Pictures!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all :) I hope that this email finds you all filled with the Spirit of Christ today. What an incredible time to be a missionary. I love and appreciate you all, and I am so grateful for all your support and love. I miss you all, especially at this wonderful time of the year, but I know there is no greater time to serve the Lord.

Well, I am loving Lodi. It is truly a blessed place. Biking is a new adventure, and I love it! It brings a great feeling to  missionary work.

 We have a baptism coming up this Saturday with a man named Damien. He is such a humble man with such true intent. And God truly answers his prayers. He has strengthened my testimony of this church and of the Holy Spirit. He is amazing and we are so excited to see him enter the waters of baptism and receive the Holy Ghost, and feel the joy and blessings that come from that.

I am meeting so may wonderful people down here and loving it. Elder Fernandez is fantastic, and I am so excited for this transfer. We are going to do a lot of work here.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!! Be safe, and remember that I love and miss you, and that your Heavenly Father does even more :)

Elder Stone

                                       Some wonderful families who feed our missionaries!

Transfers!!

Hello all!  

Well it has been quite a week. On Tuesday, we had the wonderful blessing of going to temple Christmas conference. It is such a blessing to have a temple so close. They had a wonderful program with a lot of music and some talks all by missionaries which brought the spirit of Christmas so strongly. Then we had an amazing lunch. Then President Lewis spoke to us for a little bit about the temple, how sacred it is, and the covenants we make there. Then we got to go to the temple! It was amazing to be in there with so many amazing missionaries. President and Sister Lewis welcomed each one of us individually in the celestial room. It was incredible! The spirit of the temple cannot be beat.

This week, Elder Idso and myself tried to focus on doing better with the first moments with our investigators. We asked better questions, and really tried to listen and let the Spirit work. It was amazing, and we saw some wonderful blessings from it.  

Well this transfer has officially ended. Tomorrow I will be moving to the Lodi 4th Branch! I will be in Lodi, and on bike! It will be a very different experience. I will be companions with Elder Fernandez, who I think just got finished getting trained. It will be fun, and I am sure I will learn so much! It will be fun. 

I hope that you all are getting into the wonderful spirit of Christmas! What a blessed time of the year. It is no wonder that by celebrating the birth of our Savior, and focusing on giving rather than getting, there can be a happier spirit in the air. 

I love and miss you all. Stay safe and warm. 

Elder Stone

Miracles and snow!!

Well we got some snow this week! So that was exciting! I got to drive in the snow because Elder Idso is from Arizona and would've killed us! So that was fun. Pretty sketchy at times in the icy hills!

We had a good week and we really saw the hand of the Lord! It is the small miracles that we need to look for and be grateful for! We had an unexpected on this week. We went to our appointment with one of our main investigators and he wasn't there unfortunately. He is in a trailer park, and there are a few spanish families as usual around, so we decided to try a couple! First we caught another person home and set an appointment! He was like 17 or 18 and loved talking about missionary work and what we do! And we walked back around to move on, and there was a lady moving things into a truck, and so we helped her out! "You guys came just at the right time!" It is the best thing ever to hear those words. So then we talked to her mother! A lot of her family are members but she doesn't really know much about the church! She was white, but it was a cool little miracle. And then right after that, our appointment pulled up! And we had an awesome lesson. The Lord works through mysterious ways! 

Well I hope you are all staying safe and warm. I hope you can all feel the spirit of Christ this Christmas season. What an amazing time. I love and miss you all. Have a blessed week!

Elder Stone

New pic's!

Zone Conference and miracles!

Hello all,

Well the week before this one was quite the rough week. We had an extremely hard time seeing anyone, especially our investigators. Then we had Zone Conference! There with us we had Elder Baxter of the Seventy (I believe he gave a talk in april's GC about single mothers?). It was pretty amazing to have a General Authority be there to instruct us. Instruct/chastise ;) No he really did hit us pretty hard with a lot of things, which is great. It pushes us to be better. Between him and President and Sister Lewis, we had 16 commitments. It began to be very overwhelming, and we have a lot to improve on, but it is great because when we are satisfied with where we are, we will always fail to hit our potential. I feel like even though we were working hard, we were settling for too less and not bringing forth effort enough to have the miracles that we needed. Faith without works is dead! We have faith, but we were not manifesting that faith enough in our works. So Elder Idso and myself have been recommitted to being better, and we have seen amazing blessings from that. A real blessing of life is the ability to try and improve each day. 

