Elder Stiles and Elder Draper Entertaining Themselves with Bubbles
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Scotts Address May Change Dec 2
Hey everyone, Scotts Address may change next Tuesday December 2 as it is transfers. My expectation is that he will stay in the same place though. So if you are sending him a birthday card or letter, please wait till Tuesday December 2 when I get his new address and just use his new address. Thanks!
Another Great Week!
ANOTHER GREAT WEEK!!! You know what? This is what it is all about! I mentioned in my prior email that we had a former investigator ask to talk to us named Maricela. She is a teenager (16) and has read the whole Book of Mormon cover to cover. In our first lesson back with her we asked her about baptism and she shot straight from the hip and told us what was up… So we talked her through her concerns (mostly that it would make her different from her friends and that they would make fun of her) using the Book of Mormon. So I just straight asked her "Do you know that baptism is the right thing to do?". Her response was "yes". I followed up with "When are you going to do it?" She kinda started to delay the response so I said "how about December 27th?" She responded that that was too far away and we settle on Dec. 13th. She called us the next day and told us how the 13th wouldn’t work but the 6th would! She is ready! She loves church, and she is living pretty much all of the commandments. We have permission from the mother to baptize her so everything is a go. She was way sick yesterday (like many) so she did not make it to church, but we are going to have a good talk about the importance of Sunday attendance.
Another one of our investigators Maria (the mother-in-law of a recent convert) is doing well and loves reading but works on Sundays… Its only 18 hours per week/$140 so we are confident that the lord will bless us and she will have another job by the end of the week! She is incredible. She also told us that she wants us to start talking to her daughter (the wife of Mario the recent convert) and Mario told us that she is basically ready for baptism as well and he wants us to start talking to his teenage kids!!!! WOW!!! It’s a whole family tree!!!
Oh yeah, we also found some new people this week, one is Jorge, he is 14 and the friend of a member. We stopped by the members house (they are unenthusiastically active and there is no hometeaching program so we do the home teaching more or less.) so we stopped by and Jorge was there. My companion had talked to him before and said the he had been way way cool before and told us to stop by when his mom was home. So we came into the members house (I think that he is dating the 13 year old girl) and there was Jorge he seemed surprisingly excited to see us! We talked with him and taught a short lesson and right before the lesson, the Grandmother of his girlfriend started rubbing his buzzed head... The women proceeded to pet the kids head throughout the whole 15 minute lesson... I was fighting back laughter pretty much the whole time for this poor poor kid who might have had received two of the most awkward things ever 1. Talking to Mormon missionaries 2. Having your girl friends grandmother pet you like a dog! HAHA! But the kid told us he wanted to go to church and learn more about god. The grandmother called his mom and got permission and he went to church and really enjoyed it! (14 year old that likes church...weird?!) so we are going to be talking to his mother on Wednesday! Sweet Huh?! I figure any kid who can endure his girl friend’s grandmother petting him while the Mormon missionaries talk to him would have definitely endured just about anything the pioneers went through!
Soooo Basically life is incredible! I am Loving life!
P.S. the guy next to me in the computer lab here at the library is on WWE.com.... I love Ohio... Haha!!!
Love you all, Elder Stiles
Another one of our investigators Maria (the mother-in-law of a recent convert) is doing well and loves reading but works on Sundays… Its only 18 hours per week/$140 so we are confident that the lord will bless us and she will have another job by the end of the week! She is incredible. She also told us that she wants us to start talking to her daughter (the wife of Mario the recent convert) and Mario told us that she is basically ready for baptism as well and he wants us to start talking to his teenage kids!!!! WOW!!! It’s a whole family tree!!!
Oh yeah, we also found some new people this week, one is Jorge, he is 14 and the friend of a member. We stopped by the members house (they are unenthusiastically active and there is no hometeaching program so we do the home teaching more or less.) so we stopped by and Jorge was there. My companion had talked to him before and said the he had been way way cool before and told us to stop by when his mom was home. So we came into the members house (I think that he is dating the 13 year old girl) and there was Jorge he seemed surprisingly excited to see us! We talked with him and taught a short lesson and right before the lesson, the Grandmother of his girlfriend started rubbing his buzzed head... The women proceeded to pet the kids head throughout the whole 15 minute lesson... I was fighting back laughter pretty much the whole time for this poor poor kid who might have had received two of the most awkward things ever 1. Talking to Mormon missionaries 2. Having your girl friends grandmother pet you like a dog! HAHA! But the kid told us he wanted to go to church and learn more about god. The grandmother called his mom and got permission and he went to church and really enjoyed it! (14 year old that likes church...weird?!) so we are going to be talking to his mother on Wednesday! Sweet Huh?! I figure any kid who can endure his girl friend’s grandmother petting him while the Mormon missionaries talk to him would have definitely endured just about anything the pioneers went through!
