December 27, 2011

Hey Family,

     Sounds like your Christmas dinner was good. Better than my shrimp patties with mole.... Oh goodness.

     I enjoyed talking to you guys too. That was nice.

     So, on Sunday, dad gave me the address for Wayne and Donna in Lone Pine. Later on that day, I found out that one of the elders that I know in the other zone is being transferred to Lone Pine in English. So I wrote a little note on sticky-notes (I didn't have any real paper) and gave it to him and gave him the address. So he'll be going up there and giving the note to them.

     Yesterday was transfer day. Hna. Busch has left the district after 7 1/2 transfers (11 months) in this ward. That was nice for her. She will be missed because she was such a good misionera. But we got Hna. Beauchamp, who is also a great misionera.

     Elder Vazquez is also leaving to go whitewash an area with a greenie. That was kinda interesting and totally unexpected because Elder Vazquez dies this transfer (goes home), and usually you don't train your last transfer. We're getting Elder Banuelos to replace him as zone leader. He also dies this transfer.

We set a baptismal date with Emily. Emily is the 14 year old daughter of one of our eternigators (eternal investigators) that really hadn't been taught much in the past. So we're really focusing our efforts on her. And we're excited for her.

     We also are focusing a little our efforts on Karen, Elizabeth's daughter. The only problem is the baby’s daddy. Karen wants to get married to him, Elizabeth does not want her to get married to him. Nor do I want her to marry him.

     Miriam and Chris have been sick and busy and out of town and family in town and just everything relating to busy-ness. But we still want to visit them.

     And that's about it.

     Thanks for everything.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

December 19, 2011

Hi Everyone,

     Things have been really difficult this week. Two to three weeks ago, we had 20 investigators, we were teaching like 20 lessons a week, and things were just fine and peachy. As of yesterday, we have 8 investigators, we might be dropping another one depending on whether or not he reads, and we struggle to get over 10 lessons. One of our golden investigators decided to move, another one of our golden investigator referrals feels more comfortable with English, and none of our other investigators want to keep commitments. It's tough right now. We've started spending about 6 hours a day just knocking. We're really good at finding people, we're just not doing a good job of finding people that will let us in the door, and not doing a good job of finding those prepared people. And we're really good at setting citas (appointments) but they always fall through.

     And the difficulties aren't just in our companionship's area. Our whole district is really struggling. The zone leaders also only have 8 investigators, but they have one progressing investigator, which is good. And the hermanas are also struggling with finding prepared people, but again, they have one or two progressing investigators. It can get a little frustrating and even a little discouraging at times, but we keep working.

     But there have been a few bright notes, a few fun moments for us this week.

     On Monday, we had a cita with a less active member (less active, as in, hasn't been to church in six years) and his wife. The wife was toda borracha (totally drunk). It was the funniest thing. Poor Elder Bushman, the lady was making fun of him ("Ay, mi ganchito, porque te ves tan enojado? [Oh, my little blonde boy, why do you look so angry?] She repeated that like 20 times in an hour) and he had no idea what was going on. She kept telling us to get her purse and pointing at it, only her purse wasn't where she was pointing. And she tried to give us the phone number to her work, except she gave us only 9 digits and when we asked for the last digit, she said that that was the right number. That will be a lesson I remember for a long time.

     But, in that same lesson, we talked to the less active member for a while (who was only slightly drunk). He showed us his stake missionary plaque that he has and he said that even though he's been inactive for six years, he's still an elder and still has the Melchezidek Priesthood and he has not been living worthily of holding that. He wants to come back to church, but work has kept him away. Fortunately, with the time change, he can start coming back to church. I think he could be a real strong leader in the church. Just kinda got that impression when I met him.

     We also went knocking for about 7 hours on Saturday and that was a lot of fun. We had some really funny moments. I knocked one door and some white lady answers the door. I say "Hi, I'm Elder Bushman, and we're... Wait a second, I'm not Elder Bushman, he's Elder Bushman, and I'm Elder Gruenewald." The lady just kinda stood there and looked at us blankly. It was kinda a lost cause, but we were laughing so hard after that one.

      We also knocked into an Armenian guy that didn't speak English or Spanish or German (which are the only three languages I could do door approaches in) and we realized that we didn't have anything Armenian. So we made our own Armenian pass-along cards. We found an Armenian pamphlet that said "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (in Armenian, of course) and we copied that down onto some Mormon.org pass-along cards. That was pretty fun.

      We also had a few interesting moments...

      On Thursday, I got an impression to knock an apartment complex that I had never been to before. So we went. And we stood in the complex for like 5 minutes trying to decide which doors to knock (we can only knock like one or two doors in apartment complexes before people get mad and kick us out). Then we looked and guess who we saw... JESUS!! No, not Jesus (said in a Hispanic accent), Jesus Christ!! Yeah, crazy. Someone put a Jesus Christ pass along card that we give out on their door. So we looked at the card, and it was from missionaries about two years ago (we know that because we read the area book a lot and we get to know what missionaries have been in the area in the past). We knocked on the door... No one was there, but that was kinda an interesting experience. We'll keep knocking that door.

      Yesterday, we talked with Helio (we found out his name is Helio, not Heliot). And we had one of those interesting Ammon experiences where the missionary stays silent for a long time while the investigator thinks. We stayed quite for about 15 minutes while he just thought. Not quite an hour, but still a long time.

      Well, I think that's about it.

      Oh yeah, calling on Sunday. Well, I'll be calling probably somewhere around 2:00 or 3:00 o'clock. In the morning. No just kidding. In the afternoon. What was the phone number again? Kidding....Ok, now I think that's it.

      Hope you got my Christmas card.

