Week 11- TRANSFERS!!!

Hey ya'll!!

I hope you all have a fantastic week this week! First things first, it is transfers this week. So, don't send any mail to my apartment this week. If I transferred, I may never see the mail that comes. Other missionaries aren't the most reliable mail carriers :) so feel free to send any letters to the mission offices, but not to my apartment. Next week I will let you know my apartment address. I really hope I don't get transferred. Yeah, It may be slow right now, but that is okay. It is giving me time to get used to mission life.

We may not have a ton of investigators right now, but the people we are talking to, I am growing ever close too. I LOVE the people in the Long Beach 16 ward! I can honestly say I LOVE it here. At times I have been kind of down about knocking door after door after door with no results. I have knocked a fair amount and I have yet to get into a single house. But we are out of options. But, a few weeks back, we stopped by the Estrada family right before they dropped us. They gave us three referrals. A feller that we can't find, A feller, Hermano Lopez, who was a bishop back in Guatemala 16 years ago but is inactive now, and the Familia Alvares, who are mid 20's with a little boy and a little girl ( It's always a boost to the self esteem when you say Hola, Como estas to a little feller who then says bien and rattles off something at a million miles an hour and looks at you waiting for a response and I have no idea what he says lol).

So we finally got into the familia Alvares home and we are talking. The parents have both been baptized but they have been inactive since then. We talked a few times and nothing. The Hermano likes to play soccer on Sundays. Finally we went in on Thursday and pretty much said look, what is better, soccer, or losing your kids to drugs and alcohol when they aren't raised up with good friends and standards. It was kind of a gutsy move on the part of Elder Kasen. Well, I do my role of baring my testimony about how the Gospel has blessed me and my family, and how coming from a loving family has blessed my life. I do this in my little broken Spanish in mostly English Grammar, then I let Elder Kasen clean up my mess and say it in proper grammar so they understand. Then we pray and leave. They enjoyed our message like they do. We ask if we can come back. This time was different though but I wasn't sure why.

Before church on Sunday we had to make copies so we weren't there to greet people. We walked in to the chapel five minutes early and see the cute little Alvares family sitting quietly on the back bench, and I just hit a wave of The Spirit testifying to me of the importance of the work I am doing and how I am touching lives. It is definitely one of the most happiest moments of my life to know I am sharing the source of my happiness with others.

So, this week I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I come across this verse, which my mother always says is her favorite. (now she is thinking "oh great... what did i say?" :) ) it is Jacob 6:12 and reads "Oh be wise, what can I say more?" This verse is shortly profound. There really isn't much you can say to that. Just be wise. Before you make your every day decisions, take a minute to think and decide if it is a good idea. Use the wisdom you have gained from your life experiences and from the Gospel.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support!

Love,
Elder Andrew B. Lloyd