Nov 9 - 16, 2009

It has been a little slow again this week, but we might be introducing the baptismal commitment to one investigator. If she does get baptized, it will be the first baptism this area has ever seen. My companion was actually here when the area was created five transfers ago. My bike seat has started tilting back and I think the screw is stripped so it just slides back at each bump.

We've started missionary choir practice. We're eventually going to sing/perform some Christmas hymns. It's pretty fun.

And I've now finished Jesus the Christ. As far as a favorite part, it might actually be where the Jews are stubbornly condemning Jesus before Pilate. A heathen, and a sinful one at that, is defending their king, but the Jews are determined to put his blood on their head. His telling of the event, with great pathos, brought water to my eyes.

We got a baptismal date with an investigator! It's set for December 6th, the last day of the current transfer. We had the President of the Relief Society with us when we taught our investigator this last time. That's when we got the baptismal date. The member was a big help seeing as she was a convert herself. Our mission is reading the first four books of the New Testament in honor of the Christmas season.

Side note - the locals keep their Christmas lights up all year. They usually staple them to the house and then add the yard decorations.

And please tell Aunt Barbara "Thanks" for the check she sent.

Until next time, with love, Your son, Adrian

Nov 2, 2009

I had a great opportunity and experience this past week. I was able to attend a sealing session at the temple. It was my first time seeing it for living people. A brother and sister in the ward, married ten years ago when one was not a member, were able to get sealed in the temple along with their four kids. I don't get the opportunity that often in the mission field to go to the temple so this was a real treat.

This week we somehow had five investigators at church for the first time in my mission. We weren't expecting four of them. They are an investigating couple and their two daughters. We had been working with another sister trying to help her get her kids to Church when this family showed up. We've had some cool experiences out here, so in short, however things turn out, my great hope is to be worthy of the trust that Heavenly Father has put in us with the investigators we have.

Keep those letters coming!

October 22, 2009

We had two investigators at Sacrament meeting this week... One of them is actually a brand new investigator. We met her this past week. She's had a little exposure before and she wanted to come to Church but she needed a ride. We agreed to get her one and asked a less-active sister and her husband to giver her a ride. This provided a little more commitment on their part. Since the husband is a non-member that made two investigators. What's more, there just so happened to be a baptism after church that day and our new investigator stayed to watch it. The part-member husband still has to work through a smoking problem.

My bicycle tire exploded the other day. It happened while my companion and I were talking for the first time to a neat family, especially the head of the household. The father said he had a brother whose life he saw change for the better because of the Gospel and so now he is interested in the message as well (wow). We gave him a Libro de Mormon and he kind of started trying to read it right there, before we finished talking to him.

We've been working and meeting with all sorts this week from meeting with less-actives and talking about science and religion, to crazy tracting stories, including kids scared of 2012, people who like us, people who hate us, people of every shape, size , type and sort.

Sept 28 - Oct 1

To answer your questions:

Yep, there's a little more Spanish use here. My district of six is actually entirely Spanish missionaries in this ward. No, I don't usually teach a class, but the first week we were here we taught the teachers. We pretty much have normal church on Sunday. Well, we also have Coordination and PEC in the morning.

I'm learning a few things about bikes. I already one flat tire in the first week, and I bought a replacement tube, and another in the second week, but I didn't need to get a new tube (it was one of those self-healing ones). I also bought a bike pump, since I'm going to need it. I hear being on bike can be expensive. But I should keep the pump for the rest of the mission, of course.

At least I've managed not to have to buy another tube since, though I'm not sure if it's being better at bike or more familiar with the self-healing slime now. I have had to remove a couple other thorns at one point, but I was able to keep the tube.

My companion is from Phoenix, Arizona, but he was born in Mexico. His name is Elder Lopez. He's been out only one transfer longer than me, though he went through the MTC in three weeks, because he already knew Spanish, so he's been out in the field two transfers more than me. It's actually just me and him in this new apartment. And we still have a washer and dryer, so I'm happy about that. I'll get a picture of him and send it home eventually.

At zone conference we talked about using the Book of Mormon as evidence and helping investigators understand their purpose. One analogy I liked was: One man convinces another to run a race, however, he then proceeds to show up at random times of the day and tells him to run laps. As missionaries we need to lay things out as clearly as we can.

'Til next time, Adrian

new location and baptism invitation

Email of 9/20/09

"So... what makes you think that your parents may have a tendency to
over-stress... ;-)" - Oh, I don't know, maybe nineteen years of living with them. ;-)

Thanks for your work on the blog (& facebook) and your relayed comments. It was cool to get and hear about, since I don't do internet other than e-mail anymore.

