Thursday, February 27, 2014

February 24, 2014

Dear Family,

So we had a pretty good week. I'll start off with the good news first. So do you guys remember Deanna I used to tell you about when I was in my last area? I found and taught her for about a month and a half before I got transferred and she was on date for baptism for awhile but when I left the area she kind of faded away and stop meeting with the missionaries. Well we've been keeping in touch a little through facebook and she messaged me the other day saying she finally came back to church and everything spoke straight to her. After church she met with the missionarys and is going to be baptized on March 1st!! I've been invited to go back to see the baptism so we'll see if I get permission to go. I'm really excited for her. 

We picked up two investigators this week which seem pretty promising. They just moved into the house across the street from the church and they ran into 2 sets of missionaries that day including us. So they said they think its a sign from God so they want to listen to our message and the guy is going to start playing basketball with us on saturday morning. They're super awesome people. 

I haven't told you much about our Investigator named Souchi. She's been a huge blessing for us and an asnwer to our prayers. She used to be kind of flakey but is now meeting with us on a consistent basis and I think given her a little time and she'll be dunked. She's just super accepting. The Lord has definitely answered some prayers to help us find and have a little success this week. 

My bike situation is all figured out. My bike should either be here today or tomorrow and I'll be able to go pick it up preassembled. Dad, don't worry about calling black bear (bike shop). I called him and talked to him myself. I borrowed a members bike this week and was able to get by. Thanks for your love and support! Have a great week!

-Elder Rosenbaum

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

February 17, 2014

(Ben said in a separate email that he and his companion had their bike's stolen, not good.  This is Ben's first area for riding a bike and his companion is new out.)

Dear Family,

Well not a lot has happened this week to be honest. I had the
opportunity to attend a convert baptism on Saturday for a guy named
Gary. I worked with him a little bit on exchanges and got to know him
a little. No matter who's baptism it is the spirit is always so strong
there and it really boosted my spirits and attitude. To be honest I've
spent a lot of times on my knees this week. My entire mission I
haven't really had too hard of a time finding people to teach and have
work to do. I guess the last month I've been kind of humbled I guess
you could say because we're having a difficult time finding anyone or
I guess just having any success at all. Our teaching pool is really
hurting right now. We just got to keep our heads up though. Our one
investigator who was committed to be baptized but is in jail now I'm
still in touch with and I've been making contact with him through
mail. But he won't be off probation for awhile so we won't be able to
get him baptized for awhile. Our lesson with the Hurns went great
again this week. They're an awesome family. The dad is continuing to
show more support for his daughter which is awesome. Hopefully I'll
have more to report next week. Please keep us in your prayers so we
can find the elect I know they're out there we just have to keeps our
heads up and keep working hard.  I love you guys thanks for all the
support!

Elder Ben Rosenbaum

Monday, February 10, 2014

February 10, 2014



Dear Family,

Not too much has happened this week. It rained like 4 days this past week so me and Elder Johnson got soaked pretty good. It was coming down pretty hard one day. But I guess that all comes with the mission experience. California has been in a huge drought and the church did a state wide fast for rain so it was actually a really big blessing. 

Our teaching pool is definitely hurting right now so we're kind of in a finding stage right now but we're trying to make the most of it. So we have been doing some tracting this week and trying to get referrals from the members. The people we are teaching though are doing great. We're teaching a part member family named the Hurns and she is starting to really progress. The whole family is now starting to join us in the lessons and I think her parents are close to letting us set a baptism date with Irish. Please keep them in your prayers. We've been working a lot with a recent convert family named the Hernandez's and they've invited us to go through the temple with them in a couple of weeks so that should be super cool. I'm really happy for them and the progress they're making. I don't really have a lot to report this week. Training is going good. Elder Johnson seems to be getting the hang of things. We had interviews this week as well with our mission president. I love and pray for you guys all the time. Have a great week!

-Elder Rosenbaum

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

February 3, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Its been a good week here in Citrus Heights. I'll start by telling you
a pretty crazy thing that happened. . Earlier this week we went by to
go visit this less active family named the Lolars. They are a super cool
family and we're working on reactivating them. We were sitting down
having a discussion with them when all of a sudden 7 or 8 police
officers came barging in the house. They were asking for a guy named
Mark. My companions first name is Mark so he started freakin out
inside his head wondering why in the world would the cops be looking
for him. It was pretty funny. But it turned out they were looking for
the person we were visitings brother. The cops asked us immediately to
leave while they arrested him. So we walked away with Billy and
Malichi(the guy we were visiting and his son) and he told us he felt
like me and Elder Johnson were like guardian angels to him that
protected him and that it was a sign from God that he needed to come
back to church. It was a pretty cool experience. We even worked with
ward members to get the entire family church clothes and they've
committed to come back to church. So the whole thing was pretty cool.
They've even asked for rides so they can come to church the following
weeks.

We're working with the Hernandez family still. Omar is now the only
one in the family that isn't baptized and we had a great lesson with
him before the Super Bowl.  The rest of the family is working on going
through the temple and they asked if we would go with them in a couple
of weeks so that should be pretty cool to go through the temple with a
recent convert family that we've been working with a lot. We're
working a lot with a part member family named the Hurns. We're
teaching the 9 year old daughter and the father seems to be supporting
her a lot more and joining in the lessons. Which is a big improvement.
So we're hoping to set a baptism date this week with her.

Everything is well here. Second week training and my companion is
doing awesome. He's a hard worker and likes to get things done which
is good. We've been getting into racketball here. There's some elders
who have a racquetball court in there apartment complex so thats been
pretty fun. Until next week! Love you guys!

-Elder Rosenbaum