SHORT BUT SWEET

Hola Famila,

Yesterday was labor day and it was weird. Whenever a pday doesn't fall on a monday it feels different. But for dinner yesterday the family we ate with got us pizza, we had hamburgers on Sunday. One of our investigators Teresa came to church again as well. It seems like she's making great progress and hopefully will be baptized this transfer. We'll see!!! In other news, we're starting to put together and plan for this years Spanish Conference. It will be probably in my last transfer so it'll be a good way to end the mission. We've been doing good here, the weather is back to normal California 72 degrees every day. It makes walking around and being out and about very easy and not too much of a pain. It's strange that summers over already, the sun is going down earlier and it gets dark around 8ish. We found a young man on Friday and taught him the restoration, he says it made sense to him and we'll see where things go with him. Transfers are in 3 weeks so we'll see where I go to finish. I'd love to go back to Escondido but we'll see what happens. I can't think of much else to talk about but I hope you're all doing good. Well if you have any specific questions just ask! I hope you all have a great week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

Elder De Hoyos and our Zone

UHMMM Ya...This

Hola Familia,

I hope you all have had a good week. This week Teresa came to church! It was good to see her there and hopefully have her progress quicker. She told us her main problem was that she didn't like wearing dresses or skirts. After we told her that it was fine if she didn't wear a dress she felt better about it. She told us she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and her testimony is being strengthened. The new Hermana from Boliva still hasn't arrived yet hopefully she'll come soon. Elder Hernandez and I are working well, he still is learning certain things but is making progress. This past Sunday I translated a talk from English into Spanish for the congregation that didn't understand English. It was definitley a cool experience. This upcoming week we're having President Benjamin de Hoyes come to our mission and have a Zone Conference with him. It'll be cool to receive instruction from an area 70. We gave a lot of blessings it seemed this past week. Have you ever gone to Burlington Coat Factory? They have crazy good prices on ties, suits, socks, and all kinds of stuff. At least at the one here in Vista, legit you can get designer ties for less than 5 bucks. It's nuts. Well not too much stuff to talk about this week, but I'll be sure to talk about the Zone Conference and all the stuff we learned. Well Have a good week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

Busy again

Hola Familia,

So we're starting a new transfer this week.

Family Home Evening with Ang family

Family home evening with Ang family

Picture of Christ that someone gave HIM. They must know him well. He loves cats.

Baptism of Chrystal

Ocean Side

Ocean Side

Birthday Party for Elder Wockenfuss

Birthday Party for Elder Wockenfuss

This week we had a ton of stuff happen. Last night we found a new family to teach, their names are Anna and Techo Perez. They seemed very interested and we're really excited to start teaching them more. We'll see if they're willing to act on the message. So that's exciting! Also we had a Birthday Party for Elder Wockenfuss on Friday. It was good we all had sloppy joes, chips and soda. It was good to spend time with him and try to help him feel better since these past couple of weeks. Also an investigator that I taught in Oceanside invited me back to her baptism on Saturday. It was a great service and the spirit was really strong. She was so happy to finally be allowed to be baptized, and her Uncle performed the ordinance who just came back from his mission in Pittsburgh. Remember when I asked you about an Elder Garduno? That was him. She bore her testimony at the end and it was awesome. She talked about Girls camp and trek and all the people around her that helped her gain a testimony. That's honestly how things need to happen. If members will fellowship people investigating the church, share their testimonies with them, and help them to feel accepted into the Ward and Stake, then everything will fall into place. The Missionary work will flourish and everyone will get blessed like crazy. I'm pretty sure I'll have at least one more area in my mission. I hope to return to Escondido. We'll see though! We're getting a new Hermana from Bolivia in our District so that'll be interesting to see and experience. We'll really have to do pure spanish in our meetings now! Well that's about it for this week, but I'll be sure to tell you how everything goes down! Have a good week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

Having fun at district meeting

"It is by Obedience that we gather light into our souls"

Hola Familia,

This week we had a baptism in our District. The Hermanas baptized a muchacho and it was a good service. We had one of our investigators come and also President Thomas came! Also Elder It was good!

 Elder Romney came with me in Vista. Ok time for some fun facts. 

Did you know, that Elder Romney grew up in Chihuahua Mexico?

Did you know that His Mother's cousin is..... TODD HEAP? Yep, THAT Todd Heap.

Did you know that he had a scholarship offer from Oregon?

Lots of cool things. He's a great guy and we had lots of fun. I say had because he decided to serve a mission first, and well not too many schools are willing to wait that long. He will be going to another D1 school though I'm not sure which though. He also told me that his uncle Todd always told him that one of his biggest regrets was not serving a mission. I just thought that was cool that everytime the Steelers played the Ravens, we'd see Elder Romney's uncle and say how much we hated playing them. Other than that we haven't had too much stuff happen. We're still teaching Teresa and are hoping that we'll be able to make a more solid baptismal date with her. Still we are looking for more people to teach. 

President Thomas shared this quote at Zone Conference on Thursday, it's from a Talk by Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Obedience is the lifeblood of faith. It is by obedience that we gather light into our souls. 

But sometimes I think we misunderstand obedience. We may see obedience as an end in itself, rather than a means to an end. Or we may pound the metaphorical hammer of obedience against the iron anvil of the commandments in an effort to shape those we love, through constant heating and repeated battering into a holier heavenly matter.

No doubt about it, there are times when we need a stern call to repentance. Certainly, there are some who may be reached only in this manner.

But perhaps there is a different metaphor that can explain why we obey the commandments of God. Maybe obedience is not so much the process of bending, twisting, and pounding our souls into something we are not. Instead, it is the process by which we discover what we truly are made of."

When I heard this quote I thought about how sometimes when living in accordance with the commandments or church membership living in general can seem overbearing, a challenge, or simply too much in our lives. But this explains that when we are obedient and show Heavenly Father our love towards him to live worthily that we will be blessed and truly see why we live the gospel. It's not to make us into something we are not, but to show us what we are made of. 

Love you all!

Elder Emerick

Elder Wockenfuss!

For those of you who don't know. Elder Wockenfuss is an Elder from Toadsuck ARK. He and Jacob became very close friends as he and Jacob came to the Mexico MTC together and were companions. They were also companions together again just a month ago. They are very close. Elder Wockenfuss lost his mother to blood clots in the lungs just this past Friday.  His Father passed 10 years ago to Cancer. He has come home for the funeral and will go back to CA to finish his mission. This is what this letter is referring to. We forget that these are young men and women in the Prime of their life leaving behind everything for what they believe in. They put that belief into action by taking to the world what is most precious to them. Their testimony that the Savior lives. Elder Wockenfuss knows he will see his mother again, because of the atonement. We believe that the Atonement is a sacrafice that not only overcomes sin but overcomes death. She will be ressurected some day. Patrick will see, hug, and be with his Mother and Father again.

Hola Familia,

Yes I knew of what happened the morning of. He called me in the morning and told me. It was a complete blindside, he told me he didn't know what to do. He said President Thomas called him at 6:30 and asked if he could meet with him. So he ended up going to his apartment a few minutes later, excused his companion to the bedroom and then told him of what happened. He said that he was shocked first, he didn't know how to react. Then he just gave President Thomas a huge hug and cried in his shoulder for a couple minutes. President Thomas then asked him whether or not he wished to stay, and Elder Wockenfuss told him that he would. So he's staying to finish. Then after we finished the call I felt impressed to go visit him and just talk for a bit. So later that day we went to Carlsbad and visited him for a bit. I felt that he needed it more than just a phone call or a pat on the back. People and especially members forget that we're real people as well. We're not just these emotionless people that have complete courage to do what we do every single day. We get sad, angry, tired, and sometimes don't want to work. Sometimes we feel that it gets too hard or that nothing is happening. Sometimes and especially when bad things happen is when we need to slow down and just relax. To think about ourselves and how to work through problems. After the visit he told me that he really needed someone to just sit and visit him, talk for a bit and stuff. I don't know if it has fully hit him yet the gravity of the situation because he seemed calm and a little shaken up but not too much. I definitely know that Heavenly Father is helping him right now to be calm and comforted. Us and our Hermanas put together a little package for him quick with a card to give to him and he enjoyed it. So that was a pretty full day, I hope that you can help his family out in anyway that you can. I know that he has a good Bishop and Ward that are helping them in every way possible as well. Also this week we found a new investigator! Her name is Teresa Herrera and she is pretty solid! She was able to come to the Pioneer activity on Saturday and church on Sunday. Hopefully we can help her progress towards a baptismal date on the 13th of August. Also I interviewed one of the sister's investigators and he's getting baptized on Saturday. My comp is getting things pretty quickly, he can already speak some but he needs a lot of work with his reading and understanding completely of each situation. Vista is still good. Pretty hot some days and some days its fine. Yes we probably aren't getting as much exercise as we could with full time bikes but now that we have a bike rack evreythings good and no matter what the situation we'll be able to be home on time no matter when. I haven't changed too much how I do things, I'm pretty much just treating it like he's a normal missionary, just with the extra teaching him stuff. I haven't started my Plan and won't until I'm almost finished. I'm glad that you all are still doing nothing and saving your money for when I get back. jaja But the carne asada jsut depends on what kind of meat you use. Some members use a cheaper kind that they get at the sketchy market down the street but somehow whenever the cook it it's delicious. Also eating it with good rice and beans helps as well. Just ask around from actual hispanics or look up different recipes online. Well that's the report for this week, and now this... 

A frog walks into a bank and says, "I'd like to get a loan."  The banker says, "you can't get a loan, you're a frog!"  The frog says, "Please, I really need a loan."  The banker, Mrs Wack says, "Well I doubt you can get a loan, but what is your name."  The frog says, "My name is Kermit."  The banker says, "You are not Kermit the frog!"   The frog says, "No, not that Kermit.  I'm actually named after the real Kermit the Frog.  My father is Mick Jagger and he married a frog and they had me.  I'm Kermit Jagger."  The banker said, "Oh ok, well my name is Patty."  The banker then says, "Well, if you want a loan you need collateral. What collateral do you have?"  The frog says, "I have this little pink ceramic elephant."  The banker takes the elephant and looks it over.  She says, "What the heck is this?  It's a pink ceramic elephant.  What am I supposed to do with this?"  The frog says, "That's my collateral.  Please, may I have a loan."  The banker says, "Look, I guess I'll talk to my manager, but he's not going to give you a loan."  The banker goes to the manager and says, "I have a frog here who is looking to get a loan.  His name is Kermit Jagger.  His collateral is this pink ceramic elephant.  I don't even know what this pink ceramic elephant is.  What should we tell him."  The bank manager takes the ceramic elephant and looks it over.  He then says... wait for it....

"It's a knick knack Patty Wack, give the frog a loan!"

Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

He's a DAD......

Hola Familia,

So lots of new things to talk about! My new companions name is Elder Hernandez. He is from Maryland close to the D.C. area. His dad is from Michoacan Mexico and his Mom was born in Washington but her family is from Nuevo leon Mexico. He's the oldest of 3 brothers. He is pretty solid and has a good testimony of the gospel. Things are going good at first he wasn't sure how to act or be as a missionary but after I taught him to just be himself he started to calm down. It definitely takes patience to be teaching someone how to do things and how to be a missionary, especially with myself. I think I've been stressing a little trying to make sure everything is good and doing things right. But I've calmed down myself a little as well. We're doing a good job making sure we're doing the right things and working. He knows parts of the language and can speak and share his thoughts better than when I came into the mission because he has a little of a language background, but I'm way ahead of him in terms of grammer and correct speech. He has a good foundational  understanding of the language but he needs help, so I'm teaching him as if he doesn't know anything and starting from scratch. Yes we still call new missionaries greenies. It'll be a good couple of transfers he knows why he's here and is willing to do anything. YES. My prayers were completely answered with President Thomas. I love President Kendrick but I never really felt he did things specifically for the hispanic culture and it felt as if he was more focused in the white work. But President Thomas LOVES the Mexican people. Did I tell you his first sacrament meeting was with our ward? He and Sister Thomas both bore their testimonies as well! You can tell he hasn't been able to speak Spanish as much as he'd have liked to but it's very good. He's going to be an awesome mission president. When we went by and visited a couple of the members they just loved him. They said they felt so loved and are very happy that he'll be our Mission President. In my interview with him (It was all in Spanish) he just asked me about myself and who I am as a missionary and stuff like that. He said that he's looking forward to being able to work with everyone and is happy that he'll be able to serve amongst the Spanish speaking people of the mission. In the beginning it looked like Sister Thomas may have been a little overwhelmed by things but now she's getting used to it. Everyone goes through an adjustment period. So this week we went to get a bike for E. Hernandez and he bought a bike from a missionary that just left for $20. It needs few repairs but it's in VERY good shape for $20. He was so scared when we first starting riding them. He said he didn't ride a bike since he was 12 so it was definitely an interesting experience. First he started off super slow but then as we started going he sped up a bit. He said that he was praying super hard that no one would hit him or he would lose his balance or anything like that. Needless to say it was everything I was expecting in a classic new missionary. He talked to a couple of people by himself which was a good step, this week I'm going to see if he can start doing other things on his own, but of course I'll be right there to help him if he needs it. The first time he left a message on the phone he kind of freaked out and didn't know what to say but it'll come in time. It's weird, it's kind of the opposite when I started. First I learned how to understand, then read, then speak. He already knows how to speak some, understands a little, and reads none. So we'll see how we can improve his skills. Well I guess about that's it for this week! Have a good week!

