Monday, December 19, 2016

The Rain



Merry Christmas!

I have really been feeling the Christmas spirit this week! First off,
we had our mission Christmas party. It was a blast! I got to see a lot
of my mission buddies that I haven't seen for a little while. We also
had our branch Christmas party the next day. I have come to realize
that the Filipino and Hispanic cultures have a lot in common when it
comes to parties. They are both loud unorganized chaos. I love it. Oh
and lots of food as well. Can't forget the food. I really felt at home
with the branch party. :)

Actively participating in the Light the World campaign has really
brought me closer to my Savior. By trying to replicate many things
that he did in his life, I have been able to feel of the saviors love.
It is something that I think everyone should feel around Christmas
time. If you have been following the advent calendar on Mormon.org, I
hope it is something that you have sought and felt as well. If not,
it's not too late to start! ;)

I love you all! Enjoy the time that you get to spend with family this
week! Have a merry Christmas! Be like Christ this Christmas!

Elder Navarro


Monday, December 5, 2016

Breathe

Light the world!

Our mission is going pretty hard on this years Christmas Campaign. If
you haven't noticed, I have been posting on Facebook everyday, which
is something that President Ballard has asked us to do. The goal is to
have as many people see our posts as possible, so feel fee to share,
like, and comment on my posts if you feel so inclined to do so. We
just want to do everything we can to help people see the light that we
possess.

We have also been doing a lot of planning and preparation for the
Christmas party that we are going to have in the branch. The party is
titled "The Taqueria de Santa". ;) It will be the most Mexican
Christmas I have ever had. Seriously, we will be having all you can
eat tacos and a special appearance from overly tan Santa Clause! It
will be great!

I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the holiday season!
Remember to follow the advent calendar on Mormon.org and post on
Facebook about it. Also, feel free to tag me in whatever you post.
I'll get you more likes if you're into that sort of thing ;) I hope
everyone has a great week!

Also, my address is 15292 SW Royalty Pkwy. #D16 Tigard, OR 97224 for
those that send Christmas cards! I would love to receive those! :)

Elder Navarro


Monday, November 28, 2016

Flight

Merry Christmas!

It is now Christmas season, but we had a great thanksgiving as well.
It was a wet one, but still great! We did service for a 5k race in the
morning and got soaking wet! I made the mistake of not wearing
anything waterproof, but it was still a blast! I have done a lot of
helping for 5ks and this one was the fanciest and most organized.

Then, we went on to have dinner with a member at 2. Then at 4, we had
dinner again. It was a ton of food! I'm pretty sure I'm still full
right now from all of the food we ate. It was a lot of fun. We played
board games for the rest of the night. It was nice to have a chill day
and relax a little bit! We are back to work now lighting the world! If
you haven't seen the new #LIGHTtheWORLD video, go watch it. Serve
somebody this week! Bye! :)

Elder Navarro


Monday, November 21, 2016

City Lights



Happy Thanksgiving!

Something that I am super grateful is the temple! This week we were
able to attend the temple. We have been having a pretty hard time
finding people to teach these past couple weeks, so it was the perfect
time to go to the temple. It's crazy to me just how much peace that
can be found in the temples. No matter how much stress or craziness
there is in our lives, the temple is a place we can go to forget the
world and focus on the good of the world.

I'm also grateful for nice people! This week we were at the crosswalk,
and we start talking to this 18 year old girl. She was nice and
actually wanted to go to church. Then, out of nowhere, her dad pulls
up and starts swearing and yelling at us. I couldn't help but just
smile the whole time thinking about how stupid this guy is.
Eventually, he just picked up his daughter and left, but it was a
funny experience. It makes me grateful for the people that are nice to
us even if they are not interested in our message.

I would also like to give thanks to all of you! I get a lot of support
from you all, and I wouldn't be able to any of this without your help
so thanks you! Enjoy all the food that you will consume! Don't forget
to thank Heavenly Father for everything he has given us because he has
given us a lot. I love you all! :)

Elder Navarro

Monday, November 7, 2016

No Good Deed

Hello!

The highlight of this week was definitely that extra hour of sleep we
got! Haha That doesn't happen too much on the mission. It was
seriously the best thing ever! The only downside is that it gets
darker a lot earlier which means people get mad when you knock on
their door at 6 o'clock saying "it's too late!" People say the
funniest things!

This week has been great though! We taught an English class at a
tienda! A legit Mexican store! Well, we were going to teach an English
class at a tienda, but the only problem was that no one showed up.
Haha We are going to keep trying though until people show up. There
should be some more people that come this week. We have invited
everyone in Tigard that even has a slightly dark skin tone. ;)

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week! Have I ever told you guys
that you are the coolest people in the world for reading my emails?
Well, you are! ;)  Haha I love you all! Bye!

Elder Navarro


Monday, October 31, 2016

Icarus

Happy Halloween!!!

