Pinnacle National Park

Elder Tyler Jones week 69

We've been visiting the surrounds towns of Hollister because our mission president recommended it. That's been going well for us. It's been interesting to see some of the smaller towns. They're really nice towns.

We went to San Juan this week and found some people that are pretty interested. We're going back to see them again this week. A member saw us knocking doors in his complex so he ran up and introduced us to his neighbor. That was pretty cool. We also taught a guy that looks exactly like Albert Einstein. So that was pretty cool. He even talked like Albert Einstein. 

The Ramirez family didn't come to church this week. They had a ton of family in town. But they're still willing to be baptized. The mom of the family is really excited to be baptized and go to the temple. President Nordstrom wanted us to have the whole family be baptized together. So we've been working on trying to get more enthusiasm with the rest of the family. So that's been pretty cool.

They came to the trunk or treat at church Tuesday. They seemed like they had a good time. We've also had a couple other investigators go to the trunk or treat. We stayed for a while but then headed back. We weren't allowed to do proselyting on Halloween night.

We went to Pinnacles national park today with the district. We went on a hike that was probably about 5 miles. It was a super cool hike with lots of cool scenery. I'll attach some pictures.

But it's been a good week!

Getting ready for the Halloween party

Elder Tyler Jones week 68

It's been another good week for us.

We talked to the Ramirez family a few times this week. They're still pretty excited to be baptized. We're still not exactly sure if the date will work out for them. We talked to the mom this week and had a kind of funny conversation. She was apparently talking to her sister about the temple this week. She was talking about how she would need to be baptized to go into the temple. Her sister told her that it was still a really beautiful building and that she could just walk around it from the outside. The mom was really proud to tell us about how she rebuked her sister and told her that she was going to go in the temple and that she wasn't satisfied with just seeing it. We've got a lesson with them on Tuesday to talk to her and her family about when they could be baptized. So hopefully all goes well with that.

They didn't end up coming to church this week. They went to a Halloween party that ended at 1:00 in the morning so it wasn't terribly surprising when they didn't wake up on time to go to church. 

We taught a lady named Veronica this week. It's the daughter of an inactive member. She's been feeling like she needs to come closer to god. Her son is into some problems and she feels like she needs gods help. We taught her a couple of times this week and both times they ended up going really well. So that's been going awesome.

We found a lady this week in the street. She was picking some flowers to give to her landlord. We talked to her for a little bit and she told us all about how her sister is a member in northern California and that she used to go with her a while ago and she absolutely loved it but she doesn't have anyone to go with down here so she hasn't been attending. She isn't a member yet but she wanted all of the reading material we could give her so we're going back this week to talk to her again.

This week was the primary program. It was super awesome. A couple of boys from the branch that were baptized serveral months ago got to participate in it.  It's was awesome to see them doing the program. They had little suits and everything. That was really awesome to see.

So it's been a good week

Elder Tyler Jones week 67

Hey Mom - that's so crazy that you hit a deer!  I'm glad everyone's alright and that there wasn't too much damage.  Sounds like you had some fun with the babies this week.  Sorry to hear that everything's been so crazy.

We had a good week,

We've still been working with the Ramirez family.  Two of them are members and the rest aren't.  This week the two members and two that weren't members ended up coming to church.  The family was planning on going to the temple visitor's center this weekend but weren't able because of work.  They still seem like they really want to go though. The two members in the family are Mayra and Agustyn.  They went inactive essentially right after their baptism but it's been awesome to get them back into church.  Them with all their kids and family take up like a third of the seats in sacrament meeting.  Agustyn got the Priesthood this week! We brought him to meet with president on Wednesday and he was ordained after church on Sunday. That was super awesome! 

We passed by a less active member of the branch this week that I haven't met before. His name is Frederico. He's probably in his late 60's and has some problems. He lives with his daughter. He sleeps on a cot in their kitchen. We went to visit him and he was super nice. Also, his daughter and his daughter's family was super nice to us. We shared a quick message with the family. The daughter ended up telling us that she felt like she needed God's help with some problems she's having with one of her sons.  So she asked us for the church address and wanted us to come back so that wen't really well.  They're an awesome family and we'll see what happens with them. 

I've got to go now. 

But it's been an awesome week!

Elder Tyler Jones week 66

Sounds like you guys had a good week. 

We had a good week.

We've been try to get members to church a lot. It's hard for them because they work so much. But we're still trying to push them to come. A lot of people just stay for sacrament meeting and then head out. 

We had a couple of pretty cool experiences this week.

We've been working with one of the recent converts in the ward and he's been pretty fired up about missionary work. He's been inviting a lot of his friends to come to church and to meet with us and everything. So he's doing awesome. Last week we found a couple of his friends at his store. We talked to them for a bit and ended up teaching them the restoration. They seemed to really like it. But we came back this week and they said they really liked the restoration pamphlet that we had given them. They said it answered a lot of their questions. They said they read it like three times and that they had practically memorized it. So that was pretty cool.

We've been working with another part member family as well.  2 of them are members and 8 of them aren't. It's been hard to congregate them all together. But this week we had a lesson and a family home evening with the whole family. In the lesson we talked about the plan of salvation and it seemed like they really enjoyed it. When we came back for the family home evening we had a little game that they really enjoyed. They were all laughing and having a good time. Then we had a lesson about temples and eternal families. That went really really well. They said they'd love to prepare to go to the temple some day. They also committed to prepare to be baptized this November. We're really happy for them.

We had a bit of smog this week because of the fires in California. It was a little bit weird since it looked like fog but then it smelt bad as well.  It wasn't terrible though. We're far enough south that we didn't get it very bad at all.

Anyway, I'm doing well.

I hope you have a great week!

Tunnel under the road