From Braedon

hey everyone,

big news first. sabrina talked to her dad and hes down with her getting baptized! woot! she called us sunday evening to tell us. i was freaking out haha. its going to be perfect because this coming weekend her two sisters from san diego will be down in the valley, her brother from mexicali will be up on this side of the border, and well can have the baptismal service between conference sessions up in el centro (where her mom lives). so there should be tons of people to see and support her and lidia with the baptism, both the members thatll be at conference, and the whole family (like 12 of them haha) should be there too! woot! that family rocks. i had to get the big news out first, but ill continue on with why that family rocks haha. this past friday we did a family night with the rosales (members) and invited sabrina and lidia. well, her sister sharon (one of her sisters that lives in san diego) came down that same night and so sabrina and lidia brought sharon along too. then the following day sabrina took sharon to a hike with the YSA. then on sunday sabrina and lidia brought sharon to church too. she loved it. sharon will be back down this weekend and already told us shell see us at conference. woot. lidiana, another sister from san diego that we met a few weeks ago, is working with elder little and burnell in my old area in bonita and is getting baptized in 3 weeks too. shell be down this weekend too. uber. and to top it off, the dad said we could do a family night with his whole family this weekend as well. the benitez family is legit. so yeah, thats been making elder mata and me all sorts of stoked hahah.

more good news. the cruz family (minus the dad and son...son was sick, dad was working) came to church on sunday! and they enjoyed it a lot, even though they didnt understand everything (the gospel principles class was about the scriptures, and the teacher was in a hurry to finish on time so rushed through doctrine and covenants and the pearl of great price a little, leaving the cruz family bewildered hahah...dont worry, we clarified it all yesterday). they said there was only one thing they wish was different....that the whole family wouldve been there! hahah so theyre determined to make sure that everyone in the family makes it for conference this weeked. woot! weve got it set up to have lots of contact with them too. church on sunday, institute on tuesdays, activities on wednesday, and thursday were doing a movie ("the restoration") night at the church with their family, and then sunday at general conference. they probably wont make it for the saturday stuff (they all work at the swap meet on saturday), but if they can all go on sunday i wont be too upset haha.

celia geraldo went to church too. she too felt a little thrown off by the doctrine and covanants and pearl of great price stuff, but i dont think itll destroy her interest or scare her away. shes in san diego for a few days seeing a friend in the hospital, but shell be back in time for general conference too. shes been asking questions about baptism, so its on her mind. well probably re-invite her after conference and after she hopefully watchs the baptism on sunday. shes living with a super missionary member, shes bound to get it and get more into it.

victor manzanares finally started his stop smoking/drinking alcohol/coffee program! but when he started he did it with determination. hermano felix went with us to get him excited about it and to help explain the program (he overcame some addictions like 6 years ago with the missionaries). it was perfect. hes doing well so far, despite the fact that everyone else in his house smokes/drinks hahah. but weve the whole 8 days of the program planned out with things for him to do/places to go so that hes out of the bad atmosphere (once again, most of it is church stuff haha. you gotta get as much of that good stuff in with english/stop smoking programs, its gold). well be seeing him each day and calling him a bunch too. once hes got this kicked, i think he'll be ready to move along. when we taught him before he always said that would be his barrier before baptism because it was a part of repentance. very true. and its also true that after this week that barrier will be gone hahah. so once this monday hits, if all continues to go well, well have a mini celebration with him and start helping him take the next steps.

ivan and miguel laborin went to the activities on wednesday and loved it. miguel is having some issues with his wife that he just recently married, so hes down with talking with us so that he can try to fix that whole situation. now that weve got miguel, weve got the whole familys trust. theyre reading and praying now, and now that theyre coming to activities on wednesday well be able to see them 3 times a week instead of the slow paced 2 times we had before. they went to mexicali this weekend, but theyre excited to go back to the activities and said they wanted to come the following weekend to church. lets hope that it happens eh.

