out at the Deaf School. They're getting new furniture so all the old stuff is being thrown away. How do they get all of it out of the student housing? Us. We spent nearly 20 hours(so far) moving desks, couches, dressers, chairs, and everything else in there. Pretty crazy. 

Elder Ardinger is Gone. My 4 weeks with him were beyond precious. He was transferred to Washington. (ASL transfers happen between missions now) We are receiving an Elder Reeve and Elder Rowley. I will be in a trio with both of them for these last 2 weeks of my mission. Then come home(!) Kinda tough to have a big change this close to the end. But it will still be very fun.

If you are struggling with anything this next part is for you lol. And if you're not struggling with anything then you probably will be soon.

Jeremiah 3:23

“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Every morning is a restart. Every day is a fresh opportunity. Every time we wake up we can be better. We can move on from yesterday's mistakes and actually improve. Why? How?

“Great is thy Faithfulness” God is 100% faithful to all his promises. He promises to forgive us when we repent. Because he is faithful to his promises- we can be “New” every morning.

So quit feeling down about today's mistakes and shortcomings. Feel down long enough to help you feel guilt and motivation to change then get up and act. When you wake up the next morning you will have the opportunity to be NEW. 

It's just a bit.

 

Had a big cool Deaf event! My favorite one so far- a big BBQ where everything was 1 dollar! I was planning on getting like 10 hot dogs (for 10 dollars) but there were a lot of people there and I needed to prioritize talking to everybody. So I only got one. 

But it's OK! Because this Deaf event actually did wonders for me! I found out I actually know ASL! I understood everybody I spoke with, was able to make jokes, and everybody understood me! I felt very successful lol.

Somehow we helped at 3 moves this week and at all of them Elder Johnson and I played a game where every time you move something you have to make a pun. Needless to say, some of the other people helping out hurt their backs- not from lifting- but from laughing so hard.

Elder Johnson has a Laugh Track on his phone with a few seconds of silence in the end. So while we drive we put in on repeat and one of us has to give a one-liner before the laughing starts again. 

Elder Ardinger was upset and was signing at me aggressively and somehow injured his finger. Within minutes it was like 3× the size of his other finger. So I called the mission nurse and sent her the pictures and tried to explain how it happened and she got really quiet and was like “Elder Owens….stop interpreting….don't tell Elder Aringer this….ok?”

“...ok….(?)”

“I think….I think he needs surgery…please take him to urgent care right now. I'll call President Larson and let him know. Please please don't tell him…”

So im like “actually? For real?” 

And she explains something about tendons. 

So we go to urgent care and sit for 4 hours. Then got a xray and a doctor came and sat with us and said that ....everything was fine. He said to take some ibuprofen and everything will be fine in 1-2 weeks. 

Elder Ardinger and I had a fun lesson up at the Oakland temple with a Deaf Woman from Santa Rosa. She HEARD me pop my back (it was an insane back pop) so then for the whole lesson she kept telling me all about these different stretches you can do for your back while driving. Then when the lesson was over she literally got in our car, in my seat. Like she was gonna drive and showed me all the stretches to do while driving. 

Elder Ardinger could not keep it together and was laughing a ton. 

Here's a really bad thing that happened:

On pday we played pickleball. We took the paddles from our church building intending to return them that evening,

However,

We forgot.

Fast forward Thursday evening. We are headed to a giant cool Deaf event 45 minutes south! This is one we've been looking foreward to for a while. We get a call from the English ward mission leader about 15 minutes into the drive. He's mad. Really mad. And he wants his pickleball paddles. And he wants them now. They were having a pickleball night at the church. . . So, we're like “oh crap.”

We turn around and head back. And me, being my father's son, I grab the pickleball bags and walk into the church building where everybody is waiting for us and I shout “pizzas here!” Then run out of there.

Here's the phrase from psalms this week that I've been pondering “so will I sing praise to thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows” (psalm 61:8)

I think my vows are the covenants I have made with God. What does it mean to “daily perform” our vows/covenants? 

I think it means a lot more than remembering them or thinking about them. I think it's more than reading the scriptures and praying. I think those are important and maybe they're part of it. The word “perform” adds a feeling of work- like a hard task to do.

Instantly Moroni 9:6 comes to mind “. . .if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a LABOR TO PERFORM whilst in this tabernacle of clay”

My mind also, of course, thinks of a musical “performance”. Back when I was in middle school I was part of the orchestra. We had a few “performances” every year where we would “perform” some incredible music pieces. Now, if you were watching you'd be like “Wow! That was incredible!” 