Yes, I'll probably get to travel back to see Raul's baptism. You do get to do that. I have a pretty cool story/mission experience, though, that I'll be sending in this week's letter. (see below)

I was right about going to the valley. I'm actually in San Bernardino itself, now, and yes, I'm on bike. The good news is that I'm six months into the mission and it hasn't been stolen yet! I have learned a little bit more about bikes, though. And the U-lock is pretty neat. I carry it everywhere now.

Letter of 9/14/09 -

Hey, I'm in my new area! I'm now actually in San Bernardino! I'm also on bike and I've already had a flat and had to buy a replacement tube.

Apparently, this area hasn't had any baptisms for a while, but my first week here we got to set a baptismal date! I was meeting a part-member family, the father's an investigator and the mother is a less-active member. It is the second time he has investigated and the topic of baptism came up. We were both busy resolving concerns as they were mentioned. He had worthiness concerns because he didn't feel as patient as the brothers he saw in the church.

The concern was real to him and I thought about the invitation by Alma senior at the waters of Mormon. I brought out and read that scripture. It was one of my neatest experiences so far. I looked up in the middle of reading the scripture to see his face staring intently at me. We were able to set a baptismal date for October 11th. It was a spiritual moment and though the investigator is a good and jovial guy, I could tell that he felt the Spirit.

I keep remembering looking up and seeing him looking at me. My own recognition of the Spirit there jumped up a notch. I'm glad I could be here at this time.

email and letter excerpts 9/20/09

As you may have guessed, we did not receive an email on Labor Day and his letter was delayed as well by the holiday. So today's blog entry will have excerpts from Adrian's letter on Sept 8th, and email and letter on Sept 15th. We also received some pictures and a couple have been posted here on the blog. More are posted on Facebook for Kristi Pepperdine.

We are exactly two weeks from Adrian's Birthday. So if you see this blog, send Adrian a birthday card!!!

Now to his letters. From Adrian...

Guess we're seeing the need for a righteous people. A people with weak moral character is going to have a hard time surviving. It's pretty much a law of nature.

I sure do enjoy zone conference. I was quite sad when I had to miss the last one in order to go sing at a funeral. But the next one should be coming up later this week. I'm leaving the desert, by the way! The weather's just started to cool down for fall, anyways. I don't know yet where I'm going but it's practically assured that I'm going into the valley area. I'll write about the area and my new companion next week.

One of our investigators, Raul, has a baptismal date now! It's set for Oct. 24th. We'd taught him about fasting in our previous two lessons but had left him with other commitments (like coming to church). He didn't make it to church, however, when we visited him on Wednesday, he said he'd fasted and read in the Book of Mormon and really enjoyed it. It made him feel clean inside and freer from sin and guilt. So, we were able to get a baptismal date! We'll still have to work with him to get him to church, but it's pretty good way to leave an area.

We got the chance to attend an "international festival" Saturday night put on by several wards. It was quite the event and well done. They had several Hispanic booths and performances and also a Polynesian booth, and an American one. They even did some cool American old-time rock and roll. And two little girls did some Irish dances. We ate there with the Marin family who are some recent converts who were baptized before I came.

I have one insight I'd like to share now that I've been out on my mission, and that is the importance of home teaching and visiting teaching. I've been raised in the friendly, strong, and healthy Carrollton 1st Ward. Now I've worked in another ward and heard stories of others and worked with less actives and attempted to have people fellowshipped in a ward that has a hard time being warm and friendly. I realize how much the Church needs its members. Hmm.. who would have guessed. :-) But it is true.

Here is a quote from "True to the Faith". "How you react to challenges is a major part of determining happiness in this life and in the world to come." I have now read all the way through "Our Search for Happiness" and "Our Heritage" and am currently reading "True to the Faith". After which, I will read "Jesus the Christ".

And a special Thank you to Aunt Cindy for her package. Hope you enjoy the pictures I sent home.

Email and letter excerpts 9/1/09

In answer to your question, OYM stands for Open Your Mouth, in which case you just sort of walk around and talk to people in the streets. So up here, you don't get to talk to nearly as many people as in the valley, I hear, because the valley's more populated and dense city-like. I hear they have more investigators down in the valley also, so that might be something to look forward to if I get transferred in two weeks.

One random note, I am currently the youngest missionary in the apartment. The other junior companion came out 3 months before me.