Soooo Basically life is incredible! I am Loving life!
P.S. the guy next to me in the computer lab here at the library is on WWE.com.... I love Ohio... Haha!!!
Love you all, Elder Stiles
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Jocko's World Famous Chicken
Dear Nana,
How’s it going Nana? My life is going quite well! Mostly working and sleeping and laughing. My companion and I am currently in a bike area that is basically the picture of Ohio. The city is called Hamilton and it has a very cool little downtown area with big restored buildings and statues that overlook the Miami River.
My companions name is Elder Draper and we are two peas in a pod. He loves sports and is really funny too so we don’t ever have a dull moment. His was actually attending the good ole Utah State and is a huge Utah State fan so he appreciated that my grandfather, Poppy, played basketball there. Anyways the downtown area is cool and the other parts are kind of rougher but I like it like that because we get to meet more interesting people!
Another great thing about Hamilton is that they have something famous here. It is Jocko’s World Famous Chicken! I am sure you have heard of it before because it is WORLD FAMOUS!! Well anyways, I attended this venue of finer dining and I do not fully comprehend why it is sooo famous considering that it is not nearly as good as the slightly more World Famous KFC! But I had to a least try it once, right?
Anyways, life is good! I love what I do. I feel like Spanish is starting to soak in, so that is good! Thanks for the little e-mail right after Brent’s wedding it made me happy to hear.
I love you Nana, and hope everything is going well! Keep me updated.
Love, Elder Scott Stiles
How’s it going Nana? My life is going quite well! Mostly working and sleeping and laughing. My companion and I am currently in a bike area that is basically the picture of Ohio. The city is called Hamilton and it has a very cool little downtown area with big restored buildings and statues that overlook the Miami River.
My companions name is Elder Draper and we are two peas in a pod. He loves sports and is really funny too so we don’t ever have a dull moment. His was actually attending the good ole Utah State and is a huge Utah State fan so he appreciated that my grandfather, Poppy, played basketball there. Anyways the downtown area is cool and the other parts are kind of rougher but I like it like that because we get to meet more interesting people!
Another great thing about Hamilton is that they have something famous here. It is Jocko’s World Famous Chicken! I am sure you have heard of it before because it is WORLD FAMOUS!! Well anyways, I attended this venue of finer dining and I do not fully comprehend why it is sooo famous considering that it is not nearly as good as the slightly more World Famous KFC! But I had to a least try it once, right?
Anyways, life is good! I love what I do. I feel like Spanish is starting to soak in, so that is good! Thanks for the little e-mail right after Brent’s wedding it made me happy to hear.
I love you Nana, and hope everything is going well! Keep me updated.
Love, Elder Scott Stiles
Monday, November 17, 2008
I love misionary work!
I am LOVING Life!!! We are seeing Miracles… We are expecting them and working for them and they are coming to pass!
We went to a recent converts house and talked to his mother-in-law at the door, we were aware she had been interested in the church but Mario the recent convert had kind of said "she will call you". So she answered the door and we asked for Mario(the recent convert) and then I just asked her "when can we meet with you" she started crying at the door. It was way cool! We went back 2 days later and taught her, she opened up to us, told us about her concerns in life, we intended to teach the 1st lesson but on the spot my companion changed to the 3rd. We taught a powerful lesson guided by the scriptures… We all shed a few tears in that spirit filled lesson. She asked "what’s the next step? I just want to start fresh!". That is when my companion offered her a baptismal date of December 20th. She accepted… She said she felt like the burden she had been carrying was lifted from her shoulders. It was the coolest experience of my mission. That is why I am a missionary! She told us she wanted to meet with us this morning (p-day) and we agreed so we have an appointment in a little while.
