Sent: Mon 12/15/08 12:35 PM
So the floors are all done? Have you done the hearth and everything too? I was able to read his message and that quote stuck out to me as well. I actually read the entire magazine. I think that is the fisrt time i have done that. There was a lot of good stuff in there too. There was an interesting thing about caffeine, that if used too much it can cause serious problems.
I agree with you i think Christmas is way too commercial in nature. I have always thought that. Christmas shouldn't be about the presents and all the decorations but it should simply be about family. A time in the year where family can simply be together. For a few of the families around here that's all that this holiday is for them. A time to spend with the family. They were only able to get a few gifts for their kids but i don't think the kids will even care. They are so close its amazing at how much love they have for each other. We have another member that is quite wealthy but you would never know it because he is extremely humble about it but what impressed me the most about this family is that they are the most charitable family i know. They help support many families in the ward. They lend out their cars like its nothing. They don't think twice about helping other families anyway that they can.
Tell her i said hi and to get better soon.(Former HT) That could not be more true about doing things and following the rules the first time. If he just followed the rules at first he could have been 10 times better than he is now.
Well finding people out here is kinda hard. The towns we cover are so small that almost all of it has already been tracted so its hard to find people who have not already talked to missionaries in the past. We still tract though and we even are starting to get a few contacts.
Love
Zachary
My week has been ok. I was put in charge of my area with a greenie that is greener than i am. I had to plan out the entire day and take charge of the lessons. I really enjoyed it. I was worried at first. i couldn't sleep the night before. Not because i was in charge of the area but because i barely knew my area because as i told you last week i had spent that week in Fairfield and not in Rio Vista. Besides making a lot of U turns it went very well. I actually prefer doing things with people that have been out similar times that i have. I gives me more opportunities to teach. I love teaching. I love finding scriptures and other topics to share with the members. I know you would want an example so i picked one out for you. One of my favorite stories in the New testament is the story about Stephen. Acts 7 i cant think of the verses at the moment but its the end of the chapter. I really like this because its one of the times where it shows that God and Jesus are separate beings for Stephen saw Christ on the right hand side on God. Another thing that i really like about this is his conviction of the things he knows to be true. He was killed for standing up for his beliefs and even though he was being murdered before he passed away he forgave the people he killed him. Its a story that i was not familiar with until i came out but its one of my favorites now.
I can not see attachments so if you can, send pictures in the letter.
I did plant my tree but it has not started to grow yet and we were given a real Christmas tree last Thursday so that's exciting. I wear the shirt quite often but i wish the arms were longer and the body was smaller but i like it a lot. I ate all the nuts already. We have not shown the Christmas movie yet but we have plans to. The BRANCH members feed us very well. They fill every day up. Sorry i just had to express that we are in a branch because i kinda like it. Of the like 3 restaurants we have I have gone to two of them so far. It is wet and cold at the moment. No investigators at the moment. Lets see the only thing i can think of is a calendar other than that I cant think of anything. I will call you I think in the morning of Christmas but i am not sure yet i will let you know next week.
Love
Zachary
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Mon 12/08/08
Mon 12/08/08
I had no idea you had so much work i thought you were just doing Becca's room but you did the laundry room and you got a new washer and dryer and you are going to do the hearth. You have to replace the wood floors? Don't push yourself too hard if you need a break then take one.
You sang Christmas hymns for an hour? Thats awesome. I was able to watch the devotional and it was really amazing. I esp. liked president Monsons talk. At that point i will admit i was starting to fall asleep. I enjoyed the other two talks but i have just been really tired from working but when Monson came on i woke up. What really got me was when he repeated "No Room" over and over. No room for our Savior, what a sad concept. It just made me realize how true it is. Some people just will not let Christ in their life. There are quite a bit of rich people out here and many think they do not need Christ since they have been doing so well just as Monson was talking about. I just hope they realize that all people need Christ that not one single person can make it to the celestial kingdom without him and all of their riches and material goods mean nothing in the end. What matters is the person you are. If you are the person that would allow christ to be born in your house.
Baptisms truly are testimony builders. Last transfer, when i was in woodland, I was able to see a couple of baptisms. When they came out and bore their testimonies it was truly amazing. On the other hand I have see that testimony dim. We went to this one guy who was baptized a year ago and he stopped going to church. The missionary who baptized him came down to see him before he left and it was as if he was re baptized. His energy and his spirit was lifted once more and the very next Sunday he went to church. I don't know if he is still active but its amazing what little reminders can do.
Many people believe that when we knock on their door that we want to convert them. For many missionaries they have this kinda thinking as well. However when i went on splits with one missionary he said something that was so true. "We don't want to take away from your faith or your beliefs we simply want to add to them." When i tracted with him and when he said that to the people almost every single person invited us back. We don't convert the people and converting should not be our goal. Our goal should to simply strengthen or maybe help create their faith in Christ. To convert is a choice they will have to make but if we are able to strengthen their faith in Christ then we have done our jobs.
I love you too.
Zachary
you can send it to the apartment but see if it can be sent on a day where it will not arrive on a Monday because apparently every Monday will be in Fairfield for p-day and we will stay the night because we have district councils every Tuesday morning.
