From Braedon

hey hey hey,

so, things continue to roll, with some things slumping and others bouncing up, but overall things are going decently well. the best news is that Juan got confirmed on sunday and is as excited as ever to keep plugging along. the lame news is that his wife esperanza and his grand-daughter Griselda didnt come. Esperanza was sick (she gets sick quite easy after all the cancer treatment from the past, but shes got cancer beat for now and shes beating the sicknesses bit by bit too), and Griselda just didnt get up on time. supposedly she said she was going to go but nobody woke her up, and rather than not believe her, we told her that wed help out this next week and come wake her up ourselves haha. but she was down with it and is still on board with everything. shes still reading the book of mormon and wants us to keep coming by often, so its moving along.

Hector Gallegos is still reading and praying about the book of mormon, and even though hes yet to receive an answer, its helping to resolve some of his doubts concerning the book of mormon and such so thats good. the lazy guy totally slept through church though. 10 really cant be that early. however, hes gaining more confidence with this stuff and if we can just get him to come to church then i think thatll help it all click. we may start teaching his brother too, and the bro even offered to go to church with hector if he went. who knows, maybe we can work through the brother to get things rolling a bit quicker.

jose terran is doing pretty well. hes definitely old and talks a ton, but hes doing well. the poor guy got confused this past sunday because last week in church he had heard that the temple was closed to renovation and he thought the church was the temple. so sunday morning like 15 minutes before church he shows up at a members house to visit instead of going to the church and they explained that the temple was in san diego and that the church was still open. he ended up not coming to church because he hadnt gotten ready, thinking church was closed, but hes still solid. just old and confused at times haha. hes been telling us about people he knows that we should visit though. i love when people give us referrals when they arent even members.

cool story with the hernandez family. theyre the ones that pretty much dropped us over the phone last week. well, we went by just to say hi and see if we couldnt save the situation a little bit, but it turns out we didnt even have to try to patch stuff up (God did it for us ha). we knocked, they opened right up and told us to come right in. they told us to sit down at the table and they offered us food and drink and everything ha. the wife then told us that after she had told us not to come by anymore, she hung up thinking it was done with. well, that night when the time came that we were supposed to come by and didnt, she felt something inside her shrink and she felt horrible. she told us that shes positive it was the Holy Ghost telling her that she shouldnt have told us no. she even asked God to forgive her for having told us that ha. basically, theyre accepting us back over several times a week and last night they came super buddy-buddy with sister ochoa, so things are going well. the husband is reading and they were both asking us about church services and the times and such. so weve got them back. thank goodness for the Holy Ghost and backing us up ha.

Maria oregel still puts up her 'take it slow' front, but i think shes starting to change. she told us that she never reads other religious books besides the bible, and even has given or thrown away other religious books from other churches. yet she reads the book of mormon. she told us that this week she wants to come to the first hour of church (but just the first hour, because she wants to take it slow haha), then the week after shell come for two, then the week after shell stay for the whole time. i think shes doing it like that more to act like 'ill do it my way and my own time, bit by bit' than anything. shes just yet another older person in our teaching pool that wants to act like theyre in control and do as they please, but really are drawn to this stuff. we shall see what happens with time i guess.

carlos mejia continues to really dig this stuff. we taught him about the plan of salvation because hes heard his wife talk about it (shes less-active). we read from the book of mormon to help explain some points and he told us after that when he was reading from the book of mormon something pierced him to the heart. and his prayer at the end of the lesson was bomb. he gave thanks for having a wife that could bring him these truths that would bless him and asked for help to keep going with it. even though his super busy schedule restricts us meeting with him too often, i feel super good about him.

both brother castillo and brother lemus came to church yet again this last sunday. thats 3 in a row for castillo and twice for lemus. both are super cool guys, and im stoked that theyre getting back into the groove with church now. and their wives are super content with it all too. great guys, im happy for them. the church was packed this last week too. and surprisingly enough, most of them were there before sacrament got started haha. we didnt quite have enough to have to open the curtains and put more seats in the back, but it was pushing it. woot, go calexico ward.

