Petaluma Dreamin' (April 17, 2017)

Respect Your Elders

Hey y'all! Happy Monday and happy late Easter! Oh and happy late birthday Dad! Hope you were able to have a party or eat some cake or something. Just a heads up, Elder Angulo and I are not getting transferred. We will be in good ole Petaluma for one more! It's weird I have two transfers (plus a couple weeks) left. Ugh ehh weird. But we're not gonna talk about that. Ok? Ok. 

It's been another super week here in Petaluma! Elder Angulo was sick, so we spent a majority of the week inside because he physically could not go outside. Elder Hardin and I were able to go out a couple times and do some work, so that was good. The previous week, we found an investigator named Adalberta, who was super interested. Despite sickness, we saw her last Wednesday and taught her the restoration. She really liked it and said she would read out of the Book of Mormon before our next meeting. It was really exciting! We returned Saturday but alas she was not there. We went back later that day and rescheduled for tomorrow. We're really excited for her! We also found this one family about two weeks ago that we were finally able to find at home. We've only ever met the wife, Perla, and gave her a Book of Mormon. Elder Hardin and I went back the other day and set a return appointment for today. She also said she had been reading and liked it. How cool, no?? So big things are happening this next Transfer!

The zone is getting switched up and new exciting things are happening. Also, it was announced by the Bretheren just recently that we will stop having zone meetings and just have Zone Conferences. So that's kind of switch up. We have MLC planned this week which should be good also. 

That's about it for this one. Hope y'all have an awesome week. Love ya and am praying for ya!

Con Amor, 

Elder Joyner

That's just how it goes! (April 10, 2017)

Elder Joyner & Elder Hall

Hey yo! How y'all doing?? This week was super good! Thanks for all the birthday wishes and stuff! Y'all really made it a special day. Also thanks for the video that you made! That really pulled at my heart strings! It was a long one too and I appreciate all of it. So thank you. 💚 So Wednesday to Thursday, we had exchanges and I was with Elder Hall. He was trained by Elder Crowley when we were in Santa Rosa and when I was training Elder Sidwell, where we lived in the mission mansion lols. We had an awesome exchange reminiscing from the Santa Rosa days. After we exchanged back Thursday, my compa treated me to lunch and then we went out to work. We had dinner and the member somehow knew about my birthday and got a cake ahhh. Then we had correlation and we played soccer with the Branch, where we got some investigators to come. All in all it was an awesome day!

There wasn't too much else that happened this week. We were able to find something like five new investigators, whom with we have return appointments this week. We are working with several other investigators but we weren't able to see too many of them this week for one reason or another. We are working with the Vazquez family. I'm not sure if I've talked about them before. So Luis and Laura are the parents and Neri and Angeles are the kids. The kids got baptized about three months ago! We are working with their parents now and Luis is looking pretty close. He comes to church, participates in elders quorum activities, and is really solid. He should be setting a baptismal date pretty soon. So that's exciting. Well let ya know about the others as they progress a little more. 

That's about all I got for this week! This is the last week of the transfer. It does not feel like it at all! Time just won't stop! 

Thanks for everything y'all do! I love you so much!

Con Amor, 

Elder Joyner

April? No, quit playin... (April 3, 2017)

Hey fam! We just got back from the beach, which is why I'm writing so late. We went to rodeo beach at the very south end of our mission. You have to drive by the Golden Gate Bridge to go there. It was fun!!! 

Ok ill make this one short, since i don't have as much time as usual. This was kind of a weird week. We went on two exchanges and I went out of the area both times. I went with Elder Julander, who we live with, on Tuesday and stayed in Petaluma English. Wednesday, I went with Elder Sorenson in Novato. I've served around him for something like 5-6 transfers of my mission, so it was good to catch up and talk about our missions and such. He goes home next transfer so we talked about just past experiences and such. Good times! Exchanges are just the funnest, ya?

I absolutely loved General Conference!! Like wow. I have so many thoughts, that i wish i could share them all with you. I was particularly impressed with Elder Clayton's talk on the plan of salvation. That hit me good. Everything is centered Jesus Christ and the plan they created for us. How amazing, no? I really felt I needed to increase my studies on that. I'm so grateful that we have modern day prophets and apostles that speak to us and give us light. What a blessing!!!

The baptism, yesterday, went super well! Carlos said he felt ready to make changes in his life and this was going to help him. We love him and are excited for him!!

This week we are busy busy busy! We have another exchange and just lots going on. Then next week is the last week of the transfer. Time just won't stop. At the end of conference yesterday, I got kind of emotional because i realized that it was my last time watching conference as missionary. Ouch. The feels came a rollin' in. I only have four short months left. AHHHHH. Now, more than ever, i have to keep giving it everything I've got!!! Thanks for all the love and support! I do appreciate it fully. Have a splendid week, y'all.

Con Amor, 

Elder Joyner