      Well. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you have fun. Remember the reason for the season... Presents!! No, that's not the reason for the season. The reason for the season is Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son, who was born in humble circumstances, who suffered for our sins and was crucified and was resurrected the third day, so that we can have the opportunity to return to live with our Father in Heaven.

      Feliz Navidad.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

December 12, 2011

Hi everyone that reads this letter,

     This week has been somewhat of a difficult week.

     Mission packages sent to the mission office take a while to get to me. We have to wait for someone in the zone to go to the office up in Santa Clarita and then we finally get it. Usually, people are up there once a week.

     We made Christmas cards!! So hopefully we'll be sending those out today (knowing us, it probably won't get done until next P-Day, but you know, it'll get to you).

     We just keep going through investigators. Picking up, dropping, picked up, being dropped, finding, teaching, dropping. Not so much baptizing. It's kinda tough to get anything going, and our ward is starting to get a little upset with us because of our lack of success in baptisms, whereas the sister ward NoHo 4to is baptizing left and right. We're just in a bit of a rut right now where we just haven't been able to have the baptismal success that has been seen in the past. But, I'm really not too worried about that right now because I know that we're working our hardest as a district, and that's all I really care about.

     I went on exchanges with the zone leaders this past Tuesday. I had requested that I do my exchanges with them earlier in the transfer because I felt like I needed to learn as soon as possible so that I could be a better trainer sooner and a better district leader sooner.

     We have a few progressing investigators. Karen Mendez is the daughter of Elizabeth (my first baptism). She wants to get baptized and knows that this church is true. Two problems: 1) She doesn't want to go to church because she's being lazy. 2) She is not married to the guy she is living with. They want to get married. Elizabeth is completely against them getting marired (I don't blame her). So that becomes a pretty big issue. We're not really sure what to do.

     Miriam and Chris are progressing, especially Chris. We found out that one of our good young men (Alfredo) is going to go to the same school as Chris, and they really hit it off. That was pretty sweet. The only problem is that Chris always seems to go out of town on the weekends (Palmdale, San Diego, places like that) where it makes it tough for him to go to church. He did go one week, and he kinda liked it. The young men were a little rowdy that week (except for Alfredo, he's always pretty good).

     We had a Christmas music devotional. Guess who got asked to play the piano for basically all the wards about 30 minutes before it started... Mhmm. It was really nice though.

     Elder Bushman and I have been pretty sick recently. Yesterday, my voice was completely gone. We couldn't get any lessons yesterday because my companion can't speak Spanish and I couldn't speak period.

     It's raining right now...

     Everything else is going well... I guess.

     Well, there's not much else to report on.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

December 5, 2011

Hi Everyone,

     Sounds like everything is going good.

     We decorated our Christmas tree... It has one ornament because we can't afford anything more. We found some stockings, so we hung those on the tree too. We found a few pine cones, stuck them in the tree. It's a wonderful tree.

     So we did have wind, not as bad as what you saw on the news. Yeah it was pretty windy. And no, I haven't felt an earthquake. I kinda want to though. And for an earthquake, you don't run to the doorways, you crouch down next to the sofa. At least, that's what everyone at the mission office tells us to do. And I trust the mission office more when it comes to earthquakes because they have experience with this.

     Training and DL'ing are both really fun but really tough. I am having a blast with Elder Bushman but I also feel really bad because I don't have much that I can teach him because I'm learning just as much as he is. That's why I requested exchanges tomorrow with the zone leaders, so that I can learn some things from the zone leaders and gain some experience with them and be able to teach Elder Bushman the things that I learned.

     It was cool, because Elder Herrera (one of the zone leaders) taught me a good way to get into someone's home for the first time. Just tell them you want to offer a prayer in their home and most people are qilling to allow you to do that. And then you spend the next 20 minutes telling them how important prayer is and how great prayer is and stuff like that. It works.

     List of birthdays would be nice. I can never remember when mom was born. For all I know, we were still in the Dark Ages when she was born...Kidding... kinda :P

     Dad told me about Jordan's voice changing and how it makes it kinda funny when you guys tease him. Wish I was there to see that haha.

     Speaking of Christmas, Tina has become quite a celebrity in our district with her rendition of "Oh, Christmas Tree." Now, every time anyone in our district sees a Christmas tree, we sing "Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree... nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, BRANCHES!!!"

     Ok, now to investigators.

     We're doing a lot of finding because I'm kinda tired of the lack of progression of our current investigators. We've found two new families that we hope will progress. We're doing a lot of knocking (which, I can only do for about 3 hours at a time because of the hernia). So, our numbers don't look too good (especially the investigators at church: another 0) but we're working hard and that's all that matters to me.

     The hernia doesn't bug me unless I do a lot of walking.

     We had to drop Heliot about two weeks ago. The next day in church, one of the hermanas' investigators asked me about Heliot and why he wasn't coming to church. So, that was kinda weird. Then, a week and a half later, we saw him while we were eating cena at a members' home because he was buying pupusas from a member. Totally random. So, we think God is trying to tell us to pick him back up again...

     Pupusas- mom you would be disgusted by the way we have to eat these. With our hands, all messy. Mmmmm but they are so good. El Salvadorian delicacy.

     Have a fun week.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

November 28

Dear Everyone,

     So yes, I did remember it was mom and dad's birthday. I actually can never remember the exact days that they're on. I think dad's like the 25th or the 23rd and mom's is like the 23rd or 25th... or something like that. And Jocie's is on the 1st. I figure if I send three letters for all three of you in one envelope between all your birthdays, I'm safe. So don't be all mad with me (ichy wa-wa woo). Mail's slow...