ALSO: We had former investigator (Maricella) ask to talk to us again. She is 16 and has read the whole Book of Mormon. She is the sister of Belen who is slightly less interested. Maricella was comfortable talking about baptism and went to church and loved it!!! We plan on setting a baptismal date with her this week. That will mean we will have set 4 baptismal dates in 3 weeks. The gospel is true! I love missionary work. Miracles happen! This week we also had to give up two of our favorite investigators, Debbie who has a baptismal date for the 20th of December, and the Famous Jeff! But do not worry because we took the pleasure of singing Karaoke with Jeff before we gave him to the English Elders. Jeff was sad to see us go and even told my companion he was sorry for making fun of him so much. He said the closing prayer and said how grateful he was for us and what we had done for him. He is a really good hearted person and really funny... Terrible singer... But good person. Apparently at the Karaoke bar that he goes to "its a country bar" when he goes on stage they play the OOMPa Loompa song from Willy Wonka.... I was dying trying to hold back laughter... I will take a picture with him soon and send it to you guys.
We also randomly ran into another former investigator that had a baptismal date in the past. Her name is Paola and she seemed interested in talking to us again. So overall this week was sweet! Not quite as funny as other weeks but way good and way spiritual!
Oh yeah, we also taught a lady that we might have saved her life... We were in this apt complex a couple weeks back when this guy told us "I don’t want to talk to you I am not interested" (without us saying anything). He did not appear to be the most intelligent person and so we said ok and kept on walking. 15 minutes later when we were leaving he asked us for help. He told us he "thinks something is wrong with his neighbor". We went in to look at her and she fell flat on her head from her knees. HE asked "you think I should call the paramedics?" I answered "yes" and we went over and kinda pinned her down because she kept on trying to stand up and falling on her head. She was unresponsive to anything. The paramedics came and we left. We came back last week and she said she had had a seizure and how grateful she was that we were there. It was a way, way powerful first lesson and she is going to read and we will meet with her again this Friday (she had tons of appointments to figure out why she seizured). She explained that she felt like we had saved her life and how grateful she was for that. And judging by the overall competency of her neighbor, I would not have been surprised if he wouldn’t have called the paramedics... SOO LIFE IS SWEET!
I love you all, Take care,
Love Elder Stiles
We went to a recent converts house and talked to his mother-in-law at the door, we were aware she had been interested in the church but Mario the recent convert had kind of said "she will call you". So she answered the door and we asked for Mario(the recent convert) and then I just asked her "when can we meet with you" she started crying at the door. It was way cool! We went back 2 days later and taught her, she opened up to us, told us about her concerns in life, we intended to teach the 1st lesson but on the spot my companion changed to the 3rd. We taught a powerful lesson guided by the scriptures… We all shed a few tears in that spirit filled lesson. She asked "what’s the next step? I just want to start fresh!". That is when my companion offered her a baptismal date of December 20th. She accepted… She said she felt like the burden she had been carrying was lifted from her shoulders. It was the coolest experience of my mission. That is why I am a missionary! She told us she wanted to meet with us this morning (p-day) and we agreed so we have an appointment in a little while.
ALSO: We had former investigator (Maricella) ask to talk to us again. She is 16 and has read the whole Book of Mormon. She is the sister of Belen who is slightly less interested. Maricella was comfortable talking about baptism and went to church and loved it!!! We plan on setting a baptismal date with her this week. That will mean we will have set 4 baptismal dates in 3 weeks. The gospel is true! I love missionary work. Miracles happen! This week we also had to give up two of our favorite investigators, Debbie who has a baptismal date for the 20th of December, and the Famous Jeff! But do not worry because we took the pleasure of singing Karaoke with Jeff before we gave him to the English Elders. Jeff was sad to see us go and even told my companion he was sorry for making fun of him so much. He said the closing prayer and said how grateful he was for us and what we had done for him. He is a really good hearted person and really funny... Terrible singer... But good person. Apparently at the Karaoke bar that he goes to "its a country bar" when he goes on stage they play the OOMPa Loompa song from Willy Wonka.... I was dying trying to hold back laughter... I will take a picture with him soon and send it to you guys.
We also randomly ran into another former investigator that had a baptismal date in the past. Her name is Paola and she seemed interested in talking to us again. So overall this week was sweet! Not quite as funny as other weeks but way good and way spiritual!
