Brand New Area!

Hello all!

It is really starting to warm up in the Denver Metro area. It has been pretty hot, around 80 - 95 degrees. So transfers have been super hectic and crazy; a lot of change has happened. Both Elder Takis and I got transferred out and now there are only sisters in the ward. I got transferred to Aurora, called the Aurora South Zone, got called to be a district leader and am now the designated driver, moved into an apartment in Denver, and now serving with Spanish missionaries. Elder Takis got called to be a zone leader in a city called Brighton. I honestly didn't want to leave the Westminster Zone; I had so much fun there. But I am excited to see my new area as well. 

My new companion is Elder Olson and he is from St. George Utah. Since he has a dad in the military, he has lived all over the US but he has lived in St. George the last 6 months before he went to the MTC. He has been out quite a while and he goes home in 3 months. I heard a lot of things about him; some good and some bad but I am going to keep an open mind. Four missionaries in my last Zone all went home today. I really bonded with them last transfer and I am going to miss them a lot. Our new apartment is not the best but it is pretty decent. My entire mission I have lived in pretty nice places but now it’s time that I take my share of living in sketchy quarters. I know my new Zone Leaders really well. I served around them in the past. I now live in a city like area, lots of buildings and lots of trees and greenery. So a couple months ago my cavity filling I got with Doctor Warner came out for some reason and I had a huge cavity for a while. I didn't think much of it until recently. So I had to go to the dentist to get it refilled. There are so many dentists in the Broadlands area I served in last transfer and a very kind dentist in the ward told me he would take care of it free of charge, even though Salt Lake would have paid for it. So on Thursday Elder Takis and I went to his office in Louisville to get my cavity taken care of and he gave us both free cleanings. I felt super blessed and am very thankful that there are very kind and generous members of this church. Especially where I served last transfer. It was also a very wealthy area.

On Saturday, Elder Takis and I and another set of Elders went over to Bishops house to make homemade ties. The bishop’s wife is very handy with sewing. She helped us make them with the fabric we bought at Joann's the night before. It was super fun. Elder Olsen and I looked at our diner calendar and not a lot of people signed up. I also heard that my new ward didn't like one of the elders that served before I got here and that's the reason that we don't get a lot of dinners. I don't know if that is true, but if it is we will change that. We also went to the Temple on Wednesday that is always very spiritual and fun. Every time we go to the Temple it is a grand reunion for all the missionaries because different zones have different temple sessions and we all mingle and talk just outside the temple. This transfer should be really fun and interesting. I am looking forward to working a lot in my new ward. I hope all of you are enjoying your summer so far and staying cool. Below are some pictures from this past week!

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez

Transfers

Hey Everybody Happy Monday!

Elder Takis and I had a better week. We got more lessons in and did a lot of finding. I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders, he is from Irvine. My area does get a lot of rain. It rains almost every day. The Colorado Denver North Mission is decreasing every transfer. There are a ton of missionaries that are going home. We were at 220ish and now we will be at 150 or so in a couple of months. So Elder Takis and I have a pretty good teaching pool but it is so frustrating when you have all these set appointments and then they cancel on you. The sisters we share the ward with are finding investigators left and right and they teach 16 or 17 lessons a week. It's just hard not to get discouraged. Elder Takis and I found a new investigator last night. She is kind of hard hearted and is stubborn but she wants to believe and accepted a return appointment. This is the last week of the transfer and Elder Takis will have been in the zone for 3 months. He might be getting transferred but we will see. I wouldn't mind staying another transfer. I miss you all!

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez

Summer is here!

Hello Everybody!

Happy Monday! This week was pretty normal, nothing new or exciting that happened. Elder Takis and I had the chance to bear our testimonies yesterday. One of the Elders in our zone injured his knee really bad playing football a couple weeks ago and now he has to go home. He is from Georgia and he goes home tomorrow. So we are all going to sign a card and wish him luck. So all the people that Elder Takis and I had planned for this week all bailed on us. We had to pass off one of our investigators to the YSA Elders and we have another one that doesn't keep his appointments. Hopefully we can get more investigator lessons in this week though.

Since Elder Takis and I work in 2 wards now, we went to the other ward we normally do not go to and they treated us like royalty. They really miss the missionaries and the ward members are practically fighting over our dinner calendar, lol. This Tuesday is Zone Meeting so that should be fun. Yeah it is warming up a lot, but we have been having rain and lighting almost every day. I really like it though. Hope you all have a fantastic week and enjoy the first days of summer! I'll talk to you all next Monday!

Love,

                Elder Rodriguez

Stake Conference

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well! Today my companion and I as well as a few other Elders are going to do some Archery. Elder Takis and I were able to teach a referral that we received from Salt Lake and he didn't seem all that interested. The investigator that we found last Sunday we had to pass off to the YSA Elders. He is an interesting person. He has drug addictions and his family is trying to get him to rehab. He was very receptive to the first 2 lessons though. We also had to stay inside for a while because after Elder Takis got sick I got sick. I just have the sniffles now. 

I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders on Saturday. That was pretty fun. This past weekend we had stake conference as well as the adult session on Saturday night. They reorganized the stake presidency and Elder David S. Baxter of the Seventy came and addressed us. He was a very funny guy, he is also from Scotland and I loved his accent. There is so much work to do in the Westminster Zone, it is so awesome. I hope everybody is doing well and I will talk to you next week!

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez