Almost Christmas (12/24)

Hey Everyone. Merry Christmas. So to start off I hope to see you all tomorrow on Skype. I will be Skyping from the Eyre's home at 11:30 AM tomorrow so 2:30 PM EST. Don't be late!! She will be calling you guys and just asking which Skype account and other things before hand so she will be calling 4845421234 and then if that doesn't work 4845426344.

So we had our first baptism yesterday of Julianna. It was a really great day. She asked me to confirm her and it was a really great experience. After everything was done Pres Watkins was there unbeknownst to us and he came up and said Great job Elders, keep it up. Pretty big deal coming from our Mission President. He met Julianna and gave her a picture of the Savior. Really was a great day. I was truly humbled by the experience!

Today was the Christmas Devotional we started off with breakfast of Steak and Eggs! Yes it was very very good. and then we had a gift exchange in which I received a plastic shark that grows in water and a picture frame. Yep. and then we had a little devotional afterwards and we just got home and now we're here writing emails. It's been a pretty quick week, been getting a lot of Christmas cards from people back home so it has been nice. Not really any letters from anyone else though so a little sad, no letters from Taiwan:( either, but I guess that is expected around this time of year the mail system goes to a halt almost.

I'm not really sure what else to write except I did get your guys' package and it's still sitting unopened in our apartment, so i'll open that up tomorrow morning after breakfast with a member. Looking forward to seeing what's inside.

Hmm, what else to write, we have another baptism this Saturday at 11 am, so that's exciting. I'm sure you'll see picture of that next P-day.

Here are the pictures from the baptism!

Love you all and miss you all, use this time of year to serve those around you just as our Savior did.

Elder Sanchez

(p.s. I really did have a 'white' christmas)

Weekly Correspondence (12/17)

ey everyone, this week has been another incredibly successful week, we have 2 new baptismal dates i'll have to tell you about!

So we had to drop one of our investigators Betty because she just doesn't want to meet with us anymore because she doesn't have much of a interest anymore, so that was sad, but the good news is that we have 2 new baptismal dates, this is going to be a good start for the new year! I'm so excited and I'm really excited for all of their progress!

Dec 23- Julianna, she has been investigating for a little less than a month before I came out (for about 3 months total) and she has been really hesitant to set a date because of some outside and unrelated problems but she really is so so ready for it, we're so excited for her!

Dec 29- David G, his wife is a recent convert and are currently looking for homes in the Warm Springs area here in Fremont, we had dinner with them at the Eyre's about 4 weeks ago and he mentioned and I quote "I would really like to convert to the Mormon Church, this seems like the right thing for me." His mother was an active member but since his Father wasn't he never was able to attend church, so he's finally making that choice to come unto Christ.

Jan 5- Ryan G. He is really great, he is so ready to get baptized, we just need to get him out for church. He has exercised his faith so much, and is setting such a great example for his family, he has totally quit drinking coffee and alcohol and is really trying to meet all the baptismal commitments that he needs to.

Jan 19- Yang Chen Chen (Alexander)- He finally had a chance to talk to his dad about getting baptized and he asked him to wait until July, but he was like "but dad I know it's true, so i'm going to in January" so here we are! He was my first lesson in the field and back then he was just barely understanding the gospel and now his faith is so exceeding. It's really quite amazing that just a few short months ago he had no belief in God at all.

Jan 26- Paul B. This is kinda a sad one because we might lose contact with Paul and have to refer him to another mission, which we really don't want to take that chance on him. Paul is a foreign exchange student from Berlin, Germany that is currently staying in with a less active member in the ward named Michelle W. Paul is supposed to be moving to San Ramon which is in the Oakland Mission at the start of the year, so we're frantically trying to find a host family in our area so that he is able to continue going to Irvington High School and stay in our area. Paul took the first lesson 2 weeks ago and he LOVED it... he was like wow the whole time. This past week we taught the Plan of Salvation with a member that recently moved into another ward that spoke German, and he was like "Wow this makes sense, really does" and he committed to be baptized on the 26th. We asked him after the lesson how his reading had been going and he said "Oh it's not going too well, i'm only in 2 Nephi Chapter 5" and we were like wait what? You read from 1 Nephi 1 all the way to 2 Ne 5? and he was like yeah sorry and we were like oh no that's seriously amazing.