     When you wrote about who came to the Thanksgiving thing, I thought it said the Giraffes, the Hedgehogs and the Peacocks at first. I had to read it twice...

     Thanksgiving was good. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent it doing our weekly planning and studying the scriptures. We went to one of our less active member's home and had turkey, not tamales.

     My verdecito is doing good. He's progressing everyday. The only trouble he's having is when people are talking back to him in Spanish. So I have to start talking with him a lot more in Spanish so that he can gain that comprehension. Otherwise, he's a great missionary. We have to do a lot of roleplaying, which I absolutely hated when I was a greenie (wait a second, I'm still a greenie) because it made me feel like an incompetent missionary. But I know how necessary it is. Sounds like everything is going good with your member missionary work.

     So this week was not a very good proselyting week for us. Monday was P-Day. Tuesday I had a leadership training up in Santa Clarita, and that took all day. Wednesday I had another leadership training in Santa Clarita, so that took most of the day. Thursday was Thanksgiving, and most people wouldn't be too happy if we just sorta dropped by while they were eating their stuffing and pavo (turkey). Friday was at least somewhat regular, except we had district meeting. Saturday was regular. And Sunday, well that's church (and once again we had 0 investigators at church... We're really trying to change that). But somehow, we ended up with 5 new investigators.

      One of the great stories that I have this week is that of Alejandra. We were going to a potential investigator's home when their 14 year old son (Rodolfo) opened the door for us. He invited us to sit down at the table, where Alejandra was, and then just kinda left. Alejandra was filling applications out for college (she's 18).

     Sidenote: For some reason, we have a thing where pretty much all our investigators (about 80%) are either 14-24 year old girls or the mothers of 14-24 year old girls. I think it might have something to do with the white shirt, tie, blue eyes, blonde hair, gueros guapos...

     Anyways, Alejandra was not very open to us at all at first. She was just like whatever, didn't really take us seriously and stuff like that. Then we asked her a question about her religion and she was just like "I'm Catholic and I'm one of those that's actually Catholic. I'm a Cathechism teacher." But then we felt like she didn't really know if God was there and that she had a void in her heart. We told her that and she just started crying. "How did you know? I just don't feel it." So, we told her how she could fill the void in her heart and she just kept crying and stuff like that. It was good.

     Today, a Jehova Witness came up to me today and tried to do his missionary work with me. I was just like "Oh really? I'm a missionary too! We have a great message about the gospel of Jesus Christ." He was not very happy about how I turned the tables on him and started explaining our message. He was just like "Well, can I give you this to read?" (a copy of the Lighthouse). I was just like "You know, we have some stuff that we read that we would love to share with you." He wouldn't accept our card or pamphlets and just walked out of the laundromat. It was fun though :)

Sorry, I don't have time to send individual e-mails.

     Surgery recovery is good. The only bad thing is I have a bit of a cold and sore throat, so there's a bit of coughing and sneezing. That tends to be a little painful. But other than that I'm good. Not much else to report on. Prayer is good.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

Hola!

Hey guys,

 

How disappointed I was not to recieve an e-mail from you guys... Tsk tsk tsk.

However, I was very happy to receive the two pound bag of Swedish Fish and all the other goodies that were in there. And the pictures too!!! I was so excited for that!! Now my investigators know what my family looks like and how tall they all really are. Thanks so much. And the thing that Sis. Galan made for the choir was very funny.

So being a trainer and district leader is not as tough as I thought it would be. Elder Bushman has been very patient with me as I struggle to get 100% healthy. I feel great. I think the thing that hurts the most is when I have to take of the gauze from the stitches because the skin around there is all raw from having to take the gauze off so many times. And then it burns whenever I have to take a shower. But other than that, I feel no pain, except for the occasional misstep here and there, a cough here and there, a sneeze here and there. The doctor keeps rescheduling my appointment with him so I haven't been able to see him since my surgery, but I go in today. So we'll see.

Elder Bushman came in on Wednesday. I felt really bad because I could do nothing to help with the luggage. I couldn't carry it up the stairs, so here he is, carrying 130 pounds of luggage by himself, while I stand by idly watching. Poor guy. It's kinda funny that I only have 6 more weeks in the mission than he does. So yeah.... But he's a great missionary. His Spanish... is improving every day. I think he'll do great. He knows how to speak the language fairly okay, it's just being able to understand what people are saying to him. But we're working on that. We take an hour everyday of language study, where basically he can ask me any question that he needs answered about Spanish and then we listen to someone speak in Spanish and we practice Spanish pronunciation. It's fun.

We don't have a lot of proselyting time because of all our additional studies. We have to do about 4 hours of studies everyday. But we've done a pretty good job of doing our studies.

Oh, so on Elder Bushman's first day, we set baptismal dates with Miriam and Chris for Dec. 18!! It was awesome. Going into the lesson, I really had no idea that they we were going to invite them to get baptized. And poor Elder Bushman, I had told him we were going to be teaching the second lesson, and instead I felt like we should change and go over the first lesson again. It turned out to be a good thing.

The next day, we had to go to the new missionary training and Pres. Martin asked "how many companionships were able to set baptismal dates on their first day?" And we were the only companionship that raised our hands. We received much praise from Pres. Martin for that. "Hahaha, I guess it takes a greenie and a crippled elder to set baptismal dates in our mission." Good one, president... Haha, no I love Pres. Martin.

Speaking of the new missionary training, that was good. It was the same exact meeting that I went to 12 weeks ago, when I got into the mission. We went over the same exact program that I went through. We watched the same exact movies that we watched when I was a greenie. I think the only thing that was different was the AP's. So, I learned some new things...