But for us in the orchestra we had been practicing for at least a few months. We knew these songs like crazy. My dad already knew them just from how often I'd be humming them. So….are you ready for this? Stay with me…in order to “perform our vows/covenants” we must practice…a lot! 

If you haven't been endowed yet…practice living like you've already made those covenants. Study them often! Prepare every day.

If you have made temple covenants, practice living them. Practice creates habits. If you practice poorly you will perform poorly. 

If you practice perfectly you will perform perfectly. 

If you are preparing to receive the melchizedek priesthood, give diligent heed to the words of eternal life and magnify your calling now. Begin practicing being a valiant covenant keeper now so you can “daily perform your vows” later.

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Deaf people and Psalms

 I am back in the ASL branch! This will be month 19 of serving in Fremont. It's nice to be back. 

My companion is Elder Ardinger. He's one of the most deaf people I've ever met. Brother has been through a lot and it's a miracle he's out on a mission. He's been helping me with my ASL. I keep thinking I know everything and then he teaches me more signs and stuff and it feels like I am still a beginner. 

Elder Reed Johnson is finally back to the California San Jose Mission! He went home because he destroyed his knee like 6 months ago. I trained him last August and now he's back! It's poetically beautiful that I get to be with him again. 

Our 4 man apartment is actually crazy. 2 Deaf 2 Hearing. We have a lot of fun, but we also have a lot of frustrations and really difficult days. A few times every day something is misunderstood and it leads to somebody being in a bad mood. We are trying so hard to understand each other and it's exhausting in every way. Sometimes it feels like it's hearing versus Deaf and it sucks because we forget that truly, we are all on the same team. We all have the same goal. If we can't work together in unity then nothing is ever gonna happen. 

When I was in ASL before, we also covered an English ward. Now there are 2 companionships that ONLY cover the ASL branch. What are we supposed to do all day long? I have no clue! We end up on Facebook a lot. We have been trying to make videos that will actually mean something to a non-member Deaf person. We do lots of video calls where nobody answers. And we drive a lot. Elder Ardinger and I have been visiting a Deaf Woman who wants to be baptized but has a lot of doubts and concerns that we’re trying to help with. She lives an hour south. Add California traffic to that and we're taking about 4 hours of our day to have a 45 minutes lesson with her. That's actually insane. 

Here's some things that you probably don't know about having a Deaf companion.

You have to wake them up every morning 

Car rides are awkward because you can't really talk

For some reason they love playing around on guitars and pianos

Interpreting is mentally exhausting.

They're insanely expressive so you always know exactly how they feel

During study time they always ask me what words mean and I have to try and explain (some good ones from this week were ‘confide’ ‘proceeding’ ‘supposed’ ‘deliver’ and ‘sariah’)

With that, I am also constantly asking what signs mean 

Idk if this is all Deaf people, but elder Ardinger loves games, cooking, and handmade crafts.

Sometimes they throw stuff or slam doors and you think they're mad but they're actually just Deaf.

A Lot of Deaf people have tender feelings. This makes them so lovable. You just gotta be careful with what you say or how you joke or what you do. 

“Listening” is actually just Watching and showing you care with your facial expressions

If you wanna talk to them while they're in the bathroom you take a video of yourself signing and throw it under the door. (We've already done it a few times)

You can listen to music whenever you want and they'll never know.

We visited some Deaf people in Pleasanton (30 minute drive) and while we were in a care home I heard some Indian on the phone talking in Hindi so I peek around the corner and I'm like “ कैसे हो?” And he was like “क्या….”

Then we had a super good talk about my adventure learning hindi and he just couldn't get over the fact that a white kid was talking in hindi. We're friends on fb now and he challenged me to learn Punjabi as well. 

We played volleyball with some Deaf friends and some hearing people from the ward.

One of the Deaf girls had a super tall big hearing boyfriend (that doesn't know ASL(?)) And he was way way in the game. Like diving for balls and shooting out when the ball was his. Then there was one serve and it was going right for elder Ardinger and this giant guy shouted “I go! I go!” And ran right into elder Ardinger and sent him flying and crashing to the floor.

Then he went over to apologize and literally actually said “sorry, I did call it though” and everybody else on the team was like “bruh….he's Deaf” 

I could see the mental work happening inside as he realized Deaf means they can't hear- even if you yell really loud. 

We filled a balloon up with dry rice and air and then threw it at the ceiling fan. 

Elder Ardinger gave himself a haircut.

Elder Johnson fell out of his chair during a video call

I started using a gallon jug as a water bottle and drank all of it a few days this week.

I got pushed in the shower with my clothes on then they turned the lights off and the shower on. So then Everybody hopped in.

