The Big 1 2/Paradaisical Moment/"Mom, I bought some cds from a random guy with a beard." (October 17, 2016)

Hey hey family! It's been a quick minute since I've written y'all. Sorry if I've haven't been writing as well as in weeks past, but I'm back now that Zone Conferences are done! It sounds like y'all have been in the midst of activities and school and such. Dwayne, I throughly enjoy your purple wig. It really fits you ;) 

This week was crazy busy. We left to Eureka (4 1/2 hours away) on Monday night last week in the big mission transit. I ended up driving the whole way lol. It was fun but that thing is a bus! We got there and stayed with the Zone Leaders and then went to the chapel the next morning. The most farthest point of the mission is crescent city and we were about 45 minutes south of there. We had dinner with a family that Elder Achal knew up there and then went down to Ukiah Tuesday night and stayed the night there. We had Zone Conference there Wednesday and then came back to Santa Rosa that night. Thursday morning, we headed to Napa for the Napa/Vallejo Zone Conference. It was our last one and we were super tired from everything by that time. Hahaha so we were able to have dinner with Presidente Rico (Hamilton) in Napa that night and then booked it back for a couple lessons and such. I loved visiting the mission and seeing some old friends! And we were lucky being in the transit because we weren't limited on miles and such, which was nice :) 

We were also able to have some good lessons this week, first with aura and ed! His is the first lesson we've had since they moved to our area. Aura basically made a list of what her problems or dudas were and listed them off for us in that lesson. It really helped us identify what we need to focus on with her, but we're concerned about her desire because it's not 100% there. We're working with her specifically on recognizing the Holy Ghost and had another good lesson with her Saturday about that. She could really use prayers right now too! It was actually her birthday yesterday so we made her a cake and took it over! She's the best! 

We actually picked up a new investigator named Lisette! She lives in the house of a member and we started visiting her at the end of last week and she's super solid. She's having a baby pretty soon and we think it's hitting her pretty hard. She kept her commitment from the first lesson. And we asked her to be baptized in the last and she said YES! We're gonna set date for her next lesson and are really excited for her!

We have MLC this Friday and will be pretty busy preparing for that this week. Transfers are next week too! We've been crazy busy this transfer and it's flown by! It's crazy in like two weeks is November! 

I love and appreciate y'all and am grateful for your support. Keep truckin on. Don't take a day for granted. 

Con Amor

Elder Joyner

ZC Busy!! (October 10, 2016)

Elder Crowley and the van

We've had a super busy week this week. We were gone the majority of it in zone conferences and all, on Tuesday in Fairfield, Wednesday in Woodland, and Thursday in Petaluma! Tuesday was Elder Achal's birthday so we ate his birthday dinner in Fairfield and then stayed overnight in Woodland so we didn't have to drive early in the morning. We came back to Rosa Wednesday night to make it to a lesson or two and then to Petaluma Thursday morning. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were the only times we had in our area. We were able to see a couple of people. Did I ever talk about Mario and Mina when I was here last year? They were in the sister's area but we helped teach them and they got baptized after I left, but kinda went less active. We've been visiting them every Thursday night and trying to get them back to church. Saturday, we helped Ed and Aura move houses into our area, which is super exciting! We will start teaching them this upcoming week. Haha on Sunday, elder Crowley got pulled in to play piano for the primary who is practicing for their program. We spent all of Sunday school and third hour helping the primary with their music lol. It's was a funny little time! Tomorrow, we have a conference in Eureka which is super north so we are leaving at 4:30ish/5 today to go stay up there tonight. Then we'll come down to Ukiah tomorrow night for their conference on Thursday. Finally, we finish off in Napa on Thursday. We scored a dinner with the Hamiltons on Thursday night, so that should be super fun! I'm super grateful to be where I am right now and for what I'm doing. Don't have too much time today, but I'll write more next week. Thank you for your love and support. Stay suave, mis queridos hermanos! Les quiero muchísimo! 

Con Amor

Elder Joyner

¡¡¡CONFERENCIA GENERAL!!! (October 3, 2016)

It's been a great week this past week! I hope you all loved Conference as much as I did! I'm sure grateful to be where I am right now. General Conference as a missionary is always a little different. Maybe it's the calling or that we're just focused on the Lord 24/7, but I got so much out of it! It was hard, yet again, to see President Monson get older and older but I guess that's just how it goes. I'm very grateful for a living Prophet and Apostles who lead and guide Christ's church today. One thing that was impressed upon me was the worth of the souls is great in the eyes of God and how we are all children from a divine creator. How super is that? Shouldn't that give us enough motivation to get through anything? 

This week we also moved houses. We moved into the Larson's (a senior couple that just went home) apartment. It's huge! It feels like Grandma and Papa's house haha. I'll send some pictures on the way and such. 

This next week we have zone conferences in Fairfield, Woodland, and Petaluma! Elder Crowley and I are teaching on doing Mobile Device Checkups! We'll send the media for that when we get it all done haha. 

Nothing else really exciting happened this week. but OH do you remember Aura and Ed? From a couple weeks ago? So they're living in Windsor (north of SR) right now with Ed's brother, but we just found out that they moved into our area so pretty soon we will start teaching them! That's super sick yo! They're fresh and actually fed us after priesthood session on Saturday! 

I'd encourage you all to re-watch and think over the conference talks that just happened, as I will be doing the same. 

I'm grateful for each and everyone of you! 

Con Amor

Elder Joyner