Elder Emerick  

district??? Not sure

A new President and a Temple Trip

Hola Familia,

So I'm training. It's going to be a new experience because I haven't had a companion so young because we haven't received many new spanish Elders since I've been on the mission. Or pretty much all the missionaries have been out like 2-4 months less than me. So it will be new to teach someone how to be a missionary. Also PRESIDENTE THOMAS HA LLEGADO!!!! He is soooooo cooool!!!!!! He came in on Friday and then he interviewed me personally on Saturday because I'm training. He did the interview in spanish too! He's such an awesome guy, he can laugh, have fun, and has a great testimony and understanding of the church and culture. He visited our ward for sacrament meeting for his first one in the mission and he AND HIS WIFE bore their testimonies in Spanish. He literally has been an answer to my prayers for guidance and leadership for us. We also got to go to the temple and it was good as always. It was a session that I hadn't seen before so it was interesting. Elder Wockenfuss is getting transferred and will be going to Carlsbad. There will only be 2 companionship's of spanish missionaries in the Vista Ward and the Oceanside Ward. So We'll cover half the stake which is super weird, we'll have a ton of work to do. Likewise with Elder Wockenfuss, they'll cover half of Carlsbad and Oceanside. Yesterday was the 4th of July and we had hamburgers and hot dogs! It's funny to see everyone dressed up like white guys. Backwards baseball hats, shirts with patriotic things on them, listening to Sweet Home Alabama and stuff like that. They understand the importance of it and are indeed very thankful as much as we are (If maybe not a little more) that we have a country that doesn't have as many problems as others. In Oaxaca Mexico right now there's a large disturbance and riots about education. Teachers are fighting for rights against the government and there is a huge uprising. Lots of people are being killed. We think that our government and nation is in a crisis, and in a sense it certainty is. BUT we are way better off than other places, for that we should be thankful! One member gave us homemade hamburgers with bacon and pineapple on it and it was SUPER GOOD. You should try that combination because it was surprisingly good.  It appears as if we will have success this transfer not only because of the area we're inheriting but also all the work we'll be able to do. I have no idea about Ipads. We won't know about any big mission changes or there won't be any till President Thomas gets accustomed to being a mission President. Poor Sister Thomas she seemed a little overwhelmed at the beginning because we were talking to her before I went in for the interview and she was talking about the full day and everything. They'll get used to it soon. jaja Well I'll get to sending some pictures. I hope you all have a good week!!

Elder Emerick

Add caption

Our District

The Reyes Family

The Marin Family

Mariano Family

Gomez Family

Elder Emerick and Elder Wackenfus at the San Diego Temple

BASTANTE CALOR!!!!!!!!!!

Hola Familia,

IT'S SOOOO HOOOOOTTT!!!!!!! It reminds me of when I was back in Temecula. It gets so hot early on in the day and by mid day you can't even do anything. Anyways thanks for the package, I actually got it Last Monday, what happens is that because I live right next to the mission office, on Monday or other times we stop by to drop things off or pick up more supplies if there's mail we just get it then. But thank you for thinking ahead to make sure that at least I would have gotten the package by today. I was very glad to receive something Our transfers are two weeks behind your missionaries transfers. So when the missionaries are getting transferred there, in 2 weeks we'll have had our transfer calls. Elder Wockenfuss will probably leave, we have a couple of new Spanish Elders coming in so hopefully I'll get to train one of them. But if not, that's alright too. Also I got the chance to speak at sacrament meeting too. I spoke on repentance and shared excerpts from Enos and a talk by Elder Dale G. Renlund. I think everyone enjoyed it and I received a few comments about it. It was weird because it was the first talk I had given since leaving home so it was definitely different, especially in another language. Other than that it was a pretty normal week. The new mission president is coming in a few weeks so we're pretty sure the mission is going to go through a few changes in the next couple of months. It's so strange to hear of people getting married, from people back home to missionaries I've served with. We also get to go to the temple on the 28th so that will be fun. We went to the hospital on Friday to give a less active member a blessing before his open heart surgery the next day. Hopefully he had a good operation. Well that's about everything for this week! I hope you have a good week! Les quiero!!