Interpreting church on Sunday for the Hearing people that come to ASL branch actually destroys my mind. 

Then interpreting zone council on Monday into ASL also kills my brain.

We went fishing and got a sting ray.

Today my heart is full of gratitude for the Psalms. Jesus himself said “all things must be fulfilled, which were written. . . in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44)

The psalms are not just cool poems written by King David about Jesus. They are legit scripture full of pure doctrine and prophecy, all conveyed in a beautiful and symbolically stunning way. 

Here a few that have become guiding phrases of my life:

“Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night”

“Stand In awe and sin not”

“I have set the Lord always before me”

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”

“The lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall i fear? The lord is the strength of my life”

“They repent and in a moment [his anger] is turned away. . .therefore, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”

“In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.”

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it”

“I am thy salvation”

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”

As I come to the close of my mission I hope to echo the words of the 40th psalm and say 

“ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness in my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth”

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It's all so real

 What an insane ride this past week has been. 

Visited some cool members. An old couple and their middle age single adult son who literally recited 40 scriptures while we were there. The old guy asked if we wanted a drink and I didnt want a soda (6 weeks too sexy) and so I asked if he had chocolate milk. 

He hopped up and pulled out some powder and a milk and stuff and while he was stirring it he told a story about some Indian (Native American, not curry) whom he took care of. this little boy always wet the bed until he started letting him have ice cream if he didnt wet the bed. Then he never wet the bed again. He must have got a little carried away with the story because he added an insane amount of the powder to the milk- like I had legit chunks in there- more powder than milk.

We visited one of our YSA friends and crazy miracle- he had just lost his phone the other day and was leaving on a trip to Utah the next day, he wanted to keep reading the scriptures but didn't have his phone so we showed up and literally the only time he was available before his trip and had plenty of copies of the Book of Mormon with us. Now he has one he can study! God truly is mindful of everybody- we did not know why we were visiting beforehand.

We left a book of Mormon with a recent convert in the ysa on accident and he was like. “Do you guys want it back?” And were like “nah its ok. We have a ton. Why don't you give it to somebody!” 

So 2 hours later he called us and told us he gave it to somebody he met at a store. Crazy.  

On Sunday during ysa second hour (second hour for them but 4th hour for me!) I totally fell asleep. Strangest thing happened- I've never had anything like this happen before- I woke up and legit heard in my mind “you need to offer Kate a priesthood blessing.” I'm not even fully aware yet so I kinda excuse it and we head for the doors to leave. Then Kate comes up to us and starts talking and instantly I can tell she's not doing well. 

So I'm like “Kate, I don't really know the answers. But I know God does. Would you like a priesthood blessing?” She totally starts tearing up. So we grabbed Bishop and headed into his office and I was able to give her a blessing. The Priesthood power and authority are so real. It's so cool that I get to carry a portion of God's power with me. 

The most crazy thing I've ever experienced on my mission happened this week too.

Here's the background: at the beginning of this transfer I went to a trainer training meeting. It was actually so good. Lots of revelation in there. Near the end they asked us “what are you gonna do? What will you do because of what has happened here in this meeting?” I, ⅓ joking and ⅔ seriously, answered that I was gonna take my trainee to a parking lot and make him go contact strangers. Everybody cheered or laughed which is what I wanted lol. Then that night on the way home, I'm thinking I actually do need to go to a parking lot and show him some stuff. 

As we were contacting there, we met a group of 5 teenagers from a catholic school. They were pretty funny and we had a good chat.

Now, at the end of the transfer, we got a referral from some guy named Pasqual. He answered his phone once and hasn't again so we just went over to his home. And a boy answered the door. He looked at us and was like “do you guys remember me?!”

My mind raced until I found him- it was one of the kids from that night! He was actually so happy to see us! Normally I don't think he'd have recognized us. It was dark outside when we met him first, and now it's been over a month since he saw us. We could not have talked for more than 4 minutes. 

But he remembered us. (John 14:26) He recognized us as soon as the door opened. Turns out Pasqual is his grandfather! 

Went to the temple last pday and learned something : always give invitations in a positive, not a negative. Meaning tell them to do something rather than to not do something.

For example:

Don't say : don't forget who you are

Do say : remember who you are

Don't say: don't let the Fire go out 

Do say : keep the Fire burning

Don't say : don't leave the church, don't go inactive 

Do say: become a life lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ 

If you are endowed, go to the temple and pay attention to how instructions are given.

Love you all, thank you for everything!

Pain.

