Rain, rain and more rain

I am no longer a teenager.  What the heck?!

HI MOM :)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and thoughts. They mean so much. I haven't checked the mail or anything but I am sure everything will get here fine. I have the best family. Thanks for all the love from everyone.

Thanks for all the news about Kevin, Dad and the birthday party. I hope Kevin is safe. That is some scary stuff. Nothing would be more frustrating than having political unrest when you're trying to work. Tell Dad I am proud of him he's doing amazing things. I am sure Rogan is going to be pretty sad though…tough life being a dog. Eat a lot of cake and pie for me :)

  
Things here are pretty wet!  I wish I could say that’s because of the baptismal font but sadly that’s not the case this week.  It has rained and rained and rained. Ha-ha it was quite the adventure.  Cali basically had a heart attack.  No one knows how to drive in the rain or anything.  It was great…flash flood warnings and everything.  We contacted for about 12 hours total between the two days and found a very small number of prepared people.  But it was so fun ha-ha, cold and wet but fun.  Hopefully our future wives appreciate the effort.  I guess when you knock in the rain your wife gets more attractive..here’s hoping! 

Also random side note; a companionship in my district contacted Mila Kuniz at Target.  She's not prepared for the restored gospel but it was a good shot.

We had some small changes in our District with a new elder and a new sister. They seem awesome, Elder Buck and Hermana Evans.

So long story short for the week it’s been a lot of contacting.  213 people talked to and 1 new investigator.  Woof. It’s hard to see that but nothing is more peaceful than coming home and knowing I tried my hardest to share the gospel with everyone. The blessing from this work and effort will come, they always come.

Our mission is seeking permission from the first presidency to use iPads. So that might be a future tool we can use to find and teach.  I am excited.  It really will change the way we work. But who knows if we will even be approved.

Headaches are doing well. I ran out of medicine and haven't had any really strong headaches. Plus I am eating peanut butter again, its heaven. So that’s great news.

Sorry it's kind of a short one this week. We have a few appointments we are trying to get to. We are working hard. Oh so hard. And I love it. I come home and just collapse every night. Praying and praying that God will trust us with someone who truly is seeking the truth that comes from the restored gospel. Missionary work at its core is love and I am loving missionary work.

Thanks for everything Mom. This birthday will be the best one yet.

Elder Bagley

An average home in the "hood"...boarded up windows included

This ones for you Mom

Study time...Elder Spears prefers to do his studying on the floor.

The blessings always come!

Tender mercies and placing seeds

No this is not me.. it's Elder Bautista cooking chicken for the first time on an exchange.

Good day Mum!

Working on my Scottish accent...I just got done emailing Elder Thackeray. I guess he's rubbing off on me!

Things here are going great! Sounds like the same situation for you as well! Good news with Dad, bad news with Lu. We had to get our tired changed too! We got a nail in it and it took them 3 hours to get us back and going! Bunch of armatures...It was hard not just hopping back there and doing it myself. But we left them with a good patient impression of what Missionaries are!

That’s so great to hear about Zak.  I brag about him all the time out here. I can't wait to hear what he will do in Korea. How nuts :)

Two sisters from our ward have received IPods to help with the work.  I asked Mitch if he was going to get one too...That is nuts to hear about the IPods!? I don't know if our mission has any plans on receiving them but that would be cool. Our neighboring missions here have a few IPods so maybe with time we will. That would really change the way we do missionary work but the Lord has always been at the front, using technology to advancing in spreading his message.

So best news of the week...WE FOUND OUR KEYS. I almost cried. Legit starting watering up. It was such a simple tender mercy. The Lord answers prayers. So long story short I was able to open the mailbox and get your Valentines as well as the goodies Nana sent. Both were greatly appreciated. The "Yoda best" especially. Thanks so much. It made spending valentines with a dude a little bit better ;)

Tender mercies!

Birthday wise I have a few weird requests. Could you send some homemade raspberry jam? It's Elder Spears favorite and I think he would get a kick out of trying ours. Also a CD case holder thing so we could organize our music a bit better would be nice. Oh and some elders have a CD called "the Masters Touch" By David Glen Hatch. I think that’s his name. Anyway if you can't find it no biggy. And anything else you feel I need. Honestly going to the temple is the best gift I can think of.

Things here have been a little rough. I'll be honest. The headaches are fine but everything else is a little trying. We talked with 146 people this week, found 21 potentials and picked up 0 new investigators. It was hard. We are placing seeds and working hard to find that one person who truly is searching for the truth. It just seems they are hiding really, really well ;) We have dropped a lot of the investigators we did find this last month and the one investigator who was progressing pretty well has turned to the dark side and decided he would rather find fault in our doctrine then truth. Its heart breaking but it frees up our time to find those who will receive us.

Although in my little plot of the vineyard things might be a bit bleak we had 2 baptisms for our ward yesterday and the work is still in motion. Scotland, Italy, Japan, no importa! Este es el obra del Senor! No matter what I do in my part of the vineyard the Lord is still one step ahead in preparing the way. He is the head of this work.

Love you Mom! Thanks for all you do. Your testimony is inspiring. Tell the fam I say hi or hola, whatever fits your fancy. Until next week :)

Elder Bagley

Weekly planning is rough. I couldn't do it with dress pants on so I went half and half.