So yes, we have some really exciting things going on here. I had Advanced Training at the mission office with 12 other missionaries on Friday and it was really good, talked about difference teaching methods and how to study in the morning without falling asleep at your desk and other things and it was a really good day, I got to see my friend Elder Woodbrey from the MTC for the first time since we left almost 7 weeks ago, it was good to catch up.

Saturday we had the Ward Christmas Breakfast at 8 AM and it had a huge turnout! I was able to participate the the primary's Nativity and also in the ward Choir on Sunday for the Christmas program. It was a great weekend, but very tiring, I feel asleep last night at like 9:50... soo tired. The Ward Christmas program on Sunday went very well, and the Gamboa family came and it was a really great time to have them come. Bro Gamboa's countenence has changed so much since when I first met him, he brought his "Libro De Mormon" to church and as he came up to me he said "Let me tell you, this is a good book"

We had service after the Breakfast on Saturda at a less actives house,  digging up cement blocks from old fence posts with one of the huge breaker bars, took us like 2 hours to break up two of them, Donald would have been proud.

I really miss you all, and I hope we're all skyping next week? I'm not even sure if I'll be able to email next week, so if you guys aren't on Skype i'll have Sister Eyre call home to you guys and get you on Skype. haha

Love you all, here are some pictures from this week,

Picture 1: Shepherd and Inn Keeper

Picture 2: Elder Giles' sniper (he was in the Marines before his mission)

Picture 3: The last big chunk of cement from service

Elder Sanchez

I love Fremont (12/10)

So this week has gone by pretty quick, as usual. We have exciting news that you'll hear about later in this letter.

So we are now meeting with Ryan Gamboa seperately since he is progressing the fastest, he currently has the only baptismal date set among his family, his whole family is hard to teach because it's almost like have 5 single investigators in one lesson, but things are going well with the entire family, we just need to focus on Ryan since he is progressing the most towards baptism.

David Garman is set up to be baptised on the 29th still, and Ryan on the 5th... and guess what Julianna finally has a baptismal date! December 23 at 3 PM at our building!... also Yang Chen Chen will have a baptismal date by this week, he is talking to his father today or tomorrow and he will probably be set up within the next few weeks.

You heard it here first but Mission Peak Misisonaries have 4 baptisms in the next 3 weeks. It's an exciting time here for sure.

This week has been a faster week than this past Thanksgiving, people have been staying at home more, so it's been good.

I'll answer some of mom's questions.

How did your week go?

Very good! We're always busy!

Any new investigators?

Not this week, but we have 2 new potential investigators.

Did you get the translator on the 29th like amazon shows? Is it meeting your needs?

It's really really nice and I like that it's small.  It works very nicely! And it helps with Spanish when i need it too!

Have you been affected by floods?

Nope we had a lot of rain earlier this week and last week but nothing really here.

What time do you get home every night? When do you go to sleep?

We get home different time every night, usually around 9... I get to sleep almost every night at around 10:20.

So have you received any letters from anyone in the ward?  

Not really no, I got one from Lauren Munk the other day though!

When will you find out when you will call home on Christmas?

Christmas Day, Afternoonish I think?

 Do you already have apps for that day?

That day is basically just visiting people/having christmas dinner for like 2-3 hours with a family, i dont know who yet, maybe the eyres

 Does the mission have a Christmas meeting?

nope! 

How are the investigators doing?

everyone is progressing well!

Do you do tai chi?

no but we do english class every friday at the senior center!

 Do you iron your shirts?

i dont really need to they are usually pretty wrinkle free when I take it out of the dryer.

Any problems keeping socks paired up?