 Thursday was one of the most incredible days ever as well as the hardest day of my mission. We had a beautiful Zone Conference full of spirit, testimonies, and council. After Zone Conference we went to one of our friend's homes. I have been dreading this lesson for over a week- this friend was put on date for baptism before we knew she was on house arrest. We found out she was on house arrest at the end of a lesson and now we had to go over and explain that she actually cannot be baptized until after she finishes her house arrest. I love this friend so much! I knew it was gonna crush her. We pull up and meet with the sisters who have been teaching her with us, go in and sit down and start with love. Then all the missionaries look at me- it's time to drop the news. So with all the love I have and with all the softness I can, I tell her that we all will need to wait for her to be baptized until she concludes her house arrest. she starts crying and starts kinda closing off. I felt awful. I felt like I was denying her the one thing she truly wanted. I felt my heart drop and dark anxious pain feelings in my chest. I took all I had to not join her tears. The sisters hopped in and talked about how “waiting” can become a sacred place. Then I was filled with spirit and I knew what to do. I instructed her to listen carefully to what I was going to say. The most powerful testimony of Gods love and restoration of Priesthood power I’ve ever given then proceeded to fall from my mouth followed by an invitation to receive a priesthood blessing. She said yes, had us guess what number was behind her back cuz she didnt wanna “pick favorites” 

this was actually a miracle because without any hesitation at all I guessed 7.

Her number was 7.

So I gave her a blessing and my mind was crystal clear. I have never ever had words come to me this easily before. it felt like I was reading the words. no eye in the room was dry. 

I was trying to make burgers and instead I cut a chunk out of my thumb. Fortunately, I am a man of great poise. So, as blood is being pumped out and making a concerningly large puddle of blood in the sink, annoyed at this inconvenience, I rinse my thumb off and as soon as I take it out of the stream of water- you instantly cannot tell I just rinsed it off. Blood everywhere. So with a roll of my eyes I suffocate it with paper towels. Despite the pain I apply as much pressure as I can and hold my hand as high up as I can. Somehow, for the first time ever- I left my phone in the car?!?! so I knock on the bathroom door, “Elder LaBar, I need you to run out to the car with me, I just cut my finger open and I need to call the nurse” 

With more panic than I had, he opened the door and we went to the car.

The nurse wanted a picture- we couldn't get one because the blood just kept gurgling out lol. So she decided to have me just apply pressure lol.

Bleeding stopped about 20 hours later.

So the next 3 days actually sucked. I felt like I was missing a piece of me (lol) no, but actually- I felt like garbage and was always light headed and my thumb felt like it was on fire. What a dumb injury lol. All for some dang patties.

Went on exchange with Elder Palmer and we went full-beast mode. Talked to a ton of indians! Every time we saw an Indian I would call which city they were from and then we'd ask and I was right each time. I blew Elder Palmer away with that trick, I guess I'm just good at being racist with indians- but in a good way. The surprise on their faces when I speak hindi will never ever get old. 

One Indian man (from Delhi) answered the door and was like “is this urgent?” and I was like “Ya, it actually is” he let us teach him a bit. I felt pretty cool saying that lol. It's so fun to just go out and have a blast being a bold missionary who is just not scared of anyone or anything. 

I know that this IS urgent. The gospel of Jesus Christ is something to be urgent about. Now is the time to act. Now is the time. Don't wait. 

Cool verse:

Psalm 29: 2 “...worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” 

There's only gonna be a few more of these. . .

Love you all very much, especially you.

If I wasn't endowed I'd be dead.

 

We helped at yet another move lol. After we got everything into the truck we headed to a storage place and I was taking a giant mirror out of there. I was gonna put it to the side so we could get the big stuff out. Then a big blast of wind came around the corner and I hit the bottom of the mirror on the ground-oof. The mirror shattered and a shard of glass went right to my leg, it tore a hole in my pants and I felt it against my leg. I was sure this was gonna be pretty bad and there’d be blood. But I look down and there's nothing. . .

You wanna know why? My garments. The glass had been stopped by my garments. my pants were destroyed lol-But everything under the garments was fine. So we threw away the glass and proceeded with the move.

We started exchanges with the Chinese Elders. We ended up starting really late- which was actually divine because as we head out to the car, we see a ton of Indians all walking together. Prolly in their 20s. So I just shouted to them “मेरा यार क्या चल रहा है?!”(my dude what's up?) They stopped walking and stared at us so baffled and confused. And one of them is like “you speak hindi..?” and so I say “हाँ जी क्या आप हिन्दी बोलना है?” (yes sir, do you speak hindi?”) All the guys with him are laughing and can't believe there's a white teenager, dressed up in church clothes standing next to a Taiwanese guy in pajamas. The next thing the indian in front says is “what's your number i wanna be your friend!” then Elder Tien pulls out my hindi flashcards from my pocket and shows them my plan of salvation hindi phrases. It was insane. we got home at like 11:30 though… 

I made banana bread.