I got the Ward missionary newsletter this past week ... that was pretty cool.

We were able to get back in contact with an investigator named Raul, and we thought he wanted to come to church this week, but he didn't show up. On a positive note, there's a little bit more news with Jesus (the former atheist investigator). Due to the missionary area changes, he's not in our area any more but I still keep up with the news as he was once our investigator. Jesus and Jenny came to church this week. It's clear when talking with Jesus that he actually understands the significance of what we're saying and takes it seriously.

'Til next time,

Adrian

8/25/09

Hey Mom & Dad,

Good to know that my family's still keeping up on it's home teaching, even without me ;)

Sorry, I haven't sent the camera memory card yet. I had it, and the tape, all ready in the UPS envelope last week when we went the the Postal Office last week to pick up my package, but then they told us that USPS doesn't ship UPS :( Well, that is the competition, after all, I guess. But I'll try again soon. I happen to know that there's a UPS in the local Staples.

Yeah, Hawaii was great. I want to try surfing again. Oh, and wherever, I think I want to try water skiing, and anything that involves being dragged after a boat in a lake like that.

It's cool you're learning more about working with pictures. I wish I knew a little bit more myself.
Recently, in a few spare moments, I finally started writing a story I've had for a long time from the beginning. Of course, I wish I'd done it ages ago. But oh well.

That's a cool way to talk to yourself in your journal. I wish I was a little bit better like that. I also wish I had a better organization for my uplifting letters and stories and quotes I've gotten. I've certainly got quite a few.

I liked the article by Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Moral Agency, June 2009 Ensign), too. I liked the part where he mentions that though we taste good and bad in this life, we do not need to yield to Satan to fulfill the purpose of this life or learn. Hopefully we do learn and repent if we sin, but "like Jesus, we can gain all we need in the way of a mortal experience without yielding."

One of the investigators that I'd been working with before the areas changed finally came to church yesterday! Her name is Jenny and we had been teaching her with Jesus, the former atheist. Sadly, he's disappeared. In our work this past week we went up to Baker and Barstow. We had one "media referral" which meant we had a video (Finding Faith in Christ) to deliver. The address was in a car workshop. We went in the first time and didn't get very far so my companion started to leave, but since I though she'd probably seen a commercial or something, I really wanted to do my duty and at least deliver the movie, so I convinced my companion to go back in. We talked with her a bit more and found out that she had a son that was Mormon and wanted to learn more. We wound up leaving her with the movie, a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon in Spanish. She seems so sincere and it was a great meeting. She lives in Barstow but we'd be really happy to go back and visit. Hopefully I'll be able to write about her again in a while.

Anyways, we've done a bit of finding this past week to try and get people to teach. We finally had a lesson with a part-member family that we've been trying to get to. Don't know how it's going to go or how he really fees, but he does want to keep having missionary discussions. And we just got a call from a member family who has a friend family with someone who is very sick. They want the member family to visit along with the missionaries. We will probably have a chance to give a blessing too.

Elder Pepperdine

Email and letter excerpts 8/17/09

8/17/09 - Dear Mom & Dad,

They actually tried to deliver a package yesterday and the day before, but there are problems with that in our apartment. To explain- I checked the mail and there was a key in our small mail slot to the bigger mail slot for the package. Unfortunately, it didn't work, so the apartment office people said they'd leave a note for the postal service just to leave the package with them.

Wow, sounds like life's busy again back there. Well, I guess Pepperdine hotel is being of service to a bunch of people. I plan to check in myself in 19 months :)

How are Ben & Ryan doing?

And tell Sarah not to worry. I'm not good at writing either :( But I suppose if I want to write her, pretty soon I'll just be able to use the house address!

Joshua trees... hm... I'm not sure they'd be very good decor outside of the desert. Anyhow, I have not been to Joshua Tree National Park. I didn't know about it, but I doubt I'll get the chance to go there. You know, rally up the missionaries to go see Joshua trees for their P-day activity (I guess I'm a little bit of an oddball).

Okay, our apartment is Spanish missionaries at this moment. It used to have six, but Elder Popham, who I mentioned, and Elder Orr, his new companion, actually move out, just leaving Elder Clayton and I, and our new companions, Elder Stotts and Elder Johnson, respectively.

Yep, Elder Johnson was in the city before here. He's rather amazed at the lack of OYMing. But that's mostly because you walk around out here, and YOU DON"T MEET ANYBODY. Very different from the city.