we started teaching the reyes family (they came to our english class last week). theyre pretty legit. its the grandparents, their son (jesus) and daughter (maria), and then two grandkids (both are jesus's kids). the grandparents are kinda old but still got their mind pretty sharp. and even though the grandma says shes never talked with mormons before, she sure knows a whole ton about us (and its true stuff, none of that anti mormon false baloney). this weekend they went to san felipe or something like that, but they said theyd love to join us for church this coming weekend. the kids went to english class last night and theyve both got their prayers down already and feel super comfy with it (we pray before and after each english class. we basically slip in as much church stuff as we can with english classes, its the bomb hahah). the only problem is that the mom of the two kids lives in mexicali and cant cross, so sometimes they spend weekends down there with her and sometimes up here with the grandparents. thats alright though, im sure the missionaries in mexicali wont mind stopping by their house down there.

our english classes, by the way, are rocking. last night we had yet another new couple come. they live in mexicali, but i got their information so that the missionaries down there can make contact with them. then just this morning we had somebody from the mexican embassy here in calexico call us. theyre doing a fair thing and want us to put up a booth to 'recruit' people for english classes. we were more than happy to say yes. so good stuff there. thank you trevon for giving me the drive/inspiration to start up the classes again.

well, thats about it. but hey, congrats to laura on going to the temple on friday. i really wish i couldve been there, but im glad that you were able to go :) and hey, did ashton get his mission papers in yet? im dying to know about that. brolin, let me know what happens with your top 10 essay. thats super exciting. if you get the $5000, remember that im your favorite brother eh ;) mom, about my birthday, i dont really need anything. ive got lots of ties. and theyre not too shabby. some are actually quite legit. but yeah, im sure that ive got more than enough nice ones for when i go home. thanks though. my birthday gift can be making sure that the scooter is up and running for when i get home hahah. oh, and also it can be healthy snacks, if you decide to send any haha. besides that, nothing. i mean itll just be more stuff that ill have to try to make fit in my luggage and such in a month. a family picture and a card will be perfect.

love you all tons. i will talk to yall again next week.

elder roney

From Braedon

hey,

so, just so you know mostly everything is going really well. but the ouch is because of a comment made during stake conference that just poured a bit bucket of water on member missionary work. the guy that made the comment didnt intend for it to come out the way it did (hes an ex-mission president and understands this stuff pretty well), but it really did just give us missionaries a kick to the face haha. he said that members should stop giving videos and copies of the book of mormon and cards and such to their friends and neighbors. he said to stop giving missionaries referrals. he said that instead of all that, we should just be friends with people for a year without saying anything about the church besides, 'im a mormon'. he said to do it without the intent of sharing the gospel with them at all or preparing them for the missionaries. after each comment, we missionaries just cringed more and more. he was trying to talk about motives, and say that we shouldnt do that stuff just because were asked to, but because we really care for them and want to be their friends and love them. and the idea was that they should develop that sincere friendship with a NEW person, not with the people the already know. but the guy is older and recently had a couple issues with his brain and had surgery and such, so it all just came out in a less than desirable way. and hes a big leader in the stake, so of course all the members heard it and believe it. so now we have members thinking that they shouldnt do any missionary work for the next year, even with the ones they have already known since before. really bad. president donaldson was there and heard it and had a meeting with the stake presidency after to address it, but the damage was done either way. so all the missionaries have been concerned over that. but last night we got a call from president donaldson saying that salt lake got word of what happened and that all will be fixed 'in these next few weeks'. so im guessing that hes saying the general conference will set things straight for us haha. now we just have to make sure the members actually watch all of the conference haha. but yeah, that put a big dent in things but were moving forward regardless. we know the guy who said it didnt mean to shut us down, and im positive itll get straightened up soon.

anyways, as for sabrina and lidia....still no baptism. but, theyre still down for it and actually are pushing to have them family do it too. this past saturday, sabrina went up to san diego with her sister and they went to the mormon battallion, and afterwords they and the missionaries from that area talked with the sister lidiana about baptism. and she wants to do it too! hahah. so now weve got 3 out of like 10 on board hahah. but still nothing with the parents. if we can just get the dad to feel it and approve it, then i think itll unlock everything for the 3 sisters to get baptized right away and bring in the rest of the family a lot sooner. so thats our goal for the week, the dad haha. but all is going super well. i gave them each a general conference ensign and theyve been eating it up. they read that, the book of mormon, and lidia has even been reading in doctrine and covenants about certain themes she wants to learn about haha. awesome. keep them in your prayers, its just a matter of time now.

