May 5, 2014

Dear Family,

We had a great week, probably one of the most successful we've had since I've been in this area. So cool news, we have a baptism this Saturday! Its for a 16 year old girl name Mckayla. We haven't been teaching her for too long. She was taught by missionaries in a different stake for awhile but they passed her off to us because she lives in our area so we've been teaching her for a little bit. She came to church on Sunday and the ward has been great with fellowshipping her and really just wrapping there arms around her. We've been able to bring some of the young women and the young women leader to lessons and its been really successful. Her parents have been really supportive and she said that they might join us in the future lessons so we will see what happens. Its been a huge miracle though. 

Our other miracle we had this week is that we had 5 investigators to sacrament. Which is the most I've had in a long time and the most I've had in this area. Frankie, the one that we're working on getting married, got laid off his job which is a good and a bad thing at the same time. He was working on Sunday's previously so now he can come to church. Which he did, he came to all 3 hours on Sunday. 

We taught Brayden again this week as well. He's doing awesome. He's still on date for baptism on June 28th which is two weeks after his wedding. I found out that he plays tennis and we were both freakin out a little. haha so were gonna go play tennis this week, it should be fun. He came to church as well, along with his future father in law who we are teaching as well. And Gary, this conspiracy theorists, came to church as well. We're starting to see the work really progress now. We had been kind of down for awhile because we were having the hardest time trying to make our investigators progress but things are seeming to look up now.

We had a Elder's quorum meat feed this week where a bunch of guys just get together and we eat meat. We were able to get some less actives we were working with there and it was awesome to see them come out!

 

 I look forward to talking with you guys next on Mothers Day! Love you guys!

April 28, 2014

Dear Family,

We had another great week! We had some interesting experiences this
week. On Thursday we we were biking home  at night in our service
clothes because we had just previously finished some service and Elder
Johnson forgot to put on his light on his bike so we ended up getting
pulled over by this cop. There was definitely something suspicious
going on in the area because we saw a lot of cops there as backup.
Anyways, we got pulled over on our bikes and the cop used the excuse
of my companion not having a bike light to pull us over. We got
talking to her  and we explained that we usually have a white shirt
and tie on and that we're missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints. haha She was checking my license and saw that I
was from Utah and immediately asked if I was a Mormon. haha Well
anyways it was a unique teaching opportunity we had and she didn't end
up giving us a warning or anything. And just in case you were wondering
she wasn't too interested in our message but it was worth a try. haha
Elder Johnson and I seem to have a lot of different encounters with
cops. First we had them barge in a house interrupting a lesson and now
this.

Elder Johnson is a great missionary. I can't remember if I told you
guys this or not but he has narcolepsy so he's always falling asleep
during lessons and other situations. Well we were doing some service
for a older lady in our ward who's actually a recent convert and we
were trimming her bushes. Elder Johnson was using the electric trimmer
and he fell asleep while doing it. Well he accidentally chopped the
extension cord with the trimmer and blew a huge circuit or something.
There was a huge spark and everything but fortunately no one got hurt.
The Lord is definitely watching over us.  The electricity wouldn't
work anywhere in her house after that. We worked it out for a
electrician in our ward to come and fix it so everything worked out. I
love Elder Johnson but that would definitely be really hard suffering
from narcolepsy and having no control over that.

We picked up a new investigator this week named Jessie and we are going to
begin teaching his son along with him. He was a referral from a member
which makes our job a lot easier. We always seem to have little
miracles like that everyday.

Our stake did a community day of service on Saturday and it was on a
public trail for biking and running. It was a great way to get to know
the community a little better and get our name out there. I'll send
some pictures of it.

My testimony of this Gospel has grown tremendously. I would say the
biggest thing I've learned or gained from my mission thus far is how
amazing The Book Of Mormon is. Our mission President challenged us to
read it in 85 days which is how long it took Joseph Smith to translate
it and it was such a blessing being able to do that.  I gain a
stronger testimony and witness of that book everyday I go out and talk
to people about it.

Love you guys!

-Elder Rosenbaum

pic 1- Just some of the missionaries
pic 2- me and my companion with some of the young men in our ward.