It was funny because during the training, we read the introduction of the new missionary program. Pres. Martin had me read, I think it was like the third paragraph, where it says "This program is designed to help missionaries, if called upon, be prepared to train a new missionary when they are done with this program." Then, he says "Elder Gruenewald, how long have you been in the mission." "This is my third transfer." "See, elders and sisters, this 12 week program does help missionaries be prepared to train after just 3 months." Thanks president. It was a little embarassing.

It was kinda weird because I knew only a handful of missionaries there, whereas pretty much every missionary knew every other missionary. I think that Elder Bushman probably knew more missionaries at that training than I did.

And then Chris came to church yesterday! Ok, a little about Chris, Chris is a 15 year old kid who is just great. It was kinda funny because on Saturday we stopped by quickly to make sure he would come to church and we were about to leave and he says "Aren't we forgetting to do something?? We forgot a prayer!" So we said a prayer. He's a great kid, and I think he will be able to go through with his baptismal date. Miriam probably won't because she works off-and-on on Sundays, but she says she will come to church. It helps that they have a member, Daisy, her sister, that lives with them.

Hna. Busch was so excited when Chris came on Sunday because she was the one that find them when she worked our south area, and then they were just sort of forgetten after she left. So when we picked them up again, she was so excited and when he came to church, she was just even more excited. Poor misionera, this is her 7th transfer in this ward. Almost a year. And she has not had it easy. They had 8 baptismal dates a few months ago, and there have been 0 baptisms as a result. But now, she's perservered and she has a lot of baptisms set up for next month. Some people that just kinda went missing are being found again. And she is happy again (because she was disappointed when she found out she'd be staying yet another transfer here; there's been speculation for like the past 3 transfers that she would be leaving the ward).

As for district leading, I don't feel any different. Basically the only thing different is that I have to give the trainings on Friday and we have a lot more meetings, which really stinks because that takes time away from proselyting and miles from our car (we get 1000 miles each month). But I know they're necessary. I have to go to meetings in Santa Clarita this Tuesday and Wednesday for district leader stuff.

We went knocking on Saturday. I did a few example door contacts for Elder Bushman and then I just kinda threw him out there. Poor kid, he just kinda froze at the first door. Some Philippino guy answers the door and he starts speaking Spanish to him and the Phillipino guys just like "I'm Phillipino." After that, Elder Bushman really didn't know what to do. But he'll get better. I think we just have to do a lot of roleplaying so he feels comfortable. It's ok though. I remember my first door, the guy just slammed the door in my face. Not fun. And my second door, the guy started speaking English and I had no idea what to do. It was funny. Once he gets those jitters out (which, quite frankly, I still have), he'll be okay.

Well, that's about it. Hasta luego.

 

Con amor,

 

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

OOOOOO Spooky Halloween Letter!!

Hey everyone!!!

So what I meant from I don't hear anything from my sibs is that they hadn't sent me an e-mail in forever or a letter. And that was the e-mail I sent like years ago (okay, fine 2 weeks, but still).

I'm glad you love Sis. Martin because, well, I love Sis. Martin. And I'm glad you're keeping me in your prayers with my surgery and not in everything else. Haha just kidding.

Yes, I heard my cousin is engaged, Granny JoAnny told me. And I called it first. You heard it first from me. It was me that said it first. Let me direct you to what I said the last week I was in the MTC: "I saw Kelly with her future fiance today at the MTC." Yeah, I think I wrote that to dad or something. But yeah, I knew it would happen.

We have some beautiful decorations in our apartment. I think they're beautiful. And tomorrow we're decorating the apartment for Christmas!! Yay!!!

So we're doing a very good job of teaching lessons. We have had between 17 and 20 lessons per week this month. We're doing a bad job of getting investigators to church. Yesterday we had one. Last week 0. Yeah, I dunno what it is. Here, it is so easy to commit people to baptism but a huge thing to get them to actually come to church. We're working on that.

We were teaching this kid to pray and I told him that we had to be thankful for things. We had to express our thanks for things, for our food, our clothes, our house, and our money. I started giggling a little bit hehehe.

I have to tell you about Kenny, the 3 year old kid of Darwin, one of our members. Yesterday, we were asked to go and give a blessing to them. We get in there, he says "Daddy, me van a bautizar" (Daddy, they're gonna baptize me) and he puts his hands on Elder Hawke's head. We were confused and then Darwin was like "Esta diciendo que le va a dar una bendicion" (He means, they're going to be giving me a blessing). So then Kenny says "Tiene las llaves?" (Do you have the keys?). We were like dang this kid is three years old and he is asking if we have the priesthood keys to give a blessing. After a few minutes, we realized he meant an oil vial. He thought we used keys to give a blessing because normally you have the oil vial on your keychain. So he was asking if we had the "keys" when he actually meant if we had the oil on the keychain. It was pretty funny. But we gave the blessings and it was nice.

There's a thrift store we went to last Monday called "It's a Wrap!" Basically, all the movie and television studios here give all the stuff they don't auction off to this thrift store. They have stuff from like Suite Life of Zach and Cody, High School Musical, and yes, NCIS. It was a lot of fun, because since it's Halloween, they had the costumes out. Which was a lot of fun to try on. Elder Hawke bought a yamalkha.

Speaking of yamalkha, we found out yesterday why some Jews wear yamalkhas and why some Jews wear top hats. The Jews that wear top hats are European Jews that most of the time wear yamalkhas underneath. It's just sort of a tradition thing that's just kinda stuck over the years.

We have a lot of squirrels in our area. I think we might have hit one with our car. We also have a lot of Jews and Armenians, but we try not to hit those with our car. I don't think I even knew what an Armenian was when before I came here. They don't like us too much.

