Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Monday, May 4, 2015 - Lot's to do in San Geromino

What a crazy week! Lots of stuff has happened! Who knew that I would love this area so much!

To start, we are teaching an awesome family. They are the Matta Family, it consists of Jhonathan, the father, who was baptized at 11 but didn't keep going to church and is now less active, Yisenia, the mother who is not a member, and their three daughters. They are awesome and are progressing a ton. They keep coming to church and we just set them a goal this week to get married on the 30th of May so that Yisenia and their oldest daughter can get baptized on the 6th of June, and they accepted! These guys are really prepared. They always have tons of questions for us, so we always come ready with answers... or at least try to!

Another person we teach is named Angel. He is an older man, like 76. He read the Book of Mormon in 4 weeks.... and marked it up tons! He now is almost finished with D&C which we gave him when I first got here. This man has received an answer to his prayers, the only thing he needs to do is get married, and his "wife" doesn't want to. So we are kinda in a stand still with him... but he is still showing lots of faith and comes to church each week despite the circumstances.

The last person I will talk about is named Jennifer, and she is about 26. She has gotten an answer about the church that it is true. She lives humbly in a house that has one room, that is it. She lives with her boyfriend and her two children. We talked this week about how she feels about getting married and she told us that she isn't sure if he is the one, so we told her that if that is the case, they should separate so that she can fulfill the commandment of the Law of Chastity. Well, yesterday we passed by and she was very sad. Crying actually. We changed lesson plans and went immediately to listen mode. Turns out she prayed and God told her this man isn't for her, so she told him, and this man threatened her that if she leaves he will take everything from her, the house, her money everything. But she was very strong and told us that she will leave, and he won't do anything, because God would protect her. We respected her a lot to confront him in order to keep the commandments of God, and well, we pray a lot that all will go well for her in these next couple of days.

A funny story to finish! We were teaching another investigator this week that is a little flojo, or basically not in it to win it. As we were teaching her, her niece, about 17 years old, came in and started to fix one of the other girls hair. I noticed she had on earrings that have the Air Jordan logo, so I made the comment, "I like your Jordan earrings." She then responded, "Thanks, they Jordan's are my favorite basketball team." Keeping a straight face, although dying inside, I kept going with it... "Ya, a great team! How are they doing right now?" She responds, "Winning, like always!" Then my companion chimes in with a funny remark, "Ya, I love that team. They've got Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson Jordan, Michael Buble Jordan, they are set for the finals!" That's when we lost it. I was in tears, but it gets better! The girl looks at us as says, "Don't worry, when I find out they win, I will let you know. They won last year, you know!" So that does it. The Air Jordan logo is actually for a basketball team called The Jordan's. Hahaha

Also, I now officially have a year and a half in the mission ( I am a little late, I know) So I burnt a pair of really old, ripped and crappy pants as tradition... Photos to come! Also, we have an awesome Sister in this ward that loves to feed the missionaries, so we spent a night with her having a barbecue with some amazing hot dogs. It reminds me of home! haha But the members here are all amazing and I definitely am trying to fulfill my roll as both a missionary and a Zone Leader. It is fun but challenging, but it gives new light to the mission so I love it a lot!

Our week is full of fun and I am loving it here in my new area! We might be getting a new house in 2 weeks so lets keep those fingers crossed! Anyways, for all of you to know, next week I will be writing on Sunday because it is Mother's Day, so don't expect anything on Monday! Love you all! May God continue to bless you all! I know this gospel is true and it is amazing to share that with so many people! Love you all, and I pray for you all! :)

Con CariƱo,
Elder Weiss :)

Mother's Note:  I wanted to know how the new area was and the water situation. Here's Parker's reply:
I love the area here and it is great! All is super good here. The members and all that are awesome! I am currently writing the big email! haha but I love it here!

I am fine, just to let you know! And we drink water out of purified 6 gallon bottles in our house that we get from the supermarkets on the street. So we never drink out of the tap or anything. We get water here every tuesday and Saturday, so we fill up a ton of tanks and stuff with water to last us while no water runs through the pipes. Bucket showers and flushing the toilet with buckets! WOOHOO!

Burning a pair of pants to celebrate 18 months!


"Elder Zuniga from Costa Rica who lives with us."

Pictures of our BBQ with Hot Dogs.