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

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

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

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

#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

#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

#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