I met a couple of guys who were going to the Ft. worth mission. Thats our area right? Well anyways i met a couple of them when i was in the medical office at the mtc but i don't remember a Phelps and they were both Hispanic or something of that origin so they may be Spanish speaking but im not sure.
As for the karaoke thing, we do not plan on doing it and we dont plan on doing it again. I was just telling you about it because it was so awkward. A 40 year old single guy singing "i believe i can fly" to us. The guy is a lil sensitive and only has a third grade education so we were just afraid to offend him. He has a history of being offended easily. As for the rap. There is a less active who likes making rap beats. So we are simply trying to be friends with him so that he will be comfortable coming to church. We are only rapping about missionary work to. We write the lyrics not him. board games as long as it is done on a p day. We are given several board games for us to play on p days. The mission president seems to be ok with it so idk.
Yeah he mentioned that there was too many nativities. I bet you loved it though. I am not sure what we are singing we have only had one practice and i forgot what songs we sang.
Last week was really crazy i spent almost the entire week in Fairfield i was not too happy with that but we were able to do a lot of amazing work. On Tuesday i was in Fairfield because my companion had to go to a leadership meeting in Santa Rosa. So i was on splits and it was a great day. We committed a person to baptism and we got 10 call backs from tracting. I just wish that it was in my area. Wednesday we went on official splits and we got more call backs tracting and committed another person to baptism. Thursday we did service all day so we helped out with that and we finally went back on Friday but now i am back in Fairfield. I was able to decorate a Christmas tree on Wednesday though so that was awesome their tree was a lot like ours with all the random ornaments it was great.
Love
Zachary
I had no idea you had so much work i thought you were just doing Becca's room but you did the laundry room and you got a new washer and dryer and you are going to do the hearth. You have to replace the wood floors? Don't push yourself too hard if you need a break then take one.
You sang Christmas hymns for an hour? Thats awesome. I was able to watch the devotional and it was really amazing. I esp. liked president Monsons talk. At that point i will admit i was starting to fall asleep. I enjoyed the other two talks but i have just been really tired from working but when Monson came on i woke up. What really got me was when he repeated "No Room" over and over. No room for our Savior, what a sad concept. It just made me realize how true it is. Some people just will not let Christ in their life. There are quite a bit of rich people out here and many think they do not need Christ since they have been doing so well just as Monson was talking about. I just hope they realize that all people need Christ that not one single person can make it to the celestial kingdom without him and all of their riches and material goods mean nothing in the end. What matters is the person you are. If you are the person that would allow christ to be born in your house.
Baptisms truly are testimony builders. Last transfer, when i was in woodland, I was able to see a couple of baptisms. When they came out and bore their testimonies it was truly amazing. On the other hand I have see that testimony dim. We went to this one guy who was baptized a year ago and he stopped going to church. The missionary who baptized him came down to see him before he left and it was as if he was re baptized. His energy and his spirit was lifted once more and the very next Sunday he went to church. I don't know if he is still active but its amazing what little reminders can do.
Many people believe that when we knock on their door that we want to convert them. For many missionaries they have this kinda thinking as well. However when i went on splits with one missionary he said something that was so true. "We don't want to take away from your faith or your beliefs we simply want to add to them." When i tracted with him and when he said that to the people almost every single person invited us back. We don't convert the people and converting should not be our goal. Our goal should to simply strengthen or maybe help create their faith in Christ. To convert is a choice they will have to make but if we are able to strengthen their faith in Christ then we have done our jobs.
I love you too.
Zachary
you can send it to the apartment but see if it can be sent on a day where it will not arrive on a Monday because apparently every Monday will be in Fairfield for p-day and we will stay the night because we have district councils every Tuesday morning.
I met a couple of guys who were going to the Ft. worth mission. Thats our area right? Well anyways i met a couple of them when i was in the medical office at the mtc but i don't remember a Phelps and they were both Hispanic or something of that origin so they may be Spanish speaking but im not sure.
As for the karaoke thing, we do not plan on doing it and we dont plan on doing it again. I was just telling you about it because it was so awkward. A 40 year old single guy singing "i believe i can fly" to us. The guy is a lil sensitive and only has a third grade education so we were just afraid to offend him. He has a history of being offended easily. As for the rap. There is a less active who likes making rap beats. So we are simply trying to be friends with him so that he will be comfortable coming to church. We are only rapping about missionary work to. We write the lyrics not him. board games as long as it is done on a p day. We are given several board games for us to play on p days. The mission president seems to be ok with it so idk.
Yeah he mentioned that there was too many nativities. I bet you loved it though. I am not sure what we are singing we have only had one practice and i forgot what songs we sang.
Last week was really crazy i spent almost the entire week in Fairfield i was not too happy with that but we were able to do a lot of amazing work. On Tuesday i was in Fairfield because my companion had to go to a leadership meeting in Santa Rosa. So i was on splits and it was a great day. We committed a person to baptism and we got 10 call backs from tracting. I just wish that it was in my area. Wednesday we went on official splits and we got more call backs tracting and committed another person to baptism. Thursday we did service all day so we helped out with that and we finally went back on Friday but now i am back in Fairfield. I was able to decorate a Christmas tree on Wednesday though so that was awesome their tree was a lot like ours with all the random ornaments it was great.