Oh yeah, we also taught a lady that we might have saved her life... We were in this apt complex a couple weeks back when this guy told us "I don’t want to talk to you I am not interested" (without us saying anything). He did not appear to be the most intelligent person and so we said ok and kept on walking. 15 minutes later when we were leaving he asked us for help. He told us he "thinks something is wrong with his neighbor". We went in to look at her and she fell flat on her head from her knees. HE asked "you think I should call the paramedics?" I answered "yes" and we went over and kinda pinned her down because she kept on trying to stand up and falling on her head. She was unresponsive to anything. The paramedics came and we left. We came back last week and she said she had had a seizure and how grateful she was that we were there. It was a way, way powerful first lesson and she is going to read and we will meet with her again this Friday (she had tons of appointments to figure out why she seizured). She explained that she felt like we had saved her life and how grateful she was for that. And judging by the overall competency of her neighbor, I would not have been surprised if he wouldn’t have called the paramedics... SOO LIFE IS SWEET!
I love you all, Take care,
Love Elder Stiles
7'2 4 toed man
Howdy! life is good! We saw some GREAT progress this week with two investigators! We actually set a baptismal date with Louis for the 13th of Dec. Now we just need to get him and Heather to live separate or get married. He is such a good guy and so enthusiastic about the gospel I love it. We also saw great progress with Debbie, she is the cousin of Gina(whose sister was murdered a couple weeks back). And the death really caused her to think. Debbie's mom also passed away about a year back and she was very Baptist, and Debbie said she just never believed what they were teaching was right, so we taught her the Plan of Happiness and she loved it and taught her the third lesson (the teachings of Jesus Christ) and I just asked her what she needed to do to live his teachings. We set a date for the 20th of December because she wants to learn more. We have only taught her a few times but she is way smart and really likes what we teach!
I also had the pleasure of attending a 15eria for someone in the Spanish branch (it was at the church and the Branch President wants the missionaries at all the activities in the church to regulate more or less)... Probably the most awkward thing that I have attended in my life. It consisted of two 20 minute dance routines with lots of technical difficulties and non stake dance approved dance moves and music. I suppose my favorite part of it was when the song "your beautiful" by James Blunt was singing and the 3 guys that she was doing her dance with had a dance move where they would point at her and then move there hands so they were not pointing at her anymore... It was like there was a force field of womanhood around her and it could not be pierced by the pointing fingers... Funny stuff. But way awkward because it was in the church and the music was unedited... I still cannot figure out why 15 is such a big age... I was thinking we should start them in the US of A and make them for like 20 or 22, make it an age that I have not passed so I can celebrate one too... Maybe 22 because I really want to choreograph a sweet dance for everyone to awkwardly watch...
OK... I have heard of lots of missionaries teaching loony people but I think I take the cake! This week I taught a man Allen Lee he is 7'2'' with 4 toes... Total(on both feet)!!! I was trying to think of the percentage of the world population that fits into this type of category (7'2'' with 4 toes) but I have determined that it has to be extremely low... Overall I have never taught a lesson to anyone with less interest so we made it short and didn’t waste our time but in our short conversation he said some pretty funny things. We started the lesson with him telling us how his daughter was a seer because she could see ghosts. Then he explained "I tricked her because I put dream catchers on all the windows of the house and told her that that would catch the spirits as well. She did not even know that dream catchers only protect us from bad dreams and have nothing to do with the spirits (in a very proud voice). I was thinking the whole time, Good JOB AL!!! Tricked your 9 year old, how about that?! Near the end we were polite and asked if he wanted to hear more and his response was "Oh sure, you guys are nice, I think you could come back in about a month. I just cant stand those people on the bikes..." A month? ! haha I could not hold back laughter my companion explained that we were the ones on the bikes and he said he liked us it was the others on the bikes that he did not like! haha Overall just uncomfortable!
So basically It was a REALLY good week! Had interviews with President Robbins too and they went well. It is starting to get Bitter cold... Like it is 40 but it feels like it is 10.... Humidity is not my favorite thing. I love missionary work! Elder Draper and I are having a blast and working our tails off and the Blessings are coming! I love it!
