Hello to everybody. This week was a different week.
So what I've found out is that a bunch of the investigators who they were teaching were all baptized. So now we are going around and teaching them the new member lessons, and passing them off to the ward. The other missionaries we live with are having a difficult time in their area, but they are doing much better. During this past week I've gotten to meet several of the investigators who were baptized as we are re-teaching them.
The ward is great, and the members are very nice. They like missionaries and feed us a lot. This week however we had some sort of fall out, as we don't have dinners Wednesday to Saturday. But the members are still nice, and our dinner last night offered to feed us again this week because of the fall out. I don't think it will continue this way, but this is an anomaly.
That's pretty well our week.
--Elder Huffaker
Elder Huffaker
Friday, September 21, 2012
September 10, 2012
Hello to everyone at home.
Okay for starters, as you know I was getting transferred and we had no idea where and with whom. I have been sent BACK to Santa Clarita, in the Mint Canyon ward this time. This ward was combined with another ward as a missionary area, but was recently separated. Well, Mint Canyon is quite the hilly area, and yes, I am back on bike. Only now it is fairly hot, so that adds another factor to the difficulty.
My companion is Elder Muhlestein, who is District Leader, and on a side note, his first area he served in was Sherman Oaks. For those of you not keeping track, my first area was Sherman Oaks. He has been out 6 months longer than me, which is the same amount of time as my trainer, Elder Morgan. Last Saturday there was a baptism in this area. Many of the investigators they were teaching were just recently baptized. So I come in to the area on Thursday, and two days later, a baptism! The efforts in getting the people baptized were not mine at all, so don't be confused. I just got a freebie.
Well, we had the baptism at the Canyon Country building, the one I went to during my last time in Santa Clarita. We did NOT get a ride, so the bike over was a bit further, and we were in our suits, and it was hot, and there were hills, AND it was windy. All in all, in that one trip, I think we did it all for being on bike. Let me tell you, air conditioning is a beautiful thing.
But anyway, as I was saying, the investigators were all baptized for the most part. Other than that, the other investigators haven't been able to be seen lately. So that puts my companion and I in finding mode. We will be trying to work with the members, and doing much of our own finding efforts. The ward is bigger than my last one, and there are a lot of youth. Our dinner calendar is fairly full, and the members are fairly into doing missionary work. So working with them should not be too difficult. Hopefully. Anyway, so that's our area for the most part.
In the apartment we live in, we have the other missionaries who are covering the other ward that was split. The missionaries covered both Solemint and Mint Canyon, and so it's split now and we cover Mint Canyon, leaving them with Solemint. The senior companion is a musician and is 5 weeks away from going home, and his companion is a new missionary who's been out for 2 months. They, unfortunately, do not have a lot of work in their area, but have been doing better recently. They had just found a family to teach, so that's excellent for them. They like to keep the apartment clean, so I guess I have to work harder on that (because I'm not very good at that. Working on that, sorry!). They get the car because their area is bigger, but our area is still pretty big. Not as big as the Canyon Country 1st area I served in, but still a good size. Well, all in all, it's been quite the week, and I hope all is going well at home!
-- Elder Huffaker
Okay for starters, as you know I was getting transferred and we had no idea where and with whom. I have been sent BACK to Santa Clarita, in the Mint Canyon ward this time. This ward was combined with another ward as a missionary area, but was recently separated. Well, Mint Canyon is quite the hilly area, and yes, I am back on bike. Only now it is fairly hot, so that adds another factor to the difficulty.
My companion is Elder Muhlestein, who is District Leader, and on a side note, his first area he served in was Sherman Oaks. For those of you not keeping track, my first area was Sherman Oaks. He has been out 6 months longer than me, which is the same amount of time as my trainer, Elder Morgan. Last Saturday there was a baptism in this area. Many of the investigators they were teaching were just recently baptized. So I come in to the area on Thursday, and two days later, a baptism! The efforts in getting the people baptized were not mine at all, so don't be confused. I just got a freebie.
Well, we had the baptism at the Canyon Country building, the one I went to during my last time in Santa Clarita. We did NOT get a ride, so the bike over was a bit further, and we were in our suits, and it was hot, and there were hills, AND it was windy. All in all, in that one trip, I think we did it all for being on bike. Let me tell you, air conditioning is a beautiful thing.
But anyway, as I was saying, the investigators were all baptized for the most part. Other than that, the other investigators haven't been able to be seen lately. So that puts my companion and I in finding mode. We will be trying to work with the members, and doing much of our own finding efforts. The ward is bigger than my last one, and there are a lot of youth. Our dinner calendar is fairly full, and the members are fairly into doing missionary work. So working with them should not be too difficult. Hopefully. Anyway, so that's our area for the most part.
In the apartment we live in, we have the other missionaries who are covering the other ward that was split. The missionaries covered both Solemint and Mint Canyon, and so it's split now and we cover Mint Canyon, leaving them with Solemint. The senior companion is a musician and is 5 weeks away from going home, and his companion is a new missionary who's been out for 2 months. They, unfortunately, do not have a lot of work in their area, but have been doing better recently. They had just found a family to teach, so that's excellent for them. They like to keep the apartment clean, so I guess I have to work harder on that (because I'm not very good at that. Working on that, sorry!). They get the car because their area is bigger, but our area is still pretty big. Not as big as the Canyon Country 1st area I served in, but still a good size. Well, all in all, it's been quite the week, and I hope all is going well at home!
-- Elder Huffaker
New President, New Transfer System
September 3, 2012
Well to start off, this week was actually pretty slow and rough. We had hoped for a better week, but many of our appointments fell through, and then the people who we went to go visit as backups and whatnot, were not home.