what else...we did a lot of service this past week. not only is service rad because its good to help others out, gain trust, and help along missionary work, but it also helps me learn how to do new stuff haha. building sheds, replacing the kitchen, putting up walls, working on house foundations...i definitely never wouldve done that stuff before haha. im a noob when it comes to that stuff, so its fun to learn a bit about that stuff. what else...we had interviews this morning followed by a meeting with the stake presidency. all went well. no major issues to deal with and thank goodness haha. this thursday we have a conference with elder evans from the 70. should be fun. besides that, its just normal work work work.

im glad ashton got to go out with the missionaries. hopefully they were on top of things and he had a good experience. i still remember the time i went out with them...haha president donaldson wouldve smashed them haha. no, but im sure theyre solid guys. i mean, we missionaries are perfect right? pshshs haha oh how i wish that were so. well, i hope everyone gets better quick. if you want, i can give you some mexican remedies. have i told you about the one where you boil rusting nails in water and drink the water after it cools? haha i hear lots of ridiculous stuff like that. stick to good old american doctors haha. well, id best get a move on. our p day is shorter cause of interviews and weve got some early appointments. but i love you all and thank you for all you do. let me know when your mormon.org profiles are up and ill use them with members ad investigators. woot.

love

elder roney

From Braedon

hey everyone,

so things keep on going crazy around here. were always running around trying to get it all done but i swear we never end up with enough time (except for the one day we do exchanges and try to show a model area...then of course everything falls through hahah shows how far we are from having that model area haha). its those darn old people that talk for so long! no, we love them too, but they really do talk a lot haha. an hour appointment with some of them isnt unusual (unfortunately). but yeah, all is still going really well. its a battle to keep things straight and going right but so far its going pretty well.

however, we did take a slight hit this week. we called the garza family to try to set up an appointment and the mom told us that she was fine without talking to us for the time being. we tried talking to her a little over the phone but she was pretty closed off. im pretty sure she got anti-ed, because shes got these jehovas witness materials on her desk now ha. darn them. however, the husband is still open so were going to try to work out way back in with the whole family through him. jehovas witness are easy to shut down, and really theres not any anti-mormon material that can hold against the vast store of knowledge that president donaldson has, so were not too worried about that. we just need to have her open up to talk to us one more time. well see how that plays out this week.

