This Week

Not sure what to write about this week, It has really flown by. I guess the highlight has been that we got a baptism date!

We do a ton of biking all over the place, really sore in my legs. We've had a lot of people cancel on us so we are out on our bikes even more. I guess though, we just need to keep working hard and things will happen. We are working hard with people, but so is Satan, and people have their free agency, so there's only so much we can do. Already so much time has flown by, so much will happen before we know it.

We do have a great zone, nobody is really a problem missionary, we all do the work and there isn't really anyone having to be taken out and talked to or interviewed. Apparently though in the zone, we (my companion and I) are at the bottom, but we've been told by our zone leaders that they know we are doing the work because they haven't had to come down to us to straighten us out so I guess we are doing good. My district leader wants to say hi:

Hey, I'm Elder Day and I'm Elder Huffaker's District Leader. I just wanted to tell you guys that Elder Huffaker is a WONDERFUL Missionary! He is truly a delite to have in the district. He has a hilarious sense of humour and is a great worker! Its a pleasure to know him! Thanks for everything that you guys have done to influence Elder Huffaker. He is a stud! You all are great! Love, Elder Day.

Elder Day is a pretty cool guy, he wanted to say hi and also because I didn't know what all to say. He's going home soon so he's just saying hi.

Elder Huffaker


P.S. From Marilyn:

We're including a few pictures of their apartment that Cameron sent.
And also, an unusual piece of trivia: we have three missionaries from our little valley that all currently serve in the San Fernando Mission (one is Spanish speaking). Cameron sent this next photo of himself standing next to one of them: Elder Johnny Grow! Totally cool!!

An Interesting Week

Cameron's letter from September 19, 2011:


All right, so this week has been interesting.

We have plenty of people to see, but a lot of them we were unable to see. We spent a good chunk of time contacting, and we thought we had some people, but haven't been able to catch them again. Also, we do eat with the members a lot, but a few of them also cancelled this week. We ended up doing dinners ourselves a few times, but that's okay, it happens.

I have seen two other people get baptized that other missionaries have taught, a few of ours are really close, but just not quite there.

I recently purchased a light for my bike because I have been using a flashlight and rubber band as my light. Elder Morgan got two flats, on the same day. One on the front and the other on the back. He had to patch them and then put slime in them, which ended up taking about an hour and a half of our time and we had to cancel on one of our appointments.

We have ran in to a few people who like to talk, mainly about how black people are going to be the rulers of the earth and that every one else isn't saved. Also that Christ will return in a UFO. Weird stuff like that, but then they also try to tell us what we believe because we are Mormon. But get this: their source of information about Mormons is...... YOUTUBE! Wooo! That's a very reliable source.

Also the other day, we were stuck in a lesson till about a quarter after nine and we had to be home in 15 minutes. We were about 3 and 1/2 to 4 miles away from where we live and I thought I was going to DIE. I did come very close to hurling, but we made it back at 9:31. Literally just a minute away. Kind of gives a new meaning to giving all your heart might mind and strength.

Other than that, we are doing fine, seems amazing how fast time is flying.

Elder Huffaker

Hollywood, Baby!

Okay so I thought I told you about investigators last week. But where are the pictures taken in the photos you sent me?

I'm sending you pictures of the old bike I was using for a day. We are using one of those things with the big blue jugs of water as our source of drinking water. We need to go about 3 blocks to fill those up, and there is a picture of me carrying one on my bike. Yes that is a full 5 gallons of water I am transporting on my bike.

We went to Studio City today and the Hollywood sign, we took pictures and I think I'm sending those too. Came back and found the box you sent to me, with all the green stuff in it.

We are riding our bikes everywhere and my legs feel sore a lot. We are also being fed by members like every night for dinner. We usually teach some spiritual thought, and sometimes we are having dinner with part member and we teach them a full lesson.

Elder Huffaker

(On P-Day or Preparation Day, the missionaries have a majority of the day to do other activities, including emailing and laundry. On this particular P-Day, they also went sight-seeing.)

The 5-gallon jug of water. (We need to ask him why they don't just drink tap water!)

Cameron's first box from home, the Greenie Box arrived that day, too. Since he's still pretty "green" at being a missionary, we sent a box full of green items:

The Best Two Years

This week has been my first full week in the field that has been "normal" I suppose. We aren't having any training meetings or meetings with the president, the only meeting we've had is district meeting and the usual meetings at church (ward correlation and ward council).

I don't remember if I've said this before, but I'm in the Sherman Oaks Ward, and so far Elder Morgan is pretty awesome. He's only been out about 7 months, but he's doing fine as a trainer. We have a ton of people to try by, less actives, old investigators, people who haven't had a home or visiting teacher come by in a while and don't come to church etc., and almost every day we are having dinner with a member family, and sometimes we have had dinner with investigators or part member families, which are some of the best discussions we have. So far this week we have been teaching Sara, Burton, Rosamaria, Varo, Armen, and the McKinnens.

