Elder Tyler Stone

Dear anyone and everyone I know,

 

Wow, this week has flown by! It's crazy that the more you focus on the work the faster time goes. On the opposite side, the more you don't focus on the work the slower time seems to go. It's almost not fair because the more you focus on the work the more you love the work and the more you want it to slow down so you can enjoy it but the opposite happens and it tends to speed up! This week has been full of cool little miracles that I would love to share.

 

So last week during our weekly planning session, Elder Allowitz and I decided that we wanted to set a goal of finding as many investigators as there were days in the week. (Considering the fact that this area was kind of lacking on investigators when I got here we decided that it was very past due to have a good finding week.) So as we went throughout the week we started seeing little miracles happen where we were placed in peoples paths that allowed us to ultimately achieve our goal. One of those cool little miracles happened when we were on exchanges. Being a district leader, it is my job to go on an exchange with everyone in my district every transfer and try to help them out with their missionary work. Before going on my first one of the transfer Elder Allowitz had the awesome idea that we should make it a goal to find on every single exchange for both areas that we were going to be working in. So while I was over with another companion in his area he was working away in our area trying to find new people. To make it a little more fun we decided that if one of us was unable to find in the area we were working then that person would have to buy the other one ice cream on preparation day. So on our first exchange I went with an Elder named Elder Stephenson into his area while Elder Allowitz stayed here with Elder Beyer. (Who just so happens to be one of my previous companions!) The area that I was going into has been known to be one of the hardest areas because of how "white" it is over there and so I was slightly worried that we were going to be the ones buying the other Elders ice cream. About half way through the day that concern became more real when we got a call from the other Elders saying that they had found. (They told us that they were calling to encourage us but it sounded an awful lot like bragging if you ask me.) Well we didn't want to be out done so we kept working as hard as we could and went by a ton of different people but either people weren't home or no one wanted to listen to us because we weren't having a whole lot of success at finding. Around the time it started getting dark and we were getting close to heading in for the night we decided to say a prayer and ask God for help so that we would be able to find. (At this point we weren't quite as worried about the ice cream.) As soon as we finished praying we decided to try by another name that didn't live too far from where we were at. When we knocked on his door it was amazing. Without even asking who we were he asked us if we wanted to come in and talk. When we got in and sat down he went straight to his table and pulled out a Book of Mormon. Elder Stephenson and I were both super shocked as he explained that he had been taught in the past but then the missionaries stopped coming. His wife that he has been with for 40 years died just a year ago and he had a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and also about the Book of Mormon. It was so crazy to see how through our prayer of faith at the end of the night lead us to someone who God has been preparing for the Gospel. After getting out both Elder Stephenson and I were shocked at what had just happened.

 

It's crazy to see how the difficult things in life seem to leave the deepest impressions on our memories. I had a super cool and random insight in the Book of Mormon about that so bear with me while I explain. In Jacob chapter 4 verse 1 Jacob is talking about how difficult it is to write things down on the plates. It's the only time in the scriptures when one of the prophets admits to it being hard. After realizing that I read the next verse that talks about how if they were to write on anything else it would "perish and vanish away". It all became clear to me. The things that are difficult in life are the things that usually leave the deepest impressions on us, especially when it helps us to grow. Things like a mission aren't necessarily easy at times but it is leaving a very deep impression on my life and there is no way these memories will ever "perish and vanish away" like other things that I thought were important that have turned out to be of not too much worth. I know that insight is super random and I wish I was there to explain it so you could get the full feeling but for me it was a pretty cool thought!

 

Welp. Times up! I hope you have a great week! Love you all from the bottom of mi corazon!

 

Love Elder Stone

Elder Tanner Barlow

Hello Family,                                                                     10-27

I decided that Airplanes in the night sky are not really like shooting stars.        I might have left out last week that my area has the ramp for the airplanes to shoot off on.  It may seem cool, but you can’t hear a thing allot of times for how noisy they are.  Any way this week was good.  We went on divisions and got lost, left the area and maybe even the mission. We got ourselves back on track again though. Don’t worry mom, all is well.  I also found out this week that sister caba (one of the sisters in my district who is sharing this ward with me) well she thinks im 25 cause of how mature i am. And my comp, which is not mature at all, she thought he was like 18 with major problems. Guess that’s my life right now. Any way I was really frustrated with him this week.  One of the days we didn’t get home till 11 cause he was goofing off with a family who invited us to dinner one night,  No matter how much i tried to tell him lets go he wouldn’t listen.  He had the phone so couldn’t even do anything about it.  So i talked to my zone leaders the next day and they were like, yea we figured that is what happened when you guys didnt call is to tell us you were home but just dont worry about it.  He wants to be obedient, I think, but  just by his own process and will never be obedient if someone tells him to be.  Any way, this week we had three baptisms this last  Saturday which was super awesome and really helped lift my mood up. So, any way that was my super awesome week. We are teaching like crazy and really having some great success. In fact next week we are planning on baptizing again so that will be super awesome too

love you guys 

Elder Barlow

Elder Tyler Stone

Dear Family,

 

This week has been one of total and complete change. It was very hard having to say goodbye to all the people I have grown to love in the beautiful city of Huntington Beach but I am praying that God has a purpose for bringing me back up to Whittier to finish my mission. I'm going to have to write fast because I am back at the library again and we only have an hour to be on the computer! So without further adieu!