One of the things that we have seen great things from has been opening our mouths, and declaring the gospel freely. We received a challenge from Elder Ballard to this mission challenging us to contact 10 people, appropriately, each day and to discuss the gospel with them. This is very hard up here in the Hills, but we have been doing our best, talking to everyone and trying to bring the gospel to everyone we see. The whole zone has seen incredible blessings. Miracles have happened as we have simply done better in finding those that God puts into our paths! With talking to everyone comes a lot more rejection as well, but it just strengthens our resolve to keep doing it. Somehow ;) But we have just seen great blessings from it and it is so awesome to see progression. 

We are still struggling in getting people to church and seeing our investigators at all really. But our vision is raised and we are working harder than ever to find those the Lord has prepared. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He is hastening His work and the truth of God is filling the earth! I am so blessed to be a part of it. 

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving. I am thankful for each of you and your love and support. Stay strong and safe! Love,

Elder Stone

Beautiful California!

Colder weather!

This week has been very cold. yay ;)

Well happy to report that this week went a lot better than the last. While again we weren't able to get anyone to church this week, we are really seeing progression!! Miguel and Luz Hernandez are an amazing family we are teaching in Cameron Park. They accepted a baptismal date on Wednesday! YES. They are so amazing. A great little family with so much potential. The date may not work out because they haven't been able to come to church, but they are progressing and doing awesome. A little while ago we watched the Restoration video with them, but it was in English because they couldn't find the remote :P He understood most of it, but her no. But when we came back the next time, they said they found the remote, and they had watched it in Spanish and even had their kids watch it too! Which was awesome. We also got to see Leo, a 16 year old from El Salvador. He is awesome and a super smart kid. It is so great to teach him, and he really has true intent to know if this is true!

We also are working with another 16 year old named Ulises. He accepted a date as well, but again it will be hard because of church and work. But he is great! Him and his two younger brothers are the most mature kids I have ever met. So respectful and professional, it is awesome. They keep appointments better than adults!

We have Zone Conference this week on Friday! Elder Baxter of the Seventy will be there! It will be awesome and we are excited to learn at the feet of such a great man. Last Zone Conference the Spirit was so strong, and I am looking forward to having that again. 

The church hosted a huge all-faith devotional yesterday about putting Christ back into Christmas! Our stake president and a reverend lady gave talks, and they had a live nativity and music and everything! It was awesome. We were going to translate for it, but not one of the tons of people we invited showed up, so AWESOME. ;) Thus is missionary work!

I love being out here. It is so exciting to be a part of this work. God knows what we need and when we need it. And He will give it to us in His time and His way, because He knows best! To trust God is the best way to find happiness in life. 

I love and miss you all. Thank you for your love and support and prayers. Stay strong and safe, and look for missionary opportunities! Sharing the light we have is the best way to increase that light. I think a blessing that the Lord gives to us as missionaries often times, is the ability to see people in their potential. Seeing them progress and come closer to that potential is the most rewarding thing ever. 

Love you all! 

Elder Stone

Doug and Brayden

The new place! :)

 

The new move and a little sickness!

Well this was quite the week. We got all moved into our new place and are adjusting well. The Morris family is amazing. We came extremely short of our goals this week, which was very disappointing. We are trying to find ways to improve and be more diligent, and we know the Lord will not let us fail. If only people didn't have agency ;)

There is a Stone Ln in Placerville! So booyah! But literally a lot of stoners live on it so it is interesting.

I am glad to hear that all is well there and that the fall weather has been sweet! 

Not too much has happened this week. Elder Idso went to a baptism in Lodi on Saturday, so I got to go with the Zone Leaders to a temple tour with their investigator Christine, who is incredible. It was so amazing to just be around the temple. I wish I could have stayed there forever. Nothing beats the temple and the spirit it brings. 

Elder Idso and myself still feel like we are on the verge of great success, we just need to keep going hard and having faith and trust in the Lord. 

Yesterday we were unable to attend church which was unfortunate. Elder Idso got very sick all Saturday night and we didn't go out all day. I caught whatever it was last night as well, which isn't too surprising being that I am with em 24/7. Tried to eat some dinner and then my body just said nope it is going back. Haven't thrown up in quite a while so that was unfortunate. Hate it when a good streak is ruined.  We ate dinner with a family friday night and they said right after we left they all started throwing up, so I think that is where it came from! Their little boy had it like the day before we came. But anyways feeling a little better. I think it is just a 24 hour thing. Good thing it is P day and we aren't missing proselyting. Hopefully tonight we will be able to get out!