I've lost like 2 pairs out of the 20 that I have but that was at the MTC in the public place, we do laundry privately here and it's hard to lose track of things.

Who has written you from Easton /nazareth?

nobody really, marina and kaity are the only ones who write me reguarly.

Love you all! Hope everyone is having a good week, talk to you on Christmas (and next p-day too)

Elder Sanchez

Another Week in Fremont (12/03)

So it's another week here in the field. Everything has been doing well here, it's still not cold at all, and everything is doing well. As far as this week it's been pretty busy busy busy.

So it's a new transfer... i've already been through a whole 6 weeks here, so new missionary planner. Already finished 3... 14 more to go. So progress on our investigators.

Stephen: We had a pretty decent lesson with him on Wednesday this past week, he's working step by step for sure since he doesn't have much of a background in religion. Invited him to be baptized on the 5th of January but he's not ready yet to commit to it so we're waiting a few more weeks to see how he progresses.

Su man Qing: Can't get a hold of her!! Why! :(

Gamboa's: We have a baptismal date with Ryan... none of the rest are 100% sure yet but guess what... Bro and Sister Gamboa came to sacrament meeting yesterday! So good! We meet with them in about an hour @ 6 pm. We're talking about the importance of prayer in conversion and watching a little video.

Julianna: We are also meeting with her tonight @ 8 with one of the counselors in the stake presidency here... she's ready for baptism and she wants a date she's probably setting one tonight... so it's probably either this Saturday or next Saturday... we'll see! She's done with every lesson and everything she just needs to be interviewed.

Yang Chen Chen: He's also ready to set a date, we're just waiting on his decision for what day he wants to be baptism. It's really excited because him and his Aunt (Sister Wang; member) came to the Missionary Departure Fireside last night and I really think they enjoyed it a lot. He loves any fireside haha.

Nitin: He's progressing sorta... we're seeing his expectations tonight with him to see what he expects out of meeting with us.

So yeah everything is going well, we'll more than likely have 3 baptisms this month alone, which is really crazy to think about but it's going to be great. All I want for Christmas is 3 Baptisms! (ringaling)

So yes thank you mom and dad for that Translator!! It's soooo great seriously. It's a small little think and it's a very simple interface, but it's a powerful little machine.. I've been contacting in spanish a few times this week and it's been great. Gave two referrals to the Newark Spanish Elders just north of us. (Yes newark, california haha)

So how has everyone been? I'd like an update! Feels like no one is updating me this week haha.

So i'm going to attach some pictures... these are all from the MTC... I'll send more from the field in another email.

The first picture is my district's name tags and all the places we were going :)

 The mandarin zone on 10/28/12... I MISS THEM!!!

the 3rd is Elder Gummow, Sister George and I. Miss them too!

Anyway i'll send another set of pictures in another email.

Love you all!

Have a good week,

Elder Sanchez

Losing track of What Week It is (11/26)

So been here a month practically. Things have been a little slower this week due to the holiday, but still busy nonetheless. So this week has been pretty slow as far as our investigators go, all of them have been busy with Thanksgiving or out of town so we're hoping this week is changed from that. We do have one new investigator, English speaking, and his wife is a recent convert/less active... his name is David, he's Catholic but we had lesson with him on Thursday and he is going through a lot... he is PTSD and he was in Desert Storm so he's been through a lot. We had the first lesson with him and by the end of the lesson he said and I quote "I know that this book is anointed and is scripture..." and then we asked him to be baptized on Dec 29... and he said "Absolutely"... he's a really nice guy but he's going through a lot with his PTSD and other health problems. We're meeting twice a week... he's been to church twice already too.