I think if I wasn't Mormon, I would be Muslim! Haha this has been a
great week! Since we are doing this whole "no knock November" thing,
we have had to think of new ways to find people to teach! Earlier this
week, we decided to try to walk around the park and talk to people,
and let me tell you, that is not the easiest thing to do! After
talking to a few people, we ended up talking to this Muslim family.
They eventually invited us to join the barbecue that they were having
at the park! Of course we said yes, so we just sat down, ate some
lamb, and talked about our beliefs! It was seriously the coolest thing
ever! I learned sooo much about the Muslim religion. Super
interesting! They were easily some of the nicest people I have ever
met!

This experience really taught me that everyone really is a child of
God! It doesn't matter what you believe in, or where you are from, or
anything like that. We are all children of our Heavenly Father! We all
have millions of brothers and sisters on this earth. This week, I met
some of our brothers and sisters from Oman, and I KNOW that they are
my brothers and sisters! I love the mission. I may only be in Oregon,
but I am meeting people from around the world! Ahhh I love it! I love
you guys! Bye! Have a fantastic week.

Elder Potter for today! ;)




Monday, October 24, 2016

Overjoyed

Hola everyone!

Today is transfer day once again! Woohoo! Luckily, I will be staying
in Tigard, but I will be getting another new companion. I will be
getting Elder Cornwall. I already know him pretty well since I went on
exchanges with him a few months ago. I'm excited to work with him.
Maybe I will even be able to keep him around for more than one
transfer. Something I haven't been able to do since I was trained. ;)

Also, Elder Ballard came to our mission again last week, and as usual,
it was the coolest thing ever! I even got to sit in the front row! I
didn't even mean to, but we accidentally overestimated the time it
would take to get to the building the meeting was held at. Oh well! It
was a blessing in the end! It just strengthens my testimony that the
apostles really are called of God. He talked about things that our
mission really needed to hear. It really inspired me to be the best
missionary I can be while I am here!

Anyways, I hope all is well with each of you. I love all of you!
Smile. Have a great week! :)

Elder Navarro

Monday, October 10, 2016

Nothing

Ayeeee


This week has been fantastic! First of all, our car broke down, and our car was in the shop for the majority of the week. I don't think I have ever walked so much in my life! It was crazy how much we walked! On the bright side, we got to talk to a lot of people! Luckily, we have our car back now. We are so spoiled haha.


Earlier this week, I got a call from Elder Acosta and Elder Dunn saying that Carlos Navarro was getting baptized! I don't know if I've talked about him before, but he is someone that Acosta and I found! Also, he asked me to speak at his baptism, so on Saturday I went back up to Beaverton to go to his baptism! It was an amazing experience! I don't mean to brag or anything, but I made the Navarro family(not my Navarro family) cry in my talk! Haha Carlos has changed a lot in the past few weeks! He went from a gangster straight outta Compton to a faithful member of the church! Ha he is a living a testimony of Christ's atonement! He really did atone for the sins of the world! :)


I love you all! Adios!


Elder Navarro


Monday, October 3, 2016

The Judge

What's up?!

This week was a week full of exchanges! I can't stand my companion, so we just set up a bunch of exchanges! Just kidding that's not true. It was just a coincidence! They were two really fun exchanges though! The first one, I went with one of our zone leaders, Elder Dotson. He is a really cool guy! We had some fun tracting and eating at Qdoba. For the second exchange, I was in a trio with two of my old companions, Elder White and Elder Casanova! That was a crazy exchange haha. It was a lot of fun being with those two for a day!

Obviously, General Conference was this week as well, and it was amazing as usual! I think I have gained a real appreciation for a General Conference on my mission! It's really nice to be able to just sit down and listen to the prophet and apostles for a little while! It's not a lot that we get to do something like that! Something that I learned is that I need to repent haha. As does everybody else in the world! Repentance was one of the big themes of a General Conference! What a great blessing it is to be able to receive forgiveness whenever we need. We can literally repent everyday! And we should because we are all a little dumb sometimes! ;)

Anyways, I love you all! Apply what you learned at General Conference! Repent! Smile! Look at the joy in the world! Have a great week! :)

Elder Navarro


Monday, September 26, 2016

Sept 26

Everything is going well here. The area progression is slow, but it is definitely progressing. We just do a lot of finding. We are working hard to not just tract all the time because it is not very effective. Yes, I still have a car thank goodness. As long as I stay Spanish, I will always have a car. All the Spanish areas have cars because they are so big. Elder Johnson is from California.

Also this week, we helped redo someone's roofing. It was actually really fun. We tore off all the shingles and then put new ones on. Shingles are really heavy by the way and carrying a bunch of them up a ladder is exhausting. Not to be racist or anything, but I felt like a true Mexican working up there haha. 

As of now, we don't have any plans for where we will be watching conference, but we are going to be trying to set that all up this week! Hopefully we can watch it with some of our investigators. That would be really cool!  I am super excited for general conference. I can't believe it's happening again already. It's weird to think that this will be the third one on my mission. That's insane. 