Elder Emerick

another week ja ja ja ja

Hola Famila,

This week we didn't do too many things that were interesting. We had dinner, tried to stop by people, repeat. The only things that were different was that we had agua de SANDILLA this week TWICE!! It had been a really long time since I had had it. Also THE PENGUINS ARE THE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Now John and James have to go and miss the Steelers win the Super Bowl. A member may or may not have known that I like the Penguins and told me when they won. He might have but I forgot. So I'm sorry I sent that picture of us eating eggs and a hot dog. My intention wasn't to scare you, or make you feel like I was suffering in anyway. We do get fed here very well. It's just sometimes we don't have dinners on Mondays because we need to get things done and we only have a certain amount of time. We actually had two VERY good dinners this week. One Hermana actually made us pupusas! It's a Salvadorian dish, it's very good. Also we had tostadas, a pollo y jamon meal, and lots of other things. PLEASE DON'T CALL THE BISHOP. JAJA WE'RE FINE!!! Also this member that may or may not have told me about the Penguins gave me a Captain America Civil War shirt. He's just the coolest. Also I had to 'cast out another demon'. This is the 3rd time on my mission. jaja So we pretty much got a call from a member that said she wanted us to come a give her place a blessing so that evil spirits would go away. I'm always super sceptical about stuff like that but we went over and I gave a prayer that the Spirit would be able to dwell in their place. As I finished the Spirit was apparent there and she felt better. Elder Wockenfuss then gave her a blessing of comfort. Hispanics are very superstitious. Also Elder Banana made us a Filipino chicken he called Chicken Adobo. It's super good and it happened like 6 months ago but I forgot to tell you. It has brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and black pepper. So you should try that. It's good. So John and James are getting their wisdom teeth pulled? When did that come up? They shouldn't worry too bad. Just tell them what I told you right after I got them out. I wu f-u-n yeah. Anyways usually I try not to spend more than $25 per week for all food. That's including groceries and eating out. Which I think is a pretty good budget but obviously sometimes I spend more than that. It's alright you learn these valuable things on a mission. And Elder Wockenfuss's Mom is sending him 3 giant boxes of food so that he won't go hungry for the rest of his mission no matter how much he spends. Well I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Emerick     

May Letter's

May 9 ,2016 Hola Familia,

So first I'm going to attach the letter I wrote to President for you. Something crazy happened this week. Dear President Kendrick,

We were able to have an investigator come to church, but unfortunately he dropped us afterwards. But we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators named Alan this week. We found him because a lady peered out her window to see us having a lesson with our Less Active member and she asked us what we do. We told her our purpose as missionaries and she in turn asked us if we could teach her son. So 2 Fridays ago we began teaching her son Alan and we left a Book of Mormon with him to read and asked him to pray about it to see if it's true. Well we had another lesson this past Fri after a quick lesson with him on Tue and he told us that he'd been reading and that he's on Chapter 10. We were both suprised to hear that he had read 10 chapters already in just a week. I asked him if he could bring his book out so that we could read with him and he did. Although when he brought it out his book mark was in the middle of the book, and he opened to it. I was confused and asked him what exact page he was on and he said 231. It turns out he was on Chapter 10 of Alma. He told us that he hasn't  stopped reading since we gave him the book. As soon as he finishes school work he reads, he reads with his brothers too and parents. He told us that he loves it. He also prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and he said that he answered his prayer that he is. Honestly I've never taught anyone that has read so much in so little time and that has done everything that we've asked him. He is only 12. At first I had a hard time believing that he had read so much but as he was telling us all these wonderful things, the Spirit testified to us that everything he was telling us about was true. Sorry for such a long letter President but it was such a crazy experience that I'll keep with me for a long time. We'll try to work with his parents and the rest of the family to help him come to church and be baptized. It'll be different because the parents will have the say in whether he progresses or not, but we'll do our best. Thank you President for everything! See you on Tuesday at Zone Conference!

Elder Emerick

So yeah, an amazing investigator that has read half of the Book of Mormon in a week. 12 years old! Like I said in the e-mail it will be up to his parents whether he progresses or not towards baptism but we're going to work hard with them to let their son (And themselves if possible) to join the church. We took our car to PepBoys on Saturday and we stayed there for like 3 hours. One of the most boring times ever.  We went on exchanges twice this past week as well. Once with Spanish missionaries in Fallbrook and once with the Zl's where I stayed in Vista. Also we had an investigator come to church but during Priesthood he left and started walking home lol I don't think we'll be seeing him again. He's a little nuts. We may be teaching the rest of his family though! We'll see. My favorite part of the mission is having awesome experiences like the one I just shared and teaching people who want to know the truth i.e. The Elect people who Heavenly Father has prepared for us. Well I hope you all are having a good time enjoying the blessings you're getting! I'll tell you some music that you all can listen to, to know what the culture is like, Que Linda Morena by Area 305, La Luz by Juanes, Las Piedras Rodantes by El Tri, Vivir mi Vida by Mark Anthony are just a few of them. They're all great songs in general even if you don't understand the lyrics. haha Also this week we're going back to Escondido for a baptism that Elder Wockenfuss is going to perform! It's the son of a recent convert he taught, so I'll see the Nieto family and be sure to take some pictures! Anyways have a great week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

May 16,2016

We were able to have an investigator come to church, but unfortunately he dropped us afterwards. But we had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators named Alan this week. We found him because a lady peered out her window to see us having a lesson with our Less Active member and she asked us what we do. We told her our purpose as missionaries and she in turn asked us if we could teach her son. So 2 Fridays ago we began teaching her son Alan and we left a Book of Mormon with him to read and asked him to pray about it to see if it's true. Well we had another lesson this past Fri after a quick lesson with him on Tue and he told us that he'd been reading and that he's on Chapter 10. We were both suprised to hear that he had read 10 chapters already in just a week. I asked him if he could bring his book out so that we could read with him and he did. Although when he brought it out his book mark was in the middle of the book, and he opened to it. I was confused and asked him what exact page he was on and he said 231. It turns out he was on Chapter 10 of Alma. He told us that he hasn't  stopped reading since we gave him the book. As soon as he finishes school work he reads, he reads with his brothers too and parents. He told us that he loves it. He also prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and he said that he answered his prayer that he is. Honestly I've never taught anyone that has read so much in so little time and that has done everything that we've asked him. He is only 12. At first I had a hard time believing that he had read so much but as he was telling us all these wonderful things, the Spirit testified to us that everything he was telling us about was true. Sorry for such a long letter President but it was such a crazy experience that I'll keep with me for a long time. We'll try to work with his parents and the rest of the family to help him come to church and be baptized. It'll be different because the parents will have the say in whether he progresses or not, but we'll do our best. Thank you President for everything! See you on Tuesday at Zone Conference!