So we spent Thanksgiving at a family called the De Lory family... charming family really. It was a 2 hr dinner appointment, we had hor d'oerves which were very good and had a very traditional meal with all the same things you would expect at a Thanksgiving dinner. It was very good. Afterwards their tradition is everyone plays music so my companion plays guitar so he was able to play that and I played some silly piano stuff too. Brother De Lory is an accomplished guitar and banjo player and he played some really amazing stuff. I was impressed and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to see the Gamboa's and ate even some more there... it ended up being another meal. We had brisket and ribs with vegetables... they had tortillas and salsa and all the mexicano fixings too. Sis Gamboa is from Vera Cruz and Bro Gamboa is from Ciudad Juarez. We see them tonight after our dinner appointment.

We did a lot of service this week, we did 4 hours at Abode Homeless where we unloaded most of the truck of canned/other type of food donations in big garbage pails and sorted them and dated with a permanent marker... a lot of work, we had the senior couple with us the whole 4 hours and then afterwards they treated us to dinner since our appointment (rare...) fell through at Carls Jr... wasn't too bad!

So this pastTuesday we had an appointment with Yang Chen Chen and we taught the law of chastity... he was pretty open to it and is already living it but afterwards we had been wondering why he hasn't wanted to set a definite baptismal date and we got him to open up... his parents are in China and he hasn't really even talked to him about it yet so we asked him about it and he's going to check with his dad and then after he talks it through he "wants to get baptized as soon as possible"... so that's great. We're excited to see him prepare even more for this covenant.

 On Saturday we had a baptism for one of the little girls in the ward Niah... we invited all of our investigators but only one said he would try to come... the night before he cancelled and we were bummed but at 9:40 (the baptism was at 10) he called and said he had time so he came to the church and walked in literally 2 minutes before the ordinance... good timing. He stayed the whole time, had a meeting with him and the ward mission leader Brother Li afterwards and answered his questions. One of his questions was "Why do Christians believe that each person adopts their parents sins?" and we explained to them that we don't believe that and had explained it in a little more detail and he was like "... huh... that makes sense." and so it was a very good minilesson.

So i'll answer your questions mom and to granny as well. And yes granny I read your emails every but this email takes a good 30-40 minutes to write so it's ver difficult for me to respond to everyone since my limited time.

How was you thanksgiving? This is the first time in 40 years that I didnt cook anything and I survived

Muy bueno.

Did you get the pictures

I think so? I didn't get any this past week but I did 2 weeks ago.

So are you feeling more mature now that I don't try to run your life.

Not sure yet. This isn't the real world haha

Are you used to going to bed and waking up early? Do you get sleepy during the day?

I'm pretty used to it, and yes every missionary is sleepy during the day.

Do you and your companion speak English or mandarin to each other?

We do both, it's hard to speak 100% of the time since we do have a lot of situations where only english is appropriate.

Are their mandarin elders in other wards in mission?

There's 2 in Dublin Chinese Branch and 3 in the Cupertino Seven Springs Branch, then there's us here in Mission Peak Ward...

Are you losing weight ? Have you been offered fish to eat? Eaten real Chinese food?

Chinese people really don't eat that much fish... like really. So too bad for all of you thinking i'm eating fish at every meal because I have only had it once and it was salmon pasta. You cynical cynical people thinking i'm eating my least favorite food all the time. I am not really losing weight... I feel like I might be slowly. We run 2 miles every morning though so that is going to help. We have  had real real Chinese food about 10 time's since i've been here. It's super good stuff. Like I remember sorta liking it in China but I appreciate it so much more now. It's delicious. Tofu rocks!

Do people like living in in that area?

I love the people here seriously! The Chinese people! The English speaking people! They are all great.

Granny's Questions:

Speaking of dinner appointments....what kind of food do the members serve you??

It's a mashup of everything... members usually never take us out to eat... most of the Chinese people serve us Chinese food... just everything! I can't even specify... last night we went to a Filipino home and they got Filipino restaurant takeout... it was fried chicken and hamburgers covered in gravy... supposedly in Los Angeles Phillppines this is a very common thing to eat haha.

  I know that Chinese people eat a lot of fish. Do you eat the fish or what??

Not really. Haven't been offered it much.

Do you always get your 20 contacts every day?

