Trrrrrrraaansfers!

So time has just been flying by as always. I look back and can hardly even think of all the things that have gone on this week. When you are busy and working hard there just isn’t enough time in the day. Unfortunately, my time is going to be cut short today because the emailing people are being kind of strict today. They tried to kick us out before I even got in…

Last week we went and ate at a family’s house in the ward and the father of the house was a chiropractor. I talked to him a little about my headaches and he gave me some good advice and said if I ever felt one coming on, to call him up right away and he was pretty sure he could help me. He also told us that we could come in anytime that we wanted and he would adjust our backs for freeee!! So we did that today:) It felt so good. Other than that, today has been pretty normal – shopping and basketball. I caught a dunk off the backboard so I guess biking might be strengthening my legs a little bit… It feels sooooo good!

Last Wednesday we had exchanges again. I took over the area with the ZL and we had an awesome day. It’s been CRAZY hot here but I’ve seen blessings equivalent to our sacrifices in going out and working in the heat. They actually sent out a message telling us to stay out of the heat as much as possible and to take frequent breaks. I think at one point it was between 112 and 115 degrees…. but it cooled down later on in the week. It’s starting to feel super nice now. I here during the fall/winter/spring, it just feels amazing. But anyway…back to how the exchange went! We went to a member named Bob Davis for breakfast. He is an amazing guy with some crazy stories. I wanted to share one with you all. He said when he was investigating the church and had made the decision to be baptized; his dad called him and said that if he chose to be baptized into the Mormon Church, he would never hear from him again after the phone call. Well Brother Davis already had such a strong testimony that he said that he was sorry and he couldn’t deny the truth that he had learned of and the sprit that he had felt. His dad hung up and he didn’t hear for him for a few years. Then one day he received a call from his dad. His dad explained that he couldn’t imagine anything so important that a child would give up his father for it. So he decided to call up the missionaries and learn about the gospel because he needed to learn for himself what made it so special. Then he said “Bob, would you like to come to my baptism next month?” WOW what a story that was for me to have the privilege of hearing. It is so amazing to see that when we truly trust in the Lord and don’t rely on our own understandings, he pours out his blessings upon us. I don’t know if I would have had faith enough to do what Bro Davis did but I’m so thankful for his testimony. Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Well that was one of the highlights of the day on exchanges but we were able to get 6 lessons and 2 new investigators that day. We worked super hard and sweated off a lot.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. We got 23 lessons, 8 members present, all of our OYM’s, but didn’t get people at church:( its soooo sad when we don’t get to see the people we love and care for so much not attending church. It was stake conference so maybe that had a little bit to do with it. Regardless, we really need to work hard at getting them to church.

SOOOO transfer calls were on Saturday. They call the leadership positions in the morning and then everyone else gets calls at night. The morning was all but done when Elder Randall and I got a call… and pretty much the best thing possible happened. I’m staying here in Echo Hills ward. They are amazing. I love them all so much! And guess what?? I’m going to be training this transfer!! Holy crap…I’m not ready for that but I’m super excited. I think training is going to be soooo much fun. I know I’m not qualified but I’m going to be obedient and do everything I can do help this new missionary learn and from the right way. Elder Randall will stay as well. We will be in a trio. Then Elder R will leave and I will finish our boys training next transfer. When I spoke to President Mullen he really expressed how much responsibility he was placing on me as a trainer and said that he was looking forward to working closely with me – which is about word for word of what my setting apart blessing said. That’s pretty cool. We are also getting a car this transfer:) I’m super excited about that. We are going to get a cheap gym membership so we can stay in shape. Missionaries in our area can normally get a pretty good hook up on memberships at a gym that is super close. So it should be an exciting few months!

Everything else is going great here! There are a few cool YM in our ward who are recent converts and we are teaching their friend. He is about 14. We put him on date to be baptized for the 14th. I think he has good potential. The work really seems to be picking up here. I’m just excited to go out and #BaptizeNations!!

I love you all and love to hear from you each and every week. I couldn’t do it without you.

-Elder Fischer

9-15-14 Pics

09-15-14

As always, it’s awesome to hear from all of you! I don’t have much time but I’ll do my best to get this email off.

This past Monday we had the opportunity to pick up a new investigator! An older man in our mission is the “man” and just OYM’s everyone. We pulled up to the guy and asked him where he was at on Sunday. The guy (Patrick) said he was here at his house. So then we said well we missed you at church on Sunday and he eventually asked if we could come back and teach him. So we followed up and had a great lesson with him! He lives with his girlfriend and he has a son but other than that, I think he has potential! He was really smart and interested. We will continue to work with him and do the best we can to dunk him!

We actually picked up a few investigators that day. One of them had thrown the sister missionaries out and asked them not to come back. Long story short, we followed some promptings, went to her house and got inside to share a prayer with her. She broke down in tears and said she was ready to hear our message. She said that she saw us biking around, in our 110 degree weather, all the time and knew that the Lord wanted us to teach her. It was such a testimony to me that we don’t always see the fruits of our labors. Even if we weren’t teaching people and we were getting rejected, people still see us and know that the Lord loves them and wants them to talk with us. I think she will be super solid. Her name is Jeanette and if I am still here next transfer, I look forward to teaching her more!

