October 16 2011

Hey!

We should all know by now that writting is NOT my strength, I've been pretty bad at keeping up with this and I apologize.  Life as a missionary in LA is going pretty great.  Newest thing, We are working with a 16 year old boy from Peru.  He had meet with missionaries there and when he moved here one of the first friends he made was a member of the church that invited him to join him on Sunday. He has been coming for quite a few months and we were able to sit down with him and ask him if He would like to be baptized and he said yes.  He is really smart and has wanted to be a member and a priesthood holder for quite sometime now. We are super excited for him! =] 

A little story... So, When someone is a missionary, they have certian rules.  One rule being that we are not permitted to entire into the home of someone of the opposite gender if an adult of our same gender is not present. ....

The other day we went to visit an older member of our ward so that we could introduce ourselves.  His name is Brother Berggren, he is 94 years old and lives on his own an a 2 floor home.  He is hard of hearing and very active, infact, he gardens and has all of his own carpenter tools in his workshop that he uses daily.  When we meet him at the door he invited us in, which lead to us explaining our mission rule.  He was pretty much done with us at that point and said, ' see you later, I've got to get to work planting my tree.' ... So we asked if we could help, he said no but we insisted and finely he let us.  He said he was going to get some fertilizer in the backyard, except he never came back so we went to find him.  He showed us his back yard and since we were over there he decided to show us his garage and his workshop.  When we were just about finished with our tour, he said, "well, now your in my garage...(closes the garage door with the clicker) and now your in my house! I tricked you, your locked in, I guess  your just going to have to take a look around the house (chuckling)."  Mom, Dad, don't worry, the spirit said it was fine. :]  He is just one of the sweetest old men.  He wife past away 3 years ago and he loves doing work on and around his house.  He has numerous canes that he has made and they are spread out all around the house. 

I'm surrounded by amazing, funny, excentric, loving, giving people.   Moments like this can happen more and more as we love and serve one another and take the oppertunity to just enjoy the things that life puts in our path.  Don't freak out if you get lost without a map while you are going to a mission event to a location completely unfamiliar to you and your half an hour late.  Don't go after your companion with a knife after they sneek up on you and scare the stuff out of you while your cutting brownies... laugh, enjoy the moment and make it a memory to look back on. haha....so maybe those things happened to me... ;)

I hope your all doing great! I love you and I hope you know how much more Heavenly Father loves you.  We are his children, he has high expectations and he knows our potential.

<3

gabi

9/26/2011

Family, Friends =]

 

Life has been wonderful.  Here we go, some of the happenings in West L.A.   The Westdale 2nd Ward is one of the most versatile groups of people I have ever been involved with.  They are incredible!  This past week has been pretty fantastic.  Tuesday night, the 20th, my companion and I went tracting around Culver City and not having much success except for the few polite conversations ending with 'I'm not really interested but thanks,' as we were walking to the next house my companion spotted a woman pulled over to the side of the road trying to get a desk into her mini cooper.  We asked if we could help and she let us and asked what we were doing. My companion simply stated that we were talking to people about Jesus Christ.  She invited us to come over for tea (herbal) and said, I want to hear what you have to say. It was wonderful! We are still working with her but we will see where it goes.

Also, my compaion, Sister Bodily is just wonderful.  She made sure that I felt like it is my birthday.  It was a wonderful day.  We had Visitor Center Training in the Morning and everyone sang to me, then we headed off to do service for a old folks home in Santa Monica.  We push the residents down to the Farmer's Market and spend some time with them.  Wednesday I was lucky enough to be matched up with Jean,  she has now become a friend of mine and we had a wonderful time.  For Lunch, My companion and I had packed a picnic and we sat on a look out off of Ocean Ave.  It was beautiful.  The lessons and people we saw after that went perfectly and the dinner that night was to be with the Krantz family.   They spoiled us rotten.  We got sent home with a ton of food and I was sung happy birthday. They also gave me a beautiful bookmark for my scriptures. Later in the week we had the opporitunity to help Randy Hull get ready to be baptized.  He was baptized and confirmed this weekend and it was a wonderful experience and uplifting for everyone involved.  My companion and I and another sister preformed a musical number and we heard that it pretty good so I was content (I'm thankful Heavenly Father answered that prayer for me).  So far so good!  Of Course there are still times that aren't too wonderful and that I wish I could bury myself in a hole but the Lord is always there, always listening and waiting for me to ask for his help.  I am frequently reminded of all of you who make my life the best it can possibly be and I'm thankful to you all. 

with love,

your missionary.