Elder Emerick

So yeah, an amazing investigator that has read half of the Book of Mormon in a week. 12 years old! Like I said in the e-mail it will be up to his parents whether he progresses or not towards baptism but we're going to work hard with them to let their son (And themselves if possible) to join the church. We took our car to PepBoys on Saturday and we stayed there for like 3 hours. One of the most boring times ever.  We went on exchanges twice this past week as well. Once with Spanish missionaries in Fallbrook and once with the Zl's where I stayed in Vista. Also we had an investigator come to church but during Priesthood he left and started walking home lol I don't think we'll be seeing him again. He's a little nuts. We may be teaching the rest of his family though! We'll see. My favorite part of the mission is having awesome experiences like the one I just shared and teaching people who want to know the truth i.e. The Elect people who Heavenly Father has prepared for us. Well I hope you all are having a good time enjoying the blessings you're getting! I'll tell you some music that you all can listen to, to know what the culture is like, Que Linda Morena by Area 305, La Luz by Juanes, Las Piedras Rodantes by El Tri, Vivir mi Vida by Mark Anthony are just a few of them. They're all great songs in general even if you don't understand the lyrics. haha Also this week we're going back to Escondido for a baptism that Elder Wockenfuss is going to perform! It's the son of a recent convert he taught, so I'll see the Nieto family and be sure to take some pictures! Anyways have a great week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

May 23,2016

Hola Famila,

So if you look up Glenn Thomas G&K Services, you'll see a picture of our new mission president in July. Also it's the end of the transfer and we're staying together for another 6 weeks! So did you listen to any of the songs I told you about in my last e-mail? What did you think? I love the culture. Anyways some updates on Alan, he finished Alma on Friday and was about to start Helaman. He hasn't been to church yet because neither of his parents could take him but we'll ask them if we can have a member stop by for him. We also went to Escondido for the baptism of Jonathon Castro. Elder Wockenfuss performed the Baptism, he forgot a couple of the words in spanish so I had to help him say the prayer, he was a little nervous. jaja Also the boy's toe kept popping out of the water so he had to do it a couple times. I was also able to see the Nietos again! It's so crazy, they've given prayers, talks, and he's actually blessed the Sacrament once! I gave them a tie to help them remember me, they were elated. They can't wait to meet you all next summer. I also gave them Mom's Facebook so if Gloria Nieto asks to be your friend you should accept it, even though you may not be able to communicate too well jaja it'll be good practice. So since we're staying together for 6 more weeks I won't be training this transfer but I might the next! We'll just have to wait and see! After this next transfer My group of Elders will be the OLDEST SPANISH ELDERS IN THE MISSION. And there's still 5 transfers left for me. That's so weird. President Kendrick is finished after this transfer he's not getting trunky though. jaja It's so cool that John is only .06 away from breaking the School record considering the person who holds the record was like 6ft 8 and had a ginormous stride. I hope you get the job! Mas dinero siempre esta bien! Para que no sea mucho trabajo poco dinero! My second companion Elder Ellsworth dies this Tuesday, I learned so much from him and we had a good time even though we had no car covering a whole stake in the middle of summer with no hispanic people to talk to. That's how you enjoy your mission! You have fun and do your best even when you have so many trials, weaknesses, and problems. We talked about being happy in this week's past Zone Conference and they told us that it's a scientific fact that we all can CHOOSE to be happy. And that when we're happy we help others to be. So in the words of Hno Vidal Sr. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" (In a very difficult to understand Chilean Austalian old person accent) I also gave a talk in Zone Conference about Being happy in the work. I guess President must think that I always have a great attitude about everything. I didn't find out I was giving the talk until the Elder directing the meeting announced it so I was a little unprepared and may have let the lest of the congregation know by saying "Sigh! nooooo...." everybody laughed but President said afterwards that he liked my short talk. Well I'll send off some pictures now. Have a great week!

Elder Emerick

June 6,2010 Una semana mas

Hola Familia,

So this week work wise we've been trying to continue to find more people and get people progressing towards baptism. In a pretty well populated area of hispanic people the problem isn't getting new investigators and keeping them. The problem is getting them to actually do something and progress. Unlike Temecula whenever we would cling to any investigator that we could find. Now it's just the opposite, we filter through people all the time. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures of the service we did. I actually wasn't doing anything with the hammer I just posed with it and told someone to take a picture. You didn't really think I would use a tool or do manual labor now did you?JAJA But don't worry we had a good time chasing chickens and building up that coop. Ya sabia que Mama fue la unica persona que tenia un Facebook, por eso la dije a anadir las personas que les conte. Chale como que no me entienden? Jaja es broma. So that's cool that things are finally starting to chill down for you all. Things are heating up here big time. I don't know if you've checked the weather but it's freaking hot. Even though there's the little breeze from the ocean that's 20 min away, the sun is still blazing. Better than Temecula but still hot. We finally got money so we can live again. We were suffering for a while but now we have money and can support ourselves again. The members are always willing to feed us we just forget to ask sometimes. I'm going to get a haricut today. Pretty excited about that. As you can see I'm kind of struggling of thinking of things to write cause nothing to special happened. So the Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals? That's crazy! You should get a bunny trap, we've visited a member who had a squirrel trap and a squirrel got trapped in one when we saw it. It looked pretty scared. I don't know if it died but there's a ton of them out here so I think it's all good. You should get another cat. When we were at a lesson with a Part Member Less Active family the member who came with us told about the time he drove through mexico in a van with a bunch of stuff in it, with a California Licence plate. He had to pay off police officers with trail mix because about every hour they were stopping him to try to get something from him. He just kept telling them after awhile that he didn't have money but he could give him some trail mix if he wanted. And it worked!  The Police there and the entire country in general is pretty corrupt. I have come to an understanding of why Hispanics risk their lives to come here and why so many stay. The majority of the illegal citizens here do come here legally like an airport or a legal border cross but then just overstay their visa. They sacrifice so much to try to provide a better life for their families but then their dumb kids get into trouble and make a bad name for their family and culture. It's sad to hear of people saying that we should kick them all out or whatever because they are genuinely good people. Anyways I've just come to a greater understanding on the whole subject and everything. Besides if they'd deport them all, there wouldn't be any work for the Spanish missionaries to do! Jaja Well I'll get to sending some pictures! Que pasen una semana muy buena! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