Love
Zachary
Mon 12/01/08 8:39 PM
Sent: Mon 12/01/08 8:39 PM
As soon as i fill my card i will send it home but i still have like a hundred pics left on my card so i dont know how long it will take to fill so we shall see.
432 South 2nd St.
Rio Vista, CA 94571
We are living in a duplex just by ourselves so that is pretty cool but i think i preferred to live with a member just because.
Well lets see door contacting is door contacting. Not much luck in it at all and in my new area well the whole area has been tracting out so many times that everyone knows who we are so its a lil difficult to find someone so at the moment we do not have any investigators so its hard to teach. I have not had many referrals at all my last area was too busy with prop 8 and i dont know about this area yet. Church in this area is awesome. Its a Branch you can see the e-mail i sent dad for some but some other things happened at church to. Ok so there is this really awesome family that sat right if front of us well their lil girl was playing with Elder Prescott and started choking her dad, who was passing sacrament, noticed almost immediately and went to help and she eventually thew everything up and then the mom took her out and the dad continued to pass sacrament will throw up all over his hands. Luckily he was on the last row so not that many people touched the tray. Afterwards the same family was playing with the same kid and the kid started trying toMon 12/01/08 8:39 PM color her dads face and eyes and eventually found a place to stick her crayons. His mouth. So he allowed it and she started to laugh and then he would quickly take it out and act like she was eating it and she actually thought he ate them. They did this for awhile and it sure did keep me entertained lol. Then we went to teach a primary class and we only had two kids. One was visiting from my old ward so that was interesting. We basically colored the whole time it was great. So yeah so far i have Done karaoke with a 40 year old man. We sang "A Womans Love". Quite entertaining. We are also working on a rap with a less active so that is also very entertaining. So all in all this is going to be a very fun transfer. My new companion is pretty cool he is from Oklahoma and a big college football fan. Knows his stuff and all in all is pretty cool. For Thanksgiving we went to 3 places for food i was so stuffed it was crazy but i have not laughed so much in one day in a long time lol. I did get my package i will let you know if i like it next time i guess.
love you
Zachary Vigil
Ok so i can not receive attachments for some reason so i cant see any pictures.
ok sounds good o and i did get the package it was weird i got when i came to fairfield and not when i was in woodland or rio vista
Sounds like Becca's room is really coming along. Sounds like you are spending quite a lot of time on it too. I wish i could see the progress. O and i almost had the opportunity to do some tile work out here but i was transferred before i could do it.
To see a chapel go up must be an amazing site. I hope you do get the time to go out and see the progress. Do you know the boundaries for the church yet and if so you probably are not allowed to disclose it to anyone at this time anyways right. But i cant believe how much Saginaw is going to change while im away. I have only been gone a couple a months and already there is many changes happening all around. Within the house as well as the community.
We are in a battle against evil. I can see it all around me. California is in a really big battle right now. Proposition 8 has not gone away. Twice now the majority of the people have voted for traditional marriage and twice now the minority is trying to get it overturned. The evil forces are strong and if this gets overturned once more i fear that they will only get stronger. Not even in politics, we see the love for money all around us. The love for possessions. Like this one family back in Woodland they have ok money but they don't live in a very good place because they desire to have the nice expensive cars. They didn't understand that possessions are not the whole purpose of life. Family should be before cars.
The Y. sounds like fun. Maybe you will turn out to be a lil bit of a challenge when i get back. Since i don't have the means to really exercise well. But like you said that is simple a big IF.
Ok so i am now in Rio Vista and I love it. I am serving in a Branch. We may have about 60 active members and thats it. No one knows how to play the piano so they have one that plays for you. It is quite challenging to follow one of those esp when the guy working it doesn't know how to work it so that was quite entertaining.O and i am also in the choir. Me and elder Prescott make up half of the choir its great.
Lol well i might be the best singer too. Not really but no one really has a good voice and they know it but they don't care its great.
Well Love You
Zachary Vigil
As soon as i fill my card i will send it home but i still have like a hundred pics left on my card so i dont know how long it will take to fill so we shall see.
432 South 2nd St.
Rio Vista, CA 94571
We are living in a duplex just by ourselves so that is pretty cool but i think i preferred to live with a member just because.
Well lets see door contacting is door contacting. Not much luck in it at all and in my new area well the whole area has been tracting out so many times that everyone knows who we are so its a lil difficult to find someone so at the moment we do not have any investigators so its hard to teach. I have not had many referrals at all my last area was too busy with prop 8 and i dont know about this area yet. Church in this area is awesome. Its a Branch you can see the e-mail i sent dad for some but some other things happened at church to. Ok so there is this really awesome family that sat right if front of us well their lil girl was playing with Elder Prescott and started choking her dad, who was passing sacrament, noticed almost immediately and went to help and she eventually thew everything up and then the mom took her out and the dad continued to pass sacrament will throw up all over his hands. Luckily he was on the last row so not that many people touched the tray. Afterwards the same family was playing with the same kid and the kid started trying toMon 12/01/08 8:39 PM color her dads face and eyes and eventually found a place to stick her crayons. His mouth. So he allowed it and she started to laugh and then he would quickly take it out and act like she was eating it and she actually thought he ate them. They did this for awhile and it sure did keep me entertained lol. Then we went to teach a primary class and we only had two kids. One was visiting from my old ward so that was interesting. We basically colored the whole time it was great. So yeah so far i have Done karaoke with a 40 year old man. We sang "A Womans Love". Quite entertaining. We are also working on a rap with a less active so that is also very entertaining. So all in all this is going to be a very fun transfer. My new companion is pretty cool he is from Oklahoma and a big college football fan. Knows his stuff and all in all is pretty cool. For Thanksgiving we went to 3 places for food i was so stuffed it was crazy but i have not laughed so much in one day in a long time lol. I did get my package i will let you know if i like it next time i guess.