Love you all,
Elder Scott Stiles
I also had the pleasure of attending a 15eria for someone in the Spanish branch (it was at the church and the Branch President wants the missionaries at all the activities in the church to regulate more or less)... Probably the most awkward thing that I have attended in my life. It consisted of two 20 minute dance routines with lots of technical difficulties and non stake dance approved dance moves and music. I suppose my favorite part of it was when the song "your beautiful" by James Blunt was singing and the 3 guys that she was doing her dance with had a dance move where they would point at her and then move there hands so they were not pointing at her anymore... It was like there was a force field of womanhood around her and it could not be pierced by the pointing fingers... Funny stuff. But way awkward because it was in the church and the music was unedited... I still cannot figure out why 15 is such a big age... I was thinking we should start them in the US of A and make them for like 20 or 22, make it an age that I have not passed so I can celebrate one too... Maybe 22 because I really want to choreograph a sweet dance for everyone to awkwardly watch...
OK... I have heard of lots of missionaries teaching loony people but I think I take the cake! This week I taught a man Allen Lee he is 7'2'' with 4 toes... Total(on both feet)!!! I was trying to think of the percentage of the world population that fits into this type of category (7'2'' with 4 toes) but I have determined that it has to be extremely low... Overall I have never taught a lesson to anyone with less interest so we made it short and didn’t waste our time but in our short conversation he said some pretty funny things. We started the lesson with him telling us how his daughter was a seer because she could see ghosts. Then he explained "I tricked her because I put dream catchers on all the windows of the house and told her that that would catch the spirits as well. She did not even know that dream catchers only protect us from bad dreams and have nothing to do with the spirits (in a very proud voice). I was thinking the whole time, Good JOB AL!!! Tricked your 9 year old, how about that?! Near the end we were polite and asked if he wanted to hear more and his response was "Oh sure, you guys are nice, I think you could come back in about a month. I just cant stand those people on the bikes..." A month? ! haha I could not hold back laughter my companion explained that we were the ones on the bikes and he said he liked us it was the others on the bikes that he did not like! haha Overall just uncomfortable!
So basically It was a REALLY good week! Had interviews with President Robbins too and they went well. It is starting to get Bitter cold... Like it is 40 but it feels like it is 10.... Humidity is not my favorite thing. I love missionary work! Elder Draper and I are having a blast and working our tails off and the Blessings are coming! I love it!
Love you all,
Elder Scott Stiles
Monday, November 3, 2008
Free Burrito Day @ Chipotle
How's it going everyone! Life here is good. Had a pretty good week, Capped by a visit to Chipotle for a free burrito while repping a tin foil headband. The free burrito costume event did not start till six but I was uninformed and so on the way home from a doctor’s appointment for my diabetic companion we stopped by and tried (not knowing that it did not start till six). But they gave me one anyways cause I was wearing it on my head!
In other good news when we arrived at home I had the tinfoil box in my hand and Crazy Bill Price (yes the C in Crazy is capitalized, because as far as I am concerned it is a part of his name). And Bill asked me what it was for and I explained to him it was for hats... I offered him one and he gladly accepted.... I wrapped the tin foil around his head and asked him if he wanted a glove... Of Course Bill Price wanted a tin foil Glove! So we explained that we had to go and he walked away with a tin foil hat and tin foil glove.... Like he had just won the lottery -for free Halloween costumes.
Church was really good this week! We randomly had a member of the 70 show up Elder Chipman is his name and he showed up and shared his testimony on how the lord will bless us if we are doing what is right. We had two visitors at church as well Louis and Jeff. Jeff hated it because there were babies crying, but loved what people said (not the most patient man but he agrees with everything) we are going to have the English elders work with him because they can better address his needs. And Luis went to the Spanish branch and loved it! HE is way cool he loved all three hours and participated and everything! So Cool!
We also had the ward Halloween party. It was pretty good, there was a black guy who went with his son who has a friend who is a member of the Spanish branch. The guy did not speak a lick of Spanish but I went and talked to him. It was while talking to him that I realized that I think people open up way, way to easy to us missionaries.... I mean I am all for sharing emotions and thoughts but the dude told me his whole life story and probably spent a good 30 minutes describing how he dealt drugs... (ps. this took place in the church gym). Beyond that we had two people this week explain to us their love lives and one warned my companion of how Diabetes gave him ED.... SO, SO FUNNY! I had to turn my head and bite my tongue.
