Called to Serve... California Rancho Cucamonga Mission: October 27

Hey everyone! I have had a wonderful week that i cant wait to share with you all! Here it goes...

Oct 27- I wasnt feeling all that great the night before and woke up with a headache but i didnt let that stop me from going on about my day. We had a fun zone activity where we played Mormon Mofia as a zone so that was fun! I was one of the Gadianton robbers haha and they found out and killed me :( it was lots of fun. We then went on and did our normal p-day things. We then went to the Esplin's for dinner and had soup and grilled cheese sandwiches which reminded me of home! it was a nice meal to have cause most families think they have to go all out and feed us this big meal and really we dont care about the food we are there to help the family and get to build trust with them. After dinner we headed to a few less actives to invite to our ward halloween party. Then we went home and did our normal nightly routine.

Oct 28- Happy Birthday Kels and Leslie!! thought of you both today :) We had district meeting that went well and then went back home to eat some lunch. the elders then dropped off the truck to us. Amy and Terry had a bit of a dramatic day and called us letting us know that they no longer have a place to stay even though we paid the rent until the end of the month but the man in charge didn't care and kicked them out. We went and talked to them and by the end of the night they were able to find a place to stay for a few nights until she got paid which was a huge blessing! We were able to visit with the Copher family but the other two we normally see had to reschedule :( We were able to read the kids a story and talk about prayers and how they are answered. We were able to get a ride to the ward Halloween party with the Dunbars and went and set up and mingled with ward members and less actives and non members. It was hard to talk to people cause the church parking lot lights didn't work until after the party so it was hard to see who people were but everyone still had a good time! We got to sit in the parking lot for an hour or so after because the Dunbars car died and they had to wait for AAA to come and jump it. We had quite the eventful day!

Oct 29- We were able to go do some mormon.org time with the village sisters and then went to an appointment with Raquel who is a recent convert that we have been teaching who is less active now. Sister Riding came along and we found out that her ex-boyfriend is back in the picture :/ not usually a good thing but he sat in on the lesson but didn't really listen. We then went and had a lesson with Ramona who is a less active as well. We had a great chat with her and her roommate Ginger who isn't a member. We read 2 Nephi 32 with them and talked about scripture study and how important it is. We then went to the Parr's for dinner which was good to be there. they joined the church a few years ago and their daughter who is 18 now doesn't have a super strong testimony yet so it was good for us to be in the home! We then had a lesson with the Dunbars and talked about the holy ghost and how we receive answers from him. It went well and they talked our ear off! haha i sure do love being in their home! The sister training leaders came over that evening to do exchanges! It was super fun catching up with Sister Green for a minute before her and sister Lampinen left. I was able to stay in my area with Sister Anderson (who i came out with). it was fun getting to know her better.

Oct 30- We did our normal morning routine and went out and tried some less actives and potential investigators. It was nice being out with her and knowing i had someone backing me up whenever we would talk to people. It was fun to see her and how she does things and she said the same about me. We were rocking it! We then had the truck for a little bit and we went and had a great lesson with the Wilcox. The spirit was super strong and some tears were shed, not by me of course cause i cant cry out here haha its strange but i sure did feel the spirit. We taught about Joseph Smith and reminded them of the testimony they have of him. it was really good. We then went and had a lesson with Amy and Terry at the park. It went well and they bore their testimonies of the book of Mormon which was awesome! Sister Anderson loved being able to meet them and see how excited they are about learning and changing. She said man they are some solid investigators! haha I just said yeah i know! we are lucky to teach them. We then went and had dinner at home and then Sister Green and Lampinen came back. We were suppose to have a lesson with a potential family but they forgot and rescheduled cause they had family come into town, good enough reason haha

Oct 31- Happy Halloween! We were able to visit the Palmers who is a less active family who had that cool car we took pictures with. She was outside and we chatted with her for a little bit and then tried to set up an appointment but that didnt work out too well cause they pulled the busy card but we will keep trying! We then went and tried others but were having no luck! no one was home or if they were they weren't interested. It was hard but we kept working and then to top it all off it became super windy and cold! We headed home and had to walk a bit cause the wind was so bad. The Dunbars then dropped off dinner to us and the elders dropped off pumpkins for us to carve since Sister Lampinen has never carved a pumpkin before! We stayed in the rest of the night due to Pres. Hobbs we had to be home by 6pm. We weekly planned and then had a blast carving our pumpkins...Betty and George! hahaha it was alot of fun.

Nov 1- Today was one of the best days on my mission by far! and one of the coldest! haha This morning we had a wonderful lesson with Amy and Terry. We taught them the Word of Wisdom and they accepted it! they are trying to quit smoking and they dont do any of the other stuff anymore. they have cut down a ton already!! We also extended a baptism date to them for December 6th and they accepted!! We need to get them married this month and then dunk them next hahaha they are both so excited about it and cant wait for their new lives to start. We then had a lesson with sister Kelly who is a less active and that went well. We then had lunch at home and the Pope's came and picked us up to go down the hill for Everett's Baptism!!!! We got there about 2pm so we were an hour early but better to be early than late! Sister Dunford and her comp Sister Allen were there so we chatted with them as well as some other elders cause we found out that this was a joint baptism with another ward. Then everyone started to show up! Ah i loved seeing everyone! Sister Mayall showed up and we both ran towards each other and gave each other a huge hug!! I sure miss her! and then we saw Dawn and Everett and Mariah :) I felt like i was back at home! I also saw Elders Ercanbrack and Smith and Francis and Jesse and King and Jopson. And the former Elder Patch. It was a mini reunion and we loved it! Sister Dunford spoke on baptism and then Todd Patch spoke on Holy Ghost and then Elder Jopson baptized Everett. It was super good and a lot of people came out and supported him! Ah i love that family so much and im so excited for them!! We then rushed back up the hill to make our dinner appointment with the Camire family. we were only a few minutes late! Man we were so tired when we got home! it was a great day though!

Nov 2- Sister Kachelmeyer picked us up for church and we had our normal meetings. Amy was able to come to church but Terry wasn't feeling well so he stayed back and slept. Amy loved church! She loved the testimony meeting and after it was over she knew this church was true. She told us that she got her answer and that this is where she needs to be. She also said she has been praying about all her piercings and she said God told her to take them out so next week she is going to! hahaha we didn't even have to bring that up. she figured that one out all by herself! She was able to stay all 3 hours and loved them all! Bishop was happy to see her there too. After we had dinner dropped off to us and then went and visited some less actives and member's of the ward. We were able to visit with the Higereda family who loves to talk! haha they are super sweet too!

Well that was my crazy week! I think they will only get crazier here on out! haha I love being a missionary and seeing the lives of those i love change. I love seeing people making those covenants with our Heavenly Father. This gospel is truly amazing! I love you all and thank you for your love and support! Have a great week!