Elder Mitchell Brett Bagley: Pumpkin oreos, guavas, exachanges and Spanish Sign Language

HEY MOM!

Gosh this week was amazing. I am glad Nana enjoyed her party! She deserves the best.

So this email is going to be nuts and I'm just gonna pound through it all. It could be a little intense but there was just too much going on.

First off 3 weeks ago we prayed as a companionship and decided on 4 baptisms and 170 new investigators for our zone goals. We were pushing ourselves but really felt that's what we needed to set. So far we have reached the baptism goal and have 4 more scheduled still. As well as a really hopeful push on new investigators. As a zone we found 63 this week...that's crazy nuts. Starting 5 weeks ago it was 11, 25, 28, 39, 63. We are showing such great growth and I am humbled to be where I am, when I am. My zone is great. We are working and the Lord is blessing.

Quick side note: I was afraid I would miss out on one of the 13 days of Halloween things SOOO I opened it all at once. I only made it to the dia de los murteo stress ball before I had to rip through it all. Those Pumpkin Oreos are AMAZING. Gosh, I love them so much. Everyone needs to have one of those in their life. If you are feeling charitable and still have some unused missionary love you need to send Stephanie a pack of those. She would love them.

Okay back to my week: On an exchange with Elder Reynolds we got really creative with contacting and decided to go around and knock houses that had Guava Trees (they are a really tasty fruit, I don't know if I am spelling that right.). So as a break we spent 30 minutes going around on bike hunting out houses we could mooch from. Latinos love giving us food. Honestly on a weekend we can leave the house and never come back to eat and somehow not be hungry. BBQ bouncing is a blessing here in Pacoima. Anyways that was a fun way to spice up to my life. Elder Reynolds really looks up to me and I am glad we could have a good time together.

On that same exchange I was part of the coolest miracle. So for my time here in Pacoima I have ran into this skinny, homeless man that speaks only ASL (more like Spanish SL but hey). Anyways I am always concerned for him and try and wave and greet him whenever I can. He is a great man. It had been about 2 months since I had seen him last and then on this exchange I saw him but he was in dress clothes, showered, shaved and looking great! We talk (kind of) and I understood that he had fallen asleep and missed his bus. He was asking from some directions. I thought it was cool to see him again but didn't think much about it. Later, that night as we were biking home for the day we ran into him again, not but 30 seconds away from home. I had the BIGGEST feeling to talk to him again. I prayed to God to help me and then tried my hardest to listen and understand what he was signing. Long story short we had a 45 minute conversation. He signed and I understood him, and I signed back and he understood. I learned so much about him and we became great friends! Elder Reynolds did not understand anything. I had called the ASL sisters we have here at the beginning of our chat and by the end they called back. I told them all about my friend and they were so shocked about what I was saying. They asked his name and were so excited to hear it was their recent convert from about 2 months ago. He had an appointment with them but he missed his bus to get there. The gift of tongues is real, oh so real. I never felt so grateful to understand and love someone like I loved him.

We had a unforgettable sacrament meeting. The sacrament itself was so great. The deacons did a great job. We were fasting because next week is stake conference. Long story short the noise and disruption during the sacrament can be relentless. So much distractions and tension. Pretty bad right? Then during each and every testimony a spirit of endurance and love was felt. You could just feel the burden of the ward being shared on each others backs. Everyone struggles and we are so far from perfect, but to just sit there, wait on the Lord's supper and bare with each other the desire to be better. That is priceless. That is the atonement at work in the souls of burdened, tested and novice members of the church.

We also finally got an Elders Quorum President with a first counselor! This whole time we haven't had one. We are so excited about it. It will bring so much more joy and strength to the priesthood holders in the ward. You can't build up a ward when you are missing the operation of vital keys.

So one more thing before I leave. This one pulls on the heart strings a little. The investigator family we are teaching are doing great. We had a great lesson with them and the Mom shared something with me that I want to share with you. She was talking with a friend about missionaries. A little about what we do and how she was feeling taking the lessons. The friend was so astounded to learn that we dedicate our lives for two years to this work. She thought it a trial to give everything up. She was even touched by the sacrifices of missionary mothers. My investigator didn't understand how hard it was for her friend to understand us. She was getting a little frustrate with how emotionally invested her friend was until her friend said to her "Would you give your son up to pay for the sins of the world? Is that something you could do? Have him leave your care and pay the sins for others." My investigator was listening now, and she answered with "No, I probably couldn't do that." Her friend said "Well the mothers of these boys can. That's what they are doing. It the same thing." At this point in the story I couldn't help but weep for a moment. This work is true. It's his work and we are doing it in his way. At times we receive the same results He did, in both senses. We find hard ears, and blind hearts. But we also find humble children and prepared families. I love this work. Thanks for letting me serve Mom. I love you.

Elder Bagley