This is the talent show with the ward! We sang "The Prophets Pray" to the tune of "If You Could Hie to Kolob." Rocked it!  We sounded awesome.

Supporting Dad's new job already!

It's a huge melting pot...

Hello Mother :)

First off, thank you for always being so supportive, it means the world to not only have members and missionaries supporting me but my family as well. Some missionaries go 2 years without a letter from home. I feel so lucky.

 

Such amazing news about Dad! He has been working so hard and I am happy to finally see that the Lord has decided that this is the time we need these blessings. Be sure to give him my congratulation and admiration!  (Brett has a new job with Sun Products, he starts the 3rd!)

My headaches have really been cutting back lately. I am still taking the medicine and not eating certain foods and I have been seeing a big improvement! Hopefully I won't have to take the drugs forever but as of right now things are good. I can really focus on my work now. Although I do miss eating peanut butter...and chocolate...and cheese...BUT it’s worth it :)

Confirming Juventino was awesome! Blessings in Spanish are giving in "Tu form" which is an informal form that we don't use as missionaries except in blessing and prays. I was excited to get to practice it and everything went well. I don't remember much about what I said, it was all in the moment but I felt it was what God wanted him to hear. So I was happy to say it.

So we lost our keys this week...we were making references to the Apostasy and how just like when we lose our keys we are sad and how when god takes away priesthood keys we are sad also. We had a good chuckle. But the key to our mailbox was also on the key-chain so unfortunately I haven’t gotten anything about Valentine’s day. We will figure it out though.

Happy anniversary! Sorry I didn't remember. Dates out here mean nothing unless it’s a baptismal fecha or transfers. By the way are one is on the 25th. I am hoping I get to stay here because things have been going well but that’s usually a good sign I’m going to be transferred ha-ha.

I have met someone from Syria, Armenia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran…all in one day. Not to mention all the Latinos from different countries. It’s a huge melting pot down here. Every day is something/someone different.

Chickens run the streets...its a different country over here.

The air pollution has been really horrible. Elder Spears' asthma has been acting up and honestly outside just looks terrible. It’s a bit of a downer but LA is a huge city.

We have been having a great success finding people to teach but finding people who want to come to church or set a fecha are a different story. It has been a bit frustrating but I know that the Lord will see our efforts and teach us along the way.

Cool bird. We gave him a pass along card...

We got kicked out of these apartments. People called the cops...

I love you mom! Things here keep pressing on no matter what I do. I am just lucky the Lord has let me tag along. Don't forget how divinely important you are to his plan for our family and for the lives of those who know you. Te amo.

Elder Bagley

My district. It's a little blurry. Elder Alvarado is a bad photographer.

It's a great week to be a missionary

We received a little rain--such a blessing

Hi Mom :)

It's a great week to be a missionary!

I must have forgotten to mention Zone Conference last week. We were taught by the Assistants to the President, the President and Sister Hall.  They were all amazing and I received so much revelation for our work here. They really hit home on teaching simply and that is just what we needed to hear this week.  Especially with all the investigators we have.  We won't have time to beat around the bush.

So to get it out of the way, we went to the doctors for my headaches. They were just getting to hard to handle with diet and ibuprofen. I have stopped eating a lot of food like peanut butter, cheese, avocado, chocolate, MSG, and a bunch of other chemicals to see if that will help.  I guess there are foods that can sometimes be a trigger to headaches.  In a month I will start adding them back into my diet to see if they are triggers for me a not.  It’s a bummer because I eat pb&j’s all the time and avocado is so good ha-ha but I am excited to see if it will help.

The doctor was not a good experience.  I have never felt so judged in my life.  Especially from someone who is supposes to me know my background. He gave me little to no comfort on why I felt the way I did and honestly acted like I was wasting his time.  I am use to people treating me like that when I proselyte but I guess I expected different from a doctor.  All said and done though he gave me a prescription and we are hopeful to see the results :) Sister Flinders is a great nurse and seriously an angel.  She will make sure I am ok.

So enough of that…things this week were awesome!  One of the many highlights was our exchange with the assistants!  It was awesome!  I was with Elder Harris and Elder Spears went with Elder Garland.  I got to stay at their pad and work in Santa Clarita. It is so white down there. SO white ha-ha I felt weird.  I learned a lot on how to be a better missionary and Elder Harris taught me so much.  I felt super blessed because that doesn't happen very often that they go on exchanges outside of leader companionships. Plus their apartment is HUGE!  Two bathrooms and a racquetball court in the gym.  It was like a vacation.  Santa Clarita is a pretty nice city.  A change of scenery was a tender mercy.

Elder Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Clarita--Quite a view

Juventino was baptized yesterday by our ward mission leader Hermano Lico.  Gosh it was perfect. I was so happy for him.  His family was there and the ward came to support.  He even asked that I confirm him next week.  Oh it was a great day.  And even better we got our new investigator to come with us and watch the baptism.  Seeing a baptism is powerful; so, so powerful for new investigators.  We are excited!

So happy to hear from you Mom! Things are going well, I am safe and doing well.  My resolve to be the best missionary I can has never been stronger :) Thanks for helping me grow up to be the missionary I am today.  Love you!

Elder Bagley

Mormonism...A hit!

Enjoying the chopstick Mom sent for Chinese New Years--Italian style!

Gung Hay Fat Choy with a Mexican twist!

Elder Spears conquers Goliath