Yep, I had a bunch of fun with maps since I came out here. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I've learned a lot more about my area geographically since I came here. Hopefully I'm getting better at navigation in general.

Today on P-day we went to a cool place in the desert and rode our bikes on some hills and such. Since transfers we've had more time to spend up in North Adelanto so we have a couple of new investigators. Elizabeth is an 18-year-old who is five months pregnant and wishes she could have waited. She loves the coming baby though and wants to give it a better life so she's taking the discussions. She asked asked if we had families (kids) of our own and I just talked about our missions and what we do for two years...that if we had a family and kids we couldn't really do this. We're also teaching Remedios, a middle-aged man who has taken some discussions before. We're hoping that he should progress as he has desires to know and even some feeling that it seems true.

Summer in the desert (or the hottest part) may not last much longer. We've already had a couple cooler days but it hasn't finished winding down just yet.

My Spanish may be getting better (I hope). Interviews with the President went well this last time. I missed Zone Conference though, because the Spanish missionaries were requested at a funeral.

By the way, our roommates, Elders Stotts and Clayton, got their bikes stolen and then found them later in a park. The thieves had taken Elder Calyton's bike pump and handle grips (... why?... people are strange) and had thrown Elder Stott's bike off of a roof. (My bike is perfectly fine.)

Sorry this is short. 'Till later,

Adrian

Email and letter excerpts 8/10/09

8/10/09 - Dear Mom & Dad,

Yep, my new companion is a D.L. But I roomed with a D.L. before, so I'm not sure how much more of the administrative side I'm going to see.

And yes, we get to continue using a car. Only one of the four Spanish areas in the desert is a bike area. We used to have three areas, and when they added the fourth, they didn't have any more cars to add, so they just added a bike area, but it sounds like it's going well.

We now have eight missionaries in the ward. The area I'm in split/changed a bit to make room for the new Spanish area. We get to spend more time in the desert-y Adelanto area than we used to. And, as I think I've said, I love the desert :)

You asked for info about the other elders in my apartment. Elder Popham is a fun-loving guy, tall and skinny like me and is from Utah. I enjoy his humor. He came into the field the same time as me but he's an English-speaking elder, so he's one transfer younger (less MTC time). He now has a companion named Elder Orr who seems really good and nice and a good worker. He's serious and is adjusting to the desert (he's from Canada) and he has his own type of humor. He can do a creepy impersonation of "Edward Saladfingers".

Elder Clayton's new companion is Elder Stotts. He is quite upbeat and good at telling stories and good to have around. My new companion, Elder Johnson, was in the same MTC district as Elder Strang (my first companion). The were both originally called to Russia, but then they temporarily stopped sending missionaries there and they both found out one week before entering the MTC that their calls had been changed to Spanish - California San Bernardino! He's a good, dedicated worker from a small mountain settlement in Utah and is glad to be in the desert away from the big city.

Scripture thoughts for the week - 3 Nephi 20:26; 3 Nephi 20:40 is a missionary scripture and 3 Nephi 26:9 - there's more stuff on the way if we believe in what we are given. Jesus commanded us to search these things ... even Isaiah... :|

Sincerely, Elder Pepperdine

Email and letter excerpts 8/3/09

8/3/09 - Mom & Dad,

We’re doing e-mail in a different place these days (more convenient and faster internet), so it's at a different time, too. Sorry if that's throwing you off. Oh, and my apartment is (probably) going to be four elders, all Spanish missionaries, when all is said and done.

Thanks for forwarding Jon's (Jon Pitts - friend from BYU-I) mission call comments from Facebook. It's great to know when and where he's going out.

Romar and Sarah sent me a package sent me a package while I was in the MTC, and I thought I sent a response/thank you, but I can't really remember, it's quite possible I didn't actually, and I should. I hope I can still find their address. I might not be able to right now.

Good luck on the swim! It sounds like fun to me! It'll probably be a fun experience for you...once you're out of the water on the other side :) What date is the triathlon? I'll mark it on my calendar.

Tony's back at the natatorium! Wow, it's cool to hear about him moving along. Maybe there's an off chance I'll see him somewhere in two years. Thanks for the news. "Hi" back to him.

I think I've hit a kind of mail drop. So keep the letters coming! I don't usually get other mail in the week except when Philip writes. And I got an email from Minh today!

Anyhow, I like the desert and the "Joshua trees" that we have here. I think Ill come back and camp out at least once out here after my mission.