Sara is a really awesome investigator, she's about 22. We are teaching her in the home of who we believe is her boyfriend, we aren't sure if they're actually a "thing", but her boyfriend is K.C. He's in the Elders Quorum presidency and he plays Elder Rogers in The Best Two Years:

He's quite the uh, character. We almost have a date for baptism with Sara, and we've taught her lessons 1-3 and part of lesson 4. She says before she gets baptized she wants to have her families support. She also says that she has made the decision to get baptized even if she doesn't have her families support, but would like it.

Burton is in his 70's. I would say he's not quite progressing, we teach him a lot and he expressed a desire to come to church, and apparently has been invited several times, but hasn't been to church once. He hasn't been taught a single lesson and hardly or never reads the Book of Mormon. He does however, enjoy us coming over, but we are trying.

Rosamaria is also awesome, and is in her late 30's we think. She was raised a Catholic, but has said it never feels as good at church like it does at an LDS church. She hasn't been taught much but has a real desire to learn. We are hoping to set a baptism date within a week or two.

Varo is Armenian and so is his wife. They are probably in their late 20's to early 30's. His wife Sophia has been baptized and we are really trying with Varo. He needs to read and pray about the book, which is something Sophia has done and Varo hasn't. Hmmm.

Armen is atheist. He really wants to learn about us, but doesn't want to do anything, like reading or praying, or the like. He's a good guy, and might come around eventually, but not yet.

The McKinnens are a part member family about in their 50's. Bro McKinnen is less active, and apparently his problem is that it really was Adam's fault because he didn't tell Eve not to partake of the fruit and she did unknowingly, even though it says in Genesis 3 that she said straight up - we are commanded not to partake of the fruit. Oh well, they attended a temple marriage, and waited in the waiting room and Brother McKinnen asked Sister McKinnen if she wanted to learn more, so we are teaching them. Sis McKinnen has taken the first two lessons and we are trying to get her to read the Book of Mormon.

In other news, we are biking all over the place. I'll see if I can send a picture of our area, which is pretty large. We are planning to go to the hollywood sign as a zone and obviously we will be taking pictures. There has been rumors that we have a lot of movie stars living in the lower part of our area. Also that Elijah Wood lives across the road from the bishop. No confirms though. Our zone is full of lots of characters I guess, but other than teaching not much is happening. We do a lot of teaching.

Elder Huffaker

(Photos Cameron sent of the old bike he started out with. He has since upgraded to a better bike!)

First Area, Van Nuys

All right, here's my (I guess) long e-mail back to you. First off, going to do e-mails was kind of dropped on me; didn't know we were coming to do that, so I forgot my reader to send pictures (sooo sorry). I have a ton though, so I would probably send multiple e-mails in order to get them all sent.

So about getting sick, I actually had a cold recently, that I got in the MTC, I don't know if I told you that yet or not. I actually knew that dad was looking to get something like a tablet, I just didn't know if he was actually going to do it or not. That's pretty cool that he got one though.

That's cool that you finally opened your Mothers Day present, took you long enough, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Glad Darcie got to go to the temple. My mission just had a recent temple trip, and we go about 3 times a year, so we won't be going anytime soon. But the temple we would go to is the LA temple.

Okay, so we had 15 missionaries flying with us, and we went to the Burbank airport from Salt Lake. (I actually saw the flight that was heading for Lewiston on their reader board thing, but I didn't try to get on it. (like I would, LOL). My trainer is Elder Morgan, we get along pretty well, we are serving in Van Nuys (pronounced like very nice, with an accent, I'm not sure which accent) and we are a.............................................. bike area! I'm told this is the biggest bike area and we arrived during the hottest time of the year. Woohoo! Elder Morgan is from Show Low, Arizona, northeastern mountains.

We live with the Andersons, in a sort of guest house out behind their house. It's pretty big, bigger than I thought I'd ever have out here. Anyway, we borrowed a bike from them and while riding it, it pretty much fell apart. The tires don't hold air very well, the brakes are awful, the pedals are somewhat broke, the frame is literally starting to fall apart, it was hitting the back wheel, the shifters don't work well, the seat pad fell of so we had to tape it back on, and it was a city bike so there were no shocks, which you think wouldn't be a big deal, but with the earthquakes (which we do get, but I haven't been in one yet) the sidewalks fall apart and are very rough, which is not fun on a city bike. Oh well, anything to get around and do the work is fine, especially since we just got a bike from one of the members who never use their bikes. It's a really nice 21-speed mountain bike with a bigger seat on it. Can't wait to try it out.

I also had to get a library card so I could use the computer here at the library for an hour. Next week though, the library will be closed because of the national holiday so we will just go to the church.

So, we are getting fed really well, the members here are awesome. We have a calendar specifically for the ward to sign up to have us over for dinner, and we are almost booked through September, there's like 2 or 3 days that are open, and some of the members say, "If you don't get anyone for that date, just come over and we'll feed you." So there's no worries about going hungry here.

Also, for the most part, when we are not in a discussion or eating, the rest of the time is usually spent getting from place to place. I haven't done street contacting or door knocking since I've been here (except for knocking on doors of previous investigators).

So tell me, how is Dad doing at Welenco? Is he getting plenty of business? Is Brandon helping him a lot? How are things at home? Please ask any questions, I will try to have photos next week, and ask questions I forgot to answer too.

Elder Huffaker