This week, well its been a grab bag of really good
and poor.
First off I was on exchanges in the
Spanish area again this Tuesday-Wednesday. The first four pictures (the
one with 114_ in front of the file) are of Elder Barrea and myself
destroying a couch in the Spanish ward.
Also we drove by a bunch of
cops with a whole city block shut down. No idea why, but it was pretty
crazy. Its funny, Compton is pretty quiet compared to downtown Long
Beach, and we are hardly ever down in main Long Beach. We are always up
north with the Samoans.
I don't have very many fun or amazing stories from
this week. We were able to meet with quite a few people this past week
which is good. The bad part is none of them came to Church. If you
would have asked me on Sunday I would have been pumped to tell you all
about how we met with 5 less actives and they were all committed to
coming to church.
We had a Zone Conference this week which was
absolutely amazing. It made me rededicate and actually love this
mission. I've really had a hard time falling in love with Long Beach,
California because I am waiting to go to Brazil. But the amazing thing
is, whenever I turn to Heavenly Father and ask for help, he is there to
provide. I asked Heavenly Father in prayer several times, help me to
love this mission like I already love Porto Alegre. Then last Saturday
as I was driving down the streets of North Long Beach, in the sun, I
looked around and realized, I really do love this place. It was the
first time I ever felt like, I would like to serve my whole mission
here. Up to this point its always been, well Long Beach, that's not
such a bad place to wait for my 'Real Mission'. Now its, I can't
believe my visa could come so soon and I would have to leave here. Now
I'm still really excited to go to Brazil, but I will always miss Long
Beach from this time on. I've really learned on my mission, especially
with my visa situation, how to turn to my Heavenly Father and ask him to
help me in prayer and know that he's listening. The answer to my
prayer took about 3 months, but it did come, and I'm glad that it did.
Great news though, because of the hard work of the
missionaries in our mission we went from 449 Baptisms in 2010, to 393
Baptisms in 2011! Well I suppose thats not actually a good thing, but
the good thing is, of the 449 Baptisms in 2010, somewhere around 120 of
them were inactive by the end of that year. This year 2011, only 18 of
our recent converts have gone inactive in the California Long Beach
Mission. A 95% retention rate! Absolutely unheard of! I was so proud
to be a part of this great mission when president announced that. It
makes me realize that the hard work we have done working with the
members, spending precious proselyting time visiting members rather than
just knocking doors has really paid off.
The last picture I sent you is Elder Galke, B and
J, and me. B and J are twins that are really
special to Elder Galke. Their Family (minus Be) were all at Church
this Sunday :). J was just down for the Holidays from the
University, it was really fun to see the two twins together. They look
exactly the same, talk the same, and are a lot the same person. It has
been fun to get to know them.
Ohhh Man, OOOOOOHHHH MAN. I nearly flipped
the chair when I saw that picture of Sherry and
whats-his-boys-face-6'6". I can't believe it... all the missionaries
in here all came and crowded around the screen when I mentioned it. It
was pretty funny. Sherry mentioned him briefly in her E-mail to me, but
that picture says it all. I have never seen her so mushy on a guy
EVER.
Well my E-mail is getting cut short because the
Family History Center is closing down. I love you very much, thank you
all for the letters and E-mails. I love hearing from you, it always
makes my week.
Lots of Love,
Elder Henry
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