Once again, today we don't have any plans yet. We are looking for something to do right now. Hopefully we find something to do. But yeah I'm just livin the life haha. Love you guys! Talk to you later.

Elder Navarro

Monday, September 19, 2016

Sloom

¿Que tal amigos?

Week one in the Tigard has been pretty sweet! It is really weird being in a branch right after being in a ward. I forgot how much everyone relies on the missionaries to do things. There was a baptism for someone's kids the other day and guess whose responsibility it was to fill the font. The missionaries. Whose responsibility is it to make the programs? The missionaries. And best of all, whose responsibility is it to clean up after the part? The missionaries! Wooo! I'm not trying to complain or anything. I actually love it! It's just a lot different coming from a ward. Haha

Also, there are quite a few members that already knew me before I got here. I get challenged to a game of one on one almost every day by some random member that heard from other missionaries that I am decent at basketball. I got so much trash talk yesterday at church from random kids saying they are better than me. Pretty soon we might be having a branch basketball tournament so I can shut everybody up! Just kidding! We will probably be playing a lot though. 

Anyways, have a fantastic week! Don't forget to have fun! Smile! And don't do anything too stupid! Bye! Love you guys!

Elder Navarro


Monday, September 5, 2016

Preacher

Hola!

We have had a pretty uneventful week this week! Probably the most
exciting thing that happened this week was we got  free pizza from
Papa Johns. Not really, but not a lot happened this week! Our
investigator, Natalia, just got back from being out of town, but we
weren't able to go teach her. We had a lesson set up with her the
other day, but when we got there, she was sleeping! To make it worse,
she texted us yesterday saying that she was having some serious
problems! We are really hoping she is doing okay! We are going to try
to visit her tonight and see what's going on. Hopefully, we can help
her out with whatever it is.

Here is a little funny story! Some lady tried to set me up with her
daughter earlier this week. We were out knocking on doors as usual
when we came across this lady. We started talking to her about the
gospel and she was quick to tell us she was not interested. With most
people, this is where our conversations end, but with her it
continued. We started talking about our missions and what we do! She
expressed to us how great it was that we were doing that. Then, she
turned to me and asked how old I was. I told her I was 19. To which
she said, "That's perfect! My daughter is 19 as well! She is having a
ballet thing this Saturday if you would like to go with her! I think
you would really like her!" So on Saturday, I ended up going to a
ballet recital... Nah I'm just kidding, I told the lady that we
couldn't, but it was a really funny experience! :)

Everyone have a great week! Remember that you are awesome! Les amo!

Adiós! :)

Elder Navarro



Monday, August 15, 2016

#51 Arm

What's up.

We are doing well this week. Yes my arms are doing a lot better. I can
move them again. It only lasted for like three days. It just sucked
really bad for those three days. I don't know exactly what happened
but the nurse said I probably just pulled something and it would go
away in a couple days which it did. Elder Acosta failed his test
again. Haha I'm the worst teacher. He barely even made it out of the
dmv parking lot before they told him to come back. Haha

We didn't do a whole lot this week actually. We just did a lot of
tracting. We did run into Roxana and her kids. I don't know if you
remember Lupe and Jerry. Haha I took a video so I will send that. They
are doing really good though. They have been going to church which is
awesome. It was really nice to talk to them again.

We also did this service this week for some lady in the middle of
nowhere. She wanted help cleaning out this shed in her backyard. We do
stuff like this all the time but this time was a lot different because
this lady was just rude. She appreciated what we were doing but didn't
appreciate the way we were doing it. She would get mad because we
didn't do exactly what she said the first time. I eventually got sick
of it and told her that we love and want to help you but it is hard
when you are rude about it. Haha that shut her up. Then, she suddenly
became so grateful for what we were doing. It was pretty funny.

Nothing too crazy happened this week. Natalia didn't come to church
yesterday. She slept in. Ugh so annoying. Just wake up lady. She
really wants to learn but she just needs to start doing a little bit
more. We are going to have some real talk with her this week. Today we
are going to play volleyball with the zone... outside. It's way too
hot for that but whatever. Haha anyways, Love you and talk to you
later! :)

Elder Navarro

Monday, August 8, 2016

#50 Fear

Good Morning!

It's August 8th and I'm wearing a jacket. It doesn't get much better
than this! This week has been a good but a struggle. First of all, we
had a really good lesson with Natalia on Saturday, and she told us she
was going to come to church. Then come Sunday, she wasn't there. What
the heck? This is the second week in a row she has bailed on us. We
have a lesson with her on Tuesday, so hopefully we can figure out what
is going on. It has been a slow process, but I do believe that she
will get baptized in the future. It's just going to take some time.

