Another Transfer

It's crazy to think that I've already been here six weeks.  Time goes so fast...  Elder Lish goes home six weeks from now, so that's kind of weird.  Things have been going great though, and we've been really busy and excited.

Tay, the guy we started working with a couple weeks ago, is really  doing very well.  He's been to church twice now and is planning on being baptized on the twelfth.  That may end up being moved... we want to make sure he's totally ready and he's going in for surgery soon and that might change things.  He's got a really big hernia that he's just kind of let go for a while, and it's gotten pretty bad, so he's going to take care of it now...  but he's doing great :)  He loves the Book of Mormon, and he's feeling the spirit a lot as he's been learning.  Unfortnately, his wife isn't as excited...  She's okay with him doing it, but doesn't really want anything to do with it herself...  I think she'll change her mind with a little time though.

We're also teaching a kid named Arturo.  He's living here with his grandma, but his mom and sister who live in another ward got baptized on saturday.  He didn't have the chance to be there for any of the lessons, but he went to church a couple of times and wants to be baptized.  He really wants to commit himself to God and have a fresh start, so we're helping him change his habits as well.  He's also looking at the twelfth, but that may also change.  Probably not, though.

There's also a pretty cool guy named Roger that we're talking to about once a week...  He was loking for a church for a while but kind of gave up because he didn't agree with most.  He knows that God sent us to help him, but he's kind of a slow-paced guy.  He's reading the Book of Mormon and thinks Joseph Smith is pretty cool.  He wants more information about the life of Joseph than we really have the resources to give him, though, and he doesn't have the internet...  So we're trying to figure something out.

Mike is another guy who's been looking and is confused because everyone says different things, so we're helping him there.  We've really only taught him once, but he's excited because he feels he's about to have his questions answered...

It's been a really fun week because we've had the spirit with us a lot.  It's really cool how when the spirit is there, the teacher and the learner both learn because really the spirit becomes the teacher.  Mostly we're there to discuss and make sure the conversation stays on track so that the spirit can help them understand the truth.  The best lessons are the ones that don't feel like a "lesson," but more of a discussion of the Gospel with a friend, and we help eachother recognize spiritual experiences that enrich our understanding.  That's really the trick when we share spiritual thoughts with members as well.  I know it was going right when I don't have to stop and say, "Well, we're running out of time.  Can we share a spiritual thought?"  The best ones are when our conversations flow into the scriptures and we are able to use those to help them know how to share the gospel better as a family.

I've also come to a greater understanding of faith and grace this past week.  I've heard the scripture "...for we know it is by faith that we are saved, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23)  used often for and against church doctrine.  Often, people think that grace just means God saves us unconditionally, despite anything we do, and anyone who recognizes grace through Christ will receive the ultimate reward of God.  On the other hand, there are also many who worry far too much about the "all we can do" part.  Thinking we can do any of it on our own and trying to reach our limit through sheer willpower will only lead to disappointment and failure, for God has given many warnings against those who "put their trust in the arm of flesh" which is weak.  What really happened was that Christ payed the whole debt, exempting us from the infinite perfection that would be otherwise required for redemption from an eternity in hell.  He did save us all from that.  So, if we don't have to be perfect anymore, what do we have to do?  We have to become perfect, for it is still true that no unclean or impure thing can dwell in God's presence.  Jesus Christ paid that debt, so that we could practice.  We try and fail, try and fail, and try and fail again, that is all we can do.  As long as we continue with the trying, the grace of Jesus Christ, or his "strengthening and enabling power" will then come into play and make us better than we are, and start getting rid of some of those failures.  That requires faith and repentance.  Baptism comes when we decide we want to achieve all that God wants and won't just settle for mediocrity, and he promises us the Holy Ghost, which really just intensifies the direction we recieve and the fortifying grace that works in us., so that we can keep trying and eventually have success.  Our goal is to be "perfected in Christ."  Unfortunately, not everyone is worried about all that and doesn't want to become perfect in Christ one day for whatever reason... but God loves each and everyone of his children, so he has provided places for all those who don't do what is necessary for Christ to be able to perfect them, to go and be with those who became the same thing as them.  It's not who we are, or what we do, but who we become that matters.  Who we are is just a starting point, and what we do is what starts the change, but we can try again as many times as it takes.  Hell, then, is only for those who choose it...  who deny the grace of Jesus Christ and deliberately become something pitted against the peerfection of Christ...  So really, we only go where we want to.  We will have the level of glory and happiness and knowledge and responsibility that we desire.  Alex Boye said something I really liked in his video on mormon.org:  "I believe we become what we think about the most." 

