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

January 27, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Its been a pretty crazy week. So tuesday my companion got transferred to Rocklin which is pretty close to Citrus Heights where I'm serving right now.  I went with him and a member to drop him off.  I got to see my trainer, Elder Harper, because he was serving in that area so it was pretty fun. I was stuck all day without a companion so I spent the day with the Rucsh Park Elders. Early wednesday morning I got a ride to Antelope where the mission office is located to pick up my greenie that I'll be training. His name is Elder Johnson and he's from Maryland. He's 6 and a half feet tall so I seem to have this pattern of getting super tall companions. He's a super cool humble kid. I think we'll have a good time serving together. He has Narcolepsy which can be really hard for him because he's always falling asleep and he can't help it. Its already happened during a lesson and while riding a bike so we'll see how everything works out. Its definitely been a little bit harder training than I thought but I'm excited for the opportunity.

As for as Elio that you question about, he's our most promising investigator thats committed to be baptized. But he got accused of high jacking a car when he doesn't even know how to high jack a car so nows he's in jail. He's on probation so we're either going to have to wait until he's off probation for his baptism or we could get first presidency approval. I'm hoping his baptism happens at least before I leave this area.  

We had a lot of success finding and teaching people this week. It seems that the work is gradually improving but its a work in progress. When I came into this area we didn't really have a lot to work with so I'm really pleased at where we're at right now. 

Well I hope all is well back home! I hope you enjoyed the pictures that the members in my ward sent you. Have a great week! Love you guys!

-Elder Rosenbaum

January 20, 2014 - meeting Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, we had a great week. We received transfer calls Sunday night. I
will now be training a new missionary. I'm suppose to go to the
mission office wednesday morning and I'll find out who my new
companion is. I still feel like I'm pretty new out here but I know for
sure that this is what The Lord wants. It will definitely be a test to
how well I know this area considering I've only been here for 6 weeks
but I know it'll all work out. I'm excited for the opportunity!

Well, we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Oaks at stake
conference and Elder Smith of the seventy. It was a wonderful
experience. I was able to meet him Saturday night after the adult
session and shake his hand and talk with him. Turns out his wife is
from Spanish Fork which is pretty cool. After Sunday's session I went
with a recent convert in our ward to go meet him and shake his hand
and it was amazing how Elder Oaks could discern with the spirit what
exactly to say to him. He was having a hard time and maybe doubting
his testimony and it was cool to see what an apostle of The Lord had
to tell a recent convert. It was a great experience. These truly are
inspired brethren running our church.

Well, our most promising investigator who's committed to be baptized is
now in Jail so thats kind of an awkward situation. He got accused of
highjacking a car and he didn't do anything. So getting him baptized
might take a little longer now than was originally planned. We're
working a lot with two familys the Hurn family, a part member family.
We're teaching their 9 year old daughter Irish. Everything there has
been going well. We're also working a lot with a recent convert family
the Hernadez's and the husband is now the only one who hasn't decided
to be baptized. The Hernandez's are probably one of my favorite
family's here, they're awesome! Hopefully Omar decides to make that
decision soon!

Well thats all this week! I love you all and wish you guys all the best!

-Elder Rosenbaum

January 13, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been another week of the missionary life. To be honest there hasn't been anything too exciting thats happened this week. Elder Dallin H Oaks is coming to our stake conference this weekend and sunday morning before it starts, he's going to be meeting with all the recent converts of the stake and all investigators that have committed to be baptized or have a baptism date. Missionary's can only go if they have an investigator, so since we have Elio who's committed to be baptized, we're gonna have a chance to hear from a apostle of The Lord in a smaller selected audience, so we're really excited for that. It's gonna be sweet! We also got word this week that we're going to be getting a new mission president in the beginning of July. We also got a new bishop on Sunday, so that was pretty cool. We also will be receiving transfer calls this Sunday, so we'll see if my companion gets transferred. I'm thinking we'll probably stay together for another 6 weeks.

