#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

#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

#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!

#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

$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

#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

#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