Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:03:21 -0700
Subject: Hello everybody!
Hello from California!
This is Adrian speaking from his mission in San Bernardino California. It's been a wild ride and a great experience. I hope each of ya'll have had a good and successful year. I've now hit halfway through this grand adventure, so I thought I'd write everybody I could.
I've been working hard and met a lot a people, and grown to love them as I try to help them in the best way that I can. Each place has a little bit different of a feel to it. Mentioning that, I'm going to come back out to the desert one day and camp out among the joshua trees. They are only in two places: here in California, and in Israel. So if anyone's curious, they can look up what those look like.
I can say that my mission so far has felt like a success, and I'm energized for a new year. It's strange saying goodbye when I leave a place, but when I do, I know it's my time, and another missionary comes in my place, and I get to serve somewhere new.
Well, back off to work I go, and hope to hear from ya'll! If I do, I'll talk to you a bit more about everything.
In any case, I love you all! Best wishes, and see you 'round!
Adrian
P.S.-just in case anyone still has my old e-mail address, this is my new e-mail. My old one will close down on March 31st. adrian.pepperdine@myldsmail.net
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Jan 25, 2010
Jan 25, 2010
Wow, I had no idea that the Kidson's would be looking at the blog, not to mention ever praying for me. Thanks for the update.
Yep, the baptism happened! There was a different baptizer for each of the three people. A member in the ward baptized the father, and Elder Lewis baptized the 10-year old, and I baptized the 8-year old. It was my first performance of a baptism!
By the way, my companion's name is Elder Lewis. And I figured out another way to help you figure out who that is, in case my previous info. didn't help. On the MTC district picture in front of the map that you posted on my blog, the Elder's names go as such, from left to right: Elder Yates, me, Elder Lewis, Elder Stark, Elder Call, Elder Hayter, Elder Rosemann, and Elder Harrison.
Elder Lewis isn't wearing his cast anymore, and he was even able to baptize yesterday (it's his left shoulder), but his left shoulder did hurt when he got out of the water.
Due to his bike accident, we're driving an old Mazda. As we discovered in all the rain we got out here, the right windshield wiper occaisionally pops out of place, and we have to fix it. Sadly, it does not have a GPS. But my bike is still OK. My companion will be wanting a new front tire. Well, it was a little closer to winter for a while. We did get a lot of rain. But it never feels like winter to my companion, who's from Utah, so that influence kind of impedes it. Ironically, if we'd been on bike, we wouldn't have been able to go out, there was so much (rain). However, we'd just happened to have gotten a car. So, sometimes blessings come in strange ways.
And, no, we didn't feel the earthquake. We went over to one family's house and they asked us if we'd felt it, but we hadn't. Apparently it had just happened during our previous appointment, but neither I nor my companion felt it. It was centered in Rancho Cucamonga, as you mentioned, so we didn't get it, except really lightly.
By the way, could you mail me that poem? I know that you've sent it to me once before, but if you could do it again, I'd sure appreciate it. Thank you!
-------------------
Here is the poem Adrian requested:
Wow, I had no idea that the Kidson's would be looking at the blog, not to mention ever praying for me. Thanks for the update.
Yep, the baptism happened! There was a different baptizer for each of the three people. A member in the ward baptized the father, and Elder Lewis baptized the 10-year old, and I baptized the 8-year old. It was my first performance of a baptism!
By the way, my companion's name is Elder Lewis. And I figured out another way to help you figure out who that is, in case my previous info. didn't help. On the MTC district picture in front of the map that you posted on my blog, the Elder's names go as such, from left to right: Elder Yates, me, Elder Lewis, Elder Stark, Elder Call, Elder Hayter, Elder Rosemann, and Elder Harrison.
Elder Lewis isn't wearing his cast anymore, and he was even able to baptize yesterday (it's his left shoulder), but his left shoulder did hurt when he got out of the water.
Due to his bike accident, we're driving an old Mazda. As we discovered in all the rain we got out here, the right windshield wiper occaisionally pops out of place, and we have to fix it. Sadly, it does not have a GPS. But my bike is still OK. My companion will be wanting a new front tire. Well, it was a little closer to winter for a while. We did get a lot of rain. But it never feels like winter to my companion, who's from Utah, so that influence kind of impedes it. Ironically, if we'd been on bike, we wouldn't have been able to go out, there was so much (rain). However, we'd just happened to have gotten a car. So, sometimes blessings come in strange ways.