Quatro en Uno

Hola Familia,

Entonces..... So yeah. This week.... Seriously writing letters has never been more difficult. I just don't know what to write anymore! Even Elder Wockenfuss is asking "What happened this week?" We picked up a new investigator but we cycle through new people ever week. It's because we have a lot of people around us and can find someone to be baptized any day. Like President tells us that it's never too late to turn around a day, week, month, year, mission, or life. We can ALWAYS turn around and become better. There is never a time when we can't in a sense turn it around. We had Stake Conference and President Kendrick spoke. He talked about our mission as how we help people become converted to the gospel. I remember at one Zone Conference he talked about how we're not a come one come all type of church. If someone were to walk into a Bishop's office out of the blue and asked to be baptized the correct answer would be you can't. Until you comply with certain things. That really how the gospel is as well, Heavenly Father gives us every opportunity to exercise our free agency. That's something that this culture doesn't understand very well. If you're born Catholic you stay Catholic if you like it or not and if you switch religions or even question it you become disowned depending on how devoted your family is. This people is very involved in their religion or in other words they are very loyal to it. Which makes it difficult and hard at the same time. One they are super nice and willing to have missionaries stop by but in turn have an extremely difficult time keeping commitments, progressing in the teaching/learning process hence keeping them from being baptized. They never tell us No when we ask them if we can stop by instead they would give us an excuse as to why we couldn't. Ayy es que tengo trabajo todos los dias! Bueno es que casi no estoy en casa! Pues tengo prisa ahorita, estoy trabajando ahorita. Ahorita no pero OTRO DIA seria mejor! Esta bien, cual dia? OTRO DIA, si. It's very frustrating sometimes because they're so nice and can't just give you a straight up NO. Sometimes I want to ask them, if you don't want us to stop by JUST TELL ME! Haha when I started my mission I thought that this work would be soo easy because they always may have told us yes or never had told us no. But then I learned that a lot of times we'll never see them again. Just goes to show you that everyone is different, every people is different, every culture everything. Which is why I'm so excited and have enjoyed my mission so much it's been a delight to conocer another culture. That's why I feel bad at times telling you how much I like it because then it comes off as saying that I don't miss you all. Trust me, if I was in Mexcio I would miss having an In and Out Burger or Sonic every now and then. I'd miss saying a few things in English to someone. The mission has made me appreciate here in different ways. But back to answering your e-mails, Elder Wockenfuss and I will definitely not be comps for the rest of the mission. I think I'll have at least one other area before I finish my mission. I don't know who or why they'd say that but I'll for sure have more companions and more areas after this. Vista is nice, there's lots of hispanics, the Ward is nice, shrinking but it's a work in progress. I miss having Elders in my district. I'll just leave it at that. haha I see President Kendrick decently often. More often in areas close to the mission home like Carlsbad or here in Vista than anywhere else for obvious reasons. We actually had quarterly interviews this past week and he asked the same stuff, just making sure everythings good and then he compliments me on how well I get along with my companions. And I have no doubt in my mind that I could communicate with Kelsey haha It's what I've been doing for the last year and a half! Well I hope that you can learn a lot of authentic hispanic stuff so that when I get home you'll know the difference between a chile relleno and a tortilla. Well hope I've given you some insight into the culture or what I deal with daily. Have a great week!

Elder Emerick

Hola Familia,

So Kelsey is already home? That's weird, seems like jsut yesterday she left in mid October and now she's done! Only 8 months left!!! I'm sooooo trunky!!!!!! JAJAJAJA Just kidding that's nuts though, hopefully she'll continue to speak it so when I get back we can platicar. Well that's the reason for the title Que Pasotes con esos zapatotes is Chilango slang. I'm not exactly sure what it means but I think it's like "what's up with that!" You should ask her about Chilango and see if she ever heard/spoke it. I don't think I'll have much of an accent, but I'll let you all be the judge of that. It's always disappointing to hear of when people serve their missions in places like Colombia, Peru, Mexico but then when they need to speak in sacrament meeting at a Spanish Ward they have to wear translation headphones because they completly lost it. I DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN!!! Even though I'm serving in my native country I'm glad that I have been able to learn it to the ability that I have been. I still have a lot to learn and this Hermana missionary in our district corrects me whenever don't say something completely correct. Nonetheless Spanish is awesome! We're going to skype call in a few weeks, it'll be the last time I'll see you till we see each other in person. Honestly I have no idea what to write about. We had a couple of lessons with this one person named Itzel. She's a single mother and works 2 jobs. Hopefully she'll be able to come to church. One of the scriptures that I really liked this week was Alma 26:27. There's always times in your mission when you don't have much going on but from what I've seen is that anything can happen on any given day. Also me and Elder Wockenfuss went to Temecula this week! He needed to go to the doctors so we went up there. It was a nice drive and reminded me of home having to drive at least a half an hour to get anywhere. Sorry if my e-mails seem a little unorganized or unplanned. It's not that I don't want to put thought into them. Writing a single letter every week for the past year and 3 months you run out of things to say other than what's going on. I keep saying that hispanic food is the best food in the world and it is. I thought I'd miss white food but I don't. I'll miss the food here more. That's just how it is and how it'll be. I love this culture, I didn't know just how uncultured I was until I came out here and met these wonderful people. To me everyone back home has no idea just how great these people are and how amazing it is to speak to them. One dinner back in Oceanside I was sitting there talking to the family and then a thought came to my head. "I'm not speaking the language I was brought up speaking, I learned this in a year and now I'm having this conversation in a completely different tongue" I told the other missionary sitting next to me, HOLY COW I'M SPEAKING SPANISH!!!! Honestly it's just been crazy to see the Savior's hand in my life so much and to be able to receive the blessings that I've received. Well I hope you all have a good week!