Not much else went on this week! We are looking for great things and miracles this week so we can achieve the goals that we set in faith! There is always room to improve. 

I love being a missionary. This is the Lord's work! Love and miss you all. Stay safe and strong, and look for missionary opportunities! How great shall be your joy!

Elder Stone

Lot's of pics!! :)

Me and Heston, one of the strongest & most amazing converts I've ever met!

Armor of God!!

The road to our church!  Gorgeous!

 

 

Me and Elder Williams. (The greatest friend on my mission so far!)

The beautiful Sacramento Temple

Our amazing "mansion" house!

 

          Our Zone!!

 We are the triplets. haha. Me, Elder Herd and Elder Holgerson. :)

 

 

Moving out of the mansion!

Hey guys!

Well, we have seen a really tough past few weeks. But we need to continuously improve and work harder and count on those blessings to come in the Lord's time. Transfers have come, and Elder Idso and myself will be staying here! I am grateful for that, because while it has been hard, I feel like we are on the verge of just breaking through. This area will be on fire! On the literal hand though, there's another forest fire near us.

For the next transfer, we will be moving out of the mansion. It makes me sad, but glad we get to be the last ones there! Doug will be moving out and selling the place to go be with his family in Utah, which is great for him. We will be moving to the Morris family's home tomorrow!

For Halloween we went to a members home and watched Ephraim's Rescue, carved pumpkins, had a barbeque, and zone training! It was a good night. But it felt extremely weird watching a movie. ha :P

The new camera is amazing! Thank you so much. Couldn't be any better.

It is getting very cold up here. Below freezing at nights! But the fall colors are beautiful up here. I realized this week how much I am going to miss this area when I am called away. It is incredible!

We had the opportunity to go to the temple this morning. It was amazing. Nothing is more spiritually rewarding than going to the temple. Words can't describe the spirit there! So thankful to be able to go.

Things are going well. Staying safe and working hard! I love and thank you all for your support and prayers. You are in mine. Stay strong and remember that Christ is always there when we need Him. Love, 

Elder Stone

Hike pictures :)

                                                                Our whole zone!

Mountain hikes with amazing views!

Hello all,

Not too much went on this week. It was a good one! Elder Idso and myself are adjusting and the Lord is helping us find more success. We have been blessed to be able to find and contact a lot of people. This next week we are going to be more bold and loving in inviting others to come to Christ, and I am excited to see what will happen!

We went on a hike today as a zone, and it was great. Beautiful weather, and it was a fun hike. It went along the American River, which runs through the whole mission. Amazing views, and it was really refreshing to be up in the mountains. I will really miss that when I leave this area!

This is the last week of this transfer, which has flown by. It will be interesting to see what happens for next transfer!

Not too much else going on this week. We will be having a zone activity Halloween evening, along with zone training, and will maybe be carving pumpkins and have approval to watch Ephraims Rescue. Should be a fun evening.

I find myself craving spanish food a lot. It is delicious and amazing. 

It has been a hard couple weeks, but it will always get better! There are always miracles if we have faith and try to see the Lord's hand in our lives. Thank you for all of your support and love. Stay strong there! Love and miss you all!

Elder Stone

Some pic's!

Zone service project.

Me, Elder Martinez and our zone leaders, Elder Lagazo & Elder Williams.

Me learning how to milk a goat! :)

A new companion, challenges and blessings!

Well This week has been crazy. It has been a hard one. Elder Martinez got transferred unexpectedly, and it has been very hard to lead the area. It has been a real challenge, but I have learned a lot from it, and the Lord is helping us to have success despite the fact I have no idea what I am doing!

 

My new companion is Elder Idso. There are still a couple weeks left of this transfer, but I don't know if I will be staying with him for the next one or if I will be out of here soon. We will find out! Elder Idso is great and I am enjoying working with him and learning from him. 

 

It has been hard, as three of our greatest families have dropped us this week. It really hurts to see someone that you have come to care about so much about decide they don't want to hear it anymore. Especially because you can see how happy it could make them. That has been hard, but we are going to work through it and try to find those that the Lord has prepared to receive us, because He will not let us fail. 