Trips to the temple are separate from zone meetings or conferences. So far, they've been happening every transfer, but I hear some sad hints that they're going to be decreased to once every two transfers, so that's going to be rather sparse :( Especially considering how much work we're doing as missionaries. But life goes on.

And, about transfers, I do know a little bit now, but not everything. I'm going to be staying here. My companion is not. Also, my next companion is going to be the district leader in my new district. That'll be a good thing, seeing as we need a Spanish district leader to do baptismal interviews for Spanish-speakers. Otherwise, President Sanchez can give special permission for a missionary to do an interview (such as when the entire desert doesn't have a Spanish district leader, like this last transfer). I don't know who my next companion will be, however.

We had some good lessons this week especially one with the Cordero family, which is a really nice family that has interest but just haven't come to church. The father's work gets in the way. But we had a nice visit and brought the ward mission leader, his wife and daughter. ... We also had the chance to deliver the sacrament to a handicapped person. It was fun to deliver the sacrament again.

Some scriptures I noted in my missionary journal this week were Helaman 14:13-17 and 3 Nephi 7:24 and 25. The first one is about Christ, and the second is about the relationship between repentence and baptism.

And thanks for sharing the snippet from your mission. With love,

With love, Adrian

Email excerpts 7/13 - 7/27

Dear Friends and family,

My last email to you was dated 7/12 so I thought I should send out another update on Adrian's mission.

Tidbits from letters ...

Letter of 7/13/09
Thanks to Uncle Lee for the Yellowstone postcard - unfortunately, Adrian did not have your return address to write back to you. As noted in the last email, Adrian and his companion finally moved from their overcrowded apartment into one that Adrian said was spacious enough for two companionships... well you knew they wouldn't have it to themselves very long. They were 5 and then 6 in their apartment. Another companionship (English speaking) is staying with them temporarily because the member they usually live with has family visiting now. And their mission participates in a "two week mission" program. They had a 17-year-old join up with their companionship as a learning experience. Their missionary in training was a Hispanic native. Then they got another single (Spanish) missionary who was without a companion for a while.

"As Alma 27:27 says, the Lord worketh in many ways to bring to pass the salvation of his people. The Lamanite prisoners rebellion truly is a strange thing that ended up helping the Nephites. The Lord has many miracles in store, and has been working them from the beginning.

... The Spanish missionaries sometimes have to fight off envy of the English wards. We're working with our wards to try and help them get organized but the English missionaries seem to get so much more help from their wards with finding and teaching. We did just get a new ward mission leader and some ward missionaries so hopefully things are getting started up again in that department. The English elders got 6 of their investigators to church this week. for some reason getting people to church is almost impossible for us. In the very beginning of my mission, there were two coming, then they got baptized. The closest thing we've had to an investigator at church since then is when one of the recent converts brought two of his kids with him. We're doing a lot of good work with a bunch of different people, and finding new ones, too, but I'm looking forward to seeing people at that step again.

I think I've started to hit a little bit of a mail drop from people (other than my parents). -- hint from his Mom

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Letter of 7/20/09

I'm finally getting somewhat tired of all this heat.

We did a lot of finding this week considering we had 4 elders and could split up in twos. It was pretty good. I encountered one of my weirdest "finds" yet. We met a very science-driven guy who didn't like faith but apparently ran a Bible-study somewhere. ...In my scripture reading, I read the whole part about how Amalickiah schemed his way to become King of the Lamanites, but when it had finished talking about Amalickiah it jumped back to talking about how Moroni had not ceased to fortify his cities and build new defenses and prepare. So i wrote in my study journal "evil never rests. Neither did Moroni."

Also, I received the last two ward mission newsletters - very cool! - thanks go to Brother Hale!

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letter of 7/27/09

July's just about over, and transfer calls are this coming Saturday. We're also planning to add two missionaries to the ward, so that would make eight missionaries in one ward. The mission doesn't have more cars available, so they're going to take part of our area, and part of another companionship's area, and create a spanish bike area.
Hm...we didn't have any investigators at church today, but we did get what could eventually be a baptismal date with Jesus, our "formerly atheist" investigator. Elder Strang's pushing on it. It's just sort of a goal to be by then decided, (and hopefully baptized). A motivation, I guess, to be working & reading and going to church, since he hasn't been or seen what it's like yet.

By next week's letter I might know where I'm going to be fore the next six weeks. My companion's the one that's likely to be moving, though. Here's the scripture thought for this week: Helaman 10:4-5, blessings come from working unwearyingly in your calling, or place in life that you're in right now.