My trainer, Luke Prestwich, came and visited me. Man it was incredible to see him again. 

My ASL trainers, Hyatt White and Shepard Rigby, also came and saw me- super amazing. These 3 elders have impacted me so much and taught me everything. The mission is so divine! Now that I am training, again, It was eye-opening to see how much I love and respect my trainers and it's like…am I being a good-enough trainer? Will Elder LaBar feel this way about me? How can I make the rest of our time together sacred and significant for him? I hope I'm doing a good job. 

Yesterday we were on our way to our car when outta nowhere a car with 3 teenage girls pulled up. We’re already at the car and I’m told in my mind “I timed this just right for you to go speak to them. they need to hear your testimony” so I look to Elder LaBar who was already tryna get in the car and i'm like “hey, lets go talk to them real quick” I came over to the chick driving and motioned for her to roll the window down. She waves implying “no” and for 1 second I wanna accept it and just go to the next place, get outta the sun and get in the car. But, come on! I know better- so I wave again and the window comes down. I introduced us and saw that 2 of the girls were indian. All the sudden they all open up and keep saying “i have one more question” we answer it, testify, then they ask again “i have one more question” it was like a dream come true. I wish everybody would just ask us questions. lol We talked a ton about the Book of Mormon and prophets, the Word of Wisdom, Polygamy, missionary work. I also got to speak hindi with them and show off. There's not very many things I love more than speaking hindi. They also wanted to know what the best thing that's happened to me during the past 23 months was and so I shared the story of Pugal. It was crazy powerful and for the first time, all 3 of them were silent after that story. I wish we could have kept talking but then somebody's mom comes out and calls them inside. She gave us an interesting look lol. But I know that the spirit will make sure they remember us. They will remember the spirit that was there and according to God's plan they will meet with missionaries again and they’re gonna get baptized for sure. 

I love being a missionary in the California Bay Area. There is nowhere else in the world like this. I love doing God's work. I love the Book of Mormon. I love driving here. I love Indian food. I love American Sign Language. I love my YSA ward. I love Hindi. I love the missionaries I serve with. I love my mission leaders. I love this church so much. You already know I will never ever step away. Imma serve God for the rest of my life.

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The Vance Family

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This week I got to see my friends Ashley, Elias, and Iury be baptized. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. During the 45-minute drive to Fremont I was reflecting on my experiences teaching them. I remember the night Elder Lewis and I found them was a non-stop absolute miracle. We had just finished teaching and indian in the area named Kewal (who had opened the door all the way wearing nothing but boxers but was happy to have us come teach him)

We finished up with Kewal and had like 10 minutes left till it was time to go home. So we knocked 1 door. To be fully honest with you- I wanted to go home. I didn't see any point in knocking doors unless we knew indians lived there. But, thankfully, Elder Lewis wanted to knock some doors. 

Ashley answered her door very kindly and as soon as we mentioned Jesus she invited us in. It took about 10 minutes for her to gather her family and the dog was barking at us the whole time. Finally when we had opportunity to speak we delivered the only flawless restoration lesson I've ever been a part of. I could see in their eyes that they were astonished- I was too. The spirit was so strong even the dog wanted to learn more. 

So we invited them to church…and they came! Not the dog though.

While they were at church Iyori ( 9 year old girl) was feeling a little nervous to go to 2nd hour class but Ashley said to her “We were invited, and we belong.” 

Elder Lewis and I got to go over once and read from the Book of Mormon with them. They had just finished all the introductory stuff so we picked up in 1 Nephi 1. As we went around and took turns reading the spirit filled the room and the spirit again testified to me the Book of Mormon is true. All the sudden Ellias is reading verse 13 and says “ and he read saying: WOO! WOO!” (Like wuu wuu). He just shouted a interjection and then went right back to normal reading. I found myself struggling for breath as I desperately fought to not laugh. Elder Lewis at my side was slowly turning purple and fighting the same battle. I do not know how we made it through that. Now every time I read that verse I hear the shouts of a little black boy.

Later I was on exchange with one of the Deaf Elders, Elder Serban. We visited the Vance family and had a crazy lesson. I was constantly interpreting both directions and it was mentally exhausting. Then the spirit cleared my mind and instructed me to extend a baptismal invitation. I told them about all the commandments that disciples follow and the blessings and pure joy that come from covenanting with God. They knew it was what they wanted and right then Ashley got up and marked it on her calendar. 