 

I have been really blessed to have been given a really nice jacket and a side bag for free. It is good, especially because it is starting to get pretty cold up here.  Some of the trees are starting to change up here, mostly yellows! But it looks beautiful and hopefully I can get a picture sometime soon. The camera that I brought out has bit the dust. The system is messed up and it won't function at all. If I can't fix it, I'll look for something and let you know!

 

I love being in this work. I love studying the gospel and having my testimony strengthened every day. I hope you can have that too, and that you can see opportunities to spread the good news that we have! I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers. 

 

Love,

Elder Stone

Crazy and nice people!

Hello all!

 

Honestly this week was a pretty hard one. The work kind of slowed down as we had a hard time getting with our progressing investigators. A lot of fallen through appointments, but also a lot of blessings! 

One great thing that happened this week really shows how amazing these spanish people are. I like white people too, but they are incredible! ;) 

We had an appointment one night and had about 15 minutes till. We decided to go see a dropped investigator and try to set an appointment with them and maybe share something, so on we went. When we knocked, they opened the door and had just finished getting dinner set up. Just right then, they set two more places, got us in, and had us eat dinner with them. Our appointment ended up cancelling on us not 5 minutes later. These people are so kind. But then after we were done eating, they bring out a cake, and it is their daughter's birthday! They sing, take pictures, all with us right there and in it. We had cake and talked, shared a message, and then left, feeling so loved and blessed. These people are amazing. 

Church was hard, everyone who we thought was coming fell through. But we need to focus and work harder to get them there. That is where they can find the most happiness and they can see what we are all about. It is amazing to have them there, and we will try to harder to do that. 

We met some very interesting people. Being up here in the hills, you see a lot of crazy ones. As we were leaving one appointment, we were about to turn on to the main road, but let a guy cross it first. He came over to my window without me noticing, which scared me real bad. But we rolled down the window, and he proceeded to give a very interestingly-worded, spirited, and hostile religious rant. The whole time I was very confused. I think he was commending us for what we were doing, trying to spread the word. But I am still confused. Haha it was hilarious. He talked to us through the window for about 15 minutes, as we just sat there with our blinker on. The poor guy should find help. But that is okay. 

I am thankful for all your love and support, and I want to write as much as I can. Wish time was not so tight! I miss you all, stay strong and keep on pushing.

Love,

 Elder Stone

Roadblocks and bumps. :)

It has been quite the week. Conference was incredible, and it helps so much for our investigators to see the prophets and apostle and feel that power. We have hit a few roadblocks with some of our investigators but we are going to work harder than Satan is so that we can help them. It has been kind of a rough week, but I have been able to learn a lot, and the opportunity to be involved in such a good work is always amazing!

Agustin is doing well. He has some bumps along the road, like we would expect anyone to have, but he is learning and doing well. After we were done talking to him outside the taqueria the other day, some lady sitting there stood up and asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We said no and explained who we were, and she proceeded to bash all three of us. She was trying to convince him not to listen to us, and we told her he was a member. She told him that she was sorry for him, and that we don't have to earn our way to heaven, Jesus paid for it. It made me sad to see someone being very ignorant of what we actually believe, and then being so unkind to someone who is truly trying to follow Christ. This is a twisted world. Why can't we all just get along? :)

 

Maricela is an incredible investigator we are really pushing for. She is a single mom with two kids, and is so humble and willing to follow Christ. I hope we can help her to continue increasing her faith so she can be happy.

 

We are doing well here, it is flying by. It should be an interesting week with many more adventures! Thank you all for your love and support, and I am so glad things are going well there. I love you all and miss you all,

Elder Stone

Agustin's Baptism!

Agustin's baptism!! (He is the one on the right.)

Brayden's 1st Zone Leaders- Elder Williams & Elder Hernandez

Agustin is baptized!

Hey all,

 

Well on Saturday, we had the amazing experience of seeing Agustin get baptized. He was so prepared by the Lord to come unto Christ and receive the gospel. He has a determination to become better and to obey that is a great example to me. Made me so happy to see him make those covenants. It was very humbling to be able to help confirm him. So thankful for the opportunity to be a part of that. :)

 

We had a few investigators come to church yesterday! It was great to have them there and to see the members come and see and get excited about the work. 