We met with Elio this past week and he's still doing great! He's keeping commitments, coming to church, its only a matter of time before he gets baptized. Its amazing to see the change that the church has done for him. We had a lesson with this guy name Evan, an investigator that we picked up about 2 weeks ago. He's 91 years old and a real friendly guy. During the lesson he got up to grab something to show us and he fell down and scrapped his arm and his entire arm started bleeding. It was really sketchy and kind of scary. But he ended up wanting to finish the discussion. We've been working a lot with this part member family named the Hurns. We're in the process of trying to activate them and we're teaching their 9 year old daughter named Irish. We had a lesson with her this week. They want her to be baptized so hopefully within about a month we can get her baptized. Well that's all from me for this week. I love you guys and I pray for you guys everyday. Have a great week!

January 6, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been kind of a long week, my companion and I have been sick
since about the middle of the week and we're still both under the
weather. A lot of long and sleepless nights. Our entire district has
been coming down with it and it seems to be going around with everyone
we talk with. My companion and I have tried to make the most of it
and still do what we can.

So at the beginning of the week was when we were able to do most of our
work and we were actually really successful. We picked up two
investigators this past week. The first one is named Kayla. We went
and talked to her at a park and she seemed really interested and
invited us to come by her house. She told us her mom used to
investigate our church and she would try to get her and her mom to
come to our church. The second investigator we picked up this week is
named David and he's from Liberia. I was able to really connect with
him by talking about college football and than turn to a gospel
conversation.  Hopefully we find success as we meet with them again
this week.

We had 3 investigators come to church on Sunday.The three being Fred,
Omar, and Elio. Fred is really coming along. That was the first time
he came to church. Our lessons always go great with him. We taught hin
the plan of salvation and he said he felt like he already knew
everything we taught him. It just clicked and made sense to him. He
committed to be baptized so we're going to try and set a date with him
this week.

All is well here in California. Its weird to think we're already in
week 5 of this transfer. The transfer has been flying by. Well I love
and miss you guys. You're always in my prayers. Have a great week!

Elder Rosenbaum

December 30, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

It was awesome being able to skype with you guys on Christmas. It was definitely the highlight of my Christmas as well. I am now fully recovered from being sick through Christmas. But I was still able to make the most of it. It was definitely different being my first Christmas away from home. I'm basically up to 100 percent now which is a great blessing.

We had a great week for the time I was able to actually work, being sick most of the week. We got a referral from this old man In our ward to go see this guy name Fred. Fred is 91 years old and is in amazing shape for his age. He doesn't look 91 at all. He has a lot of cool stories from serving In WWll. We were able to teach him the restoration and he took it in really well. He even accepted the challenge to be baptized which is super exciting. Hopefully we will be able to set a date this week when we meet with him.

We met with Elio a couple of times this week. And he's still dong great. His baptism is set for February 15th. If it wasn't for some things he needs to clear up we would be having his baptism this Saturday. It's amazing to see the change in his life and the progress he's making. Its been a huge blessing to be able to teach him. He's even coming to pday today and gonna play basketball with us.

Well I wish you guys all the best and a happy new year! Love ya. Have a great week!

-Elder Rosenbaum

December 23, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a great week this past week. We are now officially one of the
missions testing out iPad mini's. Every missionary has his own iPad. We
all thought it would be one for each companionship but we were wrong.
Haha so it's pretty cool. We're in the process of changing our whole
area book over which is a pretty big pain but it's All good. We also
had a half mission conference this past week which was pretty fun. I
got to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in forever. We just got
news that Elder Dallin H Oaks is coming to our stake conference so I'm
pretty excited for that as well!

We had a ward Christmas party Saturday night. It was a good
opportunity for me to get to know the ward since I'm still pretty new
here. I ended up carving  and serving turkey with my companion for
over 300 people. I felt like I was back at my catering job. Haha I'm
still adjusting to this area but it's gong great! So far I love the
area, ward, and my companion.

We have an investigator named Ellio and the guy is on fire. We
committed him to be baptized in the beginning of January but it's
going to have to be pushed back to February due to certain things.  He
came to church which was awesome and stayed for all 3 hours. He's 22
years old and he even told us when he gets baptized he wants to go on his
own mission. He's even telling all his family and friends about it and
getting them interested so this guy is just a stud.

As far as Christmas goes we can either FaceTime or Skype. Either one
works for me. I'm gonna say let's plan on doing it like mid morning
around 11ish or 10:30ish. I look forward to being able to talk to you
guys. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Wishing you guys all the
best. Love and miss you guys.

-Elder Ben Rosenbaum