the cruz family continues to do well. they came to activities on wednesday and the kids helped us bake cookies while the parents had an english class with elder mata. then the mom and daughter came to a relief society activity on friday and really enjoyed it. they were planning on walking to church on sunday but when they found out it was in el centro they decided not to go even though we offered them a ride. even though they dont have much, theyre very determined to be self reliant. i wish theyd let us help them out a bit more but for right now they wont haha. but theyll be there this wednesday and this sunday so itll be good. the daughter is coming to YSA tonight too, and im sure shell get taken in super fast there too. that program is a machine. these past three weeks weve had like 7 non-members go to it and get sucked into it. the missionary couple in charge of it, elder and sister king, rock.

celia geraldo also doing well. shes reading and praying, even though shes timid and was reluctant to pray at first. she even asked us about how long it takes to get baptized in our last appointment. we told her that she could be ready within a month, and she seemed a little nervous but didnt shut down the idea. next appointment were going to invite her to be baptized on a specific date. shes timid and a little hesitant with everything, but i think shes likes and wants this stuff and will take it well.

found another great guy named carmelo. he was raised catholic, but after reading from the bible and pondering, he thinks some of the doctrine is off and is lookin for the right stuff. so far, everything he believes is right on with the teachings we have, and hes super open to learn more. his wife is hesitantto talk with us, but well win her over haha.

also met and taught a new lady named lepe yesterday. shes open and kind too, but also a shy person. after dealing with people like norma landin, esperanza, the montanos, etc that talk non stop, its nice but kinda weird to teach quite, reserved people haha. but lepe is cool and i think that even though shes a little more timid, she will be open to this stuff. were going back tomorrow with a member (one that thank goodness didnt go to stake conference hahah) to see if thatll help open her up a little more.

we taught the garza family a couple of days ago and they are doing super well. they loved the video and the reading, and we went over moronis promise with them and they loved it. theyve had a lot of jehovas witnesses and baptists come by their housing trying to pound them to accept things, so they really liked the idea of personal revelation and finding out for oneself through the Spirit. shes doing really well healthwise too (she gets really bad migranes that last for days) right now so it looks like God is giving us a perfect opening to help them out. love it.

we had a funny experience teaching the laborin family. as we were teaching them the sons-in-law would walk in drunk and smoking and talking about crazy things like seeing weird things around the house. but their parents in law did a good job of getting rid of them haha. and regardless of the interruption, it ended up going pretty well. one of the sons told us that after going through catacism classes and then studying on his own, he believed that God guides us through a prophet and 12 apostles. he asked us what we knew about that and what our thoughts were hahah. needless to say, he was pretty happy to hear about conference in a couple of weeks. the son and mom show the most interest, the dad just sits there listening and wont participate, but always likes to be there to listen regardless.

oh, another funny story about drunks. we went over to explain the 'stop smoking/drinking' program to victor...and he was drunk hahah. he went off about what he had read from the book of mormon and told us the first 5 chapters of 1 nephi without a flaw. ive never seen such a smart drunk. but as for the program, we told him wed come back to explain it another day haha. he wouldnt let us leave though and took us to the back yard, where he had a drum set. elder mata with his big mouth had told him earlier that i played drums, so he said we couldnt leave until i played him a song hahah. ill be honest, i was happy to do it for him hahah. it had been a long long time since id played the drums, but i played him a couple of swing beats and he loved it hahah. with that wonderful experience, we left haha. probably definitely not the most purpose-fulfilling visit, but itll be a funny one to remember haha.

norma landin went to the RS activity too. she loves the RS. but shes hit a standstill with her progress. she wont come to church! but the good news is that her husband has been asking her about the church more and more (she knows a bunch more than he does). who knows, maybe well get him moving along first and then with that shell follow.

