After last P-day we started planning for K's and Brian Ting's baptism (the AP's taught Brian). We found out from the previous Sunday that Brian basically doesn't want to share his baptism with anyone but himself... which wasn't flying with us so we had to combine his three speakers and arrange for K to choose some as well... baptismal drama... ugh... but it was an awesome start to the week.
Tuesday afternoon Elder Griffitts Mendoza and I stopped by the Armenian lady's shop that we helped change her tire. We didn't have much time but we got there and it was just this little clothing boutique and her and her friend were there just talking. So I started talking to both of them and her friend knew who 'Mormons' were but had some really good questions and I almost got to just teach them the first discussion but Elder Griffitts had to go with the AP's for one of their lessons so we ended up having to leave after we got her friends information and gave them some bom's. I was so excited that they actually willing to learn and wanted to know the difference. All started with us just helping her change her tire! Pretty cool how that works out. The rest of the night was pretty busy. We had dinner with all five of us (Garcia, Bangerter, Mendoza, Griffitts and me) with the Sinor family. They bough six large costco pizza's.... needless to say we did not finish all of them but it was very nice to see them being so hospitable! Sister Sinor even gave a prayer during sacrament meeting this past Sunday! But after dinner we had to run off to a meeting with Christina downtown. So we really had to rush. But we were a little nervous at first because we asked another Sister in the ward to come who is younger and would have to bring her little baby... so we were hoping he would be good and not fussy... but we get to her apartment and her friend is there and is sick... coughing and sneezing and just sounds like death. We felt so bad for the member but the little boy was very well behaved which was a surprise. After that lesson we had a lesson with K to finish teaching him the commandments and to go over the baptismal interview with him. It was kind of nerve wracking... when we were going over some of the questions the was he was answering made it seem not very confident at all... so we weren't sure what to do but then we started addressing some of his concerns and Elder Griffitts shared a really personal experience and K really connected and after that we knew he was ready. It was awesome.
Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder Hendricks who is one of the newer Elders that came out this past transfer. He is with elder Brown and is a really good Elder. We had a pretty slow day unfortunately of going to get supplies for the zone, a lunch with the Frost's and Elder Crumrine (who got a new companion because of an E.T., Elder Stocks) and then a bomb lesson with Anthony who went to the temple this past week to do baptisms. After talking with him about it Sunday he just seemed to have really felt the experience of the temple go through him. Which was awesome to see. We stopped by some potentials and G7 members and found some really solid potential named Sunshine and her little boy, Astrid.. I think... but anyways. At the end of the night we had a lesson with Trea and Natalie. We weren't quite sure what direction to go with him but we ended up teaching him the Word of Wisdom and it went really well! Well.. for how stubborn he is anyways. He went from saying "I'm never going to give up smoking" to "I'm going to give up smoking to be able to be with my family forever." Pretty proud of that man if he can keep it up.
Thursday was pretty busy as well. We tried by a referral that morning before District meeting. We ended up having a combined meeting with Elder Twelves because no one was in Elder Crumrines meeting. AFter however we all went to Red Robin because one of the members from the singles ward was working and hooked us up with free shakes! She's da bomb.com. That afternoon we had a meeting with Carol Peralta who is a recent convert from the los robles singles ward but because of her work schedule she is going to start coming to G7. She is awesome but we could tell she needed to start having lessons again because she stopped going to church so soon after her baptism. Next was dinner with the Knight family which was a very delicious steak dinner! Noms!
Friday was... interesting. We had another lesson with Christina in the morning which was awesome. She really felt what we were teaching and said she'd set her own date for when she is going to be ready. Which is fine by us! However, the rest of the day was kinda.. well you'll see. So we go home to finish studies and Elder Mendoza just crawls in bed because he says he doesn't feel well and is super tired from not sleeping well the previous night (he has a sleeping disorder so he never really sleeps well). So because he was complaining about his throat and ear hurting I called one of the sisters who is a nurse and told her and she said it might be strep so we called the doctor to schedule an appointment that afternoon. Elder Griffitts and I cleaned the apartment and studied while Mendoza took a nap until the appointment that afternoon. So we go and wait and wait and he gets checked out to come to find out he does have a throat infection but the pharmacy was closed at that point so we would have to wait to get his medicine. So we go rush to a dinner after the doctor's office and right after I conducted my first baptismal interview for a man named Daryoush who was being taught by Elder Crumrine. Daryoush started coming to our English class when Dicus and I started it and he has been coming ever since. He is a stud. Speaks a little armenian but mostly Farsi but still wanted to be baptized into our group :) So I got to interview him and it was an amazing experience. Even though I had another Armenian translator who I'd talk to in Armenian who would then translate into Farsi, I could just tell that from Daryoush's light about him that he was ready. pretty cool to see. So after that we had a lesson with Forest and Gina after not seeing them for a while because of their work schedules. they are so awesome though. Solid.
Saturday after studies and a homemade pizzookie/cake thing thrown in a pan, we had weekly planning which took a lot longer than we thought. We had to prepare for our meeting with President Becerra and the Stake Presidency that would take place Sunday morning at 7 and so we had to collect information from all the companionships in the stake. When we finally got around to planning though Elder Mendoza and I got to have a good talk on our companionship. Since he is new to both being a Zone Leader and learning English he has been frustrated with the work and his progress. Which both I understand completely. He also expressed his concerns but ultimately we came to a conclusion that I need to be more patient with him and that he needs to stop being so passive, take some initiative in lessons, and finally and most of all stop looking at his watch every 5-10 minutes. he is a great Elder but not quite the best leader at this point. So we have some work to do. After that and attending Daryoush's baptism, we went up to the stake's Pioneer day festivities which we caught the tale end of before trying by more people that night.
And then came yesterday. Sunday. Super long. Started at 6 to get to the meeting at 7 at the stake center. It never ceases to amaze me how incredible our mission president is. From the meeting we went to 2nd ward church where none of our investigators attented :( very sad face. it was pretty disappointing but we were all excited for the baptisms in G7 that we got over it. And then singles ward happened in the blink of an eye and soon enough it was time for Chaiwait Seehabat and Brian Yu Ting to get baptized. It was kind of frustrating at first because the two people Brian chose to talk basically only addressed Brian and congratulated him on his decision to be baptized... made us feel so bad for K but it didn't seem to affect him at all. Especially as he was baptized by Patrick May. It was one I won't forget anytime soon. After the baptisms we had to rush and have Khoa drive Elder Mendoza and I to Elder Mendoza's last area for one of his baptisms. Which was also a very neat experience to have everything be in spanish... I even got to sing in front of everyone with the other missionaries there! but after 13 hours of church events and meetings, I was beat and we just headed straight home after the long drive back.
Overall it was a great week. Very busy. Still working on building a good companionship with Elder Mendoza. Elder Griffitts and I are really becoming good friends. The work is moving along but we need to focus on August now. I love you all. Thank you for all your support. Have a wonderful week!
Elder DeBry
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