 

We had a transfer dinner that the stake puts on for all the new missionaries. It was nice not feeling like the new guy ;)

 

I am sorry to hear about Grant and Jack. I will keep them in my prayers for sure and I hope everything works out.

 

Ooooh it amazes me every time hearing about how fast Emmie is growing. She is so cute!

I am excited for general conference! While I will miss the cinnamon rolls BAD, it will be an amazing thing to watch it on the mission. And it will be hard to watch it in Spanish! But I am very excited and it is a great opportunity for investigators as well.

I will send pictures pronto k? Thank you all for your support and love and prayers. It is a great experience to be in this work. The Lord really does call the weak things of the world, and I am a testimony of that! But I know who He calls, He strengthens and qualifies if we are willing. I love the gospel and my Savior. This truly is His work!

 

Love,

Elder Stone

Lots of rain!!

Lizard we found in our house!

First transfer already done!

Sorry I forgot to mention that transfer week p days are on Tuesday!!

 

I can't believe it has already been a transfer. Almost 3 months. wow.

This week was a very good one! We really saw the Lord's hand in His work.

Sometimes when you thing something goes wrong, it is really a blessing.

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders and we were going to go visit an old investigator that had been dropped. I ended up getting the address wrong and the lady was totally white, uninterested, and had no idea who the people were that we were looking for. Oops! But as we were walking back to the car a spanish family pulled up. We talked to them, left them a card, and set up a return appointment! We went to the appointment and they weren't home, which isn't uncommon, because love them to death, but Spanish just never remember. So we were a little frustrated but as we were leaving we saw the sister missionaries helping someone move some stuff. We went and helped them and they said they had jsut tracted into a spanish family nearby! We went to see them and they are amazing. We ended up seeing the family we were trying to see later anyways, and had a great lesson with them. They should be coming to church this sunday and they are incredible. Even when things fall through, I know the Lord will provide. He put you in that spot for a reason.

 

We got rain a couple days ago all day! It was freezing and I definitely need a jacket. Bleck.

I will probably have to write more later and send pictures!

We have been finding all kinds of critters up here. There are spiders everywhere, so no surprise there, but there was a scorpion in my bathroom and we found a lizard in the house last night. Fun times!

 

I love you all. Thank yo uso much for the packages and letters and all. As of right now I don't need anymore snacks :P We have a ton, and I love them :) But probably not much more for a little while....!

 

I really appreciate it though. Thank you for the music Grandma and the games! And thank you all just for your love and support. I miss you all, and I love you so much. 

We ran into a guy this week who told us that he had an addiction to gambling and it destroyed his life. We told him about the plan of salvation and he just said he didn't really care about that because he doesn't love his wife and he is only there so the kids can have money to live. He has basically given up on life and doesn't care, and it all started from that gambling addiction. It is so interesting to meet so many people and learn so much, and sometimes very sad. But I am trying to take advantage of being able to meet so many people! It is an incredible opportunity.

I love you all. Thank you for everything. Keep telling me how you all are, I love hearing about all of it. 

 

Love,

Elder Stone

Pictures of the hiking activity!

Feels like Utah!

Hey guys!

This week has been a pretty slow one. We failed to meet a lot of our goals which was frustrating. But we have an amazing week planned and I am very excited for it. 

 

Agostin is still going strong! He has quit smoking and coffee, and it just on fire. It is incredible to see someone growing and increasing in faith. He participated a ton in the gospel principles class, and I just stood there like a proud parent. It was awesome. 

 

We have a couple more people that we are very excited about. I love meeting people that are just incredible. You see them in terms of potential and love and it is so rewarding. Hopefully we will kill it this week!

 

Mom and Dad, I am pretty sure it takes about 6 days or so to get here, which is frustrating. But I am still getting them I think! Not the one from the 10th yet. I got the pictures and everything and thank you so much! Made me super happy and I love looking at them all. 

 

That is crazy how fast Emmy is growing. She is the best.

Spanish is coming along. El Dorado area is really hard to keep up spanish on because you don't get to speak it much, so it has been hard, but still progressing! Some people are still almost impossible to understand. But getting there!

 

Today we went up to do a hike as a zone activity or whatever. As we got in the higher elevation I felt like I was back in Utah, which is great, but not at the same time! We went on a short hike and it felt really good. The air has been much cleaner. 