besides that, most everything continues to go super well. juan told us last night that he feels ready to go for his baptism this weekend. woot. he told us his wife wont be, but with some more time he thinks she will be. the whole family is coming bit by bit, with juan leading the way. just yesterday they shut down some jehovas witnesses that came by (they know we go by there, one of esperanzas sons is a jehovas witness so sent them over haha). the family told them that they receive God's gospel only from their brothers the mormon missionaries hahah. woot. so yeah, good stuff there. juans baptism this sunday if all goes without flaw. oh, by the way, that family has tons of miracles going on it it. juan, who always has to use glasses, forgot his glasses someplace but wanted to read the book of mormon. well, he got his vision back and was able to read the book of mormon without the glasses, and was able to do everything else without them as well. uber.
brisela continues to read and meet with us, but its still a slow process. supposedly shell be coming to church this weekend, so well see if that can hopefully give her a jump start.
maria oregel still isnt reading (por flojera) but is 'practicing her prayers so that she can pray with us' haha. we explained she didnt need to practice but she said she wants to get used to talking to God before she does it in person. she also was wanting to go to church on sunday and even considered calling us for a ride, but felt embarrassed so didnt do it. we explained to her that well get her a ride this sunday and tonight were going to take a member over to meet her and offer her a ride. so bit by bit shes moving along.
the manzanares family is doing really well. we had a bomb lesson with them last night and everyone was into it and learning tons, including us. theyve had 10 years of missionaries and such, so they all know bits from it, and last night we taught them about the atonement and then questions started popping up and the family (definitely with help from the spirit) started answering each others questions and teaching each other and boosting each other up and all. everything we had hoped to talk about was brought up and we didnt even have to say a thing about those themes. it was uber. in the end, it resulted that the dad has got baptism on his mind, the son has got getting the priesthood on his, the daughter is determined to help move her dad along, and the mom is looking forward to get back and learn more cause she ate up all the stuff she was getting. the dad (non-member) is having us over on thursday too to help him quit smoking and figure out these strange feeling of joy and content (spirit) hes had in the past, especially at his sons baptism. woot. love that family.
this week we also found some rad new peeps. the hernandez family was a referral that we got thats bomb. theyve got family in kansas thats working with the missionaries and getting baptized in january. that family from kansas sent us the referral and things since then have been going real well. they accept us over basically any time and are super receptive. plus theyre amazed to see the changes in their son in kansas and so thatll be a big time help.
also we had some members (the castillo family) just randomly invite some guy to church when they were eating in a restaurant on saturday. he totally showed up the next morning to church and stayed for two hours. then that same night he had us over to his house. his name is jose terran and hes in his 70s but super rad. we saw him again this morning and things are going well. he wants to be as involved as he can with the church so is going to activities this wednesday too. plus, he loves reading, so hes eating up the stuff we leave with him.
maria equihua is doing well too but we werent able to see her last night cause the male member we were going to see her with cancelled and we couldnt find another on time, but well be seeing her tomorrow. she the bomb too. shes just one of those mormon-in-waiting ladies.
luis castillo, the guy that invited jose terran to church, came back to church for the first time in over a year. everyone was blown away by it. he had the white shirt, tie, and all. now we just need to get the son edgar back in gear and the whole family will be active. such a rad family, coming back to church and bringing investigators with them haha.
well, i think thats about it. the sisters just came in a minute ago and are dying to get a computer so id better get moving. but im glad to hear that most all is going well. i cant believe jantsen is already leaving...crazy. and janessa is possibly next? holy cow. tell her she cant leave until we play tennis together again at least once more. anyways, next week we find out about transfers. id like to say that ill probably leave this place, but ive been saying that for the past 4 months haha. but just to be safe, send all mail to the mission office and not to the apartment. ill let you know next week whats going down. love you all tons.
elder roney

From Moroni

Dear Family

How is everyone doing? I am doing well. This week went well, a little slow but well we did not have any investigators at church and we are searching for new investigators but we have not had much luck yet. it rained a little this week. Also transfers will be tomorrow me and my companion were transferred to Goiania and half of the zone was transferred but there has not been a lot of changes in the zone for while now so we kind of expected a lot of changes. Also I received your package this week. Thank you very much for sending me the package, also thanks for the tie its great. thanks for the nutella I really like nutella did you buy it from Italy? I was planning to buy some this week but now I don't have to buts its a little expensive here. I don't need anything for my birthday I will be home soon after and packages take so long to arrive also they cost a lot send.

It´s good to hear that everyone is doing well. That´s crazy that Jeremy will be serving in the same mission Alissa served, is really excited to serve? Also its crazy that Jordan is preparing for his call I wonder where he will be called. Well I will be looking forward to hearing about how things go for Jeremy as he prepares to serve also about Jordan when he receives his call. no maria never wrote, she should be leaving for Brazil next month right?

I hope that everything goes well for everyone this week and until next week.

Love Elder Boren

Our Newest Missionary!

That's right, Jeremy Boren received his call this week to the Salta, Argentina Mission {speaking Spanish} and is to report to the Provo, UT MTC on May 25 2011!! We're all super excited for Jeremy and can't wait to hear from him in the mission field. Be sure to spread the word so the rest of our family can keep up with our missionaries!

From Moroni

Dear Family

How is everything going? Things are going well here. The work this week has been a little slow everyone is celebrating the holidays so we hardly encounter any at home and there is hardly any one in the street everyone is partying but hopefully things will get back to normal here in a little while. It has rained a little this week and its a lot cooler today which is good. But not much has happened this week it sounds like mom, Isaiah, and nephi had a good new years I hope that everyone´s week goes well and until next week.

Love Elder Boren