I'm thinking about becoming a certified driving instructor when I go
home. Not really, but I should because I'm getting a lot of practice.
Elder Acosta takes his driving test this Thursday. He really wants to
practice beforehand, so we go to the church almost every night to
practice. Let's just say, one of our tires is a little low on air
because of some intense parallel parking practice. It has been a fun
experience.

I have learned a lot about happiness on my mission. It is something
that everyone has in common. Everyone is on their own search for
happiness, and we all have different things that make us happy. There
is only one thing that makes everyone happy. That thing is the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Every person on this earth regardless of differences
can feel of that indescribable joy that comes from the power of the
Atonement. As you feel of that joy throughout this week, share it with
someone else, so we can help others arrive at the happiness that they
seek. I love you! :)

Elder Navarro


Monday, August 1, 2016

#49 Feather

Hola! ¿Cómo están?

Time is such an interesting thing here in the mission. My whole
perception of time has completely changed since I have been here in
Oregon. The days can be long at times, but the weeks, months, and
transfers go so fast it is incredible. It's crazy to me to think that
another transfer is ending. I am staying here in the Beaverton West
area, but I am getting a new companion who is not really new to me...
Elder Acosta! After about three months apart, we though it was time to
get back together. Haha nah but seriously it was like two transfers
ago I was with that guy haha.

This week has been amazing though! We got to teach Natalia a couple of
times this week! More specifically, we taught her the importance of
recognizing the spirit. She has expressed to us that she feels the
spirit when we are at her house, but when we leave it leaves with us.
We told her some of the ways that she can feel it on her own and how
when she is baptized she will be able to feel it all the time! It was
a really good lesson and she is making great progress towards baptism.

Fun Fact: Not a single new Spanish elder has entered the Oregon
Portland Mission since I got here. I am still the youngest Spanish
missionary in the mission and I will be hitting my year mark this
month! We were expecting some new ones to come in this transfer, but I
guess not. Crazy stuff! I hope you all have a great week! I love every
one of you!

Elder Navarro

Monday, July 25, 2016

#48

Hey what's up?

We are doing good! Transfers are a week from today so we will see what
happens. We will get transfer calls on Saturday this week. Elder
Cepeda will probably be leaving since he has been in this area for a
while. Maybe my next companion I will be with for more than one
transfer. I can't seem to keep my companions for very long haha.

This week has been pretty awesome actually. We had a mini zone
conference which was awesome. President Ballard taught us some really
cool stuff about using the scriptures in lessons. It's crazy how
powerful they can be. Also, we went to a stake fair on Saturdaymorning which was so fun haha. We helped serve food and it was so fun
to just hang out for a little while. They also had some old retired
people band perform. It was hilarious.

Other than that, everything is pretty normal. We are going to Molalla
today to hang out with some members. Not the Pedersons though
unfortunately. Nobody wants to go over there but me. Haha. I'll get
back over there eventually haha. It should be fun either way! Molalla
is the greatest haha. I'm glad to hear everything's getting fixed.
Hope you guys have a great week! Love you! Adios!

Elder Navarro

Monday, July 18, 2016

#47 Jungle

Hola!

How are you all doing? Everything here in Beaverton is going
fantastic. We are seeing some real success right now. Our
investigator, Natalia, has come to church the past two weeks. Also, we
had a lesson with her at the Temple Visitor's Center on Saturday which
was really awesome! She told us that she really felt the spirit while
she was there.

Also, thanks to all the Pokemon hunting that is going on right now, we
are able to talk to a lot more people on the streets. We even had some
random people at the church looking for Pokemon. Haha. Anyways, I
don't have a lot of time, but I hope everyone does something awesome
this week! Les amo! Hasta luego!

Elder Navarro

Monday, July 11, 2016

#46 July

Ay yo!

We are doing really well this week! I guess I'll start with the Fourth of July. We got to go to a fireworks show that night which was really fun! Elder Cepeda and I were just walking around and this lady comes up to us and asks if we had someone to watch the show with and she invited us to sit with her and her nonmember friend. It was really awesome. Although, she told us not to bring up religion with her friend haha because she has already met with missionaries, it was nice to just kinda chill for a night. And staying out late was pretty awesome as well.

We also had a really good lesson with Natalia this week and she came to church yesterday! Woohoo! It was really awesome. We also went to a birthday party for one of the kids in the ward. It was a lot of fun! The Hispanics really do love their piñatas haha. Other than that, nothing too eventful happened this week. Honestly, it was a pretty boring week. Haha Sounds like it was quite the week at home! That sucks that everything is falling apart! That concert looked pretty cool even though I'm not a fan of Nashville tribute. 

I haven't heard anything about protests in Portland. It doesn't surprise me though. Portland truly is a weird place. I love it but everyone is insane. Glad to hear about Ty. Interesting that him mission president said that. Whatever though. I'm sure he'll be fine! Anyways, I think we are going to some nickel arcade today so that should be fun! Have a good week! Love ya! Adios!!

Elder Navarro

Monday, July 4, 2016

#45 Great Unfinished Symphony

Happy 4th!!!!