 

I am so glad to hear that things are going well with school and all. Keep up the good work! :) I will send pictures and anything else if I can remember! (Always forget when I get on here)

Love,

Elder Stone

Pretty cool miracle!

Hey everyone!

 

My P-day is still on Monday! That was just a special occasion because of the spanish activity!

 

Dad, that is awesome you got to meet and see all them. That is so cool and it would be so amazing to be around them. And the concert sounded great too!

This week has been hard and we struggled to get our goals. Agostin is doing great though and he came to church! It was great and we are very excited for him. That couple that we found that were just golden kind of have dropped off. They didn't answer for our last appointment and I am not quite sure what is happening, but we are trying!

We have been trying to find more people in Placerville, so they don't have to drive super far to get to church, and that is supposed to be our area of focus. We have been using a lot of miles, but we have to right now. We have found a couple potential people and areas that we can try so that has been good. It was really a finding week for us and hopefully this next week we can go hard and find those prepared people. 

 

Something really cool happened this week. On Friday, our dinner got cancelled, which was a bummer. But we were both craving Mexican food so we went to the Tijuana Taqueria, where Agostin lives. We were eating there and a kid that works there kept looking at us when he went by. Finally, when he came to clean up, he asked if we were Christian, and we said of course and such. Apparently his grandparents are members! He just barely moved here from El Salvador, used to go to church there, and wants to go to church here! He is young and basically knows no english, so it is just awesome. He is way cool. And he only works on Fridays. Pretty cool miracle and we are so excited to teach him. 

 

It is great to hear how everything is going! I hope the business takes off and that everything continues to be good. I got Grandma Stone's package, which was amazing. :) I do not have any package from you guys yet, and I haven't got anything from anyone but Ashlie for about a week and a half! Not quite sure, maybe they are just backed up. The recorder is good so far! It is on route back to me right now so I don't know exactly yet, but the one correspondence was good :P 

 

We are going to go hard this week and it should be good. I love reading the book of Mormon. I am learning a lot and I love it. 

I am trying to find things to take pictures of :P

 

If you guys could, I would love to get some more music. I would LOVE some soundtrack type stuff. It doesn't have to be church, just uplifting. So maybe Brook could tell you. Just nothing too crazy, but I would love some instrumental or other great stuff. You can send it on here and I can download it. Just whenever,  but just saying!

I love you guys and I am so grateful for your support. Trying to write as much as possible. It is hard to find time to even write you guys but I am trying. It is frustrating to be short on time and not be able to, because I really want to write you all! I love you all and you are amazing. Stay safe and healthy!

 

Love,

Elder Stone

New Pic's!

 It is beautiful here!!

 Me after helping clean up a house that was burnt down! Yuck!

Smokey air here from the fires!

2 Months Already!

Hello everyone!

It is really crazy that I am already two months into the mission. It is even crazier that when I am done with training I'll be over a quarter of the way through. It really is flying by.

We have been having some pretty good days and some pretty crazy ones. I wasn't able to email yesterday because we had a huge spanish activity down at the temple. It was for all the spanish in the whole mission, and we were there most of the day, so our P-day was moved to today. It was fun but very tiring! I was able to communicate almost all the way which was good ha. I am starting to get better at the language and being confident enough to open my mouth! But it is going well and I am learning a lot.

 

We had zone conference which was really great!

 

So apparently backpacks are officially done. I am going to start looking for a side bag for just around 20. I don't want to spend a lot. If you want me to send back the backpack or anything let me know. There is no rush, and you let me know when it is financially good to get one, but eventually I guess. Until then the backpack is amazing and I am trying to use it the most I can! Thank you guys!

I have started to keep a good study journal this week. It has been a huge blessing. It really is true what the apostles have said that when we record the things that God teaches us, He teaches us more and more. I have learned so much as I have written them down and it helps me feel the Spirit, recognize it, and learn more from it.

We have some great people we are teaching. I can't remember if I have told you about Agostin. He is incredible. He has such a great desire to come unto Christ. He lives in a little room in the back of a storage area for a small Mexican Restaurant. (these amazing spanish people make me so grateful). He is very humble and teachable but has almost nothing. It has been a struggle to get him to church because of that, but we are doing our best. He has a baptismal date for this month and I am super excited. He is also an incredible artist, and he lived on the streets just making money off of them for a couple years. He just freehand draws with sharpie markers and they are incredible and professional. He has true talent. He said he is going to draw us the painting of Christ coming to the Americas! I am extremely excited. Waiting for it is like waiting for Christmas. 