the egyptian guy couldnt make it to his spanish class because of work. plus, president donaldson said that were not allowed to teach him unless hes already christian, and im pretty sure hes not. apparently if you baptize them out of their egyptian religion and into christianity, its basically like putting a big 'shoot me' sign over their head if others find out. missionaries in san diego baptized an egyptian about 6 months ago without knowing that, and president donaldson got notice from the 1st presidency that we need to be very careful about that. the egyptian guy that was already baptized basically cant ever go back to egypt or let others from his home know or hes a dead man haha. so, akmad is kinda out of the picture. darn it!

we did MTE on thursday and friday for the zone and it seemed to help a lot, cause the zone now has 6 more people with baptismal dates. and finding for everyone took a jump up too. so even though we were out of our area to 2 days, it was definitely worth it. were going to start doing missionary movie nights and a blitz to advertise it in each area too to help boost finding for each companionship. the first one is planned for 1st of april, so well see how it goes. even if it only gets each companionship 3-4 more investigators, itll pick up the pace (our zone was really struggling with finding more people to teach this past month).

thats about all folks. sounds like the family is doing well. im excited to ashtons mission call. the annoying thing is that ill have to wait until 6 days after he gets it to know about it! oh well, thats just the way it is. love you all lots. thanks for the vitamin things. i just barely got them and dont really know what they do, but ill read the letter and im sure itll explain. que Dios les bendiga hehe.

elder roney

From Braedon

hey everyone,

sorry to hear that byu didnt quite make it all the way. but 2nd is pretty bomb. and even though they lost in the last game, it sounds like dad had a blast. golf and byu for a week. dads dream come true.

like byu, our week was just one small step away from a super legit week. lots of good stuff that happened, but it all just needed that one extra click to make it golden. on saturday night we had a lesson with sabrina and lidia. we reviewed the baptismal interview questions and talked about what the Lord asks of us at baptism (be believing and willing to follow His prophet and such). it went really well. after we had finished looking at the interview questions and clarifying a few things with them, both said they felt ready. that really threw us off. i mean we suspected that sabrina would be, but we thought that lidia was a little further behind. turns out that shes been rocking it in even though we havent been able to see her much and she hasnt been coming to the services/activities in the past couple of weeks. but this week she opened up a lot and said that she has been praying each night and that she had been reading from the book of mormon frequently in that time. its cool, cause last week we taught her and she still had her weird questions and seemed a little behind, but this week she toned down a lot with her odd questions and had less doubts/issues. reading the book of mormon takes a lot of those weird quirks out of people. i love it. anyways, we were shocked by her response but stoked about it. so, we invited them to prepare for baptism this coming sunday (20th). they said that theyre getting baptized...but that they want to talk to their family before they say for sure on the 20th. just one step away from being prime. however, its smart to get all straight with the family first, and im pretty positive that itll work out fine and happen quick, theyre pretty solid about it all. this week were still having their interviews so that if the family supports it then it can happen without any other barriers. and to help get the family more comfortable with everything, were taking the whole family to the church this weekend for a tour and to show them the 'finding faith in christ' video. they havent come to the church yet, so i think itll help the rest of the family feel more comfortable with supporting the baptism and raise their interest in it all. so good stuff there.

the entire cruz family came to church for activities on wednesday and loved it. the kids were accepted right away by the YM/YW and were having a great time with those activities. the parents came to english class and we also took them on a tour of the church. they liked it all too. the dad was super tired but rather said that he was glad to be there regardless because he knew it was good for the family. they didnt make it to church on sunday though. the mom and dad worked (theyre trying hard to get enough cash to rent a place so the kids can have a place to sleep besides a bus bench and an actual place to bathe...those parents are determined to get the best for their family), and although the kids wanted to go to church with the member they know, the whole family was up til 4 AM working sunday morning and slept late. (one step from being awesome...darn it. thats why bedtimes are good boys...) but, they like what theyve seen and heard and already feel accepted by the church. well being doing pizza and a movie night for them at the church too this week, probably with the ochoa family so they can keep getting more comfy with the members.

