Manteca!

Greetings from Manteca! Life is great at the mo. Shotgunning is crazy but fun. We get to start all over in the area, which can really revitalize the work because there are no routines to fall into. So if there's any weird idea I've ever wanted to try, now is a great time because we have no preconceived notions about what "works" in Manteca. So we're just trying a little bit of everything right now and seeing how it goes. We're still getting used to the area, and I'm getting used to working in two wards which can be confusing. I still can't keep the investigators and members from each ward straight.

 

I love the Manteca/Tracy area. It is so beautiful! I never want to go back to Sacramento again (although I'm sure I'll have to at some point). This is a much more rural area. There are orchards EVERYWHERE here (I've mostly seen cherries, almonds, and grapes), and if you go down further south there's lots of cows and farms and rolling hills. Beautiful area. Probably just what you picture when you think of nothern/central California.

 

My new companion is Sister DuQuette. I love her. We get along so well and she understands some of my weirdo personality quirks better than my previous companions. She's so kind to me and is willing to try anything that I want to do. She gives me great advice and is helping me to become a better missionary. I hope we get to work together for more than one transfer.

 

I also love the members in the wards I'm working in. They've really taken us under their wings and have made an effort to get to know us. They're also awesome member missionaries. We've already had a few calls from members wanting to schedule appointments with us for their non member friends. So cool. One member in particular who I love is Larry. He's a Vietnam war vet, and he's a very recent convert. We visited him a few nights ago and he spent a very long time extolling the curative properties of this (disgusting sounding) honey and vinegar mixture he makes. Afterward he talked about how he "became a part of music and rhythm" one day a few years ago when he heard a clock ticking and got up from the couch to dance to it. Ever since then he has loved dancing and does it any time that he feels the urge, whether the time is appropriate or inappropriate it sounds like. Yes, we did get to witness this. He warned us against the evil effects of TV-- "It distracts my THINKING, which is exactly what they WANT." (His wife Sheryl guiltily whispered to us that she still loves American Idol and she doesn't see how there's anything wrong with that.) Anyway, they're just great.

 

One of my ward mission leaders was kind enough to drive me an hour and a half north so that I could attend Chris' baptism yesterday. The experience was a little bit stressful. Chris didn't show up till 15 minutes after the baptism was scheduled to start, and he looked terrified when he got there. We couldn't figure out what was wrong. The Tala'ofa ward missionaries said they had talked to him just a few hours before and he was so happy and excited. Anyway, his mom failed to tell us that he is terrified of water until he was literally walking to the font. He started screaming and crying and wouldn't step into the water. They shut the doors to the font so that there wouldn't be an audience and Chris could maybe be a little less stressed, but it didn't seem to help much. Finally the man who was baptizing him literally picked him up and set him in the font, said the baptismal prayer, and then pretty much dunked him. Afterward Chris was great and seemed very happy, but it was stressful.

 

Anyway, the work is great and life is good right now. Good things coming in Manteca. Love you all.

Update!

Malolelei! Another pretty good week here in the Tala'ofa Ward. In fact, this week (the last week of the transfer) things really started picking up. We found 3 or 4 pretty promising investigators. And unfortunately now I'm being transferred out! They are sending me south to Manteca to shotgun the area, which means that neither my new companion nor I were in the area for the last transfer, so we are pretty much starting from scratch because neither of us knows the area or the people. It's scary but kind of exciting. I hope I'm up for the challenge.

I have my first baptism this Sunday! Chris is still solid and he's good to go. G2G. 

I see flocks of wild turkeys all the time. I see them roaming in families and I think, "That's nice. Turkeys have families." Forever families? I think so. I also see flocks of mosquitoes and I don't believe that they have forever families because they're evil and the worst. My poor companion is allergic to them and gets these nasty bruises and scars from the bites.

I've been told from several unreliable sources that Sacramento is in danger of flooding because it's surrounded by rivers and we've had rain pretty much non stop for weeks. So I may soon be serving in New Atlantis! I'm prepared to accept this assignment.

Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes and thoughts! It was a weird but good experience celebrating my birthday on the mission. 

So that's life. I'll let you know how Manteca is once I get there. Alu a!

Miracles!

Well friends, I have left myself very little time to write but I wanted to tell you that we have had something of a miracle! We've been focusing on finding new investigators for the last few weeks and it has been very discouraging because no one too promising has cropped up. But then out of left field a member found someone for us! The member, Pua, was praying and felt an impression that the missionaries need to talk to the friend of her less active friend Claudia. His name is Chris and he's 11. We taught him the first lesson and he wants to be baptized this month on the 27th! Yes! Miracles do happen! Love you all!

Crazy Daisy.

Well, this was another good week in Cali. Sister Coffin and I are still focusing on finding new investigators, which has proved difficult because we're only authorized to teach Polynesian people we meet in this area. So if we find someone in our area who is interested but isn't Polynesian, we have to turn them over to the elders in our zone. It's frustrating! We've been trying to work through the less active members of our ward in order to kill two birds with one stone--recommit the less active and also get referrals from them. We've also been trying to work with part member families, but not much success so far. But we're fasting and praying and trying to be hopeful. 

I just want everyone to know that there are some KOOKS out there, and I love every one of the ones I've spoken with. I wish I met more in fact. The elders have told me about some crazy people in the zone who many of them know. One of them is Crazy Jo, a less active who almost everyone in my zone has seen at some point hauling something weird down the side of the road, such as a fire hose. Another is Noah, a homeless person who likes to speak in rhyme and enjoys flagging the elders down to shoot the breeze. In rhyme.

Anyway, just doin the work and chuggin along. Hope everyone's doing well. Love you all.