And, no, we didn't feel the earthquake. We went over to one family's house and they asked us if we'd felt it, but we hadn't. Apparently it had just happened during our previous appointment, but neither I nor my companion felt it. It was centered in Rancho Cucamonga, as you mentioned, so we didn't get it, except really lightly.
By the way, could you mail me that poem? I know that you've sent it to me once before, but if you could do it again, I'd sure appreciate it. Thank you!
-------------------
Here is the poem Adrian requested:
"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill.
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit."---Author Unknown
Saturday, January 23, 2010
January 18 2010
It has been quite the week and I am good and tired. One event this past week is that my companion had a fall from his bicycle. A truck all of a sudden pulled up in an alley ahead of us. My companion hit the brakes hard, dodged to the left and crashed into the ground. The doctor says he's fine but he needs to let it (arm ? shoulder?) heal and keep his arm in a sling so we've now got a car that we'll use for the next little bit.
But things are going well. The main event is that we're teaching the son of the smoker and his two sons. Their baptismal date is set for the 23rd. It's been an adventure with them but all is well and I think things have calmed down and everything is set for Sunday. Transfers are tomorrow but all of us in our apartment are staying put.
We also dropped by to meet with our recent convert and by so doing had an unplanned member-present lesson and got a new potential investigator. Next letter - hopefully will have news on the baptism!
But things are going well. The main event is that we're teaching the son of the smoker and his two sons. Their baptismal date is set for the 23rd. It's been an adventure with them but all is well and I think things have calmed down and everything is set for Sunday. Transfers are tomorrow but all of us in our apartment are staying put.
We also dropped by to meet with our recent convert and by so doing had an unplanned member-present lesson and got a new potential investigator. Next letter - hopefully will have news on the baptism!
January 4 and 11
January 4 -
New Year's was pretty uneventful for us. Missionaries had to be back in our apratments by 6pm. So we pretty much chilled. My companion was sick this week to the point where we had to stay in one day and make sure to take care of him on other days. I was the only healthy one in the aprtment on New Year's Eve. Elder Lewis and Elder White are both sick and Elder Hernandez had an allergic reaction to the Aspirin in Excedrin and had to be taken to the hospital. He was recovering the rest of the day too. Now he and I are healthy but our compaions are still sick.
We did have one big thing happen that was the major event of the week. That would be that we set a baptismal date with our smoker investigator. We had a really good meeting with him, taught him the second lesson and set the date for February 6th. So that makes three investigators with baptismal goals right now. It is still a challenge to get them to come to church so the dates sometimes have to be pushed back.
Jan 11 -
Well, we had another week of people who promised to come not coming. But on the positive side, one of our investigators (whose mother is a member) wants his children to be baptized. One is 8 and the other 10. If all goes well we could have abaptism of three generations on the same day (the member's husband is the smoker we've been working with). And --- one of our investigators just cam back from Mexico. I like hearing about someone flying to or from Mexico because it means they're legal. Every once in a while, a member or an investigator will get deported.
Today our zone leader sent out a text invite to basketball like "Hoops, Dreams, at the Waterman building at 2:30. Bring your sister's addresses." Guess he is looking for someone to write to him...
Hm...yes, in my recent letters, I mentioned quite a few goals for after my mission. Well, to be optimistic, I plan on having all the time in the world! Oh yes, I suppose there's life, but... pish-posh, who actually wants to progress in life? I'm quite sure I'll enjoy taking a breather and developing talents, but as far as I'm concerned, the mission is enough actual responsibility to last several lifetimes. After coming home, I may just never have any desire to ever leave again :)
New Year's was pretty uneventful for us. Missionaries had to be back in our apratments by 6pm. So we pretty much chilled. My companion was sick this week to the point where we had to stay in one day and make sure to take care of him on other days. I was the only healthy one in the aprtment on New Year's Eve. Elder Lewis and Elder White are both sick and Elder Hernandez had an allergic reaction to the Aspirin in Excedrin and had to be taken to the hospital. He was recovering the rest of the day too. Now he and I are healthy but our compaions are still sick.
We did have one big thing happen that was the major event of the week. That would be that we set a baptismal date with our smoker investigator. We had a really good meeting with him, taught him the second lesson and set the date for February 6th. So that makes three investigators with baptismal goals right now. It is still a challenge to get them to come to church so the dates sometimes have to be pushed back.