griselda franco went to the YSA family night and enjoyed it. shes becoming more interested bit by bit. shell be a tough case, but any time this stuff actually breaks through to her, she loves it. like premortal life (the whole plan of salvation is hard for her to get...she was confused about God's plan for her thanks to erroneous teaching from her JW uncle during her childhood haha). once she actually got the premortal life, she loved it. its tough to make stuff click with her, but with each hard fought click, she digs 'the mormons' more and more.

the garza family finally sprang to life again. they watched the video we left with them months ago and loved it. we stopped by just to see how they had been and if anything had changed in the past weeks and the wife was stoked about the video. she says shes excited to talk about the video and stuff shes read from the book of mormon (this is the same lady that told us months ago that she was no longer interested and didnt want us to come by). so theyre back into it and now well be working with that family again. good stuff.

english classes have given us a good group of potentials to work with. one lady, carmen, said that she wants to get close to God and start going to a church so she can raise her little son right. so we gave her a church tour after english class and introduced her to some members. she couldnt come on sunday but we got her address and will be visiting her outside of the classes. also, a funny thing happened as we were giving outu english class fliers in 'downtown' calexico. elder mata gave one to this guy and told him in spanish that the classes are free. the guy looked at him blankly, looked at the flier, and looked at us blankly again. then he told us in english, with a super thick accent, that he doesnt speak or read spanish. so i started trying to communicate with the guy in english, but ill tell you what it was hard. what i got out of the conversation was that his name was something like akmad, that hes a recent immigrant from egypt, and that he wanted to learn spanish. i have no idea what an egyptian that cant speak spanish is doing in calexico, but we set up a class to teach him spanish! im excited. maybe ill have him help me decipher the facimiles in abraham....hahah.

also, i have some interesting news. well, remember the black ipod that you sent me in the MTC? it might have been ashtons or something, im not really sure, and im not really sure whos it is now either. our apartment kinda got broken into on friday haha. so to ashton or whoevers it was, sorry, but your ipod is no more haha. luckily, all they took was the ipod and about 60 bucks in cash from my wallet (they left the wallet there), but they left everything else. my cards were still in my wallet, which i found surprising. but then i noticed that the cards are expired haha. they probably did too, and thats probably why they left them. all of my other stuff was fine and i had my important personal info with me/packed away really well, so i didnt lose any of it from what i can tell. still, if you could just keep an eye on my account id appreciate it. i doubt that they can access the account with an expired debit or credit card number and such, but if im wrong, then cancel the cards! hahah. 3 apartments were broken into that evening. they came in through our back window. what kind of person would break into and steal from an apartment with pictures of jesus all over? oh well, no big deal. weve got tons of food left and the 60 bucks were just extra stuff from what mom has sent me. but all is well, dont worry.

well, thats about it. im going to get my hair cut because im lookin a little shaggy. ashton, make sure youre doing what they ask you as you prep for the mission (preach my gospel, book of mormon, the missionary videos, etc), cause the missionaries of your time are stepping things up even further. im jealous cause youll smoke our class of missionaries, but itll take more prep on your part. do it, you wont regret it. promise. love you all, im taking off.

elder roney

ps. mom sorry ill answer your questions next week. i know, im horrible. i forgot until just now. sorry! love you, youre the best mom ever!

From Braedon

ahahaahhh laura is going to the philippines!!!!!!! im blown away. and may 25th? eeeesssh. im glad that shell get to serve so soon and that ill get to see her, even if it is just super short. but couldnt president monson have waited another week so that we couldve played some tennis or something? jk. ill miss not having her there big time, but im super stoked for her. shes going to rock it. im sure that the 'sister dyer' leaving the 25th will be somebody the 'elder roney' coming back on the 24th will look up to and wish he could emmulate. congrats! and sister dyer (laura's mom)...now that laura is going to be gone, ill take her share of those yummy desserts you always make. hahah. laura, the 24th ill race home to get released (or so i say now, ill probably be crying as it comes closer) and im expecting a good half an hour minimum before you take off. if not, ill beat you up!

well, as for calexico. this last week was full of busy work but also full of a lot of God's help. wednesday we had transfers and ZL council in san diego, thursday and friday we were in san diego again for leadership training, so we had three days less to work with. (but san diego was awesome. i was able to go work with a companionship in my old area in bonita 3rd thursday evening and it was epic. naty is tearing it up! she does FHE's every week and invites everyone she knows. she had 5 investigators there, all of them but one were people she invited. and she had two families that usually come but couldnt that day. shes doing better work than we are! hahah).

