Thursday, October 31, 2013

October 28, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

We had transfer calls Sunday night. My companion, Elder Harper, got transferred to Rocklin and is going to be a zone leader up there so he's pretty excited. I'm gonna miss working with him in Paradise. I couldn't have had a better trainer, we got along really well. My new companion's name is Elder Walton and he's from Canada. I've never met the guy before I've only heard things about him. He'll get here tomorrow and we'll begin working. It should be a good experience. I'm thinking I'll only be in Paradise for 6 more weeks though because its pretty abnormal to stay in a area longer than 6 months. A couple of my really good buddies from the MTC got transferred to my zone, so it should be a pretty fun transfer. And I'll be moving in tomorrow with a different member of our ward,.his name is brother Sypherd. He's one of the most Christ-like people I know and he's super excited to start housing the missionaries because he's a single, older man and gets lonely at times. He has a really nice house and we're going to have the whole upstairs at his house. Its a really nice arrangement and it should work out really well. I'm really grateful for the members we were staying at(the Reeves). They really taught me a lot and did a lot for us. So if you want to send me stuff I'm not sure what my new address is yet, so just send it to the mission office. Here it is in case you need it.

California Roseville Mission
8583 Watt Avenue
Antelope, CA 95843

We were able to pick up two new investigators this week. They just kind of came to us. It was a huge blessing. We went to go visit a new member of our ward that moved in and her next door neighbor saw us walking and waved us down and wanted to talk to us. We talked to her for about an hour and she wanted to learn more and for us to come back. We introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she committed to read it and we're going to come back this week and begin teaching her. The other investigator that we picked up this week her name is Tracey. We was sitting in the parking lot of our church waiting for someone and we went and talked to her and she was so excited that we ran into her. She expressed interest in coming to services the following Sunday. She said she has a lot of family that are Mormons and she thinks what we teach is true so it was a huge blessing to run into her and we're going to begin teaching her. 

Here's a couple pictures I hope you enjoy. Paradise has this road named Honey Run that its famous for, so we thought we better go get a picture by it. The other picture is a picture of a family we're teaching. We carved pumpkins with them and it was a lot of fun. With permission of their mom, we're hoping that they can get baptized sometime in December. The ward has been really great to them. Its been awesome

Happy birthday this Saturday Dad! Hope you have a great day. Thanks for everything you have done and taught me throughout my life. And most importantly thank you for the great example I had in my life. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all. Stay strong and remain faithful.

-Elder Ben Rosenbaum




Thursday, October 24, 2013

October 21, 2013

Dear family and friends,

So we had a pretty crazy experience this past week. We went over to visit this guy named Tim who we thought was a less active. He lived in the very corner of our area and it was pretty far away so we almost decided not to go because we didn't want to waste the miles. Luckily my companion was in tune with the spirit and he said he thought we better go anyways. I've never met this guy before but he's a freak in stud. We went in teaching him like he was a less active but we soon found out that he wasn't actually a member and that he used to go to our church all the time about 4 years ago when he lived with a Mormon family in Utah. He said he loves the church and had a really great experience with it and expressed a desire to be baptized and to join the church. He accepted a date for December 7th to be baptized and we're going to begin teaching him. It was the craziest thing and quite the miracle. He's the coolest guy. He has tattoos up and down his body and has some crazy hair and he's a bigger guy. He loves football so we were able to talk about football and connect with him in that way. He said he is a great cook so this week we're going to come over again and he's going to feed us Ribs and we going to teach him the restoration. It was seriously one of the greatest blessings especially after we've been having a couple of investigators drop us and we were in need of some more people to teach.

We were able to do some more wood splitting this week. About once a week we go split wood with brother Keith and we go give the wood we split to investigators or less actives in the ward. The first door I ever knocked in Paradise we picked her up as an investigator but she hasn't really progressed much. We were able to give the wood to her and she was super appreciative of it. 

So we've been teaching this boy named Shane ever since I've been in Paradise. We thought he was going to be a child of record baptism because he's 8 years old but because both of his biological parents aren't members he'll be considered a convert baptism. So after Shane comes to church a couple times he'll be able to be baptized because he's already been taught all the lessons. We found him through his step mom who is a less active lady in our ward. So in the next coming weeks we might possibly have a baptism. We'll see what happens. He was originally suppose to be baptized this week but we had to push it back.

We did a lot of recent convert work this week and less actives. Jacob my first baptism we went and saw him this week and we're still visiting Elaine and Rivers quite regularly because we're helping Rivers overcome his addictions so he can receive the priesthood. 

We got a new car this week from the mission office. That was pretty cool. It's a 2012 Toyota Corolla so its a pretty nice car. We're gonna go play rugby and basketball today for p-day so it should be fun. Transfer calls are coming this Sunday and I'm 99 percent sure my companion is going to be transferred this time. So we'll see what happens. I'm still loving every minute out here. I'm really growing to love Paradise and the ward is awesome. They are so supportive of us and always trying to help us out. Love you guys. Have a great week.