We were talking the other day and Elder Hawke did a lot of musical theater growing up. We talked about the King & I and a couple of thoughts ran across my mind. "My cup of tea" for Brian, and Jordan farting when Mr. Maldonado was mad.

Well, I think that's about it. Say hi to everyone.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

I live 1/2 mile from CBS Television Studios

Dear Family and everyone else,

 

This will be a shorter e-mail because, well, I don't have much time. And I still have to e-mail president.

Actually, I may just reserve the computer for another hour and take ten minutes to finish e-mailing.

Yes, my surgery is finally scheduled. After many moons of anguish and torment, my day of deliverance is nigh. Novemeber 7th. Yay!

I knew about Jocie going to see Taylor Swift. Granny JoAnny spilled the beans to me. Glad she enjoyed it.

Sounds like everything is going great with the kids and the adults.

Kayla never sent her care package to me.... She's never getting a letter from me :p

Hooray for dad becoming YM president. I think he'll do great. We're having a big shake up in our ward with the auxilliaries. Our bishop is finally feeling ready to take out everything from the old bishop and have a fresh start with his own ideas. He's been in for about nine months now (after an emergency bishop change, so he was just kinda thrown in there without any notice). We have a new YM president, a new YW presidency and he confided in us missionaries that there are more changes on the way. He wouldn't say what though.

Well, the rumors are actually about next transfer. We already had our first transfer like 3 weeks ago, and then like the day after that first transfer, the rumors started. Kinda crazy how fast things start. But the rumors for this transfer won't be known until 3 weeks from now. And I think that more rumors will start when we have our interviews with Pres. Martin tomorrow. Fun stuff.

Mom, you would be totally shocked by my hair. You would probably say that a missionary should never have a hair cut like mine. "It's too long and shaggy." But Pres. Martin specifically stated that a 2 all the way around is too short for a missionary. So ha. Actually, I'll be getting a haircut this Thursday. Plus, I like my hair length.

This week has been one of the craziest weeks, and unfortunately, I cannot tell the stories over the internet. I know I sent a letter to dad today containing the one story that was just crazy but I don't think I should share that one.

And there are other disturbing stories. Like the time we went to a new investigators house and the 15 year old son was watching pornographic material while his mother and aunt (who is a member) was in the room. He felt so awkward and turned it off.

One of the problems we've had is getting our investigators to church. The past two weeks we've had no one at church. And it's sad. But we're trying our hardest.

We were afraid Fernanda dropped us yesterday, but we stopped by and were able to talk with her. This whole weekend she spent with her dad because it was his birthday, so she couldn't go to church.

As for Heliot, well Elder Hawke's "love affair" (as the hermanas like to call it) with him was rekindled. We're progressing really well with his daughter (no love affair there) who loves for us to come over. She's 14 and reminds me a lot of Jocie. She's normally very shy (ok, that doesn't remind me of Jocie), but always talkative when we are over. Kinda reminds me of Jocie when the missionaries are over and how she's always talkative and fli- Ok, I won't say it.

As for our other investigators, things are going really slow. We're trying to find a lot of people, but it is hard. We can't go knocking very much. There's no place to street contact. It's tough. But we're trying.

So just in case you guys were wondering, or curious, The Office is filmed about 1/2 a mile from where I live. You probably don't even know what The Office is (with Steve Carrell) but a lot of people think it's funny. And a lot of people up at BYU like it.

And NCIS is filmed at the CBS Studios in my area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be jealous.

At least I think it is.

Elder Herrera says hi.

And as I was looking at the map the other day, I noticed that North Beverly Hills is in our area. We never go down there, it's just something nice to say.

I know my area is called North Hollywood, but it's nothing like the Hollywood you think of when they say Hollywood. It reminds me more of the Lower Valley.

I was sick all day Friday. We tried to work, but about 5:00pm I couldn't do it anymore. So we came back and I took a nap. Then about 6:40pm I wanted to go work again, but Elder Hawke wouldn't let me. I tried to get him to go, but gave up around 8:15pm, then I went back to bed, and slept for 14 hours to try and get the sickness out of me.

Well, that's about it.

Love ya guys.

 

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

Survival of the 2nd Transfer

Hey ya'll,

So I'm e-mailing a little later on Monday because we had a rather big fiasco with the military ID. We went to one of the Army Reserve places in Santa Monica. Santa Monica is about 20 miles from North Hollywood. Yet it turned into a 2 1/2 hour drive when you factored in LA rush hour traffic. So we left at a little before 9 and got there at 11:15. But the lady that is in charge of the ID's decided to go home early and her back-up wasn't in that day (even though she had told us she would be in on Monday when I called her on Saturday). So then we boogied on over further south to Los Angeles Air Force base and took care of it there. We were supposed to get back at 11 and everything was supposed to be fine and dandy. We didn't get back until 3:30. But, we had a good time with Sis. Martin, and we learned a lot of fun stuff.

But funny thing. They wouldn't let Elder Hawke or Sis. Martin on the base because, well, apparently LA Air Force Base is like top-notch security stuff and they don't let anyone on ever unless they have a military ID, and even then I had to get some clearance for me. So I went in all by myself without a companion (AH!!). And as I'm sitting in there this 20, 21, 22, 23 year old girl or something like that is just looking and staring at me. And I'm thinking "Great, just what I need, me with no companion, and here we have a female trying to hit on me." Then she comes walking toward me and I'm like "Uh.... lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is..." She says hi, I say hi. And then she says "I've never seen an elder without his companion." Turns out she was a member in Glendale or something like that. So we talked a little bit about how my comp was not let on the base and it wasn't just because I left him.