Jan 11 -
Well, we had another week of people who promised to come not coming. But on the positive side, one of our investigators (whose mother is a member) wants his children to be baptized. One is 8 and the other 10. If all goes well we could have abaptism of three generations on the same day (the member's husband is the smoker we've been working with). And --- one of our investigators just cam back from Mexico. I like hearing about someone flying to or from Mexico because it means they're legal. Every once in a while, a member or an investigator will get deported.
Today our zone leader sent out a text invite to basketball like "Hoops, Dreams, at the Waterman building at 2:30. Bring your sister's addresses." Guess he is looking for someone to write to him...
Hm...yes, in my recent letters, I mentioned quite a few goals for after my mission. Well, to be optimistic, I plan on having all the time in the world! Oh yes, I suppose there's life, but... pish-posh, who actually wants to progress in life? I'm quite sure I'll enjoy taking a breather and developing talents, but as far as I'm concerned, the mission is enough actual responsibility to last several lifetimes. After coming home, I may just never have any desire to ever leave again :)
Dec 21 and 28
December 21 - Our baptism was yesterday. Elder Lopez came back from his new assignment in Ontario to see it since he and I are the ones who taught her. It was, of course, a great and comforting experience to see. A soul being adde to the kingdom. One of the sisters mentioned in her talk that Heaven was happy, too. I've never been in charge of organizing as much of the baptism before. That was quite an adventure, but an adventure with a good ending. The robe fit, the water was warm, the speakers were there, and so was the bishop, who baptized her.
That was the main event of the week but a very interesting thing happend on Saturday as well. A man came up and talked to us, he had recently moved and was eager to know where the church was. He had attended three times and really loved it. HE especially enjoyed the respect we showed towards God that he hadn't seen anywhere else and considered our church different from any other. In the end, we were able to set a baptismal date goal with him right there in the street.
Investigator / Teaching summary for the week - 1)We had a good lesson last week with an investigator, and this week, by her request, we'll be talking on the subject of baptism.
2)We are also working with a less-active member, whose husband is a non-member. She wants to re-activate, and we're teaching them these days as well.
3)Then we have one who's hard to know what to do with him. He has a bunch of rather strange questions. Such as whether the spirit world is another dimension. But we're working with him as best we can, and trying to help him understand the simple doctrines. Which just happen to be the most important ones.
4)We are still working with an investigator who grew up Catholic but didn't feel fulfilled there. He also had trouble with bad spirits as a child. We're still in the early phases with him.
5)And there is also the smoker. We have an appointment with him tonight. His wife and daughter are members. He has two other children who have left the house.
Dec 28th - This letter is a little interesting to write seeing as this time I just talked with you a couple of days ago. Good news is our newly baptized member was confirmed in church on Sunday. It was a crazy week but sadly, not as many investigators came to Sacrament meeting this week. But to give an update, we now have two investigators with a baptismal date.
Investigator A visited our church three times in another location and in truth he had a testimony before we even met him. He's also going to try and teach his sons and bring them to church.
Investigator B had a rough and not-sovirtuous youth. But he never felt happy. He has been studying the Bible and had fervent prayer. He quit drinking eight years ago and would like to keep on moving toward and learning more of God.
And our recent convert provided a areferral to a relative who is now being taught by other missionaries and has accepted the baptism challenge.
For Christmas dinner we went to the Bishop's house and ate pusole, a type of Mexican soup and some ham. The bishop gave each of us ties as presents (six missionaries). And the Sunday beforehand, the Relief Society made each of us blankets. Mine is really big and I quite enjoy it!
It feels like I should bare my testimony so: The Church is true. I know it to be. Quite honestly and franklyt, it's the only even reasonable church on the face of the earth. The Book of Mormon is true and the restored truths we hae are glorious. There is a God. He does love us. He knew us before we even came here on earth. He has a living prophet on earth today, President Thomas S. Monson. The apostles are men of God. And I close this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
That was the main event of the week but a very interesting thing happend on Saturday as well. A man came up and talked to us, he had recently moved and was eager to know where the church was. He had attended three times and really loved it. HE especially enjoyed the respect we showed towards God that he hadn't seen anywhere else and considered our church different from any other. In the end, we were able to set a baptismal date goal with him right there in the street.
