Mason's Mission: October 2023

Un Misionero con el Trabajo Pesado

Day: the one where we get to carve pumpkins :)

Pushup Count: 154

Hola mi gente! The temperature here has started to dip into the 30s at night and people are freaking out . My companion wakes up every morning and can barely get out of bed because he's freezing. On the other hand, I'm completely fine (maybe I just haven't adjusted to California weather yet?). Highlights from this week:

- Last p-day the Hermanas threw our district a birthday party

- We taught a new English class student and she turned out to be a member with an inactive mom. We're meeting with them tonight

- We had a "greenie exchange"! I led my area with the district leader's fresh comp and we killed it. I got to speak a lot of Spanish and Elder Hanson was awesome. He did dual immersion so he was actually able to help, even though he's an English elder

- I fell asleep during language study

- Elder Westerby has been searching for a bench and rack for a few transfers now with no luck. We asked an inactive member if he had any weights and he said, "no, but I have a bench. Do you want it?" We lost our minds long story short, there's a big ol bench and squat rack between our beds now

- I played my first game of "prosball" and we absolutely destroyed

- We got a weekend base pass, so we spent the last two days grinding out air force member visits. We also took a few minutes to walk around outside the museum and it was super sick (but we're not allowed to take pictures )

This week's email is pretty short cause we're kind of just grinding over here. The days are long and we're not seeing a ton of success, but we keep pushing, trusting that God will bless us for our efforts.

Spiritual Thought:

Go check out President Nelson's talk from this April - "Peacemakers Needed". It's super good, and we've been sharing it with the members here. Look at ways that you can have more charity in your life. Charity is the pure love of Christ that He and our Heavenly Father have specifically for you. Don't forget it!

Love,

Elder Page

Fotos:

one of the most surprisingly amazing meals I've ever made

we saw a crazy south American duck

Un Misionero pero un Gaucho

Day: almost Halloween (ish)

Pushup Count: 148

Que tal mis amigos? Highlights from this week:

- Last week my district had a p-day activity at Red Rocks state park where I got to run around on rock formations that looked just like St. George

- We drove to the furthest person in our area book to see if they were interested and they were so nice! They gave us a giant bag of apples and told us to come back

- We were driving on a paved road when all of the sudden it dropped off and changed to dirt.... We were going 50 mph so we kinda almost died

- We had a ton of lessons fall through

- We visited an inactive member who's nietas (granddaughters) were visiting. They spoke better Spanish then me... But they got us doing cartwheels and somersaults and stuff and it was so funny

- I learned "if, would" statements in Spanish, which is pretty complicated stuff so I'm kinda proud

- I cut Elder Westerby's hair and he doesn't hate me now, so I count that as a success

- I made stir fry that was absolute fire

- We went to the ward trunk-or-treat and someone told us we're the first missionaries to ever do that we're making progress

- Remember that baptist church I mentioned a couple weeks ago that sings in the park? They were there again this week and they asked us to share something with them! We used a mic and testified of the Holy Ghost and the power of prayer. My Spanish popped off, and the people were so engaged - lots of amens and "gloria a Jesus". Absolute highlight of my week

- "Everyone's a metal head, they just don't know it" - Joel Brandon

There's a ton of work to do out here and not enough time to do it! We're praying that we find some new people to teach and that we can help get the members more involved. My Spanish is getting better, but I still don't get many opportunities to use it. I appreciate all y'all's prayers and emails, keep it up!

Pensamiento Espiritual:

We've been talking a lot about covenants this week and how they connect us to God. As wee discussed this, Joel shared something with us that I'll never forget. He said that covenants are like a rudder that keep us moving straight through life, but in order for a rudder to work you have to be moving forward - you have to actually put in effort. In the same way, we have to move forward and try in order for our covenants to guide us. We promise things to God, and if we don't do them, He can't help us. So turn to Him, he wants to help you because he loves you so much!

Love,

Élder Page

Las fotos!

some sick grip tape I want

my stir fry

us as stuffed animals

bunch of trunk or treat fotos

ran into our friends at the farmers market

couple pictures of red rock

Un Misionero en una Montaña Rusa

Day: 1,624

Pushup Count: 142

Hola mi gente! Como ha estado todo? Not gonna lie, this was a long week. Here's some of lo que pasó:

- We got stuck at a member's house until 10 pm and I wanted to die from exhaustion

- I cut my own hair

- We hung up a couple million English class flyers

- We met a few different people living in pretty rough circumstances - don't take anything for granted!

- Someone answered the door and said "hello, how can I NOT help you today?" and proceeded to slam the door. We later found out that he's a really bad person so that probably the best we could have asked for

- We finished weekly planning in a whopping 2.5 hours

- We had an absolutely wild lesson with our 9 year old recent convert, and he had us cracking up so hard

- I got to finally taste Cleon's famous fried chicken, and yes, it was just as good as everyone says

- We went by an inactive member's house and I relearned all the swear words

- I held one of only 20 fluffy pugs in the world while I taught a lesson

- Someone in the park actually spoke Spanish and actually talked to us! She said that she had actually met missionaries before in Oregon, and she gave us her number, which was super cool

- We went by an inactive family and they fed us and gave us hot chocolate

- We had no Spanish members or recent converts at church yesterday

- We ran into the same roofing workers twice and then asked if we were following them lol

- Some guy let his own dog out and then blamed us and yelled at us to leave when we offered to help...

