Colder weather

Hey everyone!

This week went by pretty well. we still taught a lot of lessons and the highlight is Baily Conner. He is our investigator and we interviewed him Saturday and he is good to go for the 17th. We haven't gotten the details finalized yet but it will be a great baptism. President Mendenhall said he would like to attend as well. I will make sure and get some pics.

Linda Ray is going through a tough time getting to church and she has some addictions to drugs. But hopefully she can get baptized real soon. Today is Zone P-Day and we are going to play Toilet Paper Dodge ball. There is a great chance I will get transferred in 2 weeks on the 26th of October. But anything can happen. I have been in this area about 4 months now but I might get called to train again. There are 17 new missionaries coming out in 2 weeks. It hasn't been in the 100's but it has now been in the 70s. The nights and mornings are getting really cold though. One thing I like about where we live is there is a big parking lot across the street. So every other morning I do some running. The sisters that we share the ward with are not doing so well. One of the Sisters is a new missionary who came out with Elder Folau and she has been really sick the past week. She has been in and out of the hospital. But I hear she is slowly recovering.


We went to an Air and Space Museum last Monday and that was fun. We have a really busy week planned. We have Zone Conference this Thursday and we will get to hear some departing testimonies. It's been crazy to see all the missionaries that I became close to go home one by one in the past year. hope everybody is doing well back home. I miss you all. Talk to you next week.

Love,
     Elder Rodriguez

31 Lessons!!!!

Happy Monday!

This week was the most busiest week of my entire mission. Elder Folau and I taught 31 lessons and we found 5 new investigators. We have 3 that are really progressing. We have them on Baptismal date as well. One is on the 17th, one is on the 24th, and the other is on the 31st.  We hope and pray that they all happen. Conference was great. We watched the Saturday afternoon session at the house of the second counselor in the Bishopric. His name is Bro. Aldous and he used to be a seventy for 20 years.

Nora, our investigator is doing well. She will be gone until November though. Baily is set for the 17th and he is well fellowshipped and is excited for his baptism. He was being taught in another ward by our zone leaders first, but he lives in our area and we did a switch off. Ken is on the 24th. He just got out of prison and he has been taught a lot by missionaries over the years. President will have to interview him for the past transgression has has told us, but hopefully he will be baptized soon. The last one is Linda. She has been investigating the church for a year and has been taught almost everything. She really wants to be baptized as well but she works on Sundays. We have come up with a plan that she can leave work a little early to come to church and we really hope she does.

It has been cooling down the past couple of days. I was able to wear my jacket for the first time in over 5 months. I am not ready for winter yet. Transfers are in 3 weeks. It is very likely that I will be leaving this area, but I kinda want to stay. We are doing great things here and a lot of the people we are working with are progressing. Hopefully Elder Folau and I will have another busy week. Take care!

Love,
     Elder Rodriguez

New Investigators!

Hello all!

This week went great. We taught a lot and our area is really growing. We found 7 new investigators and 2 of the ones we have now are on baptismal date for the 24th of October. There are many parts of my area that are super rich and many that are very rough. In fact we get all our investigators from the parts that are either middle class or rough. Many rich parts of the mission are kinda prideful.

I went on exchanges with one of my Zone Leaders on Thursday and that went really well. His name is Elder Walter and he is an awesome missionary. We have have been finding a lot of Less actives in random places when we are tracting. They say they were baptized and went to seminary and such but they have there own views and opinions and fell away. We were able to go to the Temple last week Wednesday and that was amazing. My District is truly rock solid. All of the companionship's have investigators on date. It hasn't been too hot here but it is in the 80's. No snow whatsoever yet. I love riding my bike but I only ride it in the mornings for exercise.

I don't know if I told you but the mission has a goal of 1001 baptisms for 2015. As of right now I heard we are at about 200. I'm sure there are a lot of missionaries that have given up hope, but all things are possible with the Lord. Its always big news for missionaries to hear a general authority pass away, since we have no contact with the internet and such. I am really looking forward to conference. I remember watching the last October Conference in the MTC. Some of the missionaries that came out with me to this mission sang in that choir for Priesthood. Last night there was an eclipse and that was a big deal for a lot of people apparently.

Last night Elder Folau and I found a new investigator named Nora. She is a tall black lady living in a rough apartment complex. We walked by and talked to her on the side walk. As missionaries we are supposed to talk to everyone so we asked her if she has talked to missionaries before. I felt impressed to talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can strengthen faith in Him. I also felt impressed to share Alma 7; 11,12. As I spoke I could truly feel the spirit working in me and also in Nora. She asked if Christ suffered all things including addictions and we testified that he did so. She gladly accepted a Book of Mormon and asked us to come back and teach her. She was a very sincere lady.

Elder Folau and I taught Gospel Principles yesterday. We were asked to do that the morning of so we had very little time to prepare. but it was a good lesson. It was on Faith in Jesus Christ. I am so happy I have a year left. I hope you all are well! Keep it up and press on!

Love
     Elder Rodriguez