-Elder Rosenbaum

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

October 14, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we had a good week this past week. It was very unfortunate to hear the news.  I got a missed call from President Weston during our dinner appointment this week and I had the faintest idea that it might be about Grandma. So I called the President after dinner and he informed me of everything that had happened and talked to me. I appreciate you guys letting me know. I pray that all the family may be comforted and feel of the Saviors love and peace during this hard time. Its brings great comfort having the Gospel and knowing that Grandma will be reunited with Grandpa. That knowledge definitely made it a lot easier for me. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday and it was about charity. I shared with them that grandma was of the best examples in my life of charity and the pure love of Christ. 

We picked up a new investigator last week. His name is Pat. He was clearly fully against the Church in every aspect but he said he wanted to learn more about it before he came to a full conclusion. He said the Book of Mormon was a lie so we challenge him to prove it wrong. We're going to be meeting with him again this week. We had a great discussion with him and it lasted almost 2 hours so hopefully his heart will be opened and be willing to learn. 

The youth in our stake put on a musical and it was actually super good and really spiritual. Two of our investigators, Marie and Gerald, were in the play so it was a really good experience for them. We were able to invite and get a couple of less active people there and our recent convert Elaine. It was a great experience for them and hopefully it will bring a desire to them to come back to the Gospel. 

With the limited amount of investigators we have right now we've been doing a lot of less active work and it's truly been a blessing to help these people feel the spirit again in their lives and hopefully have the desire to come back. We're still teaching our investigator named Kim and she's coming along and progressing really well. 
We're going to play volleyball for p-day today and maybe go golfing so it should be fun. Hope you guys all have a great week. Love you all. 

-Elder Rosenbaum

Thursday, October 10, 2013

October 7, 2013

Dear family and friends,

We had a great week. Conference was terrific! On Sunday we watched it at the members house where we live and we invited Elaine and her son(both recent converts) and watched both sessions and had a brunch in between. I feel like this year from conference I've learned so much then previous years. Probably because I was more open to learn and was more attentive but I loved all the talks. My two favorite talks were Richarrd G Scott about the atonement. It made me focus on my purpose as a missionary and relate it to the atonement. How that's my goal to have everyone I teach and talk to experience the atonement and to be changed through it. My other favorite one was President Uctdorf. I loved how he said to doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. It really spoke to me. I definitely feel spiritually uplifted and motivated from the words we heard this past weekend.

We had dinner Sunday night with an investigator and her family and we carved pumpkins afterwards.(I'll send pictures next week.) It was with Marie and her family. We have great news. Her mom is finally going to let her be baptized. She was thinking on having it at the end of November or beginning of December. So i'm hoping I'm still here in Paradise for it. Its definitely been a huge blessing. 

We've been kind of in a finding phase. The last couple of weeks we've had baptism dates drop and a couple of investigators drop. So were hoping with all the enthusiasm about missionary work during conference the members will start loading us up with referrals and we can pick up some new investigators and the work will start picking up again. It would be a lot more effective than going out and tracting or something. The biggest thing I've noticed is if your praying for miracles and your being obedient and working hard than good things happen. Thanks for everything. I love you all.

-Elder Ben Rosenbaum

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

September 30, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a great week this past week. I'll start off with talking about Elaine's baptism. It went super well. I was able to give the talk on baptism, my companion did a musical number and Brother Reeve, her fellow shipper, baptized her. It was a super spiritual experience. It's amazing to see how far she's come. We picked up as an investigator just under 2 months ago and now she's baptized. Its truly been a miracle. It was definitely the highlight of our week. In Sunday during fast and testimony meeting Elaine even got up and bore her testimony. It was probably one of the strongest testimony's I've ever heard. 

I had the opportunity this past week to go on exchanges with the zone leaders so I got to go down to Chico and do some work. We went down to the college campus and everyone we ran into we challenged to baptism on the spot. It was an interesting experience. We even almost got some to commit but it was pretty fun.

I'm truly loving the ward I'm serving in. The ward members are really great to us. On Sunday during Sacrament meeting it was one of the most spiritual meeting I've ever been apart of. The theme of all the testimony's was conversion. Not only did Elaine give her testimony, but Marie one of our investigators gave one of most powerful testimony's I've ever heard too. I feel like this past week my testimony of this Gospel has really grown and been strengthened tremendously.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If anything while I've been on mission I feel like I've been able to further convert myself everyday along with the people I'm teaching and I just come to a more further understanding of the Gospel every day. Thanks for all your support and love. I hope all is well. I hope everything works out with grandma's health. I'm praying for you guys. Have a great week.

-Elder Rosenbaum

Elder Harper (Ben's Companion), Brother Reeve, Sister Elaine and Ben
Sister Elaine's Baptism day