SLC WEEK 42

Hola todos!

Great week! Lots of miracles, I met the ward Peruvian, we had another bomb to deal with , and we played some bingo. And we also have transfers which were blown up by Spanish Disobedience again..  

^^ Sorry for the long email, but this is the long short of it if you don't like to read

Emerson, Melina, Mariana, and Carlos all got baptized!! They have been so fun to teach and have been awesome! I can't wait to see them in the temple and for Emerson to baptize Anthony his son this coming February when he turns 8. But I'm so glad for their desire to change and become members! (Don't have a pic because the members haven't sent it to us yet)

"The Ward Peruvian" This was actually pretty funny. I'm not sure why, but in the Latino culture everyone makes fun of Peruvians. And early in my mission I thought it was weird until I've had so many experiences build up overtime where I understand where the "joke" comes from. Basically most Peruvians in general are just weird, like socially awkward weird. We knocked a member this week and he came out front to talk to us. And as he was talking to us he kept talking funny and puckering his lips anytime he said the "o" sound. Also he was standing funky and kept moving around and talking in a Peruvian voice. I don't know how else to describe it, but once again confirmed to me that Peruvians are just socially weird. After we left his house I understood why other missionaries called him "The Ward Peruvian" 

Another bomb  . We were out in a lesson when we got a text from president telling us to help out with a companionship in our zone who just wasn't working at all. We had known about the situation but no progress was being made with their District Leader or Sister Training Leaders. So we had to go meet with those sisters and had a long discussion with them. They kind of shut off immediately and kinda hate us now, but that's ok. They kinda ticked us off when at the end they said thanks for wasting our time. We wanted to lash back bc they do be wasting our time but we kept it in.  But they are actually working now and communicating with the Sister Training Leaders so it worked out. Sisters can be frustrating haha

MLC Bingo. We created a list of fun dumb inside jokes to say as we gave a training to other mission leaders in the mission. It was pretty funny because those meeting are usually long and kinda boring

Transfers were crazy this time. We got chastised as a mission last night by an Elder from the quorum of the 70ty. He talked about obedience and chastised us very lovingly and hopefully it shapes up pur mission. But basically what happened was 5 elders from Spanish went home and president sent them back. These were the first people he had to send home and it was for the best. Those elders were doing some dumb stuff. But anyways because of that Spanish has no missionaries and we had to close and combine areas sadly. Spanish is going to struggle for a while

Transfers. Basically I'm staying and I'm getting a new companion Elder Lancy. He is pretty funny and is a native speaker so it should be fun

Basically great week! ZL is busy. This area is amazing and I wish I had more time to work it harder. But it's has been a ton of fun. And I have enjoyed this transfer with Elder Smith. He told me this has been one of the roughest transfers as a ZL because of all these dumb problems we have to deal with. But most of them are over and it's been an awesome learning experience for me.

Hope all is well back at home and that everyone has an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder Randall

SLC WEEK 41

Hola todos!

This week was pretty great. Lots of awesome stuff happening in this area! Also it's been a very long but busy week

Zone Conference was really great. It was super spiritual because we talked a lot about the significance of the Atonement and personalizing it for us rather than just teaching about it. They also talked a lot about how obedience is important so we can have a greater portion of the Spirit. 

Then we did some exchanges throughout the week. We did 4 to be exact which is basically the whole week. It's been crazy haha but lots of fun. I spent one exchange with Elder Belt who is a legend

But still crazy as a ZL. Lots of stuff to do and barely enough time to do it. But I love it though, it's a lot of fun. We have an amazing zone which makes it easy

Area is going great! We had to push back Emersons family's baptism to next Sunday but look for that next week 

Also happy Father's day!! Love you dad!

But its been a great week! Hope yall have a good one!!

Love,

Elder Randall 

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-Multi Zone Activity 

- "Perception is Paramount to Progression and Ultimate Perfection" -Elder Safsten (housemate)

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-the house

-ELDER BELT

-Elder belt with his Scooby-Doo pj's 

SLC WEEK 40

Hola todos!

This week was interesting.. someone told us they are Walmart, we had 16 people at church, and we had to defuse a bomb.. soooo yeah.. an awesome week with a TON of miracles, just very interesting 

"Soy Walmart trabajo todos los días." Its funny out of context, but this Literally translates to I'm Walmart I work everyday. This was something someone told us because he is interested in the gospel and wants to progress, but literally works all day everyday. From like 7am to 8pm. That tends to be the problem with people here because rent is so high. They can't stop working or they have to live in their car or literally be homeless. Oof

Defusing the bomb  Basically a companionship in our zone blew up at their companion. It has been a build up of frustration for this Elder until he just couldn't stand his companion. We got there just in time before he threw a punch but long story short we did an emergency exchange to help them both calm down and now they are good. But Holy crap that was so dumb. 

We started up Spanish Exchanges with the whole mission to help people with running their areas. It has been a ton of fun being in those areas again. Spanish on Spanish exchanges are the best. 

Also we tend to help people get married a lot in this area. This week we helped Emerson and his wife Melina get married! Then we set a date for baptism for this Saturday with their 3 kids! 2 of them are 8 and 9 years old so they will get baptized with them! We are super excited for them!

We have still been super busy. One with the work in this area and two Zone Leader is crazy busy. But this area is insane. We are so blessed and I don't know why. We had 16 people in person at church this week who aren't members and are all progressing. We solidified a family we have been teaching for baptism this Saturday so look for that next email  but I don't know why I'm here. We have the 2 best apartments in the mission that are packed full of Latinos. So there is way to much work for just us here and we are wayyyy too blessed. I'm so grateful to be here.

Overall great week. Just vibing here in Salt Lake. The work is amazing and I couldn't be more blessed.  But anyways I hope you all have an amazing week and all is well back at home! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Randall

SLC WEEK 39

Hola todos!

Pretty busy week and not a ton I can think of right now haha but this week was great.

We had several exchanges with English this week. And in this zone most people have bikes. So I just to spend my first day in my mission riding a bike! Haha I'm so blessed to have made it almost 10 months without riding a bike. Having a car is very nice.

We have a ton of progressing people now which has been awesome! We currently have a family of 4 on date for June and we also put another 2 people on date for June as well! The work here moves very quick and the people here are amazing. I'm in the promised land haha

I love being here in this zone. Everyone is very unified but we have been working on setting higher expectations for our missionaries. But I have started to figure it out and it's been a ton of fun!

Salt Lake is awesome. Literally the best mission and I love being here. I hope everyone is well and has a great week!

Love,

Elder Randall

-biking for the first time

-homemade sushi 

-My last comp Elder Santos "playing" Mario kart

-Multi district Council 

-Book of mormon

-birthday lunch for someone in our zone

-early morning hike

-the hike 

-everyone in our zone

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