I hope you are all enjoying the day today! I know we are having a
blast here! This week has been a pretty awesome week! First of all, we
had the privilege of attending the temple earlier this week. It is
definitely a blessing to be serving in an area where a temple is so
close.

Also, we had some really awesome lessons with Natalia. She is
progressing very well. She has such a desire to learn and grow closer
to Jesus Christ. It really is an amazing thing to see. She is having
some difficulties with the word of wisdom, but we are working hard to
help her work through it!

Anyways, something that I have come to learn this week is that if we
have the faith necessary, we can do anything! Anything is possible if
we trust in our Heavenly Father and His Son, and all we have to do is
believe. I love being a missionary. I love helping people. Enjoy the
4th of July! What a privilege it is to be in such an amazing country!
It's crazy to think how much others before us have suffered in order
for us to be exactly where we are right now. We are so lucky to be
alive right now! I love you! Have a great week! :)

Elder Navarro


Monday, June 27, 2016

#44 Round and Round

Hola!

How is everyone doing this week? I know I haven't written in a while.
P-days can get a little crazy and sometimes I run out of time to write
a group email. Anyways, a lot has happened in the last couple weeks.
Unfortunately, I got transferred out of the Oregon City/Molalla area.
I was super sad to leave especially because I wasn't really expecting
to be transferred. I will really miss a lot of the people that I met
there, but I am now in the Nike are which covers a little bit of
Beaverton and Hillsboro.

For the first few days we didn't have a car because it was in the
shop, so we had to walk everywhere. Also, our area is massive
especially on foot and let me just say after this week, I am done
walking for a while! Haha no but we were able to do some really great
things this week.

We were able to set a baptismal date with a super awesome investigator
that we have! Her name is Natalia and she is the sweetest lady ever.
She has been reading the Book of Mormon and taking notes on what she
reads. She is super amazing! Hopefully we will continue to help her
progress towards baptism.

Other than that, I hope you all are doing fantastic! Enjoy your week
this week. I love you all! Bye!


Elder Navarro





Monday, June 20, 2016

#43 Happy Fathers Day




Happy Fathers Day Daddio!

Hope Mom was your servant for the day! Haha just kidding. To be honest though, Yesterday was one of the saddest days of my life. I'm sure you can guess why. Im getting transferred :( and not only am I getting transferred but the area is getting shut down and the branch is getting shut down as well. They are going to tell all the members to go to their respective English wards. :(. Literally the worst! We also didn't get transfer news because of a meeting we had on Saturday which I will get to later but I am going to the Nike area with Elder Cepeda. I'm super excited to be with him but I am even more bummed to be leaving this area. 

I had my last dinner with the Pedersons last night at least for a little while. I am going to miss them SOOO much. Seriously I think they are my second favorite family next to our own. It was super sad. Oh well I guess. It has been great getting to know them. 

Anyways, I will make this email somewhat happy. We had a mission tour with Elder Nielson who is the head of the mission department for the church. It was super interesting to hear about a lot of the logistics of missions and missionaries. He gave some really good training for us. He talked a lot about success and how it should be measured as missionaries. It was super awesome!

Anyways, I'm glad everyone is getting ready to leave on their missions. Congrats on the new job! Hope you have another great week! Love you! Bye!

Elder Navarro

Monday, June 13, 2016

#42 Missionaries

Hey Parents!

What's up? We haven't really been able to do a whole lot. We have had to do a whole lot of logistical stuff this week! We had Elder Muglestons departing temple trip this week so we had to go all the way to Portland so that took about our whole day. It was a really fun day though. I'm not allowed to go through the Temple with them but I went on a split with some other elders which was super fun. We pretty much just chilled in Portland all day. We did go visit Elder White in my old apartment which was awesome. He is doing really well!

Other than that, not a whole lot has happened. Our Baptismal Dates got really sick so we couldn't visit them this week. We have mostly been working a lot with the less actives because we have a ton with such a big area. So a lot of our time is taken up by teaching them which I think is good, but some of the leadership in the mission thinks otherwise haha. Whatever. 

Sounds like a lot of stuff is going down at home. Super bummed to hear about Dallin. I hope all ends well with him. I need to email him. See how he's doing. But yeah, other than that. Not much is going on. We went to the Pedersons for dinner last night. Super fun as usual. They had to leave pretty early for seminary graduation so what did we do after they left? We cleaned their entire kitchen! It was pretty fun! Haha well, I hope you guys have a great week! I think we are going downtown Portland this week for Elder Muglestons last pday. It will be fun. Love you! Bye!

Elder Navarro

Monday, June 6, 2016

#41 June

We are doing pretty great! Everything is going really good! I guess
I'll start at the beginning. Last week for P Day we played dunk ball
at the Pedersons and just hung out with them all day pretty much. It
was super fun as usual. And then we ate dinner with them which was
good as well. I'm working on getting pictures but Sister Pederson has
then and I haven't really bothered to get them.

