Monday, April 24, 2017

Birthday Week

Hey!

Sorry for taking so long to write today! We have been playing a lot of
basketball! But anyways, i did get the Easter package. Funny story
about that actually. We went to go get the package at the office of
the apartment complex. The lady told me that she put the package in a
bag because it was leaking. All I was thinking was "what the heck"
Well, I opened it and it just smelled horrible, and everything was
really sticky. I eventually figured out that one of the baluts
exploded and went everywhere! Haha :)

Anyways, the training is going good. I know I've already said this,
but Elder Clarke is a really good missionary! I love being with him.
We have been doing some really good work. We have been contacting a
lot of people. We have actually found a lot of new investigators. We
set a baptismal date this week with a black lady named Grashonda. She
is super cool. I wish we could continue to teach her, but we had to
pass her off to the English elders.

It's really sad as well because one of the strongest recent converts
in the branch is moving this week. They have been a really big help to
us while we have been there. We are having a farewell lesson with them
this tuesday because they move in Wednesday.

I think as for picking me up or not, i think I would rather just fly
home, and get back as fast as possible because we both know that we
have to maximize my time at home haha. The Pederson's are going to
visit? What the heck? Haha that's crazy! They are actually coming up
to feed us on my birthday! I'm excited for that haha.

Anyways, all is well here in the 503! I hope you guys have a great
week! I love you! Can't wait to talk on Mother's Day! :)

Elder Navarro





Monday, April 17, 2017

Castle

Well Hello!

Welcome to what seems like an annual update of how my mission is
going! I'm terrible at writing these things consistently. Sometimes
P-Day gets a little too fun, and I forget to write these! In case you
were wondering, I am doing really well! I am actually training a new
missionary named Elder Clarke right now! He is from Queen Creek,
Arizona and just turned 19 years old! It has been a really good
experience so far! He is a really great missionary already, and has a
really strong desire to work.

After some trial and error, I think we are finally understanding how
to use technology to do missionary work. I have sent so many Facebook
messages this week. It is crazy the amount of people we can contact in
half an hour using Messenger versus traveling to everyone's houses.
We have actually taught a few lessons on Facebook to some people we
have never even met in person. When I left on my mission, I never
would have guessed I would be teaching people on Facebook. The Lord
really does prepare us a way to spread the gospel using all of our
resources!

We do continue to teach people in person, so don't worry. We still
knock on doors and what not! The only problem we are facing right now
is that most of the interested people that we are finding are
Americans which is great because we are spreading the gospel, but we
really do need to help the branch grow. The branch has a goal of 15
baptisms for the year, and we are currently at 0. I have faith though
that we can find families to baptize! I love being here working with
the people here in Portland!

Anyways, I love you all! I love being a missionary! I love Jesus
Christ! I can't believe I am almost 20! I can't believe I have been on
my mission for 20 months now! I hope you all had a great Easter! I'll
try to write more of these! No promises though ;) Bye!

Elder Navarro
6105 SW Bonita Rd. Apt. K305
Lake Oswego OR 97035


Monday, April 10, 2017

Easter Week

Hello! Hello!

So I'm not getting transferred, but I am training! Well, kind of.
There is a Spanish missionary who got here last transfer and he was
being trained by an English missionary in an English ward for whatever
reason. But now, he is coming here with me and I will be finishing his
training. It should be fun. I am pretty excited. It should be fun! I'm
not going to be Spanish Training  Leader anymore which is ok.
President Ballard is getting rid of them completely because it is a
made up position anyways.

Not much else has happened this week. We have been doing a lot of
finding. We didn't have any meetings or exchanges to go on this week,
so were kind of at a loss with what to do with ourselves. The week
went by really fast though. A lot of the members were really sad to
see Elder Thatcher leave because he has been here for a really long
time.

I just got my new companion. His name is Elder Clarke. He is from
Arizona. He is super cool and super excited to work. It seems like it
will be a good transfer. That new car looks pretty sick! I will look
like a true Mexican when I get back driving around in that thing. As
for classes and all that junk, I wish I could just sit down and do it,
but I can't. Honestly, I don't really care right now. Whatever you
think would be best. And finally, Yes I did order that patriarchal
blessing. Please send it to me.

Oh and that whole mall thing was crazy. It was really scary to just go
there and just talk to people. It turned out really good though. We
ended up finding a new investigator. It was sick. Anyways, it was a
good week! I'm excited for this transfer. We get to call home this
transfer haha.  See ya later.

Elder Navarro

Monday, April 3, 2017

Happy Conference weekend

Hello! Happy Conference!

I really enjoyed Conference this time! It was very uplifting! We
watched the all the sessions with different members of the branch
which was cool except for the priesthood session. We watched that at
the stake center. I don't know, this conference felt really weird. It
seemed a lot more relaxed of a weekend than past general conferences.
I think it's because we have been so busy that it was weird to slow
down a lot this weekend. It was good though! I really liked a lot of
the talks. One of my favorites was Elder Bednars talk in the
priesthood session about being called and assigned. Super good!

After general conference, we saw a huge miracle! So Sunday morning,
Elder Thatcher tells me he feels like we are going to find three new
investigators that day. Then by Sunday night we still hadn't found
anyone and we were on our last stop at some apartment complex. We see
these people walk into their apartment and we were just like why not
knock on their door. We did, and this lady opens the door and lets us
right in and offers us food and everything. There just happened to be
three people that lived there this lady from South Africa, her
American husband, and a guy from Saudi Arabia. They ended up telling
us that they were actually wondering what mormons believe and that
they would like to learn more. We taught them and they al ended up
becoming new investigators. It was sick!

Oh man the whole sign thing was interesting! It was kind of a crazy
idea but we just wanted to see what would happen. For the first little
bit, we went to the part of the park where the skatepark was at. That
was pretty hilarious because it was mostly a bunch of crazy people
smoking weed! They gave us some pretty interesting answers. Most other
people didn't really talk to us that much, but that's ok. It was a
good experience!

Anyways, I have no idea on any classes! I'll need some options or
something. And yeah I don't think I will be able to do the test thing!
There's no time for that. Transfers are next week as well. I might be
getting transferred again because the rumor is that there are sisters
that are coming to this area. We will see next week though! I love you
guys! Have a great week!

Elder Navarro