In Horrible news one of our investigators (Gina) sister was murdered last week. She was murdered here in Hamilton at like 3AM last Sunday morning (the last Sunday of October). It was a brutal murder and we had actually talked to her sister (the one who was killed) a few times and we ride by the alley where she was murdered every day (about a half mile from our house but don’t worry cause it is not dangerous during the day). It was way sad because she was trying to turn her life around but just was hanging out with losers. They have no suspects. So if you all could please pray for their family. Her Name was Alyssa Morris-Traylor. Gina has asked to talk to us more and is very interested in The Plan of Happiness and has been reading The Book of Mormon. We explained it and she understood it better than ever before! I think she will start to progress when she gets a regular work schedule.
Alright Everyone... I am Doing GREAT... Loving life and working hard. I love you all and everything that you all do for me!
Love, Elder Scott Stiles
In other good news when we arrived at home I had the tinfoil box in my hand and Crazy Bill Price (yes the C in Crazy is capitalized, because as far as I am concerned it is a part of his name). And Bill asked me what it was for and I explained to him it was for hats... I offered him one and he gladly accepted.... I wrapped the tin foil around his head and asked him if he wanted a glove... Of Course Bill Price wanted a tin foil Glove! So we explained that we had to go and he walked away with a tin foil hat and tin foil glove.... Like he had just won the lottery -for free Halloween costumes.
Church was really good this week! We randomly had a member of the 70 show up Elder Chipman is his name and he showed up and shared his testimony on how the lord will bless us if we are doing what is right. We had two visitors at church as well Louis and Jeff. Jeff hated it because there were babies crying, but loved what people said (not the most patient man but he agrees with everything) we are going to have the English elders work with him because they can better address his needs. And Luis went to the Spanish branch and loved it! HE is way cool he loved all three hours and participated and everything! So Cool!
We also had the ward Halloween party. It was pretty good, there was a black guy who went with his son who has a friend who is a member of the Spanish branch. The guy did not speak a lick of Spanish but I went and talked to him. It was while talking to him that I realized that I think people open up way, way to easy to us missionaries.... I mean I am all for sharing emotions and thoughts but the dude told me his whole life story and probably spent a good 30 minutes describing how he dealt drugs... (ps. this took place in the church gym). Beyond that we had two people this week explain to us their love lives and one warned my companion of how Diabetes gave him ED.... SO, SO FUNNY! I had to turn my head and bite my tongue.
In Horrible news one of our investigators (Gina) sister was murdered last week. She was murdered here in Hamilton at like 3AM last Sunday morning (the last Sunday of October). It was a brutal murder and we had actually talked to her sister (the one who was killed) a few times and we ride by the alley where she was murdered every day (about a half mile from our house but don’t worry cause it is not dangerous during the day). It was way sad because she was trying to turn her life around but just was hanging out with losers. They have no suspects. So if you all could please pray for their family. Her Name was Alyssa Morris-Traylor. Gina has asked to talk to us more and is very interested in The Plan of Happiness and has been reading The Book of Mormon. We explained it and she understood it better than ever before! I think she will start to progress when she gets a regular work schedule.
Alright Everyone... I am Doing GREAT... Loving life and working hard. I love you all and everything that you all do for me!
Love, Elder Scott Stiles
"Attacking the Spanish Language!"
Hey.
Transfers came... and went... and they left me and Elder Draper here. Soooo, that is Grand!!! We are doing well and had our first FULL week of work without crazy things happening. It was great. We found a few new people and they are looking really good! Jeff (from last week) is doing incredible! He is seriously probably the smartest person that I have taught on my mission. We teach him a principle then he says "let me see if I am understanding this right" then explains the principle back to us usually with some sort of analogy. So cool! He looks exactly like George Castanza with a cul de sac hair cut! He is a mainstay at one of the biker bars around here because he sings Karaoke (however you spell it). Apparently he goes there ever Saturday day night and drinks soda and sings country music (7-15 songs). He told us he wants to sing some karaoke with us this week so that should be awesome! He is seriously one of the most good- hearted people I have met out here. He works at Shell and goes in 15 minutes early and always stays late to make sure everything runs smoothly. He couldn’t go to church because he was giving a ride to a lady who came into his work and asked for help with a ride to downtown. (she paid for his gas so he said it was a fair deal). But anyways he is coming along great and he is one of those people that the gospel will really bless his life. He doesn’t have much family so I think he will be happy to make friends in the ward. The English ward is supposedly very good here. The Spanish branch has some challenges but we are trying to work them out.