Wednesday we had a trainer/trainee meeting. It went well. I talked with President Mullen a little bit and he said after this transfer I wouldn’t need to be trained more. I don’t know if I will take over the area or if I will move somewhere else. I’ll go where the Lord wants me to go!!
Friday we went on exchanges and I took over the area. I was with Elder Thompson and he is a greenie. He just came out this transfer so I was sort of the senior companion. It was a really good experience. I really look forward to being able to train one day. I think it will be my favorite thing to do. I love being able to help others out and serve them and build them up soooo much. And I honestly learn so much more from them and the experience when I am out in the situation. I think Friday was our most successful day because we were more thorough in our planning.

Today, Monday, we did some shopping and just got done playing basketball. I through down so that made me really happy. I can dunk super easy now… I am hoping the rims are regulation…haha but it makes me feel good. I have to do everything I can to not get fat!!
I got everyone in my zone using my expressions and slurs…hahaha Everyone here is starting to say things like “You can’t guard me” “Meet me at the rim” “Tell me I won’t” “It’s not that serious” and they also know the rules! No zoom etc etc

Well that’s all for now! I love you all and can’t wait to hear more from you!

-Elder Fischer

9-08-2014

It’s been another eventful and great week! They go by soooo quickly. So we started out this week with the Chastity lesson with Susan and her whole family sat in on the lesson!! They all sat around the table and participated! That is huge because her dad wouldn’t even be in the room to start out with. Then he moved to lingering in the room. The he moved to sitting and sort of participating and now they are all sitting in on lessons with us! The Lord is softening their hearts! The spirit was so strong and you could see it in their eyes that they felt it; even though it was the chastity lesson.
We met with another woman. I don’t know if I talked about her yet…She is having a difficult time coming to church because she was offended. I shared the scripture that dad did with me before I went on my mission the first time. The one that says I don’t not know the meaning of all things but I know that the Lord loves us. I related it to how when I came back from my mission, people said dumb things and I didn’t understand it but I still knew the Lord loved me and was there for me and that helped me get through it. I hope it helped her.

We met with a woman who has a few disabilities and sometimes when she starts to get upset, it is really like..impossible to get her back on topic and refocused. She holds grudges and I bore testimony to her about our Savior and how much he loves and understands us. I invited her to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to help her forgive those that have wronged her in the past and promised that if she did that, she would receive comfort. She began to get teary eyed so I really hope she takes that promise seriously.

I also had the opportunity to share my testimony with the doctor I met with earlier this week and he said I could share a message with him instead of paying him. He was a member obviously. I appreciated that and he told me he really needed the message that I shared and started to cry a bit. It’s sooooo cool to be an instrument in the Lords hands. He really does all the work for me and I am grateful.

Oh and we also had 3 BAPTISMS this week!!!!!! Best week ever!!! Susan got baptized at 3 on Saturday and her parents attended that and church the next day and guess what?? Tom and Betty said it was the best 3 hours of their life and they want to take the discussions now!!! The Lord has done such an amazing job in softening their hearts and little 11 year old Susan led the way for them! At 7 we had the Baptism for Keoni and Valerie! Keoni’s face was absolutely priceless when he came out of the water. He looked straight out at everyone and smiled ear to ear. He was soooo happy! I’m so excited for their family. Ben is their dad and baptized both of them. They are going to be awesome. Keoni was talking about how he was so excited to be baptized because he had some “big sins” that he couldn’t wait to get rid of. haha he was referring to one time when he stole a loli pop or something. I love that kid. Nothing brings more happiness in the world than missionary work. A good fellowshipping ward makes all the difference in the world! Help the missionaries!

So this week I’ve studied a lot about prayer. In Mosiah…I think it is 27:26-27 it talks about the faith that Alma had when he was praying for his son and the sons of Mosiah. I think we can learn so much from his example and we should really strive to have that faith when we pray for those we care about; our friends, family, and those who have lost and forgotten their way back to our heavenly father. If we do, I KNOW that our heavenly father will soften their hearts because I’ve seen it happen first hand with Betty and Tom.

I hope all is well and I appreciate all your support and love! I love you all!

-Elder Fischer

“If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you” 9/01/14

It was another hot and great week! It was super busy but Elder Randall and I really busted it and reached Standard! I didn’t think that we were going to get it at first because the week started out really slow in terms of lessons. We helped an old man move 3 storage units of junk on Tuesday. That took foooooorever! Then we helped someone move the next day as well. And we also had to take a trip up to Riverside to return one of the missionaries cars because he got his driving privileges revoked. After all of that and more, we were sitting on a Thursday with about 5 or 6 lessons. So we had a lot of work to do. We prayed for miracles and worked and worked and got standard though!