So that's what I've been thinking about lately...  but yeah, have a great week, and I love y'all :)

Elder Katzakian

What are these two gringos doing at my door?

That's definitely the look we get every day... haha

 

This was a pretty good week.  We found this pretty cool guy named David, who's been wanting to get back into church lately, and we said we'd help him.  We taught him all about the restoration of the gospel and he liked it and the Book of Mormon, and it was really cool to see the spirit help him.  It all started with an invitation to church, but then evolved into a full-blown lesson (by the way, does anyone know where the term "full-blown" comes from?  I would guess glass blowing or baloons or something, but I don't know; I've found myself a lt more interested in all the idioms we use as I've been learning spanish...) and when we invited him to be baptised, it was clear that he didn't quite get it all, but felt so good about it that he couldn't say no.  He isn't set with a date yet, but we'll be working with him to get him ready and up to speed.

 

The members here are great, and the branch presidency is really excited about missonary work, so we're going to be working very closely with them.  It's been pretty neat that just as I've gotten to every area so far, the leadership has been trying to put together a plan for more member missionary work, and since I've seen and been a part of all the plans thus far, I feel like I am well-prepared to help here.

 

In this area the spanish side seems to have been struggling for a while, so we're going to be focusing pretty hard on that for a while.  One of the biggest things, I think, is the personal commitment of the missionaries to speak spanish together so as to learn how to communicate more effectively, so we've set a goal as a district to speak more spanish together (at least three hours a day per companionship; I was doing more before, but it was in an all spanish ward with more advanced speakers).  We're also going to ask all of the branch members who know English and usually speak to us in English to just use spanish so we can better help their friends.

 

It's a bit easier to eat healthily in this area, because the members tend to be more health minded.  It seems like more of the hispanics in San Antonio are "americanized," which includes less lard in all the food... haha

 

Well, I think that's pretty much it for the week... nothing too story worthy happened. Oh!  Except one thing: while I was on exchanges with the district leader we saw an imprint of a toad in the cement where he must have gotten stuck while it was still wet.  It was a little sad, but also really really funny! 

 

There's also a custom here of carrying a stick whenever you're outside, to defend yourself from the dogs...  We don't, but it's been okay because I bacame quite the dog whisperer in my last two areas.  I can befrend most and intimidate the rest haha.

 

Anyways, that's really it.  Have a great week!  I love you! 

 

ttfn

 

Elder Katzakian

 

Transferred!!

So here I am, accross the street from one of my old areas, learning all about the stuff on the other side of pleasanton that I was so curious about.  I'm actually in a different stake than the other ward, though.  I'm back on the south side of san antonio, covering two units.  We're in the mission creek ward and the highland hills spanish branch.  I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get to serve in a spanish area again, because I had six straight transfers in spanish areas, and that's more than a lot of missionaries get.  I have really applied myself to learning it, though, which means I got to come here, and all the rest of my companions will be people that I get to teach spanish. 

 

My new companion is Elder Von Niederhauser.  Now imagine, for a moment, a little old hispanic person who doesn't speak a lick of English looking up at us and trying to say our names.  That is how I know God has a sense of humor.  It's been a blast, so far, too.  Elder Von Niederhauser (or just Elder Niederhauser) is really funny and our personalities match up really well for working together.  I've been able to make myself (with the Lord's help, obviously) a lot more open and gregarious with people I don't know, and much more quick witted, and Elder Niederhauser is also really good at that.  Additionally, neither of us is really a conversation hog, so we share pretty evenly.  It's worked out pretty well.