La neta esta bien chido

Elder Emerick         

¿Como están? ¿Como que hablan español tan bueno como yo? ¡Me da mucho gusto para ver que están echandoles ganas a aprender el idioma de los cielos! Aprendí mi español despacito pero me ayudó a ser humilde y desarollar los attributos de Cristo. So how is everyone? General Conference was great! We did nothing but listen to the Prophets and Apostles for 2 days. It was definitely a filling experience. We watched it all at the Bobier building (The mission office, it's the largest meeting house I've been in) I really liked Utchdorf's talk during priesthood session. Thomas S. Monson looks old but he may have more things to do before he passes on, we'll see. Why do you think I'm in a Leadership role? Elder Wockenfuss is the District Leader in our District of Hermanas, I just drive everywhere! I've been the assigned driver of us. That's it! jaja Well I guess I can talk about our area. We cover central Vista and it's SUPER HISPANIC. Literally we can talk to 20 straight people and they'll all be mexican. It's wonderful. We have a lot of menos activo people in our area so hopefully we'll be able to help them feel the spirit again in their lives and come back. We have a few cool potentials lined up as well so this week should be a good week work wise! You can find someone that's willing to hear the gospel any day in an area like this so as long as you are optimistic and have faith, you can find someone that Heavenly Father has prepared for you! This week we had a doorstep lesson with a potential investigator and he seemed to be pretty indoctrinated in his church. He was nice but whenever we would ask him a pressing question or ask him to think about a restored truth that was different from what he thought he just kind of brushed it off. He had a hard time believing in another book than the Bible. I then asked him if he thought it was impossible for God to bring to pass more scripture and ofcourse he said no it wasn't impossible but then he just kept changing it back to the Bible and didn't let the Spirit testify, until when he said that the Holy Ghost tells us what we read in the Bible is true. At that point the Spirit told me to take advantage of that and I testified that that is EXACTLY how we find out if the Book of Mormon is true and that is why we were even on his doorstep in the first place. I testified that I knew it was true and that is why we were meeting with him right now and that if he read the Book of Mormon with pure intent and prayed to know it was true that God would reveal it to him. I felt the spirit super strong and knew that we all felt it. Although I'm not too sure that the man we were talking to wanted to accept it. So I left him 2 Nefi 28 and told him to read and pray about it, we'll see what happens, but that was a specific moment in my mission where I felt the Spirit testifying through me and knew that the Savior was with me at that time. Me and Elder Wockenfuss are getting along great. We teach really well together and have learned a lot since Mexico City. We went on exchanges with the Zl's on Wednesday and I HATED teaching in English. It's SOOO different and I honestly couldn't teach like I wanted to. I felt like a greenie, in my native language. It's just a testimony to me that I was called of God to Preach the Gospel in Espanol. Also I didn't want to take over because they were his investigators that we taught and he (The Zl I went on exchanges with) knows them better and what they need to hear. The next day after we exchanged back we stopped by a couple of people and I just talked their ears off. I apologized to Elder Wockenfuss for talking too much but he was fine with it, it was like my tongue just jumped out of hiding and was happy to spit out spanish. Well hope this is sufficient! Have a great week! Sigan adelante!

Hola Familia,

El titulo dice Miracles, Liars, and more so let me explain. Elder Wockenfuss and I went by a Less Active members house on Wednesday and had a lesson with them. It was really cool because his wife and his suegra aren't members, we asked if we could keep coming by and share the lessons with them and they said yes! It was all really cool dicussion and we all felt the spirit really strong. I don't know if you've seen the Mormon Message the Hope of God's Light yet but it's a really good video and we've been using it a lot recently. Anyways at the end they asked us if we wanted anything to drink/eat and we hesitated a little because we needed to go but before we knew it they were pouring us glasses of Juice, Milk, and giving us cookies. It was really cool to teach them and pick up some fresh people to teach. Also there had been some kids going around and pretending to be homeless begging for money to get them to Mexico. But they had already recieved what they needed and have kept going around asking for money. They actually came to church and told their whole fake story and such. Anyways I asked E. Wockenfuss if we should call PK and after we talked with him he told us that they had been going around and taking money from us. But we got it all sorted out and everyone should now to be on the look out. Now I'll answer some of your questions. The exact reason why I was ET'd is because an AP was called and they had to move some people around!!!! I miss having Elders in my district, Hermanas are cool but I already miss having guys to hang around with, visit/have dinner with, talk to, etc... No voy a contestar esa ultima pregunta. Thanks for finally getting my plaque, that's so weird that Kelsey is already home. You have to ask her how to make food, speak, everything. I WANT TORTILLAS WHEN I GET HOME!!!! Every member who's asked me about if I miss home I tell that I'll miss the Mexican food more when I get home. It's the greatest food in the world. And not Flour, actual corn tortillas. Not taco bell hard tacos or hamburger meat inside. When we eat Mexican food when I get back it'll be to the best of our ability LEGIT! JAJA I love this culture, Amo a este Idioma con cual predico y testifico. I hope that I'll be able to continue to be apart of it when I finish my mission. Well I hope I get to stay here for a while. We just got transfer calls on Sat and we're both staying for another 6 weeks together. Hopefully we can get another 6 weeks after that. Driving is fun, people don't know how to here but driving is fun I've missed it. We have done racing at K1 Speed in Carlsbad, that's probably what you've seen. We have done it for district activities and it's super fun. Elder Banana is so far the only person that has had a faster time than me but he's super into racing and cars. Must be the Filipino in him you know better than I do. I like Vista, it's very hispanic and the Ward has a lot of great members. I hope that Heavenly Father will bless us here. Well I'm glad everyone's doing good! Have a great week!