Elizabeth was confirmed this past Sunday by me. Fun stuff. I had to say it in Spanish. Fun stuff. She's doing really good. Not much else to say.

We also have Fernanda, someone I don't think I have told you about yet. She's our investigator's (Natalia) daughter. Anyways, we had talked with her once but never really taught her a lesson. When we did talk to her, we had left her a Book of Mormon and told her to read 3rd Nephi 11. So we came back last Thursday for our first actual lesson. We talked for a bit and then she asked a random question out of the blue: "What time do you guys wake up in the morning?" 6:30. "Is that why you guys are always happy and smiling and everything?" "Sure....... haha no." So we talked a little more about why we are happy. And then she told us that she had read 3rd Nephi 11. And one of the things she noticed was how Jesus Christ gave Nephi the authority to baptize. Then we talked about how we have the authority to baptize, and all the first lesson. And we invited her to get baptized and she accepted the invitation. So, we have a baptismal date set with her for November 13th. We'll see how that turns out.

The poor misioneras in our district. They have just had some bad luck the past month. At the end of September they had 8 baptismal dates with people. 2 of them moved, 2 of them they found out weren't married and couldn't get married because one of them wasn't legally divorced and it would cost $6000 to get it done. 3 of them they just can't find anymore. They've just had some really really bad luck. Yet, they are the best. They work hard and always try to keep and optimistic attitude about it. Plus, they're on bike, and this past week was brutally hot (105 degrees on day).

Oh, this past Wednesday I was on a companion exchange with Elder Babcock. So I got to drive all day. Yay! Fun stuff. But actually, it was a really productive day. We actually got a lot of work done, taught 3 lessons. It was a good day.

Well, the library wants to kick me out of here 'cuz it closes at 5:30 and I haven't written Pres. Martin yet. So sorry for this shorter than usual letter.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

Yippie...Columbus Day

Hey everyone,

Sorry this is a day late. But there was an extremely important holiday yesterday that the whole city shut down to observe this magnificent day. Columbus Day!! Yay! We had great Columbus festivities and all the libraries were closed. Ok, we didn't really have Columbus festivities. I think Columbus Day is just a way to get another day off for government workers. But whatever. Actually, my companion said that everything was closed because it was Canadian Thanksgiving in Monday (which, it is true that it was Canadian Thanksgiving; they celebrate it earlier). We had a great Thanksgiving feast with a lot of missionaries from our zone yesterday. We had mashed potatoes... that we found in our pantry that were probably from a couple of months ago. Stuffing from the Dollar Store. Corn and green beans (who knows how old those were...). French bread (is 73 cents for a loaf of french bread like the ones we always buy good, mom?). Pumpkin pie that the hermanas made. And our "turkey" ... that was actually a chicken rotisserie we bought (the chicken looked dead!!!). It was so much fun.

So it sounds like the cruise was fantastic. That will be on my to-do list for the year after I get back from my mission.... Find an esposa (wife), take a cruise... Easier said than done. Have to find the esposa first.

That's pretty cool about the bilingual wards. Here in the valley we don't even have bilingual stakes. The stake we have is an all-Spanish stake. That's actually not very common in the mission, only here in the San Fernando Valley. We have an English stake and we have a Spanish stake.

Our mission is kinda divided into four areas: The San Fernando Valley (which I am in), the Santa Clarita Valley, the High Desert, and Antelope Valley. Something like that.

Oh, so the highlight of the week. Elizabeth was baptized!! Yay. She's so happy, though in the pictures, it would seem otherwise. She didn't smile for the cameras. But yeah Elder Hawke did the baptism on Sunday. There weren't too many people, which she wanted, because it wasn't announced in sacrament meeting the Sunday before because, well, it was general conference. But she's super happy, and she really wants her daughter Karen to start getting more into the church. Right now, we're kinda teaching her but not really. We're working on that.

Our other investigators are kinda a struggle. Heliot has somewhat dropped us because of something Elder Hawke said, so we haven't seen him in a while. We haven't been able to schedule an appointment with Eduardo. Luz hasn't been keeping her commitments. But we have Natalia, who is doing well, and her daughter Fernanda. We tried to visit them today, but Natalia's autistic son Adrian had to be taken to the doctor because he was sick. And we have a couple more people we're working with but nothing seems too promising at the moment.

As for the golden investigator, well, I no longer get to work with him because that was in Elder Vazquez's area and he has his new companion Elder Herrera. But as far as I know, everything is going well with him.

We had stake conference last Sunday. And I'll be honest, none of the missionaries really paid attention. But, guess who the organist was? Yeah, me. Anyways, there were so many people there, like no room whatsoever in the gym or in the chapel and whatever. And it was the really nice organ. And they fixed it!!! So it made it even more exciting for me. It was fun playing the organ. Most of those people didn't even know what an organ sounded like. Ok, not really, but you know. I tend to overexxagerate. Oh, mom, someone told me to thank you for teaching me piano and making me take it. So I'm thanking you for "teaching me piano" and making me take it.

Our mission is very chismoso (gossipy). It's kinda funny. It's almost as bad as high school freshman girls. Rumors abound about this and that and the other. That seems to be how everyone knew everything about me before I even stepped foot into the mission. But now there are rumors abound about what will happen next transfer regarding me. First, there was the rumor that Elder Hawke would be training again and that I would be transferred to who knows where. Then, the rumor was that our south area would be re-opened to new missionaries and that Elder Hawke and I would be split up, and that he would take our north area, and I would take the south area and we would both have new companions. Now, the rumor is that I'm going to be training a greenie next transfer and that Elder Hawke is going to be transferred to who knows where. And this is all in the span of about a week and a half. So there will be other rumors. Not that I care, I don't pay much attention to it. I just think it's really funny. I'll keep you updated on the chisme (gossip).

