Week 63 & 64

 Hola a todos! Cómo les va? 

So a while back, the mission pushed for teaching English classes to Latinos in order to find people that were also interested in the Gospel. Welllll... we are taking that to the EXTREME now by teaching group English classes in every district in the mission. We are pulling out all the stops to advertise - fliers, posters, door-to-door knocking, Facebook ads, you name it! The goal is to teach big groups of Latinos an English class, and then finish them off by sharing a spiritual message (which no one is every opposed to cause every Latino loves God or wants to be more religious). 

   So far, we haven't had big turnouts to our district's English classes, but we have had some super interested people show up, and now they're individually being taught the Gospel! 

Exciting news!! Cristián and Diana are both on date for baptism for May 1st! Both of them are super awesome and absolutely prepared to make big changes in their lives! In one of our lessons, Diana told us out of the blue that she hasn't drank coffee in over a week! It had briefly come up in our first lesson with her that we don't drink coffee, and even though we didn't commit her to stop drinking coffee, she literally decided to do it on her own! 😲😀

And Cristián, wanting to be the best example for his newborn daughter, believes that we're angels sent to help him fix his life. Although we are definitely not angels, I guess we are doing our job then by helping him come unto Christ. 

Also because this past winter was pathetic and most of the snow has melted, hikes are allowed once more! On our hike, we decided to take a timed photo, and we were like "boy it would be funny if we all hid in the pictures, and you had to find us"... and thus, we created a Where's Waldo game in real life! Imma link the Where's Waldo photos in a separate email so you all know which ones to find us in. 

I love you all, and wish you good luck finding us in the pictures! 😉

(Weeks consisting of 4/6/21 - 4/12/21 and 4/13/21 - 4/19/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1-11) Fun pictures of some fun hikes with some fun people

12) District English class!

13-14) Truck drivin' 🚚🤠

WHERE'S WALDO PICTURES!!

Okay, so all four of us are in every single picture here. At the very least, our faces can be seen. Some of these are pretty gosh darn difficult cause we're gosh darn far away. I would recommend downloading the pictures for better quality. 

Good luck finding us! 

Week 61 & 62

 Hello everyone! I hope all has been well with you all! We had more transfers, and here's the run down... 

Things that didn't change:

- I am still companions with the man himself, Elder Brume 😚

- For like the second time in my whole mission, I stayed in the same apartment for more than a transfer

- I am still covering the Rancho Vista Spanish ward, as well as the Hunter 3rd and Pheasant Brook English wards 

- I am still a Zone Leader in the Hunter Zone 💪

Things that changed:

- Our greenie, Elder Smith, left us 😢😭 He only went to a different area like 2 miles away, but he feels so far i miss him so much i cri evry night without him. Back to the duo life I guess 😔

Okay so these two weeks have been some of the most sporadically crazy weeks of my whole mission. Transfer day was spent from 9am to 5pm driving missionaries and their luggage to their new areas and picking our roommates' new greenie up and taking him shopping and dropping off mail to the whole zone and losing our minds in the process. 

Our roommates' greenie, Elder Luevano, ended up getting pretty badly sick and was vomiting like every 30 minutes, and we were sent on a bunch of trips to buy medicine and drinks and foods to help him out. These trips ended up turning into trips to the ER and ultimately to the airport. Just one week into his mission, Elder Luevano made the choice to go back home to recover and heal up. He will during his short absence 🙁

We had a miracle lesson! We went to teach one of our investigators, Cristián, with a member with us. But he didn't answer the door, and after calling, we found out that he was held back at work and wouldn't get home till late. However, "...when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord..." made sure that Cristián's downstairs neighbor, Diana, pulled into the driveway in that very moment. 

Now Diana had joined in on one of our lessons with Cristián before, but she didn't seem super into it, but we figured that we'd try to teach just her. The miracle was that we could actually teach her because we had an hombre member present, and the lesson went suuuper good! We found out that her ex-esposo used to be a member, and she had always wanted to go to church, but never had the chance. She is super prepared, and totally ready to changes in her life!

We also had the awesome opportunity to hear from our living prophet, President Nelson, at General Conference. This Conference was suuuper good and I loved the focus on making changes to become more like Christ and growing our faith. I know that the words that were spoken, when truly lived, will prepare us for the trials of our faith that are to come. 

