Tuesday, February 24, 2015

February 23, 2015

Dear Family,

It's been another busy week! There's been nothing too out of the
ordinary or anything like that but we continued to work with David
this week and helping him prepare for his baptism in March. He's doing
very well and still planning on it which is a very good thing. It
seems like whenever investigators commit to a date for baptism that's
when Satan starts working his hardest and tries to get you off of that
path. We're praying that it'll go through!

We were able to teach a total of 15 lessons this week which for us at
where we're at currently is actually pretty good. We even found a
couple of people this week which was exciting. Occasionally you just
have that stellar lesson which is just awesome where the spirit is
just super strong. Well we found a guy named Jordan and had a amazing
restoration lesson with him but unfortunately he moved to Seattle a
couple of days later. But his girlfriend there is Mormon! So maybe we
set some seeds there and some good things will happen!

We're pushing on and continuing to see good things. Noah our Catholic
investigator, who works for a catholic radio show, I feel like is
getting so close! He's been to church now about 4 times and he told us
this last week he's been praying more about it more than ever.

The hardest part I feel about missionary work is you can't make your
investigators decisions for them. We have a good number of
investigators who are just on the fence. So hopefully in the coming
weeks we see some good things happening!

Love you guys have a exceptional week!

Elder Rosenbaum


Thursday, February 19, 2015

February 16, 2015

Dear Family,

Its been another great week here in Auburn and Forest Hill! We'll
start right off with the big miracles we had. Along with covering the
Auburn ward we also cover the Forest Hill branch and since its so far
away we only go up there once or twice a week. Well since day 1 I've
been in this area we've been working with an investigator named David
who lives out in the middle of nowhere basically. Well he's been
coming to church for several months now and he's always been stubborn
and would never commit to be baptized and set a date. I'm not sure
exactly what changed his mind or what softened his heart but in our
lesson with him this past week he committed to be baptized and set a
date for March 14th! Which is perfect timing because if I do get
transferred that would be the last Saturday of the transfer. Davids
grandma is a recent convert of about 4 years ago and David takes care
of her a lot and thats basically how he got introduced to the church.
We're praying and hoping that this date goes through! It would be
super awesome! Unfortunately, his fellowshipper, who just got home
from his mission a couple of months ago shot himself in the foot by
accident. He ended up being okay but hopefully he can still help us
out as we get closer to his baptism!

We got to volunteer at a old folks home again this week and we helped
prepare for there fancy Valentines dinner. It was kind of a nice
change of pace and something out of the ordinary. So it was a good
time! We're getting really familiar with all the people we volunteer
with and its been a huge missionary opportunity for us and we've been
able to answer a lot of questions so its been really cool!

We also had a ward Valentines dinner/talent show which was super fun.
My companion did a comedian act which was pretty good. And we also got
one of our investigators there which was awesome!

All our other investigators that I've talked about in previous weeks
are coming along slowly but surely.  It's amazing how fast time goes
it seems like p day was just yesterday. I'm getting to the point where
every member is always like "so are you going to school? You gonna
work?" And then the classic "oh you've been out forever! Getting close
to the end then huh?" Haha Especially that last one is becoming more
and more common. I've made a goal to not finish my mission pacing
myself but to finish sprinting and to ultimately finish the way
Heavenly Father wants me to finish so I don't have any regrets. This
is an amazing work that I have the privilege to be apart of. Looking
back I've been so blessed to come across the most amazing people. God
is preparing the hearts of people to receive the fullness of the
gospel we just need to "open our mouths and they shall be filled"(D&C
33:10) We can all be instruments in the Lords work whether we have a
name tag on our chest or not.

Love you guys hope you have a great week!

Elder Rosenbaum


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

February 9, 2015

Dear Family,

Well it was my first week with Elder Carreiro. He's a good guy from
West Jordan, Utah and he's been out for almost 9 months. I'm excited
to work with him. Our first week together we had a lot of success.
I'll start off with a few miracles. We found a investigator a couple
of weeks ago named Jeff Virgil. We just happened to pull up in the
parking lot of a apartment complex at the same time and we talked to
him. Well it turns out his daughter is a recent convert in the ysa
branch here as of about 8 months ago. Deseretnews.com wrote a article
on her conversion story so its a pretty legit conversion. Well we've
met with Jeff a couple of times now and we stopped by Friday night and
that was the first time we've been there while his family was there
and that was how we met Tarin(the recent convert). Well he offered to
feed us dinner with his family and we just had a good time with one
another. Jeff loves sports so we just talked sports basically the
whole time. Well after dinner we taught the whole family the
Restoration. Jeff, Tarin, Paige who's about 25, and Iris who's about
11. Well the whole family was asking lots of questions and it was
really just a special lesson to remember. The spirit was super strong.
Jeff's wife has recently passed away so it might make him more
accepting of the message we have to offer. He accepted the challenge
to pray and consider being baptized. He told us he didn't think it was
a coincidence that we met him that one day in the parking lot. Anyways
we're just super excited about this family and the potential they
have.

We're still working with our investigator named Michelle. We basically
picked her up my first day in the area and she's awesome. She now has
amazing fellowship in the ward and everything. We had a awesome lesson
with her this week and she's really progressing along. Hopefully we
can get her on date soon!

Noah is our other guy we're getting really close with. He's been to
church now about 3 times and also has amazing fellowship in the ward.
He's really studying things out and really doing his
research..although he needs to turn to God and actually ask for
direction where ultimately all truth comes from.

Our other miracle is about a less active couple named the Ryders that
we've been working with. Prior to 3 weeks ago they hadn't gone to
church in over 30 years! Well we've been diligently working with them
and they have come to church the past 3 weeks in a row! How cool is
that! He's even talked with the bishop and set a plan and a goal to work
towards the temple so he can get sealed to his wife!

We got to play basketball this week with our Elders Quorum because
there's nonmembers there and less actives. It was a good time and a
nice way to relieve some stress that comes with being a missionary.

Love you guys hope you have a great week!

Elder Rosenbaum


P.S. I added the below web site address about Tarin Virgil in the LDS Church News if you are interested.  Kent & Joanne

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

February 2, 2015

Dear Family,

Well its been a really good week. We had some really cool things happen. Well first off, some members from my second area  made the drive over to Auburn(which is about 25 minutes away) and took me and my companion out to lunch. It was super good to see them. It was the Hernandez family one of the coolest families I've gotten to know on my mission. Brayden, there son in law was  there as well(the one that I  taught and baptized last June). So it was just really good to see them again and catch up. The whole family are recent converts besides the husband who I worked a good amount with. I seriously love this family some of the greatest people I've had the blessing of meeting on my mission.

I also got to go to the temple with my two former companions that I served with in Redding and a couple of members from the ward I served in from Redding were there as well. My ward mission leader was there and the one who planned it so we could all see each other again. You become so close with so many people and than get transferred so it good to be reunited and able to see them again. Definitely a highlight from the week.

So we received transfer calls which is always exciting. Nothing too crazy happened besides that my companion is being transferred to Granite Bay. My new companion is Elder Carriero who I've never met before and haven't really heard anything about. I'll meet him tomorrow so hopefully he's a cool guy. I now officially only have 3 transfers left......WEIRD!

Noah finally came to church!! After teaching him forever he finally made it and is starting to make huge strides. He's a producer at a catholic radio show and a die hard catholic so considering he has a huge interest in learning is awesome. He lives in the rural part of our area and took us on a little walk to a waterfall which was almost basically in his backyard. Anyways just a really awesome guy hopefully he keeps progressing.

Love you guys hope you all have a great week!