20 contacts is easy... it's as simple as giving someone a mormon.org card and inviting them to visit it. We usually get between 20-30 a day anyway.

  What do you say to get their interest?

All you can do is plant that seed. Bear testimony, and invite the spirit and they will remember you.

  Who does most of the talking....you or your companion?

It's either 50/50 or 60/40 on his end. No biggie.

What is the weather like there? Coat on yet?

We never wear suit coats unless it's Sunday or district meeting. It's fair here... 45 in the morning and 65-75 in the day time. We wear dress sweaters just in case it's cool in the night time :)

So that's it for this week, we're heading straight to a dinner appointment right now at the Jarvis home. No fish i'm going to guess, sorry mom.

Love you all, have a good week everyone.

我爱你们。有好的星期！

Elder Sanchez

Week 3 in Fremont (11/19)

o this week went by pretty fast, the work here is good. Keeping really busy. Still miss the MTC though. Kinda stinks.

So this week let's see... what stood out? Well we have 5 progressing investigators still and no new investigators. No new baptismal dates either but we are challenging the Gamboa family to baptism. We'll see how that goes because they have been challenged to baptism before, and they didn't take it seriously. So yes we are expecting Yang Chen Chen and Julianna Huang (jessica needs to add her on FB!!!!!) to be baptized in the next month or so. Both of them are solid really and seriously, they both come to like every church activity and sacrament meetings and all are being fellowshipped very well. Julianna fellowships herself into our Ward... she invited all the YW to her house for a movie night exactly a week after she was taught the 1st lesson. We finished the last commandment/lesson/everything with her yesterday and it's just a matter of waiting until she's ready for baptism. It's complicated.

As for our new investigators Su Man Qing and Steven, they are doing well, Su Man Qing has been really busy with school and hasn't been able to meet with us at all in the past week or this week so on Saturday we have an appt with her at our building. Steven is doing well too, I think we have an appointment with him this coming Wednesday. This will be his 3rd lesson this week, and he really likes the lessons we teach him. He agreed to baptism as well.

So we go twice a week to different Chinese members homes to practice our chinese and get feedback and stuff. I feel like I speak Chinese about 40-50% of the time every day. There really is so many opportunities to speak the language here just so many Chinese people, most people are from Mainland or Hong Kong (learning some Cantonese too)... not many from Taiwan... we only have like 2 people from our ward from Taiwan. Northern Chinese accent is the most understandable, then I'd say Southern is ok, Taiwanese is a prett weird accent compared to the rest of them. So yes, when I get home I think i'll learn ASL (American Sign language) our district leader is ASL missionary and I already know quite a few signs just from learning from him and his companion Elder Giles.

So yes the work is progressing! A lot of our time is focused on investigators and inactives... the rest of the time is serving. We really don't have anything to plan at 9:30 when we are supposed to mostly it's just planning lessons because all of our hour slots are already filled with appointments before we even start planning. We still haven't missed a dinner appointment since i've been here, they are always filled. Yesterday I think we had more food from different people in a single day than ever before. It was crazy... soo full.

Anyway what else can I write about? Just realized I forgot my camera cord again to send pictures :( I printed out some today to send to some friends in the mail from Walmart.

So contacting is pretty fun I figured I'd write about that. We usually go to the Lion Market, the Warm Springs Community Park or the BART Station here in Fremont. Lion Market and BART are always packed and the park has a lot of families which is good. Our goal is 20/day contacts whether just random walking to your car contacts or whatever else.

So yeah. I think that's it for this week. Got a random letter from a little kid in Virginia on Saturday. That was weird but it was cool. One from Marina and Kaity too. None from my MTC friends though although one of my friends from the MTC's mom fwd'd her sons weekly letter to me so I could see how it was in Taiwan.

Anyway I hope everything is going well with everyone.

Here is my address incase you don't have it whoever may be reading this:

Elder Nathan Sanchez

46703 Crawford St #14

Fremont, CA 94539

Love you all see you next monday,

Elder Sanchez

单长老。