 

 

So yeah, we're off to a pretty good start.  I haven't really had a chance to meet any of the investigators who were already here yet, and they're also all in english, so we've been focusing a lot on finding some more spanish people, and we have an appointment with one of the old investigators tonight, and another guy from mexico we met my first day here.  The branch is on the verge of becoming a ward, so I want to kind of focus my efforts there and do some reactivation and hopefully new baptisms as well, so they can have that.

 

I've also found a kind of renewed energy that I didn't expect, so I set some goals for my physicall and spiritual growth that will keep me working at the same rate of acceleration, because I found myself kind of slowing down a little in my last area.  I've seen a huge difference even just over the last few days.  My mile time is still under six minutes, by the way ;)

 

For St. Patricks day I made some green rice, so I'll have to send the pictures.  We are going to print some off right after emailing, so those will definitely be out today.

 

In sunday school, the teacher pointed something out that I found rather humorous... He said that a mother spends the first two years of a childs life trying to get him to walk and talk, but then spends the next two (or more) trying to make him stop talking and sit down.  Just something to think about... haha.  I love y'all a ton and will talk to you next week.

 

Love

 

Elder Katzakian

 

Another week...

This week was pretty slow again.  Not too much of anything happened...  The bishop did start a new, really cool program though. It was inspired by a general authority that visited (Elder Villareal). He's trying to get the whole ward council and all the ward missionaries to go out from four to six every sunday and visit less active members.  The last half hour everyone is supposed to meet back at the church and report the good experiences to help everyone else. This week was kind of sad because just the second counselor and ward mission leader (and all the missionaries) came...  The bishop was a champ, though, and decided we'd just go for it this week and hopefully the numbers would start growing.  I know a lot of people would've just put it off until the next week when hopefully more people would come. He knows the secret to getting things done though; just do it and lead by example.  So yeah, it was a pretty good week, but there really aren't any other stories.  Not much happened in the way of finding or teaching that's worth hearing about.  Oh! Max did come to church again and is getting more and more excited!  It's been a really gradual thing, so we'll see what happens.  Also, we get transfer calls next sunday and everyone seems to think I'm leaving.  Anyways, I've got to get going, but I hope everything goes well for y'all!  I love you  Elder Katzakian

Another Monday Holiday

We were on exchanges on tuesday, so I was actually somewhere else, but
my companion and the other elder had a really good lesson with Perla,
where she realized what the spirit was and that she felt it every time
she went to church or read the book of mormon and that she needs to
get baptized and her boyfriend moved out and she was crying and her
member friend was crying and the missionaries were crying and the veil
was so thin that when they taught something she just knew it was true.
So I was kinda sad to have missed that... but it was good.  We
weren't able to line up schedules with her again, though, and she
didn't make it to church because she had to babysit some kids because
she has been needing work really bad since her boyfriend left.  She
should be getting baptized soon, though.


Also, max came to a baptism of one of the sister missionaries'
investigators, and had a good experience, and apparently told one of
the other missionaries there that he was going to be the next one
getting baptized, which the other misionary didn't tell us until later
and we didn't have a chance to talk to max about, so that's still
pending as well.


We found the Aguilar family again, but I think they were deliberately
avoiding us... we have an appointment tonight, so we'll see if they
really do want to talk to us or not.  It could've just been bad
timing, though, because the dad was in the hospital a little for an
injury at work.


There have actually been a few injuries around us lately and it
worries me sometimes...  We are involved in an important work and it
is true that the enemy will do all he can to hurt and destroy.
Obedience to all of the rules is important, because many of the
seemingly unimportant ones are there because of a previous or foreseen
injury or death.