The work has been good. We are trying hard to be believing, bold, and baptizing missionaries. We are improving every day and finding amazing people. Great things are happening I can feel it!

I am so glad to hear about how things are going there!! Emily is so big and cute. Goodness. I am glad the fires are out there and that the air has cleared up! We finally got rain yesterday and that cleared up the air really nice! It is starting to cool down hopefully.

I love you guys and I miss you! The Lord really blesses us to not feel homesick or be distracted. But I miss you and I love to hear how everything is going. Thank you so much for your support and love. Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa!! And happy birthday late Dad.  I hope it was good. 

I love you guys! I will send some pics!

Love,

Elder Stone 

Just a note!

Mom,

Please let everyone know that while I would love to write them all, I don't have enough time. I love them all and I am so thankful for their support, there is just not time to do that much! Any mail should be sent to the mission home address. I love you! You guys are always in my prayers.

Finding investigators!

Hey everyone!

 

Things are going pretty well! It was quite the week. We added more investigators. One of the things that we did this week was splits with the AP. I went out with just me and Elder Richwine, which is awesome because I know basically nothing still. No but it went pretty well. There is a trailer park in Camino, a small city about 20 minutes out, and we have had a lot of people interested there. We will be there for three different families this week. But we went down there to try to contact some people with no success. We had some time so we went tracting. I spotted a spanish looking house (you can tell by the mop or broom right outside the door and a lot of plants and ornaments, and usually they grow aloe vera), and there door was already open so they couldn't run away! Elder Richwine was a Mongue speaking missionary and now he is an AP so he speaks no Spanish. So we went and talked to them and they were really receptive and great. We gave them a restoration pamphlet and had a prayer. He gathered his whole family together for the prayer and they are just amazing. I am really excited to see them again this week. Being able to do a contact all by myself really helped me be more confident and comfortable,and I am grateful that the Lord helped me do that.

 

It was a frustrating day yesterday because we had three investigators who were going to come to church and none of them ended up coming. It was really disappointing. We could only come in contact with one of them later and he said he had to go pick something up from another town so he couldn't go. The others we don't know yet. So that was sad, but we have more appointments with them later. 

I am starting to get better adjusted to the disappointment and discouragement. I am starting to catch the spirit of the work more and keep a positive and happy attitude. I love this work and I am finding a lot of joy in it. I know this is where I need to be and I am so grateful to serve. Even through disappointment there is always hope because this message is so amazing and I just love being a part of it. It is getting better every day!

 

We are able to attend the temple four times a year I believe, which is awesome. I am so excited to see the new film and to go to the temple again. 

 

Sorry I have received the bedding and the helmet and everything! I also got Grandma M's package! I got Ashlie's package and letter also but I have not received more yet! They make me so happy and it is so exciting haha. I am not sure why they want everything sent there but they do! We live on Big Cut Road in Diamond Springs, CA. I am not sure of the house number though...it is like 4288 or something?? But yeah all mail and packages should be sent through there!

Mom, your business looks amazing?! I am so happy you can do that that is so cool. I wish you luck and that is just so awesome :) Keep me updated!

I love you guys and I miss you a lot! But I am positive that this is where I need to be, and it is stronger to me each day. Thank you for all your love and support. Send more pictures cause they are amazing :) 

Love,

 

Elder Stone

New pic's

 Elder Mena and I at the MTC!

Sweet house we live in, in Cali!

 Amazing kitchen!

Sacramento California Temple!

  Infamous couch in the MTC!

Hola from Cali!!

Hey everybody!

 

Well I am finally here in California. It is crazy. Every once in a while I have these moments where it hits me that I am really on my mission and I freak out. It just doesn't seem real! 

Well my first area is the El Dorado area. We only use a car because it is huge, the biggest in the mission. Because we are spanish speaking we cover two stakes. Right now we are mainly focusing on a city called Placerville. There is no spanish branch, just a group in church. We have to translate for them through a headset, which I am far from doing. But we will get there. This week has been crazy with a lot of things going on, such as an open house for the church on saturday. We didn't get any proselyting done that day because of it and it was pretty tiring! 

 

It has been a little hard adjusting to the mission, and it is very different than I thought it would be. It is hard, just like they say, especially when all your appointments fall through and it just feels like nobody wants to hear your message, when it is such an amazing one. So it has been pretty hard sometimes, but there's always hope and happiness because there's always the Savior. 