We have one 10 year old girl, Kathy, that went to Elizabeth's baptism that really wants to get baptized but the mom won't let her. The mom is the roommate of one of our members that we visit all the time, and so the mom knows us very well and loves talking with us. She lets us teach Kathy, but will not let her get baptized, which is sad. 

I have had quite a trial with patience the past few weeks and it has nothing to do with the mission work. It has to do with the surgery. I was supposed to find out a week ago about a surgery date. So I called and asked if they had received the authorization. No, but they'd check and call me back. Didn't call me back. Called the next day- "Oh, we'll check and call you back." No call back. Called on Friday. The lady wasn't in that day. Called yesterday. "Oh we'll check and call you back." No, I wasn't about to let them do that to me. I told them to check right now and that I would call back in one hour. Called back in an hour. "Oh, uh, yeah, Mr. Gruenewald... well, you see... we didn't send it in correctly. We sent it in with only the last four digits of your father's social security number... so we need to resubmit it. But don't worry, we put it as urgent, so it should only be a couple days." Oh, the frustration. So, I'll probably be waiting another week so I can schedule a surgery date.

Oh, at Elizabeth's baptism something kinda funny happened. I was scheduled to play a solo piano piece for her baptism. Except I didn't have anything. So I called Elder Banuelos to ask if he had some music that he could bring. "Sure, I'll be over in a bit." Didn't come to bring the music until 5 minutes after the baptism started. So, he brings in this really difficult piece (it was actually a Jon Schmidt "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" arrangement) and I'm like "great, I can't practice this and I can't chicken out of it." So I sightread it. And it turned out really good. I was very surprised (and nervous).

This week we also had some food that gave me what we like to call a bad case of Jeremiah 4:19. Read that scripture and you'll understand what I mean.

My companion goes to Santa Clarita tomorrow for district leader training, so I get Elder Babcock as a companion. He's been out as long as I have. But it also means I get the car. Yay! The long skinny one is the brake, right?

I hope you're still posting these e-mails on the blog and then on Facebook.

Oh, so remember how someone asked what it was that would be a really good thing to get missionaries? Stamps. Stamps are wonderful. Stamps are what keep us aware of what is going on in the outside world. And Gillette Fusion razor blades, but those are a bit more expensive and I'm not even sure if you're allowed to ship them. But those are nice too, like for Christmas or my un-birthday or something.

So I think that's about it. I feel like I'm missing something and as soon as I send the e-mail, I'm going to remember what it is and be like "dang it." But you know, whatevers.

Send my love to everyone.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

xxooxOoxOoXxOo (I was totally gonna do that before you e-mailed me. stole my idea)

Musings of October 3, 2011

Hi everyone, mom, dad, Brian, Jocie, Chico, punk (you don't even get your name included; you never write me something meaningful; and you get mentioned after the dog; yeah, that's right), and everyone else that is reading this letter,

Hi.

So this week was a really rough week for us. Elder Torres left (he had to leave early to Colombia because his visa ran out) and so we had Elder Vazquez in our companionship. I love Elder Vazquez. But that's beside the point. Elder Hawke and I are already working two large areas, and we also had to work Elder Vazquez' area because Elder Vazquez's companion doesn't come 'til later today. So, yeah, it was difficult working three areas.

Elizabeth!!! I love Elizabeth. Well, she's getting baptized this Sunday. She would have gotten baptized yesterday, but she drank coffee (bad teaching on our part; she thought it was okay as long as it was more milk than coffee). But she committed to not drinking coffee at all, so now we're back on track.

As for our other investigators... Well, they're not doing so good. Heliot has somewhat dropped us because he feels like we are pushing him too much. Which is somewhat true. I kinda felt like we were asking stuff of him that made him feel too uncomfortable. With him we had to take it slow, and we got a little impatient with him. So we're working on that. We weren't able to visit with Eduardo this week because of our increased work load. And I don't know if I've told you about Luz. Well, Luz was reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and now she isn't.

And we are having a lot of trouble finding new investigators. Most of our new investigators come from former investigators and potentials that have been recorded over the years. We can't really go knocking at apartment complexes. But this week, we have two focuses: 1) Find new investigators. 2) Get to know the ward more so that they feel comfortable with giving us referrals.

I loved general conference. First time that I watched all the conference talks attentively... Normally, I miss one or I fall asleep through one. It was hard with the Sunday sessions because I had to watch those in Spanish and couldn't get all of it. But I loved it! I especially loved Richard G. Scott's talk on reading the scriptures, Pres. Eyring's priesthood talk about pushing yourself beyond your limits in the service of the Lord (he spoke with more boldness that was not the usual Pres. Eyring style), and Ian S. Arden's talk about being a master manager of time. They were all really great talks. I can't wait for the conference edition of the Ensign so I can tear it apart and re-read everything.

As for the priesthood session of conference. They called us out. They really called us out. They got up in our faces. And it's funny how it can make you feel really bad but at the same time make you want to do soooo much better. I loved it. Well, at the time I was like down on myself because I felt like it was "great, I'm doing my best and it's not good enough." But then as you get to thinking about it, they just want you to push yourself a little bit more. So yeah, I loved it.

Journey... Darn, wish I had been able to go to the concert.