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Hope you enjoyed the Adrian tidbits. We appreciate your support.

Kristi

Email excerpts 6/15 - 7/6

Dear Friends and Family,

It is hard to believe it has been a month since I sent out the last "Tidbits from Adrian". Here is the latest news from the mission field.

Letter dated 6/15
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I will only read the original study materials (standard works and the other four books) for the first year of my mission. Then we can branch out to a few other things. Books I've heard suggested for 2nd year reading are "The Infinite Atonement" and "The Inevitable Apostasy."

And Aunt Karen's package! Wow. Tell her thanks for me!

My Spanish is ... going slow right now. I've got to improve that. It sort of slowed after I got out of the MTC. So I've got to re-work on my language study.

Did I tell you that we're teaching a guy who used to claim Atheism, but had a change of heart after a near death experience with alcohol. So he's quitting, and even taking the missionary discussions.

We're having an extra hard time getting our investigators to sacrament meeting. None of them came this last week, which was pretty disappointing. We had a good goal, then had to put the actual down as zero for this week. Nothing to do but keep on trying, though.

If you ever get the Mission Newsletter with baptisms from May, look for Flores and Perez. Those are the baptisms I was at.

We do service probably once a week. If we are asked to. I've done it most weeks, but we might not do it every week. We help people move, help people with their back and front yards, which sometimes involves moving rocks, of all things.


----------------------
Letter dated 6/22
----------------------
Summer hit this past week and it hit hard. Now I have all sorts of heat to look forward to but hey, I knew that was going to happen sometime, right?
We had an unexpected opportunity at district meeting: we played chess and we fenced! The District Leader had a chess instructor in his ward, and so his family came to the meeting with a bunch of equipment and ran the fencing part of the event. I used an epee, which we didn't use in BYU, but the training with the foil (at BYU-I) certainly helped.

Does anyone have some stories about tithing to share? That question came up in the MTC and I would appreciate having some stories to share when teaching.

It is still nearly impossible to contact "potential investigators." We've also got included in that, some referrals that we just can't seem to get in contact with.


----------------------
Letter dated 6/29
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Well, the pollution and humidity aren't so bad where I am in the desert, but I have definitely had to do some over 100 degree tracting. And thanks for the stamps thought, that always helps. And yeah, and stories from anywhere in the family help, or others too, I guess.

I discovered that when I get back, I really want to learn to play the piano. Actually, there's a whole bunch of stuff I want to learn that I just didn't have the gumption to tackle before or want it as much. But now, there's all sorts of things, about computer, piano... gun laws.. photography... and other things and other types of music, and well, anything I can learn! My thirst for knowledge and talents has certainly grown.

Right now... an investigator came back from a trip to New York. It was my first time meeting him. Actually, he's working towards getting a baptismal date! His name's Raul, and his mother may even have interest now, but we don't know that for sure yet. The Marins, a family of recent converts who have been going through some trouble, finally came back to Church! It was really treat to see them there. They seemed really happy to be there, too.

We had another Zone Conference. All the missionaries in the entire desert area got together with President Sanchez and various other people. It's a pretty cool opportunity.

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Letter dated 7/6
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...we finally MOVED this past week! Elder Strang and I have a really nice apartment, that even has its own washer and dryer, is spacious, clean...I mean, I could see myself actually living there, if I weren't on my mission. It's pretty cool. It's got two bathrooms. For two people. It's actually kind of ridiculous. It wouldn't fit six, but it'd still be a nice set up for four missionaries.

Actually, I think the move is helping both our companion study and our language study. So far mostly the companion study, but I hope to amp up the language study soon. It was a little difficult with six elders in the house, which is one of the reasons, well, probably the main reason, that they moved us. They generally try to keep it to four in a living establishment. And now I am in Victorville, actually. But I still serve in both Adelanto and Victorville.

We haven't seen the former Atheist in the past little while. He and his friend Jenny, who we teach together, are doing well, they just haven't come to church. We have a solid appointment for teaching Jenny and hopefully Jesus next week. We'll be studying the asking questions section of PMG (Preach My Gospel) to try and assess where she is / start her progressing again. Sometimes you have to come up with a bunch of different plans to try and get an investigator to progress. You just keep inviting...

We've been told to look for "missionary purpose" scriptures. Like 1 Nephi 19:18; 1 Nephi 20:6 and 2 Nephi 25:23, 26. I have a bunch of insights listed in my study journal now.