anyways, God set things up so that even though we were out of the area for so long, wed still get done what was needed. saturday we came back and went to go see maria giron (a less-active that we met in the swap meet and told us she wanted to come back) and she informed us that she was bringing one family (celia and her grandkids that stay with her) to church the following day and had another family (the cruz family) she wanted us to meet. she set up a dinner with the cruz family for sunday night and the next day showed up to church 15 minutes early with her friends' (celia) family. sunday night a few hours after church we went by her house and had dinner with the cruz family. maria is a super amazing member. members like naty and maria giron really show why the brethren push member missionary work...theyre just better at it than we are! haha. naw, but really, members like that are really who represent and deserve big time props. anyways, the cruz family is a super nice family of four. theyve hit absolute rock bottom though. lost their jobs, house, cars, everything. they now live in a small school bus inside the swap meet, where they buy and re-sell things for more to try to make some money. the husband applied for a job as a truck driver but hasnt left to do that yet. its just a super sad situation, but even though theyve got basically nothing theyre determined to work from the bottom and build their way up as a family. and were going to do what we can to help them along the way. the kids and mom should be going to mutual this week so the kids can distract themselves and learn how to play some basketball and make cookies (the YM president asked me to teach the kids how to bake cookies...haha). and we want the wife to meet some of the ladies in the ward and have them invite her to a relief society banquet this coming week. we may not be able to completely pull them out of their situation, but the ward can definitely help, even if in just little ways. pray for the cruz family, they need it a lot.

we also finally found victor manzanares again. turns out he had gone on vacation for a couple of weeks. we taught him last week and hes still super sharp and humble, but just super unconfident. hes still down for the stop smoking/drinking program though, so weve planned to start that this saturday.

sabrina and lidia continue to progress. lidia still a bit slower but shes getting there. in church on sunday, sabrina, pointing to a picture of a baptismal font in a temple, told us that she wants to be baptized there. we explained that she could go do baptisms for the dead there in may with the ward, but shed have to be baptized separately before that haha. she said ok, fine, i want to be baptized in a river like joseph smith's dad. we laughed because the only river around here is the new river, and its in the top 3 grossest rivers in north america haha. she still wouldnt say when, but its definitely on her mind. she was even asking what exactly is a covenant and what kind of covenant is baptism and all that. itll click any time now im sure. oh and we met her mom and family last tuesday night. they had a carne asada for her bros bday. the family is nice, a little crazy when theyre all together, but nice. the mom lives in el centro so the elders up there will be working with her, but she seems pretty legit and it seems like itll all go well.

on saturday evening were doing a FHE with the laborin family. they invited all of their kids and their spouses. should be a full house hahah. itll be a fun experience.

as for the madness going on at home with BYU and dad . . . take lots of pictures and let me know how it goes. im so out of it all with sports and such, but i enjoy hearing about how much fun you all are having with it.

oh! guess what?! i saw snow on wednesday!!! and not that fake stuff you sent me either. legit snow. as we were driving up to transfer meeting in san diego, we saw a decent amount along the sides of the road and such. we were in a hurry so i didnt stop to make a snow man or anything, but i did get a picture to prove it. i know, its no big deal for you all. but its been a while for me so i was pretty happy eh.

well, times up. off i go yet again. ive got letter on the way for laura, adam, and kinny. have patience with me, im not so good with writing promptly, but they should be getting to yall in this next week or so. also, tell peter clegg thanks a ton for his letter to me. i love that man, hes such a stud. ill get a letter back to him too, but probably not this week. regardless, let him know i appreciated his letter a lot.