love you
Zachary Vigil
Ok so i can not receive attachments for some reason so i cant see any pictures.
ok sounds good o and i did get the package it was weird i got when i came to fairfield and not when i was in woodland or rio vista
Sounds like Becca's room is really coming along. Sounds like you are spending quite a lot of time on it too. I wish i could see the progress. O and i almost had the opportunity to do some tile work out here but i was transferred before i could do it.
To see a chapel go up must be an amazing site. I hope you do get the time to go out and see the progress. Do you know the boundaries for the church yet and if so you probably are not allowed to disclose it to anyone at this time anyways right. But i cant believe how much Saginaw is going to change while im away. I have only been gone a couple a months and already there is many changes happening all around. Within the house as well as the community.
We are in a battle against evil. I can see it all around me. California is in a really big battle right now. Proposition 8 has not gone away. Twice now the majority of the people have voted for traditional marriage and twice now the minority is trying to get it overturned. The evil forces are strong and if this gets overturned once more i fear that they will only get stronger. Not even in politics, we see the love for money all around us. The love for possessions. Like this one family back in Woodland they have ok money but they don't live in a very good place because they desire to have the nice expensive cars. They didn't understand that possessions are not the whole purpose of life. Family should be before cars.
The Y. sounds like fun. Maybe you will turn out to be a lil bit of a challenge when i get back. Since i don't have the means to really exercise well. But like you said that is simple a big IF.
Ok so i am now in Rio Vista and I love it. I am serving in a Branch. We may have about 60 active members and thats it. No one knows how to play the piano so they have one that plays for you. It is quite challenging to follow one of those esp when the guy working it doesn't know how to work it so that was quite entertaining.O and i am also in the choir. Me and elder Prescott make up half of the choir its great.
Lol well i might be the best singer too. Not really but no one really has a good voice and they know it but they don't care its great.
Well Love You
Zachary Vigil
Mon 11/24/08 7:36 PM
Mon 11/24/08 7:36 PM
I have not received the package yet i really hope i get it today because i will no longer be in woodland anymore. I am headed to Rio Vista. My new companion will be Elder Prescott. That's all i know at the moment about my new assignment. My pants are fine i don't think i need any more. One of my shirts has a mystery stain all over it though and i didn't even notice it until after i washed it so the stains are set in. So i know what shirt im gonna be burning now lol. Sorry you were sick for your lesson but it sounds like it went well so it looks like the Lord was with you. Tell everyone i said hi. I will pray for him.
The baptism did not happen he is still in jail and he wont even be out on bail till the first but he cant even be baptized when he is on bail so that kinda sucks. He still has a really strong testimony though and he is always in good spirits. I had the opportunity to visit him in jail and use my minister certificate to see him when no one else could it was great. I also had the chance to go to his hearing that was also interesting. We went with his wife and talked to their lawyer who is to rich for them but he is trying to help out i think. I just hope it all works out for them. I have no idea what my plans are for thanksgiving but ill be sure to thank them for you. That's awesome that you got to see the movie i'm jealous i saw that it was playing at one of the theaters and i was just like darn. But i will be able to see it when i get back so its all good. I have no idea what you can get me for Christmas i would say that im good but i guess that wont fly but i honestly cant think of anything im pretty much set.
Ok so i decided that i am going to take up fencing when i get home :). There is a member in woodland that loves to fence and he was letting us try it out on him. My companion went first and i dont think that he hit the guy even once. So im thinking that he must be really good so i figure i wont be able to hit him either. Well Elder carter is finished and he is all sweating and then its my turn luckily i didn't have to use the same mask as my companion cause that would stink. Anyways i got dressed and started dueling with him and right away he took a strike an i knocked it away and got him it was great. All in all i think i got him as much as he got me. He said that i was a natural and that i should take it up when i get back. It was awesome.
Other than that lets see i did a ton of service this week. I dug post holes. Made raised garden beds and filled them with dirt and top soil. I cut trees down for fire wood. I laid concrete for a patio and yeah it was great. so yeah all in all i had a good week. Teaching investigators is not going so well but we are working a lot with less actives and we got several families to come back to church so that's awesome. Well love you o and i didn't get dads letter.