Investigator / Teaching summary for the week - 1)We had a good lesson last week with an investigator, and this week, by her request, we'll be talking on the subject of baptism.
2)We are also working with a less-active member, whose husband is a non-member. She wants to re-activate, and we're teaching them these days as well.
3)Then we have one who's hard to know what to do with him. He has a bunch of rather strange questions. Such as whether the spirit world is another dimension. But we're working with him as best we can, and trying to help him understand the simple doctrines. Which just happen to be the most important ones.
4)We are still working with an investigator who grew up Catholic but didn't feel fulfilled there. He also had trouble with bad spirits as a child. We're still in the early phases with him.
5)And there is also the smoker. We have an appointment with him tonight. His wife and daughter are members. He has two other children who have left the house.
Dec 28th - This letter is a little interesting to write seeing as this time I just talked with you a couple of days ago. Good news is our newly baptized member was confirmed in church on Sunday. It was a crazy week but sadly, not as many investigators came to Sacrament meeting this week. But to give an update, we now have two investigators with a baptismal date.
Investigator A visited our church three times in another location and in truth he had a testimony before we even met him. He's also going to try and teach his sons and bring them to church.
Investigator B had a rough and not-sovirtuous youth. But he never felt happy. He has been studying the Bible and had fervent prayer. He quit drinking eight years ago and would like to keep on moving toward and learning more of God.
And our recent convert provided a areferral to a relative who is now being taught by other missionaries and has accepted the baptism challenge.
For Christmas dinner we went to the Bishop's house and ate pusole, a type of Mexican soup and some ham. The bishop gave each of us ties as presents (six missionaries). And the Sunday beforehand, the Relief Society made each of us blankets. Mine is really big and I quite enjoy it!
It feels like I should bare my testimony so: The Church is true. I know it to be. Quite honestly and franklyt, it's the only even reasonable church on the face of the earth. The Book of Mormon is true and the restored truths we hae are glorious. There is a God. He does love us. He knew us before we even came here on earth. He has a living prophet on earth today, President Thomas S. Monson. The apostles are men of God. And I close this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Dec 7 and 14
Dec 7 - I'd like to explain a missionary term. It is called "Black hole year". That is the calendar year in which you don't see your parents..while on your mission. Hmm... so we didn't have as many investigators in church this week. Two didn't come and another two are now being counted by other Elders since they don't actually live in our area. Gospel Principles / Gospel Essentials Sunday School class was a small group of seven (four of them we found). Since I've been in this area I haven't had any recent convert lessons becuase we don't yet have any recent converts but we should soon. Our investigator baptism was postponed two weeks, but things are looking really good for that date.
Another investigator...is still asking a bunch of questions, including about UFOs... but at least he's providing his own ride to church.
And I got a new companion. He is Elder Lewis from Idaho. We were roommates in the MTC so we're going co-senior now. He did ballroom dance and volleyball and he's a pretty fun character.
To become a Senior Companion there's no lessons to pass off, but in this mission your Spanish has to get pretty good to function as an effective missionary, maybe that's because of the non-memorized lessons.
At the Masonic Lodge, we actually did both preparing and serving. Some meals we prepared to be delivered, but many people actually came to the lodge to get food, and to eat, so we served those people there.
Dec 14 - We visited again with one of our contacts and he wants to take the lessons and quit smoking. He smokes a pack to a pack-and-a-half a day so that's going to be quite a challenge. When we stopped by we also gave a blessing to his daughter because she had been in a car accident (hit from behind at a red light). They were grateful for our coing even though we had biked in the rain to get there and were quite wet.
Also another investigator came with her sic children (four of whom are of baptismal age). She was a referral from a member family in another city. We've been reading the Book of Mormon with them.
Our baptism is coming up soon (on the 20th). Somehow I don't feel prepared to organize it but I will probably get some help from Elder White who is in our apartment.
Things are going great with Elder Lewis. It's a weird sensation, having met him first as not my companion. Kind of like having someone I can actually think of as a friend. It kind of feels less like we're companions, too.
We got to bike in the rain Saturday. That was quite the adventure. Some of the streets were even a little flooded as we rode through. But we had a few good lessons that day.
Well, I sure have plenty of opportunities for spiritual experiences. The light and knowledge we have is amazing, and the Lord is with his church. With such an important work, the burden is also quite heavy in the work of the Lord. Which is why we count on the Lord to fulfill his promises.