We were however, able to meet with one of our investigators who is really intently investigating the church. He's the one we always meet with at a members home with the members, because he lives with them. We had a good discussion with him, that was more or less directed by him, where he asked several questions he had, from rumors, or things he thought of from what he'd been taught.
Also, I am being transferred. Our mission president has changed things a bit on how transfers work. We now get the call a bit later, and we are only told whether or not we are leaving. We are not told where we are going or who we are going with, just that we are leaving. Then, we attend a meeting near the mission office on Thursday, where we will find out where we are going and who we will be with. We then go with them to our new area. Transfers are no longer on Monday so we will be able to say goodbye to people in the area.
You all will have to wait until next Monday to know where I am and with whom. The other bit of interesting news is that my companion is also leaving. It came as quite the surprise, but he needs to leave as well. We will both be going to the meeting, and will probably be separated there, as it is not likely that we will be staying together.
Well, we also are required to get member transportation to our meeting, and as we are both leaving, there is a chance that sister missionaries could be placed in this area. That means that the member who drives us will need to bring along his wife. Unfortunately that leaves less space for what we need to bring, as we both need to bring all our stuff. As such, we tried to find out if we need to bring a sister along, and we asked our assistants to the president if it was necessary. As we are not supposed to know where we are going, they did not tell us that. Sadly we must bring the sister along just in case (although I doubt we will need her to be there).
We did get a little bit of information from them, and that is, that I will be going to a bike area, and my companion will stay in car. Meaning, we will not stay together, and I will definitely need to bring my bike, which means we could use all the space we can get, but because we can't get the adequate information, we are instead losing space. Well I hope things go well on Thursday, wish me luck, and I hope all is well at home!
-- Elder Huffaker
So this is the Newman family, with the investigators we are teaching. On the bottom from left to right is sister Newman, next is Angella, then Alli, then me. On top from left to right is Brother Newman, who is kneeling, Jamie, and then my companion.
August 27, 2012
Hey all. And another week is down. Unfortunately, along the lines of missionary work, this week was slow. comparatively to other weeks that is, but I guess overall it was good. Last week was better.... But we did have some good news this week.
We have gotten a couple of referrals that we stopped by and now have return appointments for this coming week. Also, one of our former investigators, who is dating a member in the ward that is leaving on his mission, was present at dinner with the family of the guy going on his mission. We were going to ask her if she wanted to meet again, but to our surprise, she asked us! I think it's better this way because it shows that she still has that desire, and we did not have to drag that out of her.
On Saturday we will receive a call notifying us as to what will happen for transfers next Monday. I haven't spent as long in other areas as I have here, so it's likely I will move, but nothing is certain right now. We shall see how it goes, and I hope we will find a way to e-mail, as next Monday is Labor Day and the libraries will be closed.
--Elder Huffaker
We have gotten a couple of referrals that we stopped by and now have return appointments for this coming week. Also, one of our former investigators, who is dating a member in the ward that is leaving on his mission, was present at dinner with the family of the guy going on his mission. We were going to ask her if she wanted to meet again, but to our surprise, she asked us! I think it's better this way because it shows that she still has that desire, and we did not have to drag that out of her.
On Saturday we will receive a call notifying us as to what will happen for transfers next Monday. I haven't spent as long in other areas as I have here, so it's likely I will move, but nothing is certain right now. We shall see how it goes, and I hope we will find a way to e-mail, as next Monday is Labor Day and the libraries will be closed.
--Elder Huffaker
August 2012
From August 6, 2012...
For clarification, the baptisms that we went to recently were from the old area of my companion, not me. Sorry.
[Referencing a missionary tradition of burning an item of clothing at major milestone dates of their mission...]Yes, I did burn things, since I never burned a tie at my 6 month mark, I burned a shirt and tie for my year mark. I have a video that I will try to send, I hope it isn't too big.
Also, UPS did attempt to deliver the package once, if you didn't know, and obviously I didn't get it yet. So, I might not get it today either. Things have changed a bit in the mission, and now we are required to drive another set of missionaries who are in bike area. I can sympathize with them for all the rides I got when I was in a bike area. However, that puts us running around today, and not at home ready to receive the package. I'm hoping we can make it back before it does, but I wouldn't count on it.
But on a positive side, as things have changed, President Hall has allowed all missionaries to Skype home on Mothers Day and Christmas. I'm sure you are excited about that. I was able to Skype last Christmas because a family offered for us to do such, but because no one offered on Mothers Day, we couldn't. Now we can ask, as long as it doesn't provide an inconvenience for the family.
For clarification, the baptisms that we went to recently were from the old area of my companion, not me. Sorry.
[Referencing a missionary tradition of burning an item of clothing at major milestone dates of their mission...]Yes, I did burn things, since I never burned a tie at my 6 month mark, I burned a shirt and tie for my year mark. I have a video that I will try to send, I hope it isn't too big.
Also, UPS did attempt to deliver the package once, if you didn't know, and obviously I didn't get it yet. So, I might not get it today either. Things have changed a bit in the mission, and now we are required to drive another set of missionaries who are in bike area. I can sympathize with them for all the rides I got when I was in a bike area. However, that puts us running around today, and not at home ready to receive the package. I'm hoping we can make it back before it does, but I wouldn't count on it.
But on a positive side, as things have changed, President Hall has allowed all missionaries to Skype home on Mothers Day and Christmas. I'm sure you are excited about that. I was able to Skype last Christmas because a family offered for us to do such, but because no one offered on Mothers Day, we couldn't. Now we can ask, as long as it doesn't provide an inconvenience for the family.
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