Anyways, the rest of the week we had a couple really good lessons with
our baptismal date, Monica. We got her to really commit to church and
we found a ride for her. Then, on Saturday night she had to take her
son to the hospital. Ugh!! It's such a pain. Something always has to
come up. I also went on exchange again this week. I went to Milwaukie
with Elder Dunn. It was a really fun exchange. It's always nice to go
to another area for a little while.

Other than that, not too much is going on. Today, we are going ice
skating. Hopefully, I can ice skate. Haha. I don't even remember the
last time I went ice skating. It will be fun though. I'm really
excited. But yeah, we are having fun here. Cool to hear you guys had a
good trip. Also, do you know Dallins email? He never told me what it
is before he left? Well, love you guys. Have an awesome week!

Elder Navarro

Monday, May 30, 2016

#40 Memorial Day Weekend

Hello,

We have been doing good this week. We are trying our best to keep
busy. We still do a lot of finding but it's fun. We were able to teach
one of our investigators with a baptismal date, Monica. It was a
really awesome lesson. She expressed to us multiple times that she
wants to get baptized but we have been having problems with her
keeping commitments. We told her in this lesson that unless she starts
doing stuff we can't keep coming over. She told us that she honestly
wants to get baptized so she again committed to come to church. Then,
she texted us yesterday morning to get the address from us and then
she never shows up. We are getting ready to go over there and roast
her this week. Haha

Other than that, we have been just doing the usual. Saturday was Elder
Muglestons birthday which was way fun. We pretty much just ate all
day. We went out to Mongolian Barbecue for
lunch and then for dinner some members of the branch got us Olive
Garden. I don't think I've ever been that full in my life. Then, on
Thursday it was Sister Pederson's birthday so we obviously had to get
her a card! It was an amazing card. It had these cats shooting lasers
out of their mouths. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Sounds like everyone's starting to get married. Crazy! Can't wait to
get Brandon's wedding invitation when he gets home. Las Vegas sounds
like it was fun. I would like to go on vacation. Just kidding. Maybe
in like a year.

 Elder Navarro

Monday, May 23, 2016

#39 Remote

What is up? Everything is going pretty good. We had a good week this
week.  We actually didn't have a lot of time to work this week. First
of all, Elder Mugleston had some dentist appointments on the opposite
side of the mission. That was fun even though it took up most of our
day. We also had zone meeting and interviews with president. It was
all awesome. It is always really good to talk to president. We talked
a lot about how we can help the branch and the area grow.

The new area is still a big learning process. We are trying to drive
less which takes a lot more careful planning but it's ok. Our
investigators are doing alright. The two investigators we have with a
baptismal date we think are avoiding us so that's not good. We should
be seeing them this week so that should be good. The weather has been
pretty crappy this week. It was wet and cold. Oh well I guess haha.

I still can't believe that school is about over. That is insane! It's
been a long time since I left haha. Haha that's awesome you guys are
going to Las Vegas. It reminded me that Sister Pederson went and saw
the Jacksons on Saturday and got to meet them! Haha it was funny she
was soooo excited! Haha.

Anyways, I don't really know what we are doing today but hopefully we
do something fun. This week should be a good week since we don't have
too many meetings and stuff. But yeah have a great week. Love you
guys. Bye!

Elder Navarro

Monday, May 9, 2016

#37 Not Today!

Well,

Another transfer is completed. Luckily, I'm staying in Molalla. The
only difference is that they are combining a couple of areas which
means I now cover Oregon City as well as Molalla. That also means I
had to pack yesterday which I did not anticipate having to do. I am
moving apartments not too far down the road. I am excited to have a
new area to work in while also being able to work in Molalla. It
should be really interesting.

Anyways, Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing moms out there! We had a
branch lunch yesterday for Mother's Day which was super fun! I have
had so much carne asada these last few days which is awesome because
it's the best food ever. Other than that, I'm excited to take on some
new challenges in a new area with a new companion. I hope you all
enjoy the week and do something cool this week!


Elder Navarro



Monday, April 18, 2016

#34 Kitchen Sink

Hey.

Molalla is definitely the place to be right now. There's just so much
going on all the time. Not really. There's basically nothing here. I'm
lucky there's even a McDonald's and a Subway. It's great though I love
it. I can't say it enough times, the people here are just the greatest
people ever. Everyone is just so nice and friendly. I love it.

We had zone conference this week which was way good! It's always nice
to hear from President Ballard. A big theme of the conference was
working with members and how we can more effectively use the members
in our missionary work. It is crazy how much more successful
missionaries are when the members are involved. If you ever have a
chance to work or go out with the missionaries I would strongly
encourage it. It is definitely something I took for granted when I was
back home. But the work is continually progressing here in Molalla. We
have a couple pretty solid investigators. I am looking forward to
working with them this week!