Zachary Vigil
I have not received the package yet i really hope i get it today because i will no longer be in woodland anymore. I am headed to Rio Vista. My new companion will be Elder Prescott. That's all i know at the moment about my new assignment. My pants are fine i don't think i need any more. One of my shirts has a mystery stain all over it though and i didn't even notice it until after i washed it so the stains are set in. So i know what shirt im gonna be burning now lol. Sorry you were sick for your lesson but it sounds like it went well so it looks like the Lord was with you. Tell everyone i said hi. I will pray for him.
The baptism did not happen he is still in jail and he wont even be out on bail till the first but he cant even be baptized when he is on bail so that kinda sucks. He still has a really strong testimony though and he is always in good spirits. I had the opportunity to visit him in jail and use my minister certificate to see him when no one else could it was great. I also had the chance to go to his hearing that was also interesting. We went with his wife and talked to their lawyer who is to rich for them but he is trying to help out i think. I just hope it all works out for them. I have no idea what my plans are for thanksgiving but ill be sure to thank them for you. That's awesome that you got to see the movie i'm jealous i saw that it was playing at one of the theaters and i was just like darn. But i will be able to see it when i get back so its all good. I have no idea what you can get me for Christmas i would say that im good but i guess that wont fly but i honestly cant think of anything im pretty much set.
Ok so i decided that i am going to take up fencing when i get home :). There is a member in woodland that loves to fence and he was letting us try it out on him. My companion went first and i dont think that he hit the guy even once. So im thinking that he must be really good so i figure i wont be able to hit him either. Well Elder carter is finished and he is all sweating and then its my turn luckily i didn't have to use the same mask as my companion cause that would stink. Anyways i got dressed and started dueling with him and right away he took a strike an i knocked it away and got him it was great. All in all i think i got him as much as he got me. He said that i was a natural and that i should take it up when i get back. It was awesome.
Other than that lets see i did a ton of service this week. I dug post holes. Made raised garden beds and filled them with dirt and top soil. I cut trees down for fire wood. I laid concrete for a patio and yeah it was great. so yeah all in all i had a good week. Teaching investigators is not going so well but we are working a lot with less actives and we got several families to come back to church so that's awesome. Well love you o and i didn't get dads letter.
Zachary Vigil
Mon 11/17/08 1:21 PM
Sent: Mon 11/17/08 1:21 PM
My area is safe from everything. This town is much like Saginaw maybe a tab bigger. Its not that big of a publicity area so its all good. Nothing comes up in tracting. Most of the people in our area were for prop 8 so its all good. Its as if it never happened when we are tracting the only time we hear anything about it is when we talk to the members.
The baptism is this Saturday and as i told dad it may not happen but we are hopeful. My other investigators are as follows. Our top investigator other than the one that is getting baptized is known as a dry Mormon. She does everything right. She goes to church, pays, tithes, read scriptures, prays everything but she is not ready for baptism. She read in a book that a man was truly converted when he say the light of god and that's what she wants. She wants to see the light. The missionaries in this area have been working with her for over a year and a half. We tried to offer her a bap. date but she turned it down. Another guy we are teaching is in a part member family. His wife is a member and he is awesome. He has amazing questions and i think he is leaning to be baptized but they had problems when they were in salt lake and got offended so they are slow to go and join our ward. Then the rest of our investigators are difficult and its hard to tell if they are truly interested or they are just trying to shake our testimonies. I didn't think that being a senior was very hard i just treated it just like any other year lol. I know what you mean though
LOL i don't know i just didn't think it was a big deal i mean i just think that its common sense to wait so yeah. That's awesome she told me about Barnes and nobles but not about the Mormon girl. I got their emails i am glad you are ok and that Becca was there to help you.
I am teaching FHE you can ask Becca about it i wrote her about it and i am also talking about how to recognize the spirit. I am teaching today.i will take some nuts. I love you
Zachary.
The weather here is surprisingly still warm. No need for a jacket at all. I kinda like it. The nights are a killer though. They get really cold and i have to get under three blankets to stay warm but the cold doesn't effect me while i am sleeping i can just feel it when i wake up and it makes me not want to get out of bed but i always do and its really not that bad. I always think its going to worse than it turns out to be. So its all just mental and i am getting over the feeling now.
That's awesome that you were able to go to the dedication i heard about it and thought that it would be a awesome thing to see but we were not given the opportunity to see it but its all good.
The members are really good at retaining new members but baptisms are rare. I told you before that we had a baptism this Saturday but it might not happen now. The guy got arrested and was about to be shipped out somewhere we visited him twice that was interesting. He has such a great spirit and humor at times we would just forget that we were in a prison until we realized that we were talking on phones with glass between us. We weren't even allowed to bring a Bible with we had to take everything and put it in our car. Anyway it turns out that he was arrested unjustly so he is being released but he missed Sunday and he needed to go so we have to talk to our mission president if we can get the ok with the baptism. The thing about him though is that he isn't even in our ward. The only reason we are teaching him is because he does not like sister missionaries. He thinks they are just to social and don't teach much. He loves the gospel and he really has the desire to be baptized so i hope we are able to do so.
My head was healed even before i came to Cal. No fires near me. None that i know of at least. Not in this area fire has not been a problem, well to my knowledge at least. I have not given a talk in my ward.
That's awesome that is an amazing quote.
Love you.