So I have been teaching a guy with Elder Vazquez (since he doesn't have a companion) named Orlando. He has studied theology and is very knowledgable in all major religious movements since the dawn of time. He used to be a Seventh-Day Adventist but didn't like it because of the economic stratification within the church. We were teaching him and he said: "I don't know much about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but let me tell you what little I know." He went on to explain the entire Joseph Smith story, complete with exact dates and vivid descriptions, where the church started and what day, the Book of Mormon, the pioneers, Kirtland, Missouri, everything. Nothing he said was wrong, as far as I could tell. He said he really liked the church because it did not have that economic stratification that other churches have and that it was "pretty close" to the kind of church that Jesus Christ had when he was on the earth. The only thing he had questions about was the priesthood (which later on in the week, he called us and said he found his answer in the little booklet we gave him to read), and sabbath day observance. Yesterday we taught him again, and he said: "You know, I hope I am progressing enough and I know enough to be baptized." Uh, yeah, you know more than the eternal investigator we have been teaching for a year. He really has the desire to find out more, to know that this is the true church.

To Cynthia Amaya (hopefully, mom or dad, you're putting this on facebook)- Yeah, uh, I am mad at you. End of story :p

Welllllllllllll, ummmmm, mom can you send me some developed (is that what they call it now? since everything is digital and only film is developed) photos of the family, the dog... Yes, the dog!!! A photo of El Paso, and any other pictures that are worth showing to like my investigators and my fellow missionaries. I would love, say, 20 pictures, but whatever floats your boat.

Are you rocking your soul in the bosom of Abraham? If you are, congratulations. If you aren't, please do. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a song. We have a CD of African-American gospel music sung by the Mo-Tab that we love and one is called "Rocking My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham." It has become a favorite of Elders Hawke, Vazquez and I and we love rocking our souls in the bosom of Abraham.

Time to get kicked off this library computer. Send my regards to all.

Con amor,

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

September 19 - Letters and emails FINALLY arrive!!

Hey everyone,

So I'm really glad you guys e-mailed me. Elder Hawke was getting a little worried because there was a span of about 2 1/2, 3 weeks of where I heard nothing from anyone. I was okay with it. He was freaking out, wanting to call the mission president so he could call you to see if everything was okay. If it had been a month, I would've started worrying.

Kidding, I worried a little bit.

So, about the hernia. I wouldn't have worried too much about it, would've just waited until after my mission to get it taken care of. But we were helping this lady move and we were moving a big couch, and I think I did something to it. Now it just hurts constantly, especially when I cough and sneeze and sit down. So I decided it might be best to go to a doctor just to make sure everything is alright and turns out it got worse. We had a big fiasco with insurances but I think we got that all settled out. Tuesday I go in for a consultation with the surgeon, I don't think I'll necessarily be getting surgery this Tuesday. So, there's my update on that.

Tell Kayla I'm still awaiting her package that she promised to send me.

Sounds like everything is going great.

We had a really difficult week. Difficult in that we basically had no time to do anything. We had our meeting with Bro. Golden on Monday, P-Day on Tuesday, and a regular proselyting day on Wednesday. Wednesday was actually a really good day for us. We were able to visit Heliot, Elizabeth (more on them later) and one other friend of a ward member, plus a couple of less active member visits. Thursday we went to the LA Temple (more on that later too) and Friday we had our district and zone meetings. And Sautrday we had our weekly plannning and a Dia de Hispanidad. So basically, we had very little time to do some actual proselyting work.

Like I said, Thursday we got permission from Pres. Martin to go outside the mission to the LA Temple with our district. Elder Torres is about to die on Saturday (leave the mission field), so Pres. Martin allowed him to go to the temple one last time with us. The LA Temple was so nice. It's interesting to see how different each temple is, how unique each temple is. The LA Temple is really nice, and the rooms are beautiful.

Friday we taught a few lessons. Not much else to say. District meeting was good. We made horchata, so that was a lot of fun.

Saturday was our Dia de Hispanidad. What went down there was that we had each barrio (ward) in the stake in charge of two countries in Latin America. Our barrio was in charge of the Dominican Republic and Panama. But each country had a baile tipico (typical dance) and the comida tipica (typical food) from each country. So it was really good. We had a few investigators go to that, and it was a lot of fun for them, I think.

Sunday we had three cenas (dinners). Yeah, three. There was some confusion on the ward meals list by two members on who had what for Sunday, and since we don't like to offend the members by cancelling, we had to go to both of the members for dinner. Then Heliot's tia (aunt) called us and said that Heliot was inviting us to a barbeque at his house. And since we love Heliot so much, we couldn't deny that. So we said yes to that. And all three of the meals prepared like so much food and kept offering us seconds (and thirds and fourths). Mom, I have gained 13 pounds since my last doctors visit (which was two weeks ago, I weighed in at 188). I think I've doubled that in the last two weeks.

Speaking of Heliot. We love Heliot. We love his family. He has changed so much since we first taught him. He loves us. When he invited us to the barbeque, we were the only ones outside of his family that he invited. He shares with us all his life stories. When we first talked to him, he barely talked at all, gave simple yes-no answers. Now, he's really progressing. He has given up drinking coffee, which was hard at first, but now it's getting easier for him. His kids are wonderful too. The twin boys are mischevious little kids but they are so funny and they love us. And the daughter Jessica really enjoys the gospel. We tried committing Heliot to baptism yesterday, but he's not ready yet. It's okay, though.

I've found that I find more joy in bringing people to the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether they get baptized or not. I've seen people change lives. Heliot's life has changed so much. Elizabeth's life has changed so much. It was almost the exact same story with Elizabeth. She was really timid and shy at first, but has really opened up to us, talking a lot and cracking jokes in a very difficult to understand El Salvadorian accent. She has friends in the ward now, whereas before, she stayed secluded in the confines of her own home. This gospel changes lives. Even if Heliot and Elizabeth don't get baptized, that really doesn't matter. Do I want the to get baptized? With all my heart, yes, I want them to get baptized. But seeing the changes they've made in their lