Stake Conference

Hey Everybody!

How are things going? Well? This week was a killer for Elder Folau and I. We taught a new record of 22 lessons and we got 2 new investigators. We were able to attend the Temple on Wednesday and that was amazing. Now they changed to temple schedule to 4 times a year instead of every month. At least we still get to go. But this week was just super busy. 

We have a ton of investigators but unfortunately some of them are kind of leaving us a bit one by one. But we have 4 investigators that would be baptized tonight except there are certain things keeping them from that. We have the couple I told you able, Steve and Arleeta. They have Word of Wisdom problems and they are living together unmarried. Another investigator said herself "I really want to be baptized" but she works on Sundays and can't attend church. The last one is living with her boyfriend. She had a kid with him and she doesn't want to get married yet because she doesn't feel she is ready to take that step.

But Elder Folau and I witnessed a miracle this week when we were teaching Richard, our investigator. During the lesson Linda, our investigator that can't come to church, showed up at Richards door. She lives right across the street from him and she dropped off some spaghetti. She didn't see us in the room so we said hi and asked if she wanted to join us. She gladly accepted and during the lesson she said some things that really helped Richard. She talked about how she feels the holy ghost when she reads the Book of Mormon and how she specifically prays for understanding as well. This is something that Richard is struggling with. It was an awesome lesson. Yesterday was stake conference. It is a pretty large stake. Didn't see a lot of ward members though. Hope you guys are doing great!

Love

            Elder Rodriguez

Progress

Hello Everyone!

Today is the start of a new transfer. Elder Folau and I are staying in our area. In fact the whole district stayed the same with me as the district leader still. I am really glad that it stayed the same because Elder Folau and I are doing a lot of work. I also really like my Zone Leaders as well. This week went pretty well. We saw a lot of people and made a lot of progress. We have a rock solid investigator named Victoria. She is really interested in our message, especially with the Plan of Salvation. She was at church yesterday and she had a great experience. She said she has a lot more questions right after Gospel Principles class. Richard is a good one but we haven't seen him in a while. We hope he is reading the Book of Mormon and praying.

Saturday we helped one of the young men with his eagle project. He is digging and planting new plants in the church courtyard. We also did some service for Victoria as well. We helped her with her lawn and swept her porch. She also came to the eagle project as well. We hope that she keeps progressing towards baptism. For the past 3 months the Aurora South Zone has been the highest baptizing zone in the mission. Another one of our top progressing is Bill Bruneau. He wasn't at church yesterday but he went the week before. When we saw him on Friday he said he wasn't comfortable with the men and women splitting for 3rd hour. But we had a solid lesson with him about eternal marriage and proxy ordinances for such. He was very impressed by that and he is now interested in doing some of his family history.  Hope all is well.

Love

            Elder Rodriguez

Investigators

Hey all!

This week went pretty well. Elder Folau and I are always finding new investigators. We had interviews on Wednesday with President and Sister Mendenhall. I always appreciate how loving and caring they are to all of the missionaries. Elder Zwick said he knows a lot of mission presidents and President and Sister Mendenhall are one of the best. There is so much work in this Zone. I have never done this much work in my whole mission. We are working with 10 or so investigators but only 3 are really progressing. The rest are just "crack investigators". We were working with a family that was making excellent progress. Their names are Channel and Connie. Connie is the wife and Channel is the husband. They are Hispanic and it is hard for Channel to understand English. Wednesday night we had a lesson with them and we took a member of the ward who is from Columbia to translate for him. She was such a big help and he said that when he reads the Book of Mormon he feels comfort and at peace. But right in the middle of the lesson, when Sister Burk was translating for him, he said he doesn't want us to come over anymore. We were all shocked and he said that he wants time to be with his little daughters and that he wanted to talk to his wife about some things. I was really sad but he said that he will continue to read the Book of Mormon and when he is ready he will call us...... whenever that is.

However we found a new investigator to kind of take their place. His name is Richard and he is super awesome. We taught him the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and today we will teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I really feel he has potential and he has an honest loving heart. Hopefully we can get him baptized within the coming weeks. Another one of our progressing investigators came to Church out of nowhere. When I recognized him I was so amazed. We haven't taught him in awhile because he never answers our calls. He does have potential but he has some problems with 3rd hour church where the men and the women are separated. He left right after 2nd hour and told us we could talk about that issue when we see him on Friday. I feel that we are so close to getting one of these investigators baptized but it hasn't happened yet. They say that the ratio is 10 investigators invited to be baptized, only one will. I hope and pray that we will make progress with them.

Yesterday was a fun P-Day for Elder Folau and myself. In this zone not a lot of missionaries hang out with each other. So you have to get creative on your own. So we went to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. It is a huge store for camping and fishing and stuff. We looked around for a little bit and then we went to a few other stores around the bill mall that is in our area, such as Target, Old Navy, World Market, and Whole Foods. This is the last week of the transfer but I am confident that Elder Folau and I will stay but anything could happen. If I stay another transfer it is very likely that I will be transfer by then. But things are going really well with us in our area. The ward is struggling with going on splits but the sisters and I have a few people that go out with us a lot which is good. I miss you all,

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez 

There is work to be done!

Hello Everyone

Happy Monday! It has been getting hotter here but not by a lot. It has been around 90 - 100 the past few days. Time has flown by so fast it is not even funny. Tomorrow I will hit my 11 month mark. I am so glad I still have a whole year left. This week’s highlight was definitely Elder Zwicks counsel and address. On Wednesday night all the ward counsels of 5 different stakes gathered together at my ward building to hear him speak. But Elder Zwick addressed all the full time missionaries in those stakes on Friday and his counsel was so inspiring. He really gave us a spiritual boost and taught us many useful things. Sister Zwick also addressed us and she was powerful as well.

Transfers are in 2 weeks, on Sept. 14th. When you train we use a 12 week program that takes 2 transfers to complete. It is possible that I will be transferred and Elder Folau will get a follow up trainer but most likely I will be staying here with him for another 6 weeks.

So Elder Folau and I had a chance to go to Downtown Denver this week to take care of an unfair parking ticket. The guy was pretty rude to us but we got it taken care of. It was only $15 and Elder Folau and I split it. We found 2 new investigators last week and we plan on teaching a lot this week. This is the highest number of investigators I have ever had on my mission so far. There is so much work in this Zone. Hope all is well. Love you all and I'll talk to you next Monday.

Love, Elder Rodriguez

Elder Zwick

Hey everybody!

Happy Monday! This week went pretty well. We are teaching a lot more and we are also finding new investigators and dropping some every week. We are also working with a lot of Less-actives. Elder Folau is catching on quick and the work is going forward. I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders on Saturday and that went well. A lot more people are signing up for dinner which is fantastic. 

Last Monday Elder Folau and I went to an Air and Space museum and then we went on a walk right next to some wet lands. Not sure what we are going to do today but we will figure something out. We are working with about 10 investigators but none of them seem to really be progressing. It is really hard sometimes to get one of them baptized. They don't keep commitments or appointments. A lot of them only seem to be nice and let us in. We are praying and fasting though. However the Aurora South Zone has been the highest baptizing Zone in the mission for the past 2 months.

This week we are having a mission tour. Elder Zwick from the 1st quorum of the Seventy will be visiting us and counseling us on the work. We will be hearing from him on Wednesday and Friday. It is pretty exciting.

Things are going pretty well here. It hasn't been too hot lately but it has been warm. I hope everything is ok with you guys. Stay well. See you next Monday.

Love, Elder Rodriguez