Also, the other night, we got stopped by the police.  We were walking
home at night, so it was pretty dark, and we were catching up to this
guy who was walking the same way and dressed all in black, carrying a
white bag.  The police drove by and shined their light on him, then
us, then him again, and stopped him.  We got stopped a little way up
the road by another officer while the first guy was being frisked and
found out that a door had been kicked in and the apartment robbed a
few minutes ago in the apartments we were walking away from by three
guys wearing all black, one of them carrying a white bag.  So that
made us pretty suspicious looking.  When he figured out we were
misionaries, though, he just took our information and let us go.  Then
there was an accident in a nearby intersection, and I think they ended
up getting the real culprits there because they crashed while they
were trying to get away.


Anyways, that's pretty much the week.  Nothing else too crazy
happened.  Just lot's of walking and knocking.  
Love you a ton!!!


Elder Katzakian

Feb 13th letter

This cool guy named Antonio came to church yesterday.  We
taught him almost a month ago, and sorta forgot about him since he
didn't show a ton of promise... It was kinda hard because he was a
little drunk at the time, but he expressed desires to overcome his
alcoholism, he just didn't know how.  We left him with The Book of
Mormon and our number, telling him it would help him find the strength
to change, and to call us when he was ready.  Then, the other night,
the english ward missionaries ran into him and found out we'd taught
him before and invited him to church.  He accepted the invitation and
came.  We had to get him a ride, but he really enjoyed it and wants to
keep coming and be more involved.  We'll be working with him for the
next little while.


Perla is still going strong.  We're going to be working on a marriage
goal with her tomorrow.  She had a couple of questions about why
Joseph Smith was so important, and hadn't been reading the Book of
Mormon too much, but we explained the importance of all that and got
her going again on the book.


I think we accidentally put way too much pressure on Max, and he got a
little scared... He did come to church, but we're going to give him a
little break to see if it's something he wants or if he's just doing
it to make the members he's living with happy.


Anyways, the other day we were knocking on some trailers when a couple
goats came out of the bushes and followed us around.  They kind of
scared my companion a little because he thought they were going to ram
us, but they were pretty funny.  They tried to eat my sleeve a couple
times, and did butt me softly in the leg, but they were nice and went
with us to all the doors.  It made a great conversation starter haha.
I didn't have my camera though... I'll make sure to bring it next time
we go over there.  That reminds me!  I said I'd send pictures a little
while ago and never did....  I need to do that haha.  Sorry about that


I think I forgot to tell you the story of a couple weeks ago when this
random lady told us she likes to give food and gave us a huge pizza
and a bunch of huge bags of pizza toppings.  That was cool and has
made meals easier since most of the toppings were meat, we just add it
to everything and it becomes more filling.


I know how to make a bunch more mexican and south american dishes now,
so that should be pretty exciting later on.  It also turns out I
really like menudo (or it was probably called mondongo in dad's
mission...) I may have mentioned that, though.  Also habaneros.  They
are delicious.  Really hot, but really good.  On the anglo side of
things, though, I've also been eating a lot of peanut butter.

 Have a great week and a happy valentine's day, and I love you.


Elder Katzakian

Feb 6th letter

So my new companion is Elder Turner.  He's from Salt Lake city, and he
started his mission in the Dominican Republic.  He's pretty awesome,
and I'm really excited because he's the first companion I've had where
we could legitimately speak spanish all the time and actually
understand eachother, so i feel like we're both going to learn a lot
really fast.  He also has this kind of laid back energy and fire that
helps us have a lot of success.  He has a deck of Pokemon cards, too
haha.

Anyways, Perla is desirous to be baptized, but her boyfriend needs to
get divorced from his previous wife and he's not in a hurry to tdo
that... she doesn't want to leave him, though, because they have a kid
together... we're going to be talking to her about that and her kids
more tonight.

Also, we're going to be teaching a girl who's nine years old and
didn't get baptized because she thought she had to know the articles
of faith... That was kinda funny but kind of sad, because she's just
barely turning nine before the time the baptismal font is available,
and that requires our teaching and such, but she wanted to get
baptized sooner once she found out she didn't have to memorize the
articles of faith...

I've got to get going now, but i love you and I'lll talk to you next week.

Elder Katzakian