Hey all!
It has been a
really good week. It's transfer time again. My trainer, Elder Larsen, has been
called to be the new Assistant to the President. I have been called to serve as
a district leader. That is all of the Elders that are in the Garden Grove area.
We just received Elder Centeno who was actually one of my first district
leaders I had when I arrived to the field. He will be going home after this
next transfer. It’s going to be a transfer full of miracles. I'm so excited to
be able to work with this ward and with this great group of Elders.
It has been a
really good week this past week. We had a lot of great miracles this past week.
Last Monday we were out trying to find an investigator. She wasn't home and we
had nothing else to do. So what did we do? We went out and started to knock
doors. I told Elder Burrup "Alright Elder. It's your turn, you pick a good
one." We proceeded on to the next door. We knocked and a lady opened the
door. We proceeded to tell her who we were. Her name is Brenda. She told us
that she wasn't attending a church right now. We taught her the restoration
telling and testifying about how she could live with her family forever. I
asked her "how can we reach this goal of having an eternal family?"
she replied by saying "Only through the church of God." We went on to
the restoration of the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and challenged
her to read and to pray about it. We set up another visit, but had to cancel.
So when I was on an exchange with my district leader, Elder Arjona, we went to
her house to check up on her and to see how she was doing. She had read from
the Book of Mormon and really liked it a lot. We went on to teach her about the
plan of salvation. She really liked listening and asked us a lot of questions. Then
she accepted a date to be baptized for the 6th of January. It was incredible.
The spirit really was able to help us find a truth seeker. She came to church
and made a lot of friends. She really liked the services. She is doing very
well and it was such a miracle that we were able to find her. Wow!
We also had
another person we are teaching come to church. I believe I have talked about
her before. Her name is Rosio. WE had kept trying to invite her to church just
to see how it is. She is reading from the book of Mormon. She told us that she believes
it's true. Which is so awesome. She was able to come to church for the first
hour with one of her kids. She liked it too. She also made a lot of friends at
church. So it was a good experience for her too. We are going to continue to
work with her. So we can help her, step by step, feel comfortable and converted
to the Gospel. She is doing very well.
We are still
teaching Juan Garcia. We are making progress with him. When I was on an
exchange, with Elder Arjona, Juan told us that he cannot come to church at
times because he has to watch some of his daughter-in-law’s kids. We told him
that we could find him a way to get them to church. We are going to work on
that and try to get them there. I think little by little he is going to gain a
testimony. We are still trying to help him recognize his answer about the Book
of Mormon. We had a really good lesson where I showed him Helaman 5:30. Sometimes
the spirit speaks to us so softly that if we have any distractions we just
might miss what it's saying to us. I believe that is what Elder Packer said.
It's in PMG (Preach My Gospel). Like if one is drunk, do you think he can feel
the spirit of the Lord? No, because the person is so disillusioned that they
cannot feel it. That is why we must be clean, worthy, and always listening for those
quiet whisperings. It was really good. He's been asking us some challenging
questions as well, but all you can do about that is testify of what you know
and then invite them to show an act of faith by doing something to help them
know. He is doing well. We hope we can get him and his family to church next
week.
We have also
been trying to see Ana. She seems to be having a really good time right now in
her life. It's hard because every time we go over she tells us she's busy and
to come back. We come back and she's not home. I understand she's busy. I guess
the gospel isn't the first thing that is on her mind right now. She was unable
to go to church. So we are struggling to get her to the gospel. We are trying
to work in harmony with her cousin Dania. It's not going so well. I have faith
we can get her. It just might take some time, and we'll be back sometime.
We've also
been starting to teach Daisy again. She is doing well. We are helping her
trying to read the Book of Mormon. It can be hard because she's in high school
(Justin’s age) and life can be super busy. I know though that if she can make
time to try it the Lord will bless her as he will every single one of us.
As you can
see by the first paragraph, we have been doing some finding. We have been very
successful in finding new people to teach. We were able to talk to one of
Dania's friends this week. His name is Raymond. He has a lot of real intent as
well. Only one problem, he doesn't speak any Spanish. We are going to send him
off to the English Elders to see how he does. By the way it looks the gospel is
something he could use right now. But who doesn't need the gospel right now. Ha-ha
we have been able to find a few more investigators to teach and they are in the
works of becoming great potentials
Something fun
about this week was that I was able to have the opportunity to go on an
exchange with my district leader, Elder Arjona. He is actually from the Madrid,
Spain area. He knows English really well. He has read the Bible, Book of
Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price all in English
while he's been out on his mission. He really reminds me a lot of Elder Larsen.
He has a love of the Lord and for the work he is doing. I was able to be
inspired about how we can work with the ward better. Our ward is awesome. I
love being in it. He also gave me a lot of great advice on how to be a good
trainer. He told me patience and communication is key. I can definitely testify
of that. I'm starting to give Elder Burrup the reins now so he can take over
this area in seven weeks because he might have to. So I was really grateful for
that time I had to be with him.
Elder Burrup
is doing amazing. This week, in the 12-week program, he had to start to take
the lead in daily and weekly planning. He also had to carry out the plans for
the day. He did it with such ease or at least it appeared to be easy. We work
really well together. I'm very glad the Lord was able to bless me to have such
a great companion like Elder Burrup. Even though he may not have as much time
as me in the mission. I’ve been able to learn from his example of how to really
love and talk to everyone about the gospel. What a great job he is doing. I
love him and I’m so proud of him.
This work is
going great. I love being here. I'm very excited for Christmas. Thank you all
that have sent me a letter and/or a package. I just want to let you all know
that I will try to respond to a.s.a.p. It can be difficult because we are busy.
I just want to let you know that I love you all! Thank you so much. Have a
Merry Christmas!!!!
Elder Dallin M. Ollerton
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