Bailey's Baptism

Hello all!

It snowed for the first time since April or May. It has been getting colder and colder and I hear it is going to be a big winter for Colorado this year. It supposed to snow again on Wednesday or Tuesday. Elder Hodson and I had a busy week. We have been going to a lot of meetings and doing a lot of administrative stuff. But I was able to attend Bailey's baptism! I gave a talk on baptism right before he was baptized by a member. His non-member dad was there as well and he seemed to enjoy it. I will remember Bailey for the rest of my life. The ward I am now serving in is excellent. They have a "how can I help" attitude and we get fed quite often, almost every night. We attended ward counsel yesterday and they were giving us people to see left and right. We found 2 new investigators and they seem to be progressing really well. We are working with a part-member family that's not married yet. He is 22 and been less-active for a while. She is 21 and they have a little baby. She was very receptive to our message and she accepted baptism as well. The bishop said he will visit them in the week and talk to they about getting married. Our ward mission leader is also very on top of things. 

Last Monday Elder Hodson and I were able to go mountain biking with a 17 year old youth. He struggles with activity but we are trying to make a better relationship with him. It was also the first time I really got to use my bike like I did back home since I got it in the mail. Elder Hodson is trying to stay effective. It is a little hard for him since he goes home in 4 weeks. Things are going pretty well here. Glad to hear you all are having fun as well. I Hope everything will continue to go well. I'll talk to you next week! 

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez

Fist week of new Transfer

Hey everybody!

Happy Monday! Things are going great in my new area. It is a lot richer than my last area. The members we live with are called the Smiths and they are very wealthy. We live in a big house and they buy all our groceries. They are goof balls as well. She calls us freaks all the time, lol. Elder Hodson is an awesome missionary. We get along super great and it's definitely going to be a great transfer. Our teaching pool is a lot lower than my last area, but I'm not going to let that get me down. Bailey is getting baptized this Saturday. I called the new Elders in that area this morning and they are going to try to put me in the program so Elder Hodson and I can go. The ward is very good as well. We have a lot more dinners than my last area and they seem to want to help with the work a lot more. 

Thereis no snow yet. The warm weather is really fighting for its life. But personally I don't want it to snow for a long time. I want it to stay hot forever. More opportunities come with the warm weather with talking to people and stuff. But I will deal with winter in patience. Part of the zone I am in is in the heart of Downtown Denver. It's the city life I love but that part is another ward. We have some strong missionaries in the zone I serve in and I am confident it will be a great transfer. Elder Hodson goes home in 5 weeks so I will have to do my best to help him stay focused. 

On Halloween we were supposed to be in by 6pm but we had to help a set of elders move into a new apartment. They had to have all their furniture out of their old apartment by that day and Elder Hodson and I are the only ones in the zone who have a pickup truck. We had to make a lot of trips but it was fun. Then a member took us out to Red Robbin and they are a very sweet couple. So  we didn't get home till around 8pm or so. Where we live is a gated off community so we don't get trick or treaters. But there were so many people on the other streets and boulevards. This transfer ends on Dec. 7th. And Christmas is in the next transfer. I miss you all and hope all is well.

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez

Halloween!

Hello all!

A lot is going on with me here in Denver. So I got transferred and so did Elder Folau and the Sisters that we  were sharing the ward with us. I got called to be a Zone Leader and my companions name is Elder Hodson. We are in the Denver Colorado Stake, serving in the Greenwood Village Ward. It is a very nice area and we live in a member’s home. I am really going to miss the Crestmoor Ward in the Aurora South Zone. Elder Hodson is from the San Fernando Valley in California; my second companion from California. He's been a Zone Leader for quite some time and he goes home in 6 weeks. We are serving 20 or so missionaries in the Zone. 

This week was pretty great as well. I had the chance to say goodbye and get some pictures to a lot of investigators and members of the ward. I am really going to miss the Stansfield Family. They were so cool and they fed us all the time. Bailey is getting baptized on Nov. 7th. I told our Ward Mission Leader to put Elder Folau and I in the program so we can come back and attend his baptism. I really hope he keeps to his commitment. The ward also had a Halloween activity. They did a chili cook off and a trunk or treat. There were a lot of awesome costumes. The Bishop had a Chewbaca costume. Elder Folau and I were working with so many people and I hope the new Elders can keep up with it all. I am going to miss the missionaries I got attached to in my old Zone as well. There is a lot of people going home in the mission. 

I heard there is really good mountain biking in my new zone so hopefully I can use my bike a little bit. There is also the Denver Zoo. Transfers are always hectic and it takes about a week or so to get used to everything. But I am excited for this transfer and I hope you have fun on Halloween! 

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez

Zone Conference

Hey Everybody!

Hello again and Happy Monday! This week was a blast. Elder Folau and I got a lot done. Monday we had Zone P-Day and that was a great turn out. We taught a lot of lessons. A lot of the people we are teaching are not really progressing; they just allow us to teach. Some of the people we are working with are progressing though. We had Bailey's baptism scheduled but the ward decided it would be best to post pone it for a couple of weeks. Bailey agreed to that as well. So he is now scheduled for Nov. 7th. 

Zone Conference was Thursday and Elder Folau and I got 3rd place out of 17 for the clean car award. We got a $15 gift card to Subway. It was a great Conference as well. I got a lot out of it. We are teaching a man named Arnold. He is black and in his 60s I believe. He had a stoke and can't see very well and has a number of other things. He used to be a jazz singer and he has been seeing us for a couple of weeks. A lot of the things we teach he agrees with and he always appreciates what we do for him. We hope that he can get fellow-shipped from the ward members and progress as soon as possible. 

Part of the area we serve in is very rough as I mentioned before. And some of it is very rich. Most of the people we teach are from the rough areas though. There are a lot of refugees from Thailand and other places in the world. Transfers are in 1 week and there is a great chance that I will be transferred, but we won’t know until Saturday night. Elder Folau feels he will get transferred. The ward we serve in has a history of sweeping in and out both missionaries a lot so maybe we will both leave. But I really like the area I serve in. We are going to the Temple this Wednesday morning. We have the 6am session so we have to get up at 4:30am. The sisters we share the ward with have been having a rough time. One of them was training a sister named Sister Carroll. Sister Carroll has been sick for a couple of weeks and unfortunately she had to go home a couple of days ago. Now here trainer is in a trio with another set of sisters in the zone. However she had a baptism yesterday. Her name is April and the sisters have been working with her for quite some time. I had the opportunity to interview April twice because they moved her baptismal date. It was a good service. Another Sister from my MTC District went home as well. She was going through a really hard time from the start but she pushed through for a year. I was able to give her a blessing in the MTC as well.

My trainer and his group he came out with are home now. But Elder Timothy went home a couple months early because he was going through a rough time as well. A lot of missionaries you were close to going home makes you feel somewhat alone. This Saturday is the ward Halloween activity. It is also the last Saturday of the transfer. They do a trunk or treat and a chili cook off. It is getting cooler and cooler and I hear it is supposed to snow really soon. To be honest I am not ready for 5 months of cold weather, I don't want summer to leave. Everything is going great here in Denver. There are so many new missionaries and from what I see they are rock stars. I hope all is well at home. Until next week.

Love,

            Elder Rodriguez