-----------------------

That is the latest from his letters. If anyone would like to share a tithing story with Adrian - please send it either directly to him at
California San Bernardino Mission
8280 Utica Avenue Ste 150
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730-3851
or email it to us and we will be glad to send it on.

Thanks again for your support of Adrian on his mission. I'll try not to wait a whole month before I send out the next message.

Kristi

email excerpts 5/25 - 6/8

Dear Family and Friends,

Below are some excerpts from the latest emails and letters from Adrian. These go oldest to most recent...
--------------------------------

May 25 - (two weeks in the mission field)

We had a baptism in our ward this past week. That was pretty cool, of course. She was pretty happy. Three of her four daughters had already been baptized. The fourth will be in two years.

Another investigator has a baptismal date this Saturday. He's a good-natured guy with a good family. Three of his kids came to church with him this last week. (He kind of reminds me of Uncle David except his kids are younger. They probably would have gotten along.) He's big, so we're going to have two elders get into the font to baptize him. His kids may join in the future.

We watched "The Restoration" in Spanish three times this past week with other investigators.

June 1 -

The 16-year-old George we're teaching speaks English. It's pretty cool to see how much the younger generation is learning English. The kids get a chance to learn a language their parents don't know...

June 8 -

One of the cool experiences I've had up here is seeing the good fruits of the gospel in other people's lives. With the two recent converts who have just been baptized, and how happy they were to have found the Gospel. Also, in a less active who has been reactivated. We visited him once when he hadn't been to church one week (we visit him kinda often) and it was interesting and kind of apparent to see the difference between when he had gone to church and when he hadn't in how he talked, how he treated his family and how he was more at rest when he'd been to church. It's great to see this in the lives of others, adding to what I have seen in my life, even when they don't always entirely realize it themselves (like the less active).

As far as events in my last week are concerned, it's been pretty normal ... Just trying to get our investigators to progress and still trying to find new ones at the same time. We're trying to get the investigators into the Book of Mormon and actually read it, or we're trying to get them to church past various problems like work, family, or laziness, or we're trying to actually meet them at the appointments we have with them.

We did find one nice lady recently. We originally tracted into her sister, Angelica, the week before. But when we came back to meet with her, we met Olga. Olga is actually the only one to actually begin lessons so far.

Hope you enjoyed these tidbits,

Kristi

1st email from the mission field

Dear Family and Friends,

Adrian left the MTC on Tuesday, May 12th. Yesterday, Monday the 18th, we received his first email from the field. Thought you might enjoy. Also he has a request at the end of the letter.

Thanks to all.

Kristi

Begin forwarded message:

Hello Mom & Dad!

It's my first e-mail from the field! P-day is Monday here. I haven't even used my bike yet, actually. I have it in the apartment, but my companion and I have a car. It's really helpful in our mission.

Also, there are three basic types of areas in my mission. The valley, the mountains, and the desert. Yeah, I got sent to the desert. Based on the car thermometer, it just barely broke 100 somewhere we were tracting this past Saturday. It's still mid-May. oh boy.

It might be a little difficult to keep up the Spanish here because of how much English we need to use too, but my companion has confidence in me. My spanish coming out of the MTC is pretty good. But I need A LOT of work in order to be able to deal with native speakers as well as my companion does. But that's what I have the next eight months for. My trainer has only been out 10 months, actually. It might be hard to catch up to him in that time. Or I might do well. Who knows. Apparently no one could understand his previous companion because all that companion worked on was the accent, so he wound up speaking really weird and not very well with the actual Spanish usage, especially. My companion's got a foreign accent in Spanish, though.

Anyways, I'm doing really great now out here. ...

My apartment's pretty crowded. The missionaries here are hoping to move soon. Six of us with all of our missionary bags and stuffs in a four-person apartment. There used to be only four missionaries in there, until they stuffed another two in. They replaced a couple beds with bunk beds so we could fit. The bunk bed I'm on sways a little as you move on it.

Aunt Donna's wedding sounds really exciting. Have fun. I guess you won't get my snail mail until after you come back from there, though. So, here's an important note, straight from the papers they handed me:

My PERMANENT mailing address while in the field will be:

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

California San Bernardino Mission

8280 Utica Ave., Suite 150

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

We will forward all FIRST CLASS mail to you (me) at your (my) current TEMPORARY address if it is sent through the United States Postal Service. Package requirements to be forwarded to you (you will get it quicker) by the regular postman:

Only packages sent PRIORITY MAIL or EXPRESS MAIL through the U.S. Postal Service can be forwarded to you.