April 21, 2014

Dear Family,

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We got treated really well here by members and had 2 easter dinners with two of my favorite families in this ward so it was a pretty fun day. We taught Brayden again this week. We taught him the plan of salvation and his future mother in law(she's a recent convert)  joined in with us in the lesson and bore a strong testimony of  the plan of salvation and how that by itself  made her want to be baptized. Brayden committed to be baptized on June 28th during the lesson, which is two weeks after his wedding. Im pretty excited for him. That was definitely the highlight of the week. I've been working with Brayden ever since I've been in the area but the whole time I was trying to get to the opportunity to pass him on to the missionaries in the sacramento mission but now that he's moving into our ward its working itself out. 

We had interviews this week with our mission President. We'll be getting a new mission President in about 2 months so that will be kind of weird. We ended up doing a bunch of service this week. We hauled and dug out cement blocks and built of a wall out of them in the people's garden. It actually turned out really well. Its been getting extremely hot especially being on a bike and its only going to be getting hotter. haha To be honest not much else has happened this week we are still working with people who I've mentioned in past weeks. We're praying for miracles and we know that if we keep the faith we'll continue to see them! Thanks for your support. Love you guys and have a great week! 

-Elder Rosenbaum

April 14, 2014

 Dear Family,

So we received transfer calls and I'm staying in the area. Everyone
thought I was gonna be getting transferred since I just finished
training my greenie. To be honest I was kind of shocked that I was
staying. Haha but I'm glad and grateful for an additional 6 weeks in
this area.  Elder Johnson will be the longest companion I've had since
my trainer.(I was also with him for 3 transfers) Hopefully with me
staying for another transfer I'll be here long enough to see Frankie
get baptized. Frankie was sick this week so we didn't have the
opportunity to teach him this week which was kind of weird. So we did
a lot of hard work this week and had a lot of success from the fruit
of our labors. We picked up 5 new investigators this week. We're
pretty excited about it. We oym'd(street contacted) this couple who
were holding tennis rackets and they were walking to the park to play
tennis. I told them that I'm a huge tennis player and we automatically
connected and had something in common. We talked about that for awhile
but we ended up tying it back to the gospel and he had so many good
questions. We taught them on the street and we we're going to begin
teaching them! We might even go play tennis with them which would be
pretty sweet.

So we are teaching a recent convert's fiance. Once he's married he'll
be living in our ward boundaries and he wants to be baptized in our
ward. So in June he'll be able to get baptized. Its been a huge
blessing to be able to teach him. The guy is a stud! His name is
Brayden and he's been coming to church every week!

So I haven't told you guys about this guy name Gary yet. He's one of
the most interesting people I've taught on my mission so far. His
girlfriend is a member and it seems like all he wants to do is just
bash with us in every lesson. And you never know whats going to happen
going into a lesson.  Well he keeps every commitment we give him and
he goes to church every week so I guess in a sense he's progressing.
Well we retaught the restoration to him and emphasized authority and
we soft committed him to be baptized. We'll see where it all goes.

Love you guys!

-Elder Rosenbaum

April 7, 2014

Dear Family,

This week honestly flew by. I can't really remember a lot to be honest. haha Weeks are starting to feel like days, its really weird. I'll start off by talking about Frankie. Frank was originally planning on moving out to a different apartment to get baptized but his girlfriend, who is less active, talked with the bishop. It sounds like they're now planning on getting married, which is the better option in my opinion because they already have one kid and another one on the way. They haven't chosen a official date day but it sounds like it could happen next month so Frankie should be able to get baptized soon! Frankie's family took us out to dinner to Claim Jumpers this week and is still progressing really well! Hopefully it stays this way until his baptism!

Conference was amazing! We we're unable to get any investigators to watch it with so we went over to different members and watched it with them and had lunch with them. I feel super uplifted and edified from conference. Overall Elder Hollands talk was my favorite!  I felt like these 4 things were the main messages of conference. 

1. Defend/live your faith

2. Obedience to the commandments,

3 Trust in The Lord

4 Families 

. I'm so grateful for a living prophet who's called of God to lead this church!

We had a referral for a hungarian family who speaks very little english and we just happened to have someone in our ward return home from his mission from Hungary  so we had the opportunity to teach them this week. Although I couldn't understand what was being said I could still feel the spirit. It was a cool experience. 