Elder Emerick

Hasta Oceanside Hola Vista

Hola Familia,

Well from the title you are propbably wondering why that's the title. I got ET'd (Emergencey transferred) to Vista. Pretty much what happened is that me and another Elder that was in Vista, switched. So now he's in Oceanside with Elder Dowda, and I'm here in Vista with Elder... Wockenfuss! It's crazy to be companions with him again, we both now can understand Spanish perfectly, speak it well enough to share our testimonies and chat with members. Now I'm in a Relief Society district meaning that the other companionships in our District are Hermanas. Which is a little bit of a bummer but it's whatever. Our area is very hispanic and maybe one of the most hispanic areas I've covered in my mission which is exciting. We don't have too much going on right now but as I've seen things can change around pretty quickly. We did the ET on Wednesday night and I found out on Tuesday morning that I was leaving so I got to take pictures with some families which was good. Getting transferred to a new area is always cool because you have all these potential blessings that could happen if you work hard and have faith. The Ward is pretty cool, it's definatley all Spanish like Escondido, which I like as well. One of the families here has a kid named Emerith so needless to say when everyone found out my name they were like 'Oh! Like Danny's son!' Danny Perez said I'll be famous here in a few weeks. haha  The missionaries in my District are Me, Elder Wockenfuss, Hermanas Terron, Young, Frei, Robison, and Parris. So yeah it's nothing but sisters. Actual transfers won't happen for another 2 weeks so hopefully Elder Wockenfuss and I get to stay together for a whole transfer. I was actually praying to get sent to Vista next and look what happened, I got ET'd to VISTA. Also another Elder worked on my bike a little and now it's running pretty smooth so I don't think I'll have to worry about it for the rest of my mission which is good. I did have to take out $20 of my account because I got ET'd and it's the end of the month so I didn't have any on my mission card. These things just seem to happen to me where at the end of the month I all of the sudden need money because of something happining. I'm sure though that it will be able to help me out later in life when actual emergencies happen and I need money stored away. I'm driving again, we use a car here for administrative purposes and Elder Wockenfuss can't drive. So THANK YOU VERY MUCH for getting my liscense taken care of. I have enjoyed driving again since it's been over 6 months since I've been in the front seat of a car. Well I guess I can start sending pictures. Que pasen una buena semana!

Elder Emerick

Flores family who fed us every Wednesday night

Last picture of old district

Palacios family whom we helped to make Tamales

Goodbye Oceanside

Hello Vista

Missionaries are like the Angel Moroni

Hola Familia,

So this week Victoria Ortega was baptized. It was a great service, the Hermanas had a baptism as well so two people were baptized. It was great her nephew was able to come and baptize her. I always think it's better when family members or members of the ward baptize and confirm people into the church. Us missionaries move and leave. We may get forgotten as time goes on. But the members and family members of these converts will stay with them and help them persevere till the end. Being in a fairly populated area of California that's very civilized I'm not sure I'll have an experience like Dad's of random people showing up to a lesson asking for Books of Mormon. But I have had experiences where people have either testified or have felt God's Love for the first time or in a very long time. At the beginning of the baptismal service Hno Flor shared his testimony of missionary work and about how we are like these people's Angel Moroni. He said that "When the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in his bedroom after the Savior and Heveanly Father, he showed him what he needed to do to comply with what the Savior asked him to do. He provided the way. He said that the missionaries that taught you (The Investigator) are like your Angel Moroni. Moroni didn't appear at your bedside, but these missionaries knocked on your door, talked to you in the street, or called you on the phone. We are the ones that helped these people comply with God's commandments. That was something that really put things in perspective for me as a missionary. It's different in these hispanic Wards because 99% of the members are all converts or 1st generation pioneers for their posterity. Everytime I hear the testimony of a Member who found out about the gospel through the missionaries, it helps my testimony because that is what I'm doing right now, with the help of the Savior. Now on the opposite end of things you heard about the family that couldn't meet with us anymore because they were going to go through a divorce. Both Elder Dowda and I were shocked by the news because when we saw them read 1 Nephi 1 with us for the first time we knew that they had a spiritual manifestation telling them that it was true. But because of the adversary and previous circumstances I assume, they haven't met with us since she told us about the incident. I could tell through her tears that she really knew the gospel was true, but she let things get in her way and now doesn't want us to stop by anymore. The gospel does change lives, that's why the adversary goes through so much to stop people from hearing about it or receiving it. I'm thankful for having remained faithful to the gospel and deciding to serve a mission so I can do the best I can to help people receive these blessings. As far as other things that happened this week we had a zone review and President Kendrick has announced the next 3 weeks as a Jubilee period. Meaning that we are all going to try our best to be the best we can be and look for specific ways of receiving blessings from the Savior. As far as answering your questions, I haven't performed any baptisms yet nor confirmations. I've participated in tons of confirmations and have given many blessings in English and Spanish to members and missionaries. We don't just give out too many Books of Mormon here. We did in my first area but I quickly realized that people here aren't very caring of the material we hand out. So it's better in my opinion if we just carry around a copy in English and Spanish and just give out the cards like candy. Better it's saved for someone who really needs it here in Richy Rich California. Now if I was in Tijuana I'd be handing out LdM's like crazy and we'd be getting return appointments like no ones buisiness but a las the life of a Stateside missionary! The trash panda picture was just something funny we saw. Well hope you all have a great week! Les quiero!

Pictures good week and not so good.

Hola Familia,

This week was really good in some ways and not so good in others. First we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators named Victoria Ortega and she'll be baptized this Saturday! So that's really exciting. Also we had our Temple trip on Wednesday. But the weird thing is we couldn't find a ride to the temple from any of our members. So we had to ask one of the Hermanas in our District's Dad. It was pretty interesting having Hermana Adams Father take us to the temple. He lives in San Diego and works in the temple full time as management for facilities and other stuff. He also works their as a regular worker. Hermana Adams actually saw him on the temple grounds as well as when he took us to lunch afterwards! They didn't sit by eachother or even really acknowledge that the other was there. Needless to say it was an interesting day. Also one of the families we were teaching won't be able to meet with us anymore because they are going to be going through a divorce. We were all super depressed by the news and hope that everything will get better soon. But for the time being, we're not teaching them anymore. As I told President in my e-mail to him it really puts things in perspective. The people we teach go through a lot to be able to accept or find the restored gospel. The adversary works relentlessly to get these people off of the path and make them let go of the Iron rod. It's really sad but for this reason we need to always be faithful and cling to the gospel. I love sharing Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life to teach about the gospel or Plan of Salvation or whatever. It's one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon that I've grown to love on my mission. As far as weather and such we just had a huge storm blow through here this morning but other than that it's been pretty temperate. There has been some kind of bug going around here and I've been feeling a little sick and haven't had much of an appetite to eat or anything for the past couple of days. The Spanish is going great, in fact while I've been writing this I've been thinking to put in words in spanish and having difficulty changing it into English. I love Espanol, it's such an amazing language and so different. I may enjoy it more than English. To answer some of your questions yes I do enjoy your letters. Every one I get, and I haven't been getting many recently? Anyways that's what's been going on here! Hope you all have a great week! Les quiero!

Elder Emerick

Our district at the San Diego Temple

My district

Fried Tilapia

Dead trash panda

Squirrels???