Then I got transferred. Elder Lewis and Elder Nicolaysen took over the hindi area as well as the English area so they taught Ashley's family the rest of the way.

And last Friday they were baptized. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to baptize Iyori. She's like a little sister to me and I know she will be my sister for the rest of my life. 

While we were waiting for people to change I was prompted to stand up and share my testimony. All 3 of the Vances were there and I declared to everybody in that room the importance of what had just happened. 

I know that when we are baptized by somebody who holds power from God, a connection is made between us and God. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only church on earth that can impact your life after death in a way that will result in your living with God. I know that Jesus is our Savior. 

After the baptism we got to go eat cookies. I asked Iyori how she felt. “ I was scared at first but then I came out of the water and I feel so good!” I told her to never forget the feeling.

I talked to Ashley and she told me “you know. You are Elias’ role model.” My throat tightened and I kinda started crying. But I looked into her eyes and I said “Ashley, Elias needs to serve a mission. Do all you can to help him prepare now” she said they were already planning on it. 

Elias came up to me and told me he had figured out why I was in Fremont for so long. He said it was because I had to find his family. That will stick with me forever. I think he's right. 

The church is so true. I know that 100%. Missionary work is amazing and there is no joy that can compare to this. You already know I will not stop inviting others to come unto Christ. Not now. Not when I get home. Not when trials shake my world. I made the same promises Ashley, Elias, and Iyori did when I was 8 and I will not be passive or idle in how I keep those promises. 

Contacting at stop lights

 Click this https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Psalms has been so good. So far my favorites are 1 and 15. I have memorized both lol. Call me and I'll prove it.

This week was one of the most valuable of my whole mission. Starting pday eve, I had the treasure of an experience to be on exchange with my MTC companion, Elder Taufer. He is my brother. I love him so much. We had some cereal then began a full fast. We decided to fast to know what things we will 100% abstain from the next 40 days. Then on Thursday we constantly added to our list and didn't eat any food at all. 

We destroyed the work that day. Elder Taufer is everything a missionary is supposed to be. He also still feels real. I feel like I'm just with one of my buddies. But when he testifies-the ground shakes. When he recites a scripture- the air is full of the spirit. When he prays-everybody knows he knows exactly who he's speaking with. When he contacts people they feel loved. And by the end of the day I felt like I was starting to develop some of those powers. Every time we stopped at a stoplight he'd roll the window down and I would then contact the person in the car next to us. The first few sucked but in the end it was ok. Then elder Taufer did one and it went so well he put the truck in park, ran out and gave them a Book of Mormon. While I was just like…wow…

One contact will stick with me forever. His name was Chris. He had been taught by missionaries about 2 months ago however during planning Elder Taufer felt we should visit him. He was in his garage working on a car when we pulled up. Shortly after we said hey he shared he had actually just had a dream where 2 elders came and visited him and every day since he's been hoping we'd come back. He also started reading the book of Mormon. He would flip to random pages and every scripture he read all had to do with 1 topic he had been pondering recently. Elder Taufer then on the spot shared a scripture about that topic. Chris's eyes widened. He was like “that's one of the ones I marked” he ran inside and grabbed his book. Out of all 531 pages, about 15-20 were turned down. And one of them was the exact same verse Elder Taufer had shared. We then committed him to church on Sunday. Wow, the Book of Mormon is amazing.

I have grown so much as a missionary. Last time I got to be Elder Taufer's companion I was an entirely different kid with a different testimony. I had a lot more pride and alot more craziness. I'm grateful for all the changes I've made and who I've become. I'm so grateful this gets to continue for 4 more months.

That night we started more exchanges. This time I was with Elder Jensen. Now, with all my new knowledge and fresh miracle experience, I was able to lead a fantastic exchange. I asked powerful questions and tried to be a good example of boldly talking to everybody and we saw so many miracles! Elder Jensen is a pretty young elder but he has charity figured out. I love him so much. He's a gem.

We painted a house this week. I stole some really nice bar soap from a mansion bathroom full of them that also had no electricity so for the first time In 22 months I brought my phone in the bathroom with me for light. Gave a talk on Sunday and President and Sister Larson spontaneously showed up. President also let us drive him to stake missionary coordination meeting in our car (The Lord's Car) so that was crazy cool. Had dinner with a cute family but during the prayer the oldest son passed gas and everybody died laughing….except the mother and I, as we walked away from their home we heard her lecturing them a bit. Saw a youth choir performance and received the revelation that my children need to know how to sing and how to play an instrument. I ate an entire classic little Caesars pepperoni pizza IN ADDITION TO a bag of crazy bread in about an hour. And I hit leg day and suffered much because of it. Downstairs neighbors partied all night long- fr, music blasting 9 to 9. So now I have random Spanish songs stuck in my head.