My old companion Elder Calzadillas just got transferred and he is now in my ward with me. I am happy about that because I think alot of the problems we had were my fault and I want to make things right with him. Our investigator Belen went to church this week and seemed to like it. She is 18 and really cool and has a testimony she just does not want to change. So we will see what happens with her. We are teaching mostly Spanish but we have found lots of good English people lately so we will see what happens with them. We are gonna teach them till they go to church then give them to the English missionaries who have more contact with the English ward.
OK Funny Story; I had my talk this week. So I prepared more then usual cause it was in a language that is not my own. I got a talk ready for about 10 minutes about the resurrection. I was all ready to go and I got up on the stand and the High Council member who was speaking with me asked me to make it a 5 minute talk if possible. He said ten would be fine but 5 would be better... so I brought my notes with scriptures to quote and everything. I decided that I was going to try to just use a few of the scriptures that I had marked and let things fall as they may but going to try to make it 5 minutes. I went up there and talked. I had the same sort of feeling as last week. Everyone was smiling from the congregation and kind of nodding their heads. I knew I was either absolutely nailing it or my Spanish was terrible....... In stark contrast I babbled with no real point. After about the second minute in I realized how bad the talk was going... I read my scriptures talked about them a little bit and I was done... HAHAHA even my companion said it was pretty bad and our investigator Belen told me that "I attacked the Spanish language" Haha so apparently I babbled for 6 minutes, funny stuff!
But yeah, things are good! I love you all and will talk to you later!!!
Love Elder Stiles
Transfers came... and went... and they left me and Elder Draper here. Soooo, that is Grand!!! We are doing well and had our first FULL week of work without crazy things happening. It was great. We found a few new people and they are looking really good! Jeff (from last week) is doing incredible! He is seriously probably the smartest person that I have taught on my mission. We teach him a principle then he says "let me see if I am understanding this right" then explains the principle back to us usually with some sort of analogy. So cool! He looks exactly like George Castanza with a cul de sac hair cut! He is a mainstay at one of the biker bars around here because he sings Karaoke (however you spell it). Apparently he goes there ever Saturday day night and drinks soda and sings country music (7-15 songs). He told us he wants to sing some karaoke with us this week so that should be awesome! He is seriously one of the most good- hearted people I have met out here. He works at Shell and goes in 15 minutes early and always stays late to make sure everything runs smoothly. He couldn’t go to church because he was giving a ride to a lady who came into his work and asked for help with a ride to downtown. (she paid for his gas so he said it was a fair deal). But anyways he is coming along great and he is one of those people that the gospel will really bless his life. He doesn’t have much family so I think he will be happy to make friends in the ward. The English ward is supposedly very good here. The Spanish branch has some challenges but we are trying to work them out.
My old companion Elder Calzadillas just got transferred and he is now in my ward with me. I am happy about that because I think alot of the problems we had were my fault and I want to make things right with him. Our investigator Belen went to church this week and seemed to like it. She is 18 and really cool and has a testimony she just does not want to change. So we will see what happens with her. We are teaching mostly Spanish but we have found lots of good English people lately so we will see what happens with them. We are gonna teach them till they go to church then give them to the English missionaries who have more contact with the English ward.
OK Funny Story; I had my talk this week. So I prepared more then usual cause it was in a language that is not my own. I got a talk ready for about 10 minutes about the resurrection. I was all ready to go and I got up on the stand and the High Council member who was speaking with me asked me to make it a 5 minute talk if possible. He said ten would be fine but 5 would be better... so I brought my notes with scriptures to quote and everything. I decided that I was going to try to just use a few of the scriptures that I had marked and let things fall as they may but going to try to make it 5 minutes. I went up there and talked. I had the same sort of feeling as last week. Everyone was smiling from the congregation and kind of nodding their heads. I knew I was either absolutely nailing it or my Spanish was terrible....... In stark contrast I babbled with no real point. After about the second minute in I realized how bad the talk was going... I read my scriptures talked about them a little bit and I was done... HAHAHA even my companion said it was pretty bad and our investigator Belen told me that "I attacked the Spanish language" Haha so apparently I babbled for 6 minutes, funny stuff!
But yeah, things are good! I love you all and will talk to you later!!!
Love Elder Stiles
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