We had zone conference on Tuesday and that took the whole day. It was really good though. We discussed planning and all that fun stuff. I learned a lot of valuable lessons. All of the first time missionaries and departing missionaries bore their testimonies at the end. That was a very cool experience. I had a lot of people ask me when I was leaving which was really awkward because I am just arriving…One guy mentioned us hanging out at BYU then I told him that I still had another 2 years! He is chillin at about 20 months. I talked to the mission president and his wife for a little bit and they said some really nice things that I appreciated. The guys have been giving me a hard time about training after this transfer, then being AP at 6 months and I just ignore them. They like to tease. Haha they are all really awesome. Everyone is really nice and asks to go on exchanges with me so that’s been fun. I think I have the coolest guys in the mission around me. I’ve made such good friends here in the mission so quickly. We have a barney costume here and you can imagine that that is just going to bring a lot of fun experiences…There are so many things that you can do with a barney costume…. It was almost like I already knew them before I came. Elder Randall is obviously one of those guys. Although lately he keeps singing “I’ll be home for Christmas 😦 hahahah I actually think it’s really funny. Just let him have his fun.

Keoni and Val are still super solid! We cranked out 3 lessons with them this week about the Word of Wisdom, Tithing, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. Val was kind of concerned about tithing at first. I could just tell even though she didn’t want to admit it so I bore testimony to her and explained that God knows us and exactly what we need. Any blessings we receive from him are tenfold more valuable than any amount of money and those blessings are ones that will last through the eternities. Money will not matter after this life. That seemed to comfort her. They are set for this Saturday at 7:00! I’m excited!

Susan is still doing very well. We met with her and her aunt this week. Her aunt had taken the discussions when she was younger and didn’t really seem to take interest then. However, she participated in our lesson and looked pretty happy at the idea of coming to church. Unfortunately she didn’t show (Seeds were planted though and I think she will find the church one day. She is a great woman. Now we just need to get a hold of Susan’s mom. She was at church and really seems to be enjoying it. I think she will be baptized soon.

We picked up a new investigator this week! Her name is Vanessa. She is from a Tongan ward in Orange County. She moved to Hemet just about a week ago. I think she will be a fun one to deal with but there is a lot of work to do. She used to be associated with like… RLDS I think. Her parents were huge polygamists and she had a tough time moving past that but she looooooves the missionaries and wants to meet and be with us about every day. She seems responsive and I really look forward to teaching and meeting with her more.

Exciting 5th Sunday!!! We talked about a new program that was recently started in northern Cali. It’s called “Just Serve”. It’s a website that you can register for, member or not, and it’s going to be awesome. There will be projects all around our area that we can sign up for and go serve the community. It isn’t meant to be used for proselyting but if people you serve ask you, you can teach them about the church. We aren’t supposed to bring it up first. It’s more of a way to bridge the gap and show people that Mormons are real people too. It will help soooo much with the community and one of the cool parts is that President Mullen asked for it to be part of our mission because of the unproductive hours in the afternoon. We will have about 10 hours of service each week. I think that is awesome because that’s one of the concerns I expressed to you all before leaving to come out here. I wanted to be active and involved. It just shows how inspired the mission call is that we are one of the missions testing this program out. The Lord is really looking out for me.
Our mission is officially an IPad mission as of today. However it could be until next year that we actually get them. We really have no idea. We will be able to do online proselyting for an hour each day and we may get IPhones as well so that we have a Hotspot for internet and can sign up for the service activities. Apparently there have been missionaries who contact friends back home and Skype in to teach them. Then your family could be there also and it would count as a member present lesson! It’s so cool how missionary work is really evolving. So find people for me to teach family!!! Then I can see you guys;) hahaha

So one funny but really kind of sad thing that happened this week…We were out doing our contacts and some drunk 10 year olds approached us and were going on about how they don’t believe in God and how their dad taught them that. It’s so sad. The kids were 10 at the very oldest. And they were drunk. I can only pray that they are able to turn their lives around at some point. That same night I ran into some Hispanics and I got through a Hispanic contact and taught them a little bit of the first lesson! That was really cool and I’m glad I had a little background there. I got the information and will pass it along to the Spanish elders. Which by the way, they are hilarious. Funniest guys I have ever met. I love them so much.

Well that’s all for now! I hope everything is going well and I love you all so much!! Thank you for your prayers and all that you do for me. I’m seriously having the time of my life and I love every single day. I couldn’t have done it without all of you right behind me.

If you have never read the talk “Circle of Fire” By Sterling W Still do it…

“A high and holy ambition tightly held, can of itself produce a tremendous power in human life”

“When anyone is confronted with a problem, life usually allows him a choice between a number of alternatives. No one who cringes and runs away from his problem is ever permitted to marry the princess. It is also true that if we stop working every time we get sore hands or tired feet or aching hearts, we can never rule the kingdom. But it is a very interesting fact that if one keeps on using his hands, the skin will not all come off, but instead the soreness will eventually disappear and the hands will become firm and strong, and able to handle the most difficult tasks without discomfort.”

-Elder Fischer