Other than that, I hope everyone has a better week this week than you
had last week. Bye!


Elder Navarro

Monday, April 11, 2016

#33 Conference

What's up? This week has been really awesome! Well, really just
Saturday was awesome because Elder Ballard came and spoke to us! It
was sooooooo cool! I think one of my favorite parts was to see him in
more of just a family setting. Seeing his interaction with President
Ballard and all of his grandkids was the coolest thing. His talk he
gave was also really good! He talked a lot about how important our
work is and how because of Lucifer, there are people dying spiritually
that need us. It was the best thing ever. We also got to shake his
hand which was crazy!!! Being that close to an apostle was so
exhilarating. Also, he made sure to tell our parents that they love
them. So the apostles love you apparently.

The new area is actually struggling. We have had a really hard time
finding people. All we do is tract. They just rearranged the Stake Presidency which
wasn't too interesting since I don't know anyone anyways.

The weather this past week has been really nice. It got up to 80 last
week. It was so hot! It kinda sucked actually. It has started to cool
off again though. Other than that, we went to President Martinez the
other day and guess what we played? The water game! It was sooo fun! I
got splashed a bunch! Then, Presidente Martinez poured the whole
pitcher of water and me and told me that I was now baptized into the
branch! It was hilarious! They are a super cool family. Anyways, I
love you guys and so does Elder Ballard! Talk to you later!







Monday, April 4, 2016

#32 Trees

Hello!

I am now in Molalla and what a fantastic place it is! It is a lot
different than Portland, but it is still great. It is kind of nice to
get out of the city. The work here is also pretty good. We have a few
pretty solid investigators, but what really stands out to me are the
members. All of the members are so nice and loving. I just love being
around them all. We get some awesome referrals from members because
they are so great. It seems like all the members here just have a fire
to share the gospel.

Our apartment flooded this week haha! We are on our way home one night
and our apartment manager calls us and says our apartment flooded.
Apparently, there was a problem with the apartment above ours, so
water flowed down into our apartment. They turned off our water for a
couple of days, so we had to shower in another apartment. At first it
was terrible but then It made me think of people that are serving in
other countries like the Philippines or something who can't even
shower like we do. Ha sucks for them. Just kidding! I'm sure it is a
wonderful experience. Ha

We have done a lot of tracting this week since our teaching pool isn't
very big. I have probably done more tracting this week along than I
have my whole mission. It is good though because I actually kind of
like it. I love being able to meet so many new people. Even if they
are not interested in the Gospel, they are still Gods children. I have
learned that is more important to just show people Christlike love
even if the people don't want to have anything to do with us. I do
have faith that as we show that love to people, their hearts will be
softened. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all! Bye!


Elder Navarro


Monday, March 28, 2016

$31 Flightless Birds

Hola,

What is up everyone?

I got transferred! I am no longer in the Portland area. I have been
transferred to Molalla which is actually a place that a lot of Elders
dream of going so I consider myself pretty lucky. Although, I am
really going to miss the branch and all the cool people that I met
there. One of which is Irlinda, our investigator. I'm going to miss
her so much. We visited her for the last time and it was so sad. I
didn't want to leave. I am now in Molalla though which so far it is
pretty good.

Other than that this has been a pretty awesome week! We did a lot of
service because of Easter and everything. We actually sang at the old
folks home that we do service at every week. It was a lot of fun. We
got to share a quick message with them so that was cool. Easter was
also pretty awesome. We had a really good dinner with an amazing
family and of course we had an Easter egg hunt. It was the best! I got
lots of candy. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week this week and
stay awesome!

Elder Navarro








Monday, March 14, 2016

#29

Hello!

We are doing good here in Portland. This week has been really wet.
There has been a lot of rain. It has been kind of annoying actually. I
can't say I'm too big of a fan of the rain. I even walked through a
big puddle that went up to my ankles. I got soaked. That was a
conscious decision though. I went to dinner that night barefoot
because my socks were soaking wet so that was funny. We did a fast to
find people this week. The whole mission participated in it so
hopefully that helps us all find new people this week. We did find one
new investigator this week that is pretty solid. He is a thirteen year
old kid named Joel. He is really interested in the church and has been
taught by missionaries in the past. He said he wanted to get baptized
and that he wanted to serve a mission but his parents are really
Catholic and don't want him getting baptized. We are hopefully going
to talk to his parents this week and hopefully he can get baptized.

Other than that, not a lot is going on. We are going to do a lot of
finding this week so hopefully we find a bunch of people haha. This
work is still rewarding whether we find people or no though. I have
been able to meet so many amazing people and I have only served in one
area so far. There is joy in everything that we do. Sometimes we just
have to look a little harder for it. I hope you are all doing well and
have a great week. I love you all!

Also if any of you would like to be added to my iCloud photo sharing
album just email me with you email address and I will add you!