 

Coming back up here to Whittier has given me the chance to see a lot of familiar faces that I wasn't expecting to see. Last time I was serving in this area I was in a ward called Rio Hondo and I had six months of getting to know people. This time I am serving in a ward called La Esperanza (which if translated means The Hope. Kinda cool I think!) and I have at the most 3 months to get to know all of these people. What's really cool though is that 5 or 6 families that I knew from Rio Hondo were actually in the boundaries for La Esperanza and since the last time I have been here they have all moved into the ward that they actually should be in and so going to church yesterday was fun seeing familiar people! I think my favorite part is the fact that the last time I was here my Spanish abilities were... lacking at best. This time around I feel a lot more confident with my abilities and it didn't take too long for people to notice that I actually have the hang of it now! It's interesting because the more you are familiar with a different language the more you are able to be yourself and show your personality so it feels like I have been able to open up a lot easier this time around too. (: The other good thing about this area is the companion that I have right now. His name is Elder Allowitz and he is from Texas. (When I first heard his name the first thing that came to my head was Auschwitz. Not really the best thing to be compared to but it's okay, his big heart more than makes up for his name.) He really is a cool guy and I can tell that he has a big capacity to love the people here in this area. We are working with a family right now called la familia Guzman and just from his example I have already grown to love this family. All that is holding them back from getting baptized is the fact that the parents aren't married and aren't positive whether they are ready to make that step right now. It's obvious though that since the missionaries have started coming by their family has been blessed tremendously just from the stories I have heard about them. They also have a young son with autism who is one of my favorite kids ever! Every time we go over there we get talking and he will stop us and say "wait! let's say a prayer." And then he will procede to give a prayer that goes something like this "Dear Heavenly Father, thanks for my family. Name of Jesus Christ..... AMEN!" Haha it is such a sincere prayer though and you can tell that it's from his heart! I would say right now that is the biggest focus we have in this area is just helping that family out. Besides that we have a few more investigators we are working with but it's apparent that we could definitely find more in this area. This area we have been exploring our area a lot and it does seem like it has a lot of potential so we just have to get out there and work it. Another discovery that I made that is making me super happy: WE HAVE MOUNTAINS IN OUR AREA!!! Haha well as much mountains as there are here in my mission but it is awesome because you get back in a little bit and it literally feels like you are somewhere that isn't the crowded cities of Southern California. I have a feeling we are going to be doing a lot of exploring over there, at least on preparation days. (:

 

I'm not gonna lie, I am seriously missing Huntington Beach like crazy. It's one of the hardest thigns I've had to do when I left there but I'm sure with time everything will work out how it is supposed to. I'm grateful for the chance the Lord is giving me to grow again. I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

 

Love Elder Stone

 

Elder Tanner Barlow

Hi Family,

Wow if only you guys could know how crazy this week was.  So to start off,  im in a new area.  yep that’s right i had changes.  Now im in a new area called Cuchilla (knife) and im opening it up with my new comp.(they re-did bounderies)  I was made the district leader of 2 elders and 4 sisters which was super scary at first cause i didn’t know how to work with sisters and its been forever since ive had contact with women.   Any way now were all good cause i got settled in.   What i love about this area is that we get here and boom all the members are like, hey we know all your investigators and where they live and we love visiting with the missionary’s and there investigators.  the Bishop told us,” i have told everyone to work with you guys and they all love to bring new people to church” He just went on and on about how amazing this ward is with missionary work. This is new for me. I love this ward and i never want to leave.   Any way my comp is going to be interesting To work with.. He lives about 1 hour from the mission and has already been sent home and returned 2 times. Guess we will see how this goes.  So that was my week.  i know im going to love this ward cause we already have a baptism and we are planning on having another 4 next week.  So this is Elder Barlow reporting from mexico city mexico.

love you all

Con Amor

Elder Barlow

P.S. mom tell all my family, Thank you so much  for there letters and pictures they all made me cry and i will  try and send them all a letter back but if I can’t tell them i love them and thank you.