 

My companion is Elder Martinez, and he is from Brigham City. He has been out about 7 months, which is a pretty young trainer for spanish. He is great and I am learning a lot from him. 

 

It is interesting being in this area because it looks almost just like our mountains back home, and it is beautiful. The other areas are very busy and pretty sketchy, which is awesome. But I am really enjoying it up here and we have really incredible members. Many people go their whole mission without ever having to get dinner themselves. The members are amazing and so willing to help. 

 

There have been some rough times, and it is hard sometimes to just smile and press forward, but I am learning how, and trying my hardest to become better. 

 

Having real food has been heaven. 

 

It is awesome to hear how you guys are doing there, and how big Emily is getting. Gosh she is so cute. I miss you guys! I have not received any mail yet but I am hoping to soon. They want all mail sent to the mission home and then they will forward it to us. Just make sure you send it through US Mail, not UPS or FedEx, because then they won't forward it. 

 

Time is a lot shorter here now to write. I will try to send pictures! 

 

Something that I learned this week is that this message is really amazing and that there is nothing in comparison. It is hard to see people not accept it, or to hate what you are doing, but in the end it is always about Christ. Christ is why I am here. He is why I can smile after someone makes it clear they want nothing to do with us. I am thankful to be out here, and I am thankful to be able to serve my Savior and spread his message, and show in a very small way my appreciation for Him. 

Thank you guys for your support. I miss you and I hope all continues to go well. You are in my thoughts and in my prayers.

Love,

 

Elder Stone

Made it to California, safe and sound!

Brayden finally made it to Sacramento, California safe and sound yesterday!!  Now the real work begins!  He is excited to get started!  We will update his address as soon as we get the new one. :)  You can always send letters to the mission office address and they will be forwarded to him. :)  Good luck Brayden! You will be amazing!

(P.S. Brayden's new "P" days are on Mondays!!  Look for the updates on Mondays! :) )

Earthquakes and a new couch!

I am so excited to get out to the field so I actually have some real stuff to write about! But here were some rare unique things that happened this week ;)

 

1. So the first or second day we got here, the president of the CCM told us that there is some danger of earthquakes and there are circles over the campus where we should go in case there is one. Then he told us they only have a big one every couple decades or so, but that the last one was twenty something years ago. So that didn't make anyone feel good! So a few days ago we were just sitting in class and what sounded like a giant air mattress infator started up and we figured it was some kind of alarm. So we are looking around and people are going outside and such and getting on the circles. We walk out after about 2 or 3 minutes and laugh because everyone is so freaked out. But then apparently we find out that it is triggered by seismic activity, and that it must have just been too weak for us to feel it. So maybe in the next few days we will get a big one. ;) Nice to know about the alarm on week 6!

 

2. They are constantly doing renovations on this place to get it 'prepared'. So we tend to get a ton of random stuff, such as metal swords which now hang above our clock. We somehow obtained a sofa, and it sat on our balcony for a while. But some of the new guys thought it would be cool to steal it. So after this happened twice we decided to just put it in the front room of the apartment. The window screen had to be removed but eventually it was there, and we now have a very warm and nice front room.

 

3. The store here keeps building its inventory and I was able to buy a new tie for about 4 dollars so thats nice! Basically everything is dirt cheap.

 

4. On our tuesday night devotional, the president talked about temples, and I thought he said a cool thing. I have always liked the whole "kick satan's butt" idea, but he made a comment about how when he was first married, him and his wife determined that they would go to the temple every week, and that of course there were always so many reasons that came up not to go. But then he said they were just persistent enough that Satan decided it wasn't worth his effort and just eventually gave up. I think that is a really cool concept, and that in so many ways we can overcome Satan, and it is so important to be diligent and have faith, and that on my mission, I can learn how to discourage him as much as possible.

 

5. Nothing else really. Thank you all for your support :) You are all amazing and I love you so much.

Pictures!!

Elder Thomas and Elder Stone in front of the Mexico City Temple

 

Elder Stone and his district with the Branch President and his wife at the temple.

Elder Thomas, Stone and Sterling at the Mexico City Temple!!

Furniture store in the poor part of Mexico City.

                                                      Beautiful Mexico City Temple!!

                                                      View from dorm room at night.