I actually received a message from Brother Garcia on FaceBook last Monday. I was confused and thought that he was maybe one of Elder Corona's family members from St. George because it said he was from St. George also, but he is actually the Spanish group leader in Tulare. He said it was a pleasure to have Alex there and he was always happy. He also thanked me for my willingness to be away from him for two years and that he was greatly missed from his last assignment. Brother Garcia has been there for 5 months and moved from Saint George. When he first got there, they only had about 3 families attending the group but now they have about 40 members that are constantly going. He said that the stake president said he'll give the group 6 months to get ready to become a branch. He also said that he knows Al can make a difference and that he will stay in touch here and there sending updates... I feel so blessed to know that there are people out there that are watching out for my son and his well being.
He also had a training on the positive things that can come from social media and he challenges all of us to post one thing each week that will help spread the word of the gospel. Whether it be a video or a quote or your favorite talk :) So start thinking about what you can do to help spread the word!!! One a week!!
He is doing well :) :)
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| Playing around at a members home |
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| Missionary tradition for year mark. Elder Corona burning his white shirt. |
Mis Paisos (My countrymen)
Another week has flown by! Great things are happening for us left and right. We've seen good things, but the work with our investigators has become a little bit slower. That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't continue his work though, right now we've been asked strictly from the bishop in Tulare to focus on finishing the new member lessons. It's been good and a hassle at the same time, the members have helped us a little bit, but they've been busy with work, family, all those good things
I actually had not realized until this week that our Spanish branch is actually a Spanish "group". It's so much smaller than a branch, I didn't even think that existed but it does! We've also only got about 5-6 priesthood holders so most of the group are women. This past Sunday we had our ward conference and businesses and such. The stake president was there and he talked about a powerful message! He really brought hope and faith into the branch. His name is President Christianson, he talked briefly about the growth of the Spanish group. He said that revelation comes in many different ways and that just recently he had a dream about the Tulare Spanish Group. In his dream he said he saw priesthood holders and the chapel was filled with men, and that in the course of 6 months or so they could become a branch again, and there would be missionaries serving from that branch... Now he's not the prophet or anything but he does receive revelation for our stake if needed. The people were so touched when they heard this! I heard originally that it would take about a year or so to bring it back to a branch, but the stake president said about half of that. Sweet!! After he finished his talk/testimony. Our Spanish group leader, Brother Garcia, was conducting and before he ended sacrament meeting he shared his testimony about that dream that President Christianson had. Brother Garcia said that he also had the same dream!! It was touching at the point, and the spirit was so strong. I love the Spanish culture, they receive revelation in the coolest ways.
Friday was a great day! We had a leadership training meeting for district leaders and zone leaders and I will say it was probably one of the best training's I've had on my mission thus far. Two guys named Brother Donaldson and Brother Tanner presided there. Brother Donaldson is from The District 2 video for missionary training if none of you knew that. They were both from the mission headquarters, but Brother Donaldson was a previous San Diego Mission President. He talked about how he hated Fresno (because we smashed all the other California missions and still do ;)) but NOW he loves us haha. They talked about us being the only mission in Cali to baptize over 1,000, and how soon the mission will be split and lose about 3 stakes. So that hinders our chances of baptizing 1,000, but they called us out and told us to repent if any of us thought it was impossible. They further went in to the training and gave us further inspiration of what we can do to plan better to hopefully reach our goal again. THE BIGGEST message I got from it was is that God is the master planner of our lives, if we choose to let him be. If we are doing the absolute best we can in our efforts on our missions and in life he'll make us happy and give us opportunity to reach our goals.
Those were the biggest two events of the week. The missionary work and progress of the people were teaching is still good. We've been constantly looking for investigators through members. Right now we have Yo. and K. and they're still doing good. We just got to get them to have a closer relationship with Heavenly Father, which they've been doing great with! But God will, in his own time, bring them to the waters of baptism... So they're the only 2 progressing investigators in our teaching pool. We think that one of our investigators named G. will see sooner progress with baptism here soon. She likes us and enjoys it when we come over. We've only been there twice for her daughter Jade who's already a member. G. has been seeing the growth in J. and is becoming more receptive to hearing our message... One thing or idea we've seen for new investigators from the training this past Friday was the usage of FACEBOOK!! Or any other social media for that matter! If you thought Zuckerberg or whatever his name is made facebook, you're all wrong haha. God made social media. The stats of facebook was that on average a person who posts something on facebook, 53,000 other people will see it. They also said that 2 billion of God's children are all connected through facebook, WOW! So they've asked us to ask our members to post at least one thing a week so that we might receive a referral from a member. Whether it's a Mormon message, bible video, anything that will make the work hasten... So a challenge back home is post at least one thing that you like and share it with friends :) these things were made for a reason.
Responsibilities as a district leader are getting better. I definitely learn a lot as I go, sometimes it's stressful but it's normal. I'm working on becoming a multiplier and helping the area and the missionaries in Tulare. Training's can be tough sometimes, they're not just like normal talks or anything. It's really giving prayerful consideration on how I can uplift and better my district. Aside all of that being a district leader is pretty fun!
So everything home is good still?? I'm happy to hear that! Sounds like you guys also had a ward conference and I'm just as excited for Justin. People are doing great back home! Sports sounds like sports for sure. Marz is doing good I hear and Weston is struggling? Dang, I'm sure they work hard too with the new coach and everything also, tell him to keep tearing it up and just play, he's a stud... Sports for me was good this past Monday! We went to McDermit Rec Center and played some basketball and a little dunk ball too. I saw Elder Moody and Charlie there. I'm glad I'm close by to see them, they've always been great friends. Elder Moody is going home March 25th! Dang that's crazy!!
I'm happy to hear everything at home is still good. I'm glad the Lord watches over them while I'm out... Well I have to head out but I will hear from ya'll next week?
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