love you all

elder roney

From Braedon

first of all....LAURA!!!!! I cant express how stoked i am about the news!!!! im going to be suffering all week long, wanting to know where the next Sister Dyer will be serving. congrats, im so happy about that :)

next, guess who will be staying in calexico again this transfer? yup, me hahah. bishop marrujo told me last night that he may as well go ahead and request my membership records into the ward hahah. so ill be here til mid-april at the least. hahahah i still cant believe it...but im excited about it. weve got a lot of good stuff happening and the zone has been doing a great job too. at the rate weve been going in 2011, were aimed to beat the stake goal by 14. the missionaries here have been doing a great job, big time props to them. its been super hard for them to find new investigators and all that stuff, but regardless theyre squeezing all they can out of what theyve got and its going well.

so, still nothing with griselda. boo. if we ever do get things back on board with her, ill let ya know...

however, things with sabrina and lidia are rocking. they still come to institute, church, and the YSA family nights, plus meet with us separately. they devour whatever we leave them with, and even go on to mormon.orgto check out more. they committed themselves to live the word of wisdom and are working hard with that. all is going super well. we invited them to be baptized in 2 weeks but said they hadnt felt it yet but will keep thinking about it. well, we watched the joseph smith video (the hour-long one) with them and im pretty sure they felt it, both said they were trying not to cry haha. they invited us over to eat with the entire family today, so were going to have the chance to get the whole family rolling. they dad even wants to meet with us on sundays (its his only day off) and so well be starting to do that. things are just going well. were working hard to make sure there is another benitez family in the ward by the end of this transfer haha. good stuff, keep them in your prayers please.

the landin family. also rockin it. we talked with the whole family on saturday. so amazing. even the kids amaze me with how legit and respectful and such they are. we had a kneeling prayer with them before we left and it was amazing to see the whole family kneeling in prayer together. such great people. yet again, that family definitely needs to be a part of the ward asap. the kids have been asking to go to the church, and the dad is down with it, norma is the only one that cant get the courage to come to church. but i think that with the husband and kids wanting to go, shell give in and go soon. by the way, adam judd and jerry would get along pretty well i think. he drives the same truck adam had, listens to some legit old school rap, funk, and rock, and even though he was born in mexico he knows and uses some uber american slang haha. super great guy. and family. woot.

the laborin familiy is also doing well. we met with the husband, wife, and one of the sons and it went super well. they even said that they want to invite their daughter and son-in-law to come over to their house for the next lesson. we met them at the perfect time. he just finished his jobs as a welder so will have free time for the next few months and the wife and daughter just got saturdays and sundays off. its getting set up perfectly. we should be seeing them later on today and will be talking about the family, because theyre huge about that. man, i love teaching families. its been too long since weve had a few good ones, im glad weve got a few now. good stuff.

we started teaching this older lady named hermana sandoval and then another guy named ruben, but weve only taught them once each so were still not sure how itll play out with them. however, last night we met celia geraldo and she is super cool. kinda sad and worried about her family, but shes a great lady and has lots of respect for the church. shes even been a few times in the past with one of her old friends. well see her later this week and see if we can start helpin her out some more.

most of this week will be sucked away into things other than working in our area. tomorrow we take missionaries in to san diego for transfers, then have ZL council, then come back to teach english classes (the classes should be pretty good, we bombarded the swap meets and downtown with fliers and found lots of people that wanted to come). then thursday and friday its back to san diego for leadership training. then once were back weve got to do this stake report. but, we should have some good time on saturday and sunday to get stuff done. luckily weve got a phone (and not to mention texting) to help us keep in contact with everyone during the time well be gone.

that is about it folks. i cant believe the judds will be gone to ghana. wow. i definitely wont be paying them a visit during their service haha. but youll be in my prayers brother (or should i say president) and sister judd. i think ill be able to see them before they take off. at least i hope so. im glad to hear that britt is doing so well with her jewelry. you should send me some pictures of it. and ashton, its exciting that youre finishing up your mission papers. avery, you didnt try out for tennis? oh well, i still love you. and stop growing. brolin, keep rocking on. ill probably use your amazing reading skills to help me out with reports in college. so thanks in advance. dad...i cant believe you were in san diego. man, who hasnt been to san diego while ive been out here in the desert? mom, props to you for doing such a good job with the family and relief society. after working with ward leaders so closely, i realize how nuts it is. youre doing great :) well, im out of time. keep it real. love you all.

elder roney