Well thats all for this week! We ended up doing a lot of finding this week and actually had a good  amount of success! Until next week! Love you guys!

-Elder Ben Rosenbaum 

March 31, 2014

Dear Family,

Its been another great week. I just want to start off and say I love
the people in this ward and the people I'm teaching in this area. We
have transfers in two weeks and quite frankly I hope I stay here.
I've gained such a strong testimony that the church is the exact same
no matter where you are though.  I know this is only my second area
but everywhere I go I feel right at home.

So Elio got baptized on Saturday! Elio is a freakin stud, I'm super
proud of him and all the adversity and everything he had to go through
to enter the waters of baptism. I taught him for awhile in this area
but then he moved and it was close enough I had the privilege to be
able and go to it. It was super spiritual. When the people you're
teaching actually get baptized it makes it feel like its all worth it.
Its an amazing feeling. I'll make sure to include a picture of the
baptism.

So Xochil called us this week and she said that she wanted to push
back her baptism. She's very sensitive to the spirit and I think she
feels like she's not worthy enough or prepared or just ready in her
mind. She said she had a beer and she knew if she was going to get
baptized that was something she knew she shouldn't be doing. I
think we just need to give her some time and everything will work
itself out.

Frank is doing awesome. He's in the process of getting moved out into
separate apartments and is really progressing well. He still invites
us over for a lesson almost everyday which is awesome. He's a stud.
He's so close to baptism and he wants it really bad so we're excited!

There's a recent convert family in our ward and everyone is baptized
besides Omar, the husband. The daughter is engaged to this non member
and we began teaching him. His name his Brayden and we taught the 1st
discussion to him and the whole family including Omar. It was awesome!
Brayden is planning on getting baptized after they're married in June.
We're now meeting with Brayden every week.

We taught this couple named Ken and Kim this week. We taught them the
first discussion and they both soft committed to be baptized. We're
excited we'll see what happens from here with them.

We're having a lot of success and I feel like The Lord is really
blessing us. The Lord truly is hastening his work. I know this Gospel
is true with all my heart! Have a good week! Love you guys.

-Elder Rosenbaum

March 24, 2014

Dear Family,

I'll begin by starting off with the biggest highlight of our week. We taught Xochil again this week. Its pronounced like Sochi like the Olympics. Its kind of a uniquie name. Anyways, we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week and really emphasized baptism. The spirit was there and super strong and she committed to be baptized and accepted a date of April 19th. The fellowshipper that we've been bringing to lessons has been doing a great job fellowshipping her. Its hard to be successful as a missionary if the members and missionaries aren't working together. But we're really exciting for her. Xochil is someone I street contacted close to 3 months ago. She then told us later that she felt an at peace feeling when she was talking to us on the street and she felt that that was something she was suppose to do. Our only problem has been getting her to church. We're planning on having our next lesson with her at the church and giving her a chapel tour so she will feel more comfortable coming on Sundays. The Lord has definitely played a role in her progression. 

We met with Frankie a couple of times this week and we were able to further talk about his living situation. He said he talked about it with his girlfriend and he told us that within the next month they would live in separate apartments until they're able to get married. We'll have to push his baptism back a little but I'm really proud of him for having that faith and trust and doing this in order to enter into the waters of baptism. Frankie even came to an Elders quorum activity we had this week and everyone was great to him and really welcomed him in. 

Do you guys remember Elio? When I got in this area I taught him for about 6 weeks and he basicaly came to church every week. He would come play basketball with us on p-days. Anyways he's just an awesome kid. He had an unfortunate thing happen where he was sent to jail and we lost contact for awhile. Well he messaged me on facebook last night and apologized not for getting back to me and explained what happen. He's now living in a different area and going to a different ward. He told me he's getting baptized this Saturday and would like for me to come!! I'm super excited for him and he has really come a long ways to get here. The place where he will be getting baptized is actually really close to where i'm serving(within biking distance) but  I might not be able to go because its just outside the mission so we'll see what happens. 

Thats all for this week. Have a great week! Love you guys. 

-Elder Rosenbaum