All mail from foreign countries can also be forwarded to you.

Mail and packages that can not be forwarded will be kept at the Mission office until zone conferences or someone from the mission office comes your way. Packages sent parcel post, parcel select, ups, fed-ex, salt lake distribution center, pre-sorted standard, 3rd or 4th class mail come under this category.

Well, thanks for reading! Please spread my address abroad so I can get mail! I'm looking forward to it! Thanks, and until next time!

Your son,

Adrian Pepperdine

Address correction March 31

Dear friends and family,

My apologies to all - I sent the wrong address for Adrian's MTC mail in my posting last week. I gave you the wrong mailbox number.

I discovered it today as I read a reply. Can I just blame it on tax season?

I hope that if you have sent a letter or package to Adrian the MTC was able to figure it out. Please update your information.

The wrong mail box is 230.

The CORRECT MAILBOX ADDRESS IS - 280

OR in a complete address

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

MTC Mailbox #280
CA-SBER 0513
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Sorry for the type-o.

We received a three sentence email from Adrian last week. Basically - Hi - I'm here - no time so gotta go - message. Today was better. Adrian's email thanked Aunt Karen for her package of goodies. He let us know that he actually wrote a letter to mail today and then said ...And I quote "my letter was kind of random and thrown together, because I didn't know what to say. Oh well. Hope it finds you well."

So please be patient we us as we are having to learn the art of writing letters.

Thanks to each of you for your support and interest in Adrian.

Again, please update your address books with the correct mailbox#.

Sincerely,

Kristi Pepperdine

1st email from MTC

Dear family and friends,

You have been copied on this email because you have been an important part of Adrian's life and have shown interest in his endeavors. This is a test to see if email addresses I have work and to see if you would like to continue to receive emails like this.

Adrian entered the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo Utah on March 11th to learn Gospel teaching techniques and the Spanish language. He will leave the training center around May 13th to go to his mission assignment in the California-San Bernardino Spanish Speaking Mission.

His mailing address (if you are inclined to write) while at the MTC is

Elder Adrian Pepperdine

MTC Mailbox #280

CA-SBER 0513

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

We have received one email and two letters since he entered the MTC. I have included some of his thoughts below from all three. His P-Day (preparation day when he can write and take care of laundry and such activities) is on Tuesdays.

Adrian's companion is Austin Harrison from Grapevine, Texas. I have asked him if his companion is related to us through the Harrison line but have not heard back yet.

Special message to Romar and Sarah Karl. Adrian said "Tell Romar's wife Sarah not to be shy with the cookies :-) wink." - So a special thank you to Sarah!

He also said ...And please tell people that missionaries do love letters!

Here is an excerpt from his email...

Begin forwarded message:

Date: March 17, 2009 10:16:33 AM CDT

Subject: It's up and running!

Hey Mom and Dad,
The e-mail is set up now.
Missionaries are to use the e-mail only to contact immediate family, so...I think I've been put in a bad way, considering all the e-mail addresses I collected.

Kristi entry ---So please excuse the fact that this email does not come directly from Adrian. As Mom - I have been asked to forward emails to friends and family. Now back to Adrian

I don't think I mentioned it, but my e-mail for Uncle Lorin didn't work (before I got to MTC).

I haven't cried normally so far in the mission, but I did once laugh so hard I cried. So sometimes stuff like that happens,though in general it's more like crazy scheduled studying. And inhuman zealousness.

Anyhow, I have a limited time to write e-mail, and I still move slowly in these letters and e-mails, so I think I'll try and bring this installment to a close.
But I don't know how to do that.
Anyways, gym period is the best part of the day.

Thanks for the dear elders!

Kristi entry - "Dear Elders" is a website where you can send letters and packages to missionaries. So Adrian has received a couple messages using their service. There are actually two services where if you type a letter online they will deliver it for free to missionaries while they are in the MTC. (They will also deliver care packages.) The two websites I have found are:

http://www.DearElders.com and

http://www.mtcdelivery.com

So if you want to save the postage and get a letter off in a day, please feel free to check out these sites. It is only a one way service. to the missionary - Adrian still only has his P-Day on which to write and only 30 minutes on e-mail so he can't immediately get a response back to you. I did leave him with stationery and stamps. It is a whole new learning process to have to wait for mail instead of immediate email.

--now back to Adrian

I'll send a letter, and I promise I'll write again next week!
Your son,
Adrian Pepperdine