- "Yeah, but the other churches aren't real!"

This week has been a lot of ups and downs — a montaña rusa (roller coaster) you could say. We've been working so hard to find and it hasn't amounted to much yet, but I'm super grateful for the friends that we do have and the people we've been able to succefully visit this week. I think my Spanish ability is improving, even though I don't get a ton of practice. I'm praying for all of you and I hope that you all feel mi amor por ustedes!

Spiritual Thought

If you haven't read Alma 7:11-13 recently, do it. We share this scripture all the time and I absolutely love it. Don't forget what Christ did for you and don't forget how much he loves you!

Love,

Elder Page

Fotos - not many this week, I promise I'll get better at taking them!

Elder Westerby and the fluffy pug

a couple sunset pictures

Un Misionero Adolorado

Day: another one where I feel sleep deprived

Pushup Count: 136

Hola a todos! This week has been so long. No one told me that having your first transfer pretty much feels like starting your mission over again. So I'm just out here adjusting to the desert with my new companion, trying to visit every single dot in the area (which is totally possible, we don't have a ton of people). It's been exhausting, but we've seen some cool stuff:

- I got yelled at by a homeless dude in a Panda Express

- "I'm only complaining about people who are stupid"

- I got yelled at by a member who told me I've been doing missionary work wrong

- To all my friends who lift weights: why?????

- We had zone conference! I fell asleep again....

- We have a friend who we're slowly trying to get to church, and last time we met she straight up told us the only thing that's missing in her life is la iglesia

- I somehow had my hand in three dogs mouths at the same time...

- I yelled "Hola, como están!" to a group of black guys

- Met with someone who was previously on date for baptism, but got dropped... Let's just say there's a reason he was dropped

- "I keep praying for the good Lord to take me, but he just won't do it!"

- We pulled up to a house in the middle of nothing at night to find a shirtless guy just raking the dirt street

- I got a whole bunch more CD's - I opened up the AAR one to find Guns and Roses greatest hits, so that was a bit disappointing, but I can't listen to them anyway sooo

- We "stole" a dartboard from a thrift store

- We visited a random house that we didn't think would amount to anything to find out that the people who live there absolutely love missionaries! They gave us cookies and told us the mission used to rent a house from them. He also apparently owns a Lamborghini that we're gonna go see one day

- I tried gumbo... It was incredibly mid

- Dee hooked me up with a Peyton Manning card for free after I told him about Peyton - he's so nice :)

- We helped members of a Spanish Baptist church set up speakers for their live worship music in the park. They were so nice! And they practically praised us for spreading "la palabra de Dios"

- We listened to the Baptist sermon after the music, and the dude was literally talking about prophets and how God still communicates with us today.... If only he knew haha

- I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday and it went super well - first time I've gotten up there and not just read something word for word. I got to follow Joel as he gave his first talk ever. He did amazing, and the spirit was so strong!

- Yesterday we got to drive down the flight line on base with a member and see a bunch of sick planes, so cool

Spanish is coming along - people keep telling me it's amazing for my second transfer, but I'm not sure if I believe them. Except I found out that even my trainer only understands anywhere from 60-90 percent of what people are saying, so that was comforting. Lately I've just been super tired, but I'm doing my best to stay working. I love hearing from everyone, y'all are in my prayers!

Spiritual Thought:

Yesterday I spoke about how the little things we do every day wind together to create a rope that ties us to Christ. So do the little things: pray, study your scriptures, and go to church and the temple, because that's how you build a connection with heaven. And never forget that God loves you more than you could possibly know!

Love,

Elder Page

Fotos!

Un Misionero con un Padrastro

Day: first P-Day with my new papi

Pushup Count: 130

Hola mi gente! Como ha estado todo? This week was transfers, and I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. But here we go:

- We didn't know for sure, but there was a chance that Elder Vasquez would get transferred, so we had to run around and take pictures with everyone just in case

- I made a cake - this time I'm really going to go win cake wars, it was so good

- The transfer board was supposed to come out at noon, then they said 2 or 3, and then it didn't come out until 9 pm :/

- We went to Joel's house one night before transfers, and his friend cheated and beat me at magic

- The transfer board came out when we were at Joel's, so that was kinda bittersweet

- We drove all the way to Bakersfield to switch comps and I met Elder Westerby, my new padrastro (step-dad)

- I saw a license plate that said "13 gallon club" and then right under the name of some blood bank....

- Elder Westerby is big into lifting, and I swear we loaded an entire gym into the back of our rav

- I'm learning how to work out - it sucks and I wanna go back to running

- I think all I'm gonna eat this transfer is chicken

- We've had some absolutely crazy interactions with people and I'm starting to realize why some of them haven't been contacted in so long

- We got to watch conference, which was awesome

I feel kinda like I'm starting my mission over, just extremely tired and a little stressed. At least this time I know our friends and the ward members though. I've had to introduce Elder Westerby to all of them and it's been a little tough. It's been a little weird having a companion who actually needs to study Spanish haha, but good to have someone that actually knows grammar rules instead of just someone who just says things instinctively. We're determined to get a baptism this transfer, so I'll keep y'all updated.

Spiritual Thought:

I loved the conference talk about spiritual face blindness and it got me thinking about my relationship with God and how I really see him. I invite you all to listen to that talk if you haven't yet, and don't forget that God loves you!

Mucho amor,

Elder Page

Fotos: