SLC WEEK 21

 Hola todos!!

Once again a great week. And again one of my favorites in the mission haha (I swear I say that every week) But anyways it was still crazy and we saw a ton of miracles.

I was able to go to the temple 3 times this week! First we went on Tuesday to do baptisms with some of our recent converts. Mafe was there and it was super spiritual as always. But me and Elder Antezana got super hungry after so we went to McDonalds which was pretty nice. Then on Thursday we went with all the Spanish missionaries to do Endowments. That was awesome and the spirit was super strong during the whole time. And then again we went on Saturday to go with Daniela who is our most recent convert. It was her first time able to go and it was really cool to help her get into the temple and do baptisms just 2 weeks after she was baptized! 

On Monday for FHE with the ward we played charades and it was all in Spanish so I only understood like half of it haha but I just copied all the Latinos goin crazy. But I got us like 5 points when it was my turn so lesssss gooooo 

Weather has been nice lately so that means it hasn't snowed in a while. I still get to wear my sweaters with my baby ties which is nice. I have like 3 and I wear them just about everyday

So the biggest miracle this week was our friends Hector, Francesco, Jonathan, Tairi, Gabriela, Luciana, and Diriana. They all have a date to be baptized and they all have such a strong desire to be baptized, especially Francesco. He is basically like our 3rd companion haha he keeps bringing more people that want to hear the message and he's basically our finding source haha. But I'm so grateful for them and their strong desire to progress and come unto Christ through the Restored Gospel. 

Also I hit 6 months since starting the MTC! It's crazy that it's already been 6 months and I've been in Salt Lake for this long. My Spanish has gotten a lot better which is a huge blessing. I just have to focus more on becoming a better teacher which can be hard sometimes. I've been blessed to have such great comps that have helped me out a lot with that. I'm also grateful for the people we have baptized, Mafe, Elias, Caleb, Ana, Eduardo, and Daniela. They are all amazing people and they are all active and continuing in the gospel. They also all have their temple recommends and have all been besides Ana whose coming with us next temple trip and Caleb who is a little nugget because he moved. But he is still going to church and is active which is awesome.

But overall, as usual, an awesome week again! Lots of good stuff happening here in SLC Spanish YSA. I live the work and its been an awesome first 6 months. I only have a sister mission left haha

Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Randall

(I'm pretty sure the pictures are in a different order but I'm sure you can figure it out)

- Elder Atilano focused studying hard

- Temple trip with the zone

-The homies on date 

-FHE charades with the ward

-The homies at FHE

-Cool looking sunset on the mountain

-Lunch with some of the missionaries 

-Us at the Temple with Daniela

-Us with the English Ysa Elders

-Pday activity at an escape room

Video of the peeps on date to be baptized and when their dates are fire

SLC WEEK 20

 Hola todos!

This week was one of my favorites in the mission so far. We saw a TON of miracles and the hand of the Lord in the lives of us and the people we are teaching. 

First off we have 5 people in our area who are on date to be baptized! 4 of those people are good friends who keep bringing more and more people each time we meet with them. They have a strong desire to Learn and to come unto the Savior by baptism. Their names are Francesco, Gabriela, Johnathan, and Taiti. They are also all from Venezuela and we always just meet up at Francescos house to teach all of them. They are super cool people and are progressing really quick. They are in the picture below but when we put them on date I was on exchanges so my comp and Elder Mead.

On that exchange me and Elder Atilano went to visit Mafe, a recent convert and awesome friend, and her family. They made us some Patacones which are basically one of my favorite foods. It's a fried platano and we also had some good side dishes with it, but I forgot the names of them haha. They are some of the best cooks I know

Hector is a guy we met this week. He is from Venezuela and is one of the most ready people I have ever met. We taught him almost all the lessons already and he is solid on date for February 20th. He is such a cool guy and I have no doubt that he will be baptized soon. So keep a lookout for the upcoming weeks for him and our house of friends from Venezuela  

We also got to go to temple Square again. We went for a pass off lesson with some other missionaries and this guy named Nestor. It was my first time back in a little while and was a ton of fun. He hasn't sent us the pictures we got with him yet so I only have the picture of the temple I took haha. 

Last p day we went to an arcade with our District which was super fun. Also our district did awesome this week and we all have a ton of people progressing really quickly.

It's been an awesome week and I hope everyone had an amazing week. The work her in SLC is awesome and I'm loving it her in the YSA Spanish ward. I hope I can stay here for one more transfer but we'll see. I love the mission and the people here are all ready and willing to accept to live the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope everyone has an great week!

Love,

Elder Randall

-District Call

-Arcade with the District 

-The homies we put on date that Elder Mead and Antezana had the lesson with

-Hector 

-Soccer 

-Temple Square trip

-Patacones 

SLC WEEK 19

 Hola todos!

So this week was pretty slow but also one of the best weeks of the mission so far. But there were a ton of miracles this week including Daniela's baptism!

So Daniela was baptized this Sunday! We had to delay it from last week because her boyfriend had Covid. But the spirit was super strong and I am so grateful to be a part of her journey to becoming a member of the church. She is super awesome and has a strong testimony already that this is the true complete church. She will definitely be a member for life. Her uncle and brother , Angel and Alejandro, is also on date to be baptized in February! So we are super excited for them as well.

Also I got transferred to the other side of the YSA Spanish ward. So still same ward but I'm just the north side of the mission. So we cover West Jordan, South Jordan, and Sandy. We are also replacing the sister missionaries so we are whitewashing the area. Rip I'm going to be honest the sisters were completely trash. They had a huge area and were just lazy. It was kinda a mess so it was a whole lot of finding and cleaning up the area.

We had a ton of miracles with relying and following the spirit. But one of those was we met this golden guy. His name is Francesco and is from Venezuela. He is super cool and we had a great lesson with him and put him on date to be baptized in February! He wants to go to all our activities and wants to be a part of the church. He came to church with us and we are hoping to start teaching his friends as well. He's in the picture below

We also found 8 new people to start teaching this week so we have had a ton of help from the Lord. We hope they all progress really well but we will see who's elect of the people we have been finding.

We also started soccer back up again. And Latinos are so crazy at soccer. They all are insane even if they aren't athletic. It's probably because they have been playing since they were 3 years old haha

But overall a great week! We are continuing to rely on the Lord and trying to help the people progress. I hope everyone has a great week! 

Love 

Elder Randall

SLC WEEK 18

Hola todos!

This was the last week of the transfer! And basically I'm getting transferred. Rip. But good news I'm staying in the ward. Just blue washing the other half. So that basically means me and Elder Antezana will be replacing the sisters that were in the area before. And honestly we don't have much to work with. The sisters didn't really do anything there these past 2 transfers so we will probably be cleaning a lot of it up. But I'm just glad I'm still in Spanish YSA and Elder Antezana speaks Spanish so it should be another good transfer. We'll see

This week has been crazy covid wise. Usually we have around 100ish people at church, but this week we only had around 30. This Omnicron variant has been wiping out a ton of people we know. But their is also the flu going around so it's kinda doubled up on us here in the Salt Lake Valley. But I hope everyone stays healthy and safe!

Daniela's baptism is pushed back for this week because her fellowship/boyfriend Alvin had covid. Next Sunday is her baptism and she's solid so next week. 

Also Angel, Daniela's uncle, is close to baptism. We put him on date to be baptized. He has a strong desire to learn, but please pray for him and his family so they can feel an answer that this is the true and only church. 

We have had a bunch of new people who we have either found or had referred to us this week. And a lot of them seem to have a great interest of the gospel! But it kinda sucks I have to leave this area. But I'm still in the ward so I will still see them progress. We will see how this next transfer goes blue washing wish me luck

Overall another awesome week ending my 3rd Transfer in the mission. It's been a ton of fun with Elder Atilano and I'm excited for this transfer with Elder Antezana. I hope all is well back at home 

Love 

Elder Randall

SLC WEEK 17

 Hola todos!

Hope everyone had an awesome New Years! Ours was pretty good, we were able to chill out and meet with the zone. This is one of the last holidays for a little while, but I hope everyone has had a great holiday season and has a great new year this year! 

This week has gone by pretty quick. My comp almost drove us off a cliff, we almost got robbed, and I got a new comp for the rest of the transfer so overall pretty nice. 

So we have a new comp, Elder Lee, just for this week because his companion is struggling with some mental health issues and is going home. Elder Lee was Emergency transferred to be with us for this week until it all gets sorted out. So we are back in a trio 

So our homeowners are out of town until February and we live in their basement. We were just chilling one night when we heard footsteps upstairs. We checked the windows outside and saw none of the house lights were on. And the homeowners never told us to expect anyone to come. So of course we all thought we were getting robbed. So we all grabbed some kitchen knives and went out to the front ready to defend our home. We went up to the front door and saw tire tracks in the snow with footsteps in and out of the house. It was probably a good thing they were already gone by that time because our homeowners called us back and it was just their neighbor helping them water their plants. 

We also played futsal with some members and a bunch of nonmembers. Latinos are all crazy good even if they seem like the least athletic person you have ever seen, they can still play like a pro. 

Also it's still snowing and I thought it was just supposed to go away after Christmas, but its only gotten worse haha. But it is fun to drive in. It's pretty fun to slip all over the place, but we are always careful don't worry mom. Besides this one time where we almost drove off a cliff because we braked and started to slip, but thanks to all your prayers we were protected and didn't go off the edge haha

But more of a spiritual note Daniela is still on date for this next Sunday!! She is so ready and could be baptized tonight if she wanted to. Her uncle and brother are also taking the lessons, but they work like crazy. Like they start around 10am sometimes they don't get home until 3am. Latinos grind. But we had an awesome lesson with them and they are coming to Daniela's baptism and we are setting a date for them to be baptized the next time we meet with them. So look of for next email 

But as usual I'm still chilling here in SLC. I love this ward and rumor has it I should be staying so hooray! But you never actually know until transfers which are next week. I can't believe my 3rd Transfer is almost over. Time flys when you are having fun and working hard. But I hope everyone has an awesome week and stays warm! Happy New Years

Love,

Elder Randall