Día De Gracias

Well, this was a good week!

Elder Waddell and I are training Elder Rawls, he's from Mesa, Arizona. He's awesome, it's been a great first week. We haven't had much time to do companion study or language study (things that are pretty important to help new missionaries learn how to teach and whatnot) because we've been having lots of lessons and leadership meetings. So he's not going to have as much time to study as I did when I started out, but he will learn to be a grinder!

We had a New Missionary Orientation on Thanksgiving morning, so we had a breakfast there. And we had three Thanksgiving dinners fed to us by members as well, so we had a good day haha. Lots of good stuff going on here! Some of the inactive families we've been working with have been coming back to church, which has been awesome to see. One of them is a couple in their sixties or seventies, who want to get sealed in the temple. The wife has been returning for a while now, but the husband has never stepped foot in a church building here in America. He was baptized when he was about 19 in Tijuana and when they moved here, they went inactive. They BOTH came back to church a few weeks ago and every time we say hi to them at church, the husband Mario points and me and says with a laugh, "It is HIS fault that I'm here!". Those two are some of my favorite people I've taught on the mission haha.

The members here are just so good, everyone lives the gospel and does their part to share it and to serve. I'd be okay with just not being transferred until I get transfered home in May lol.

Hope everyone has a great week! God bless the USA in the World Cup!

Elder Pettit

P.S. We were eating some tacos a few hours ago at a little taco shop and some Mexican guy rushes in, pumping his fist in the air and chanting, "USA! USA! USA!" He then asked the people working there to put it on the TV. He watches until just about the end and then leaves, chanting "USA!" over and over. It was awesome haha! 

Sick Week Pt. 2, We're Training!

Well, whatever cold/flu is going around lately is a tough one! We thought we were out of the woods but then it made a comeback on us. My companion got pretty sick at the start of the week for a few days, then I got sick again (and still am right now). We're on the mend though! And just in time...

We got transfer news on Sunday when President Merritt called us. He let Elder Waddell and I know that we will be staying together here in South Bay as Zone Leaders, and that we will receive a third companion - a brand new missionary! So we will be training! In the afternoon, we will have dinner with all the trainers, new missionaries, APs and SSTLs, and President and Sister Merritt. And at that point, the new missionaries will be assigned to the trainers and announced in a draft-like fashion. So I'll reply to this email later with some pics from the draft with our new missionary!

Elder Waddell and I are super excited. This six week transfer period will have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in it. We are going to make sure that this new missionary has a great Christmas away from home and doesn't get depressed haha. We will show him how to work hard, be obedient, have fun, speak Spanish, and trust in the Lord!

Since we were sick most of the week again, we had to cancel a lot of lessons. I also had more time to read and study when I wasn't sleeping it off. 

I am now the oldest missionary in the Mission Leadership Council haha. All of the other Zone Leaders, STLs and APs and SSTLs came out after me. That's crazy!! I have four more transfers left, and since I will spend one more of those four here in South Bay, I will likely only serve in one more area. 

I love my mission, this is the Lord's work!

Elder Pettit

Mission Tour W/ Elder Sabin

Hello everyone!

Lots of missionaries I've served with for a while are going home next week, including like 80% of all the Spanish sisters who came out with me. Weird to see them all go home when we started at the same time lol. Under six months left for me! 

Our ward had a temple trip and our recent convert Elba went and did baptisms for her deceased ancestors, she loved it!

We had a Zone Conference and an Mission Leadership Conference with Elder Gary Sabin of the Seventy. They were both awesome meetings. He talked a lot about how we just need to be good and enjoy it, don't worry so much, and just trust in the Lord. He talked about how there is pure truth in the world, but there's a lot of garbage too.

Had some car issues this week too, enjoy the picture of me watching our car getting towed back to the dealership.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Pettit

Sick Week

Not a lot to write about this week. There's been a cold going around lately, and I was pretty sick for a few days. We even missed church on Sunday and just slept all day haha. Here's a bunch of pictures from Sea World last week! 

Have a great week everyone

Elder Pettit

Halloween

This week we had lots of good lessons, and some iffy ones. Some of the people we have been teaching are progressing well towards baptism, and others have been stuck at the same spot for a while. 

I'll tell you about one of the iffy lessons we had! We called someone who had been taught previously by missionaries and set up a lesson. We initially had some trouble finding the address, so we gave him a call. He told us how to get there and said he would come out and open the gate to let us in. So we drive through this back yard, and the man named Pancho opens the gate, and we go through. That takes us to the big lot about the size of a football field. It's all empty except for a few junked cars, an RV, and tons of old metal and wood things stacked against the left fence. After driving in there, we look behind us and Pancho closed the gate and locked it with some big chains. Then he comes over and invites us into his RV where he lives. We definitely thought our names would show up on the nightly news haha. It was all good though, Pancho isn't really interested in making changes in his life, he's had contact on-and-off with missionaries for over 10 years.

On a brighter note, Maura, who got baptized last week, got some help from the family history specialist and now has nine names to bring to the temple! We will be helping Elba, the other recent convert, to do the same. Super awesome. 

I gave a talk at church on Sunday about all of the Christlike attributes that the prophet Nephi had, and how we can bring to pass powerful miracles if we are faithful, obedient, diligent, and if we open our mouths to share the gospel. This ward here is the best, everyone is so on top of it.

Yesterday we visited a part-member family and started teaching a kid named Jorge. His mom came out after the lesson and told us they want to start coming to church again, and she asked Jorge if he wants to be baptized. Jorge said yes, but he seemed a little hesistant. So we will go try to give that family the business and get Jorge ready!

We dropped by and taught another kid named Aziel! Last transfer, Elder Wayment and I gave him a Book of Mormon. It's been tough to get in contact with him because he doesn't have a phone or a car. But we caught him at home a few days ago and asked him if he's read the Book of Mormon at all. He said he hasn't yet, so we just sat down outside and read it with him! We read 3 Nephi 11 and he was loving it. He usually bikes to a church in San Ysidro a lot, and he said next time we meet, he will bring some of his buddies from church as well.

Hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week!

Elder Pettit

P.S. we are going to Sea World today, so if I take any good pictures I will reply-all to this email later.