I love you all, and I'm very excited for this transfer! 

(Weeks consisting of 3/23/21 - 3/29/21 and 3/30/21 - 4/5/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1) ❤️ Elder Brume and I ❤️

2) 🌼 Popcorn do be popping on the apricot tree 🌼

3-4) We had to mangle ourselves in order to fit some mattresses in our car

5) Elder Luevano and his last goodbye before leaving home

6) Zone call!

7) Dinner with the boys

Week 59 & 60

I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but these are some experiences that I've had this transfer that I'll never forget. 

Ramón

    Earlier in the transfer, we found a super awesome amigo, Ramón. He was super happy to talk with the missionaries, and one morning, he called us up and told us to come over to his house. We showed up, and Ramón was standing outside, looking a bit flustered. He told us that his family had locked him out of the house because he had apparently lost his temper. This led to a very emotional conversation about how he's trying his best as a husband and father and how he feels like no one loves or appreciates him. We shared about how even when we feel like we're alone and no one loves us, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, love us more than we can ever imagine. I knew that was true because I felt like I was able to see him how God sees him, and I felt a great love for this man. 

    A half hour passes, and as Ramón was saying a closing prayer, his daughter came out of the house and made him give his car keys to her. She locked the car, which had his lunch in it, and locked the house door as she returned back inside. I felt two things at that very moment - sorrow for this poor father, and utter hopelessness since there was seemingly nothing that we could do. We tried giving some ounce of comfort, and Ramón was indeed grateful for our help. He told us that when he got locked out of his house and was wondering who to go to for help, we were the first people that came to mind! 

    A couple minutes after we had taken off, we received another call from Ramón. He told us again how grateful he was for us. He also informed us that his wife had threatened to call the police if he didn't leave their house. In an almost peaceful voice, he gave his last thanks, said his last goodbye, and hung up. About a week passed, and Ramon's phone number has since gone out of service. We have no idea where he's at or what happened to him. I miss Ramón. 

Idolina

    A few days after the Ramón incident, we received a message from his wife, Idolina. In her own words, she said, "Como ustedes saben este hogar es un desastre", which in English is "As you know, this home is a disaster". She also told us that her older children were falling into dark paths of addiction. But she knew that we teach a message of happiness and hope, and that was exactly what she was looking for. 

    We before had thought she was a crazy lady cause of the whole situation with Ramón, but through these trails she's been facing, her heart had been softened and is now willing to hear from us. She has since gone to church, read 8 chapters of the Book of Mormon, and she makes sure that her sons are present in the lessons and she wants them at the youth activities. 

Justin Ruiz & Dante Ortega

    There were two kids in the ward, Justin and Dante, that turned 8 and their parents asked us to give them the missionary lessons in preparation for their baptisms. Although I have yet to have a baptism in the mission, it was nice to help these two start on the covenant path by being baptized. They're both studs and have much ahead of them. 

Exchange Miracle

    While in another Elder's area, we had a lesson with an investigator, Alfredo. He invited us into his very small, cozy basement, and pulled out some chairs into the seemingly most spacious part of the basement, the hallway. We were expecting a lesson with just Alfredo, but after taking our seats, someone else walked into the room... then another person joined, and another, and another... until there were seven people in this tiny basement!

    We ended up having a very spiritual lesson on the Restoration, with each one of these men participating and sharing powerful insights. We asked if they believed what we taught was true, and most of them said that they do! Although they're not in my area, I'll try to follow-up with you all on their progression! 

Thanks for reading what you could! This transfer has been awesome! I have never been more tired at the end of each day! 

(Weeks consisting of 3/9/21 - 3/15/21 and 3/16/21 - 3/22/21) 

Elder Terry 

Fotos:

1) The boys at the temple

2) Ya boy at the temple #profilepic

3-4) For the first time in many years, I went on... a run 😵 I made sure to take a high quality pic while running

5) The temple under construction

6) Cool sunrise

7) Did more service at the food bank

8) One of the office missionaries, Sister Given, hooked us up with a giant bag of movie popcorn

9) With the 20+ pounds of bacon that we got from the food bank, we decided to wrap everything with bacon -- bread, bananas, caramel, candy canes, gingerbread men, you name it! As you can see, joy has left my soul

10) Sunday group naps

11-12) You're a pretty disobedient missionary if you're not truly in bed by 10:30pm