People keep saying “oh! New elder! I heard you did ASL!”

I then point at my tag and say “Ya! I was in the ASL branch for a year!”

Then they look at my tag like “Wow is that asl?”

And I'm like “Yup! Pretty cool right?!”

And it says: “अंतिम-दिनों के संतों का यीशु मसीह के गिरजा”

Everybody always believes me and they're always so impressed. It's so funny. 

Psalm 5:7 “I will come into thy house. . .I will worship in thy holy temple”

This needs to be all of us. Straight up declaring to God- I am going to the temple this Saturday morning. Imma go worship in your house God. 

If you watched any of general conference then you'll know what I'm getting at. We should always have our next appointment on the calendar. The temple is too important for us to not be going as often as our circumstances will permit. Nothing will help us more. So make an appointment them pull a psalm 5:7 and declare to God your full intent to go into and worship in the temple.

Cups

 

Had exchanges with my zone leaders. Got some good juggling tips. We visited ine of their friends who has been being taught since before I got to Fremont 17 months ago, Eddie Loza. I told him straight up it's time to get baptized buddy. We set a goal for it to happen before I come back to visit.

Every day this week I have said bye to a special family or friend. During the last 17 months I have come to love many many of the members. It's gonna be really hard to leave them. But I already know I'll be back. 

On Monday we found ourselves in Gilroy and I remembered the aslders had a friend down there. Gilroy is super far south and there are just a few friends there. So we asked them if they could send us her info and we'd go try and teach her! It all worked out and I met Natalie! She was so sweet! We invited her to be baptized and she said ya! So that was actually epic. Turns out I'm still a legend with ASL.

On Sunday I got to share my testimony in the central Park Ward one last time. Prior to the bearing of testimonies, Brother Jarman from the bishopric had said “please keep it to 2 minutes”

And miraculously, somebody's phone alarm went off while i was testifying and so i was like.”oh, is my 2 minutes up?” It was amazing. 

This week a member, sister carr, helped me realize what “my cup runneth over” in the 23rd psalm may actually mean by the way she talked about her trials.

“5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

We anoint peoples heads with oil to give them blessings- we give people blessings when they are struggling. That's the first part.

Note that in the Old Testament Samuel and Elijah announced men to become kings.

Levies were anointed to work in the tabernacle. So it didn't always mean what it meant today. However, the “cup” is also important. So far there are 3 significant cups I can think of.

Joseph of Egypts cup that he tested his brothers with in Genesis 44

The cup that Nehemia used as the king's cup-bearer before becoming a prophet in Nehemiah 1

And most importantly…the bitter cup.

“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42

This was the cup of all pain, misery, sadness, despair- everything bad about life.

When you read other psalms and recognize this is David writing it makes sense this could be David's bitter cup. During the first half of his life, the king who was also his best friend's father was trying to kill kill him nonstop, he faced the stresses and trials of becoming a king, was always involved in a war of some kind for the promised land, after being one of the most righteous men ever- he fell and nearly destroyed his soul by murdering and breaking the sacred law of chastity, his son, Absalom passionately hated him died trying to kill him. 

That's a pretty bitter cup.

It is also notable that the pslam immediately before is all about the final moments of the savior's life, including THE bitter cup.

The whole message behind the 23rd psalm is “The lord is my Shepherd” He leads me! He helps me repent! He comforts me! He takes care of me! Because of Him I can have peace and joy! My connection with Him makes everything ok!

so I makes sense 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies

Jesus, you have a plan, you have a feast ready for me even though I am surrounded by trials and difficulties and temptation

Thou anointest my head with oil [because/despite] my cup runneth over

You are blessing me/ calling me to do some great work even though my life is full of (overflowing with) trials and mistakes.

Idk

Those are my thoughts. Maybe David is looking down like “cool thought but no, that's wrong” or maybe he's thinking I finally got it right. Idk

Lemme know

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Weinersnitchel

 (This is my 4th time trying to send this)

We Picked up a random office chair off the side of the street and it has now been to Union City, Gilroy, Santa Cruz, and San Jose. 

Needles to say, it's been an eventful week.

We met with our stake president, President Hancock, before and after General conference and we have reached the conclusion we will be starting 2 Hindi Groups. We selected some potential group leaders and THE BALL IS ROLLING FASTER THAN IT EVER HAS BEEN.

Let me just rant for a sec.