Zachary
My area is safe from everything. This town is much like Saginaw maybe a tab bigger. Its not that big of a publicity area so its all good. Nothing comes up in tracting. Most of the people in our area were for prop 8 so its all good. Its as if it never happened when we are tracting the only time we hear anything about it is when we talk to the members.
The baptism is this Saturday and as i told dad it may not happen but we are hopeful. My other investigators are as follows. Our top investigator other than the one that is getting baptized is known as a dry Mormon. She does everything right. She goes to church, pays, tithes, read scriptures, prays everything but she is not ready for baptism. She read in a book that a man was truly converted when he say the light of god and that's what she wants. She wants to see the light. The missionaries in this area have been working with her for over a year and a half. We tried to offer her a bap. date but she turned it down. Another guy we are teaching is in a part member family. His wife is a member and he is awesome. He has amazing questions and i think he is leaning to be baptized but they had problems when they were in salt lake and got offended so they are slow to go and join our ward. Then the rest of our investigators are difficult and its hard to tell if they are truly interested or they are just trying to shake our testimonies. I didn't think that being a senior was very hard i just treated it just like any other year lol. I know what you mean though
LOL i don't know i just didn't think it was a big deal i mean i just think that its common sense to wait so yeah. That's awesome she told me about Barnes and nobles but not about the Mormon girl. I got their emails i am glad you are ok and that Becca was there to help you.
I am teaching FHE you can ask Becca about it i wrote her about it and i am also talking about how to recognize the spirit. I am teaching today.i will take some nuts. I love you
Zachary.
The weather here is surprisingly still warm. No need for a jacket at all. I kinda like it. The nights are a killer though. They get really cold and i have to get under three blankets to stay warm but the cold doesn't effect me while i am sleeping i can just feel it when i wake up and it makes me not want to get out of bed but i always do and its really not that bad. I always think its going to worse than it turns out to be. So its all just mental and i am getting over the feeling now.
That's awesome that you were able to go to the dedication i heard about it and thought that it would be a awesome thing to see but we were not given the opportunity to see it but its all good.
The members are really good at retaining new members but baptisms are rare. I told you before that we had a baptism this Saturday but it might not happen now. The guy got arrested and was about to be shipped out somewhere we visited him twice that was interesting. He has such a great spirit and humor at times we would just forget that we were in a prison until we realized that we were talking on phones with glass between us. We weren't even allowed to bring a Bible with we had to take everything and put it in our car. Anyway it turns out that he was arrested unjustly so he is being released but he missed Sunday and he needed to go so we have to talk to our mission president if we can get the ok with the baptism. The thing about him though is that he isn't even in our ward. The only reason we are teaching him is because he does not like sister missionaries. He thinks they are just to social and don't teach much. He loves the gospel and he really has the desire to be baptized so i hope we are able to do so.
My head was healed even before i came to Cal. No fires near me. None that i know of at least. Not in this area fire has not been a problem, well to my knowledge at least. I have not given a talk in my ward.
That's awesome that is an amazing quote.
Love you.
Zachary
Mon 11/10/08 8:39 PM
Mon 11/10/08 8:39 PM
This week has really been hectic because of elections. The church is having a lot of problems. At first they were just knocking down, tearing up, and stealing yes on 8 signs. It has only gotten worse. Some people went to fast and testimony meetings and preach how we are crazy for banning gay marriage. Not in our ward though. There has been many protesters at churches and temples. They even blocked the entrance of one of the Temples so no one could enter.
All that is terrible as it is but the worst that they did was make a commercial. It was targeted at the church but specifically at the Missionaries. It starts off with two missionaries knocking at the door of a lesbian couple and they say we are from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints and we are here to take away your rights. They take the wedding rings off the couple and go through their entire house looking for their marriage license. When they find it they rip up and as they walk out the door they say that was easy what rights should we take away next. They played it on several channels on election day including cnn. Its on you tube and i actually got to see it. Its horrible we are hoping that it will just backfire but we have noticed that a lot of the people have hardened their hearts when we have gone tracting but we don't know if it has to do with the commercial or not.
I heard that the catholic church is trying to help us get rid of the commercial or something like that but everyone is blaming the Mormon church for prop 8 passing and no one else, so its rally crazy right now. I hear its really horrible in San Fransisco. Even with the commotion we are still moving forward with the work. We have a baptism on the 22nd and our zone is the number one in baptism for the transfer which is awesome. We were able to give a tour of the church to an investigator. We got a less active to church after many months of work. So even as we are persecuted the work goes on and we are blessed for efforts.
That is great that she is willing to get rid of a lot of stuff and i hope it all goes well with her room tell her that after she makes it she will have to send me a copy of the picture.
Wow that's crazy i don't remember this questionnaire at all. But i remember thinking about that kinda stuff a lot. Except for Hawaii i don't remember that being the one place that I wanted to go, i always thought that it has always been Italy. Oh and i never thought that i considered chicken as my fav food. Or that i disliked sponge bob that much. But wow i like a lot of my answers i never thought i would put a lot of that stuff but i know i believed a lot of that stuff. I really like my answers. I am trying to keep a good journal in the mtc i don't think i recorded anything which i am upset with but so far i have recorded every single day that i have been in woodland. Its amazing how time is flying by. It feels like the mtc was just a couple of days ago but i have been out here longer than the mtc its crazy but i love it. I love serving. I love it all. My companion is doing better too he agrees that time is flying and he says that this has been his fastest transfer because this is the most that he has worked in a transfer so slowly but surely he is improving which helps me to learn and grow and improve as well. Love you.