Another investigator...is still asking a bunch of questions, including about UFOs... but at least he's providing his own ride to church.
And I got a new companion. He is Elder Lewis from Idaho. We were roommates in the MTC so we're going co-senior now. He did ballroom dance and volleyball and he's a pretty fun character.
To become a Senior Companion there's no lessons to pass off, but in this mission your Spanish has to get pretty good to function as an effective missionary, maybe that's because of the non-memorized lessons.
At the Masonic Lodge, we actually did both preparing and serving. Some meals we prepared to be delivered, but many people actually came to the lodge to get food, and to eat, so we served those people there.
Dec 14 - We visited again with one of our contacts and he wants to take the lessons and quit smoking. He smokes a pack to a pack-and-a-half a day so that's going to be quite a challenge. When we stopped by we also gave a blessing to his daughter because she had been in a car accident (hit from behind at a red light). They were grateful for our coing even though we had biked in the rain to get there and were quite wet.
Also another investigator came with her sic children (four of whom are of baptismal age). She was a referral from a member family in another city. We've been reading the Book of Mormon with them.
Our baptism is coming up soon (on the 20th). Somehow I don't feel prepared to organize it but I will probably get some help from Elder White who is in our apartment.
Things are going great with Elder Lewis. It's a weird sensation, having met him first as not my companion. Kind of like having someone I can actually think of as a friend. It kind of feels less like we're companions, too.
We got to bike in the rain Saturday. That was quite the adventure. Some of the streets were even a little flooded as we rode through. But we had a few good lessons that day.
Well, I sure have plenty of opportunities for spiritual experiences. The light and knowledge we have is amazing, and the Lord is with his church. With such an important work, the burden is also quite heavy in the work of the Lord. Which is why we count on the Lord to fulfill his promises.
Nov 23 and 30
Nov - 23rd - I have some neat new investigators to talk about . We stopped and chatted a couple times with a guy who lives in our apartment complex but recently we were able to hand him over to the English missionaries as an actual investigator. Apparently he is pretty solid. Also, to use our generation's vernacular, "he's a trip, man.". Which means he is somewhat of an interesting fellow as well. Apparently, right after the sacrament prayer finished he said "Praise the Lord!" in the middle of the meeting. Then during the Sunday School class, he was reading in the Gospel Principles book and said something to the effect of "this baptism thing sounds like something I'd like to get in to."
We hav an investigator of our own who is looking for a job. He has come to church twice now. He also has interesting open-minded questions. He was raised Catholic, but has some doubts on Christianity in general. Fortunately, we just happen to have a whole 'nother testament of Jesus Christ to share with him!! We still have another investigator with a baptismal date set for December 6th!
W've been practicing for a musical number. We'll be singing "Silent Night" and "Mary Did You Know". The sun comes down really early these days. Missionaries really lost an hour of sun when the time fell back. Please relay my thanks to Uncle Lee. I got a card from him this past week.
Nov 30th - Yep, we're having some success these days. We had seven investigators at sacrament meeting. Two of them, though, we'll be giving to other missionaries because they're not QUITE in our area.
For Thanksgiving in the morning, we did service at a masonic lodge, putting Thanksgiving meals together for people.
Our investigator may not be quite ready for the December 6th baptismal date but she is giving us referrals to teach other people. She LOVES church and all there is to learn. Transfers are this week and I will be staying and my senior companion will be going to a new area.
We hav an investigator of our own who is looking for a job. He has come to church twice now. He also has interesting open-minded questions. He was raised Catholic, but has some doubts on Christianity in general. Fortunately, we just happen to have a whole 'nother testament of Jesus Christ to share with him!! We still have another investigator with a baptismal date set for December 6th!
W've been practicing for a musical number. We'll be singing "Silent Night" and "Mary Did You Know". The sun comes down really early these days. Missionaries really lost an hour of sun when the time fell back. Please relay my thanks to Uncle Lee. I got a card from him this past week.
Nov 30th - Yep, we're having some success these days. We had seven investigators at sacrament meeting. Two of them, though, we'll be giving to other missionaries because they're not QUITE in our area.
For Thanksgiving in the morning, we did service at a masonic lodge, putting Thanksgiving meals together for people.
Our investigator may not be quite ready for the December 6th baptismal date but she is giving us referrals to teach other people. She LOVES church and all there is to learn. Transfers are this week and I will be staying and my senior companion will be going to a new area.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