Since I arrived to Fremont and met a indian lady in our ward, Saraswati, since going contacting and going entire days only talking to indians, since walking around in Fremont and breathing 1% turmeric air with every breath- I have wanted to do something like this for the Indians. 

I started learning hindi and the more I learn the more miracles I see. After 8 months of doing it on the side we got an official hindi companionship. Now after over 150 days of serving as a Hindi elder we have plans set. Real solid plans. It'll still be about 2 months before these groups are set up and group leaders are called. 

But this is a miracle. This is the beginning of the future of the church in the bay area. 

Anyways 

General conference was super good. We did a ton of it with the zone and had a mega breakfast. 

On Tuesday we got up at 5 and drove to Santa Cruz to film so testimonies In Hindi! I have been practicing mine for so long and I still messed up. But I decided it was good enough and felt very mature. So mine will be on Facebook soon. We did some at the beach and some in the redwood forest. Super fun. 

 ️ Today we attended the temple and it was just so good. I got to help one of the Deaf Elders during the endowment and it was super stressful because none of the workers knew what was going on and I didn't either. So it was all Interpreted on the spot and they kept skipping or repeating stuff. But we all got through in the end and it was ok. 

So like- I haven't had a chance to study from the Old testament because we've just been sooo busy and I've had to prioritize other things over the Old testament. So

I guess as you study section 109 because president Nelson Told us too…also read 1 kings 8 because it's also a dedicatory prayer.

Silly Hama

 First off, please check out my good friend's Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/28i9MTT2FW1FnGmjkUdBLL?si=_XS7cnQzTEWpI82M6Ae3hQ

This is Elder Francom. He is one of my best friends I've made out here. He's super tall and so funny and just a blast to be with. Plus he's an incredibly talented musician. Please listen to some of his songs!

This week we had a giant ASL missionary Devo where they told us a little bit about how ASL missionaries can now be transferred between certain missions. Brother President Smith (my previous mission President) kinda gave the whole presentation so that was neat.

Then we made an Easter Video- start to finish in 1 day. Very stressful but luckily I have Indians and sister missionaries to help me. 

On Easter Sunday we had lunch with a somewhat new-to-the-ward family, the Johnstons. In December she gave a talk about our Christmas gift to Jesus that had significantly struck me and helped me to take some steps I needed to. This lunch was kind of my first time ever talking with her so I let her know that her talk kinda changed my life. 

She was a little shocked- she thought she did awful and was amazed I remembered anything or could have even learned anything.

I know that giving our sins and pains and frustrations to Jesus Christ is good! It's what we're supposed to do. It's at the top of his Christmas list. When we give our garbage and darkness to Jesus it shows that we trust him and that we love him. If we love Jesus enough to repent then naturally we will love him enough to be a true disciple. True repentance is how we come to know who the savior really is…and he wants us to know Him.

So. That was a really special moment. I'm glad I got to thank her.

I went on Exchange to the Chinese area. On our way out of my apartment some lady yelled at us to help her find her dog. So we did. We ran into an Indian couple who had the dog, told them we had just met the owner a few minutes ago and then led them to each other. Pretty cool miracle. Plus I spoke hindi to the couple and they almost gave up the ghost. We actually had a decent conversation! The exchange was actually so good. Elder Tien is a legend and he inspires me to be better.

We dropped some letters off to some sisters in the zone and we got there at just the right time. They had a service earlier where they got like over 3000 dollars worth of beauty products. So we each got a little goodie bag with all sorts of stuff. So now Elder Lewis and I both smell like women.

This week I read Esther, which means ‘star’ in Persian. It's a pretty neat story. One lesson I would share with you all is the foolishness of Haman. Haman was incredibly successful and had every reason to be happy and pleased with his life. However he decided to focus on everything that was wrong with his life-which was literally like…1 thing…Mordechai.

He let 1 person destroy his joy and peace….and ultimately….kill him.

You'll have to read the story, it's in….Esther. 

Mordechai is kind of an example of the opposite. He was surrounded by non-jewish people who persecuted and hated him yet he never let go of his faith. Even when other Jews would bow to Haman-he never did. When the awful news was posted all around saying all jews would be destroyed- everybody just cries and mourns. Of course Mordechai does too- but he was the only to ACT. He strategically mourns outside the palace so he can start a series of messages to Esther. He gives Esther the charge to talk to King Thesaurus. (That part is a joke. You'll have to read it to see his real name)

Haman is killed.

Mordecai becomes the king's right hand man.

Basically, don't let small things that don't actually matter and that you can't control anyways bother you!

And when everything goes wrong and life is awful, do something, act with faith! Be wise and never give up. 

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