Elder Zachary Vigil
Mon 11/10/08 8:52 PM
To: marciavigil3648@msn.com
it is pretty bad, but in my area its not that bad at all. Its a small area and most people are for prop 8 so nothing has happened in my area but plenty has happened around us but it sounds like you have heard the worst of it.
What we are experiencing is nothing compared to the olden days or even the days of Joseph. We are at a time and age were the church can stand as one and fight for what we believe in and win. We can take the persecution because they are only throwing stones at our churches and our buildings. The people are the Church, the people are the ones with the strength, its the people that hold strong to their testimonies and while they may throw stones or eggs, or protest against us- our testimonies simply grow because we know for so many people to be against us persecuting us this must be the true church. For Satan to try so hard to break us down, this has to be the true church. The work goes on no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing not even satan.
Thanks for the dates im trying to fill out the info in my journal o and grandpa sent me a check should i just send it to you and should i endorse it? Let me know. I love you. Remind Becca to write me.
Elder Zachary Vigil
This week has really been hectic because of elections. The church is having a lot of problems. At first they were just knocking down, tearing up, and stealing yes on 8 signs. It has only gotten worse. Some people went to fast and testimony meetings and preach how we are crazy for banning gay marriage. Not in our ward though. There has been many protesters at churches and temples. They even blocked the entrance of one of the Temples so no one could enter.
All that is terrible as it is but the worst that they did was make a commercial. It was targeted at the church but specifically at the Missionaries. It starts off with two missionaries knocking at the door of a lesbian couple and they say we are from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints and we are here to take away your rights. They take the wedding rings off the couple and go through their entire house looking for their marriage license. When they find it they rip up and as they walk out the door they say that was easy what rights should we take away next. They played it on several channels on election day including cnn. Its on you tube and i actually got to see it. Its horrible we are hoping that it will just backfire but we have noticed that a lot of the people have hardened their hearts when we have gone tracting but we don't know if it has to do with the commercial or not.
I heard that the catholic church is trying to help us get rid of the commercial or something like that but everyone is blaming the Mormon church for prop 8 passing and no one else, so its rally crazy right now. I hear its really horrible in San Fransisco. Even with the commotion we are still moving forward with the work. We have a baptism on the 22nd and our zone is the number one in baptism for the transfer which is awesome. We were able to give a tour of the church to an investigator. We got a less active to church after many months of work. So even as we are persecuted the work goes on and we are blessed for efforts.
That is great that she is willing to get rid of a lot of stuff and i hope it all goes well with her room tell her that after she makes it she will have to send me a copy of the picture.
Wow that's crazy i don't remember this questionnaire at all. But i remember thinking about that kinda stuff a lot. Except for Hawaii i don't remember that being the one place that I wanted to go, i always thought that it has always been Italy. Oh and i never thought that i considered chicken as my fav food. Or that i disliked sponge bob that much. But wow i like a lot of my answers i never thought i would put a lot of that stuff but i know i believed a lot of that stuff. I really like my answers. I am trying to keep a good journal in the mtc i don't think i recorded anything which i am upset with but so far i have recorded every single day that i have been in woodland. Its amazing how time is flying by. It feels like the mtc was just a couple of days ago but i have been out here longer than the mtc its crazy but i love it. I love serving. I love it all. My companion is doing better too he agrees that time is flying and he says that this has been his fastest transfer because this is the most that he has worked in a transfer so slowly but surely he is improving which helps me to learn and grow and improve as well. Love you.
Elder Zachary Vigil
Mon 11/10/08 8:52 PM
To: marciavigil3648@msn.com
it is pretty bad, but in my area its not that bad at all. Its a small area and most people are for prop 8 so nothing has happened in my area but plenty has happened around us but it sounds like you have heard the worst of it.
What we are experiencing is nothing compared to the olden days or even the days of Joseph. We are at a time and age were the church can stand as one and fight for what we believe in and win. We can take the persecution because they are only throwing stones at our churches and our buildings. The people are the Church, the people are the ones with the strength, its the people that hold strong to their testimonies and while they may throw stones or eggs, or protest against us- our testimonies simply grow because we know for so many people to be against us persecuting us this must be the true church. For Satan to try so hard to break us down, this has to be the true church. The work goes on no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing not even satan.
Thanks for the dates im trying to fill out the info in my journal o and grandpa sent me a check should i just send it to you and should i endorse it? Let me know. I love you. Remind Becca to write me.
Elder Zachary Vigil
Mon 11/03/08 12:45 PM
Sent: Mon 11/03/08 12:45 PM
Wow sounds like Becca's room is going to be really creative. Please don't push yourself too hard if you need a break take it don't keep going.
I don't even remember the days that Bro. Killingsworth was my leader and i don't remember the questionnaire so im interested in seeing what i put. Whether it was good interesting or strange interesting or just what i put.
