PRIMERO SEMANA YEET (Oct 19, 2015)

HOLA ALL!! Wow. So I'm in California. HOW CRAZY IS THAT. Heck I love it here. It was kind 

Last MTC District Picture

of a quick rough transition but I give it another week or two and I'll get into it. This might be a longer email but I'm just gonna give you the rundown of what's happened this past week. So last Tuesday I woke up at 3:30am to leave to get to the travel office by 4:30pm. From there, we took a bus and train to SLC. Haha so I get to baggage and I'm weighing my bags and I look over and who do I see walking towards me but the one and only Dwayne. Hahaha wasn't expecting that one. We chatted for a couple minutes while I was waiting for the rest of my travel group to get ready. I gave one last hug goodbye and headed off toward my gate. It was such a nice surprise to see mi Hermano one last time before heading off. I got to the gate and called Mi mama and Mi papa (and Dwayne). That was a right good chat we had there. It made me happy to be able to hear some familiar voices. Sorry Cole that you were in school :/ But hey only two more months and we can Skype and stuff. My travel group included all English missionaries that had only been in the MTC for 12 days, so I didn't know anyone. I was able to make some friends on the short hour and 15 minute flight. We arrived and were greeted by President and Sister Wright and the AP's. It was a treat to see them there to greet us. They gave us a sack lunch as we drove back to the Mission office. We were then greeted by all the missionaries in the mission and the "greenies" ran through the victory tunnel they made lol. All the missionaries were there because it was the transfer devotional. That was led by President. The rest of the day was training for the newbies. Then after dinner, we spent our first night in a Comfort Inn. Lol I was not expecting that. They say it's the best sleep you'll get your entire mission, and I do believe that because I slept like a baby.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then the AP's took us back to the mission office for more training. We got our iPad's too! This is the one I keep the whole time, (although momma I think imma need a different case because this is kinda like the same one we got in the MTC.) So something cool about our iPads our here is that we are able to look at emails anytime throughout the week. We can't respond until Monday, but if you send me anything via email know that I can read it. After that, we were paired up with our companions. Sooooooo my companion is..............

ELDER KIMBER. He is from Elk Ridge, Utah and has been out a little over a year. He's a really good guy and I'm lucky to have him as my trainer. He's a gifted teacher too. He is our District Leader too. So here's some mission slang in case I ever use it. Elder Kimber is my Dad because he's my trainer. Whatever companion I get after him will be my Mom because he's my follow up trainer. My grandfather is Elder Kimber's trainer and my Grandmother is Elder Kimber's follow up trainer. So we can trace a whole generation back if we wanted. It's a good time. 

Our area is the Santa Rosa South area. We are in the Laguna ward, which actually just moved up from a branch to a ward. It is the biggest Spanish unit in Northern California. Our bishop is Obispo Escamilla. He's really cool and speaks super fast Spanish. 

(For mail and stuff:)

3840 Martina Ave #103 

Santa Rosa, CA

95407-2550

We went back to the apartment, where we live with the Zone Leaders. Their names are Elder Taylor and Elder Britt. Taylor is from Canada and is quite a character, and Britt is from Texas and reminds me of Sue's boyfriend from The Middle. Haha they're funny guys and I like them! Our apartment is super nice. We have two bunk beds in one room, and then two office rooms with bathrooms, and a kitchen area. 

One crazy thing that happened was that I walked into A BAPTISM. On my first weekend! That's crazy and usually doesn't happen. Their names are Brenda and Citlali. They're 14-15 age. Their mom is a less-active and their Uncle is pretty active. We went to visit them every night up until Saturday which was the Baptism. Elder Checketts, who was the Elder that was with Elder Kimber before me, came from Fairfield and did the baptisms.  It was a super surreal experience. They were confirmed the next day in church. And another crazy thing is that we have this other investigator who, the only thing he needed, was to see what a baptism was like and then he would be. He came and then after the baptism said he's ready and wants to be in there one of these Saturday's. So maybe this next week we could have another date set. Wowie wow. 

Another crazy thing happened too. So in Elder Taylor and Britt's ward, there was a lady that passed away and someone there found out I sing, so I sang at the funeral. Ha I sang My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee by Rob Gardner. It was a small service and the lady's relatives were like Native American so that was interesting. And then the lady who accompanied me was like "Hey come sing in our ward tomorrow too". So I sang in the English ward at 9 before our ward at 11am. Haha I've been here less than a week and I've sang twice already. 

1 Corthinians 2:9 was the scripture for the fam to ponderize this week. It says:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of Man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him."

I've actually studied lots on this one but I just wanna a quick slick titch. If you keep reading in verse 10 it says: "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." That prompted me to disect verse 9 and "searcheth all things" in the scripture. One in particular that I liked was the word prepared. The word prepared led me to "blessings" in the topical guide, which then referred me to Proverbs 10:6 which says:"Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked." In order to receive these blessings we must be just. Then I wondered how do we become "just?" I was led to Heb 10:38 and then Acts 7:52. The scripture in Acts scripture says "shewed before the coming of the just one," or Jesus. In order to be just, we must try to act and become like Christ and follow his teachings through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I was finally led to a scripture in D&C 76:69 that tied it all together. Lo dice: "These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood." Through Christ and his atonement, we can repent and become more like him daily. 

Whoops. Sorry for that little rant. I got excited and just kinda blurted my words out. THE SCRIPTURES ARE SO COOL. It amazes me how detailed everything is. The church and scriptures have to be true because of how detailed they are. No man could "create" or "make up" such a thing. Wow it's so amazing. 

Like I said last week, if you have any pictures that you would like to email, please do! I want to show all my friends and even possibly use them in lessons and such. 

I'm so grateful for all the love and support I get daily. I continually pray for each and everyone of you. Thank you all so so much. God Bless y'all. Till next week!

Te Amo,

Elder Joyner