Elder Navarro


I love rain



"service" project

Monday, March 7, 2016

#28

How are you this fine March Monday? Everything is going pretty good
this week except our world pretty much fell apart. We visited Irlinda
and went over the baptismal interview to see if she was ready to get
baptized and all was good. She answered all the questions perfectly.
Then we tried to set a date with her to get baptized. She then told us
that she is moving this week to southeast Portland which is across the
willammete river which is outside of the mission!!! It sucks so bad.
We called the zone leaders to see if we could still baptize her
because she wouldn't be too far but they told us we just have to refer
her to the Vancouver missionaries. Boo! They suck. Just kidding. It
just sucks because there is nothing we can do.

Other than that, we have just been knocking on doors as usual. It's
been a lot of fun. We have been getting a lot of dinners lately now
that we are eating with the west hills Ward. They always do a good job
feeding us. The second half of the month we eat with a different Ward
and we don't get fed too often with them. It's ok though. It just
sucks at the end of the month because we have no money because we have
to buy dinners but it's okay.

Thank goodness the other elders got there car back. I was getting sick
of driving them everywhere. How is state basketball going? Who is
going to win? I want to go to costa vida so bad but as far as I know,
there aren't any in the mission. :(

But yeah that's about all I have to say this week. Love ya and have a
great week!

Elder Navarro

Monday, February 29, 2016

#27

Hello what is up?

Everything is going good! We taught Irlinda this week with a member
there. It was like my second member present ever. It was so cool and
it went so well. We taught about baptism and invited her to be
baptized. The only problem is that she wants to talk to our branch
president before she gets baptized. She was at church yesterday but
got scared and didn't talk to her. Ugh now we have to wait till next
week.

The weather has been really crazy this past week. The rain just
doesn't stop. It's so crazy and annoying. Man your new calling does
seem like a lot to do. That is so weird that you have such a crazy
calling.

That video of dad was the best. Haha I showed it to a bunch of other
elders. Everyone was a busting out laughing haha. I also got to hold a
tarantula this week. I will send a video it was super scary but really
fun.

That is so weird that jay is home. I remember when he left and now he
is already home. Yeah I think there have been problems with the
servers so hopefully this will send or I am wasting my time. Today I
don't know what we are doing. We are doing laundry right now so I
don't know what we are doing later. Probably play basketball or
something. We didn't have any dinners this last week so I have like
two dollars left on my church car but we have dinners like all of this
week so I should be good. But love you I might send some more later


Elder Navarro

Monday, February 1, 2016

#23

Hey whats up? 

Portland is pretty cool as usual. Not a lot happened for us either. We were made a branch yesterday which was super cool! Everyone was so excited! We went to the new branch Presidents house after for lunch which was really good. It was fun to just kinda hang out with everyone. The rest of the week we just went knocking on doors and what not. 

That sounds like a fun calling. Scary though. That is so weird that spencer is leaving. I can't even imagine him leaving Haha. And yes j am getting Ty's emails. Sounds like he is doing good so far. 

Of course I heard about Dallins call. I am stoked for him. Australia should be fun! 

Haha that's funny that I your friend fed the sisters because I know exactly what sisters are over there haha. We might be going out to lunch with the today. Hopefully I will be able to talk to them haha. 

Anyways, I don't really have much else to say this week. Transfers are next week. Should be interesting to see what happens. I hope to stay here but I doubt I will. Anyways, love you and have a great week. 

Elder Navarro

Monday, January 25, 2016

#22

What is up everyone? How has everyone been? I just want to apologize
for not sending out a group email every week. P-Days get crazy and I
forget to write one. Anyways, this week has been pretty awesome. We
witnessed probably one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed. We
were at Fred Meyer getting some stuff and we walked out of the
building and there were these cops standing outside talking to this
guy. Then all of the sudden we start walking to our car and this guy
is sprinting away from these cops. The cops chased him and then they
went around this corner and we don't know what happened after that,
but it was awesome. This place was flooded with police within seconds.
It was crazy. Then, a bunch of people started asking us what was going
on as if we were cops or something. It was pretty funny.

Anyways, we taught Irlinda this week too. I don't know if I have
talked about her before, but she is the sweetest little Peruvian lady
ever! She has been taught for quite a while and wants to get baptized.
The only problem is that she is not married. Her and her "boyfriend"
have been together for like 30 years but marriage is not an option for
them. We have talked to President Ballard about her situation and he
said she could get baptized if they are not in a physical relationship
and we have his permission. We are currently working on getting his
permission for her to get baptized but he is in Peru so that makes it
a little difficult. She is the best though. We love teaching her.

Other than that, we are just living the missionary life. Knocking
doors. That pretty much sums up what we do on a daily basis. Haha it
is the best thing ever. We talk to some pretty interesting people that
way. The other day we met this guy that just got out of jail for
stabbing someone. He is also a drug dealer. Really cool guy though. He
seems to like us. I don't know if we will go back there though.
Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week and keep being awesome!

Elder Navarro
My best friend Lupe