I was going to ask you about Sunday. Did the bishop in the ward you were in say the closing prayer?
Its amazing to see how just testing out the principles of the gospel affect your life. My companion had told a story about how he use to be. He would basically do whatever he wanted and didn't always follow the rules. Well one day one of his companions challenged him to be obedient and promised that if he was obedient that they would get two baptisms. My companion was like whatever but he tried it out and later that week they tracted into a golden couple and 3 weeks later they were baptized. It sounds like my companion has come a long way and he has become much better than he was its hard to work with him at times. I am trying to be patient though.
We have two people right now that are close to baptism so thats exciting. I cant wait to see how it goes.
We tracted for 5 hours in the rain it was actually kinda fun. I enjoyed it. The people are so much nicer when it is raining. We actually ran into a very nice lady and she let us in gave us candy and we talked for an hour. It was great but later on we ran into this christian that just wanted to tell us how horrible our church is and he just basically bashed on our church. We didn't say one harsh word against his church but i accidentally laughed at him for some of the things he said i didn't mean to it just came out. I guess that means that my testimony can not be shaken. In the end he wouldn't even bother saying goodbye because he said that he wouldn't because we were false prophets and of the devil that kinda made me mad but i got over it. The members feed us every night so far i have only made one dinner for myself other than that i eat cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I ride often but now that it rained we either walk or take the car cause on bike our shirts just get dirty. The members are great but at the moment they are all really busy with proposition 8 so they are going door to door and calling people about it and we even have to leave dinner early at times because they are busy with it. They are really dedicated with it. Imagine if they were that dedicated with missionary work.
Love,
Elder Vigil
We are really only teaching two investigators and they are both really close to baptism so that's good. Fairfield is not that far from us I actually know some elders from Fairfield.Tell Becca i want to hear from her. The Larsen's are an older couple all their kids are out of the house and a lot of people have apartments they are just trying to get most of the missionaries in with members because it is cheaper. I hear from Sierra if that's what you mean by UTZ? You can send parts of the email i don't mind. That's pretty awesome about Aaron sounds like he has come a long way. I have a few questions. I want to know the dates of when i was blessed, baptised, ordained as a deacon, teacher, priest, i got my endowments, interviewed by bishop and president Hadley for my mission, when i received my call, and when it was announced. I was born in fort worth right? Hurst stake right? When did it change to Saginaw ward and what was it before? I have such a bad memory. Well i love you.
Elder Zachary Vigil.
Wow sounds like Becca's room is going to be really creative. Please don't push yourself too hard if you need a break take it don't keep going.
I don't even remember the days that Bro. Killingsworth was my leader and i don't remember the questionnaire so im interested in seeing what i put. Whether it was good interesting or strange interesting or just what i put.
I was going to ask you about Sunday. Did the bishop in the ward you were in say the closing prayer?
Its amazing to see how just testing out the principles of the gospel affect your life. My companion had told a story about how he use to be. He would basically do whatever he wanted and didn't always follow the rules. Well one day one of his companions challenged him to be obedient and promised that if he was obedient that they would get two baptisms. My companion was like whatever but he tried it out and later that week they tracted into a golden couple and 3 weeks later they were baptized. It sounds like my companion has come a long way and he has become much better than he was its hard to work with him at times. I am trying to be patient though.
We have two people right now that are close to baptism so thats exciting. I cant wait to see how it goes.
We tracted for 5 hours in the rain it was actually kinda fun. I enjoyed it. The people are so much nicer when it is raining. We actually ran into a very nice lady and she let us in gave us candy and we talked for an hour. It was great but later on we ran into this christian that just wanted to tell us how horrible our church is and he just basically bashed on our church. We didn't say one harsh word against his church but i accidentally laughed at him for some of the things he said i didn't mean to it just came out. I guess that means that my testimony can not be shaken. In the end he wouldn't even bother saying goodbye because he said that he wouldn't because we were false prophets and of the devil that kinda made me mad but i got over it. The members feed us every night so far i have only made one dinner for myself other than that i eat cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I ride often but now that it rained we either walk or take the car cause on bike our shirts just get dirty. The members are great but at the moment they are all really busy with proposition 8 so they are going door to door and calling people about it and we even have to leave dinner early at times because they are busy with it. They are really dedicated with it. Imagine if they were that dedicated with missionary work.
Love,
Elder Vigil
We are really only teaching two investigators and they are both really close to baptism so that's good. Fairfield is not that far from us I actually know some elders from Fairfield.Tell Becca i want to hear from her. The Larsen's are an older couple all their kids are out of the house and a lot of people have apartments they are just trying to get most of the missionaries in with members because it is cheaper. I hear from Sierra if that's what you mean by UTZ? You can send parts of the email i don't mind. That's pretty awesome about Aaron sounds like he has come a long way. I have a few questions. I want to know the dates of when i was blessed, baptised, ordained as a deacon, teacher, priest, i got my endowments, interviewed by bishop and president Hadley for my mission, when i received my call, and when it was announced. I was born in fort worth right? Hurst stake right? When did it change to Saginaw ward and what was it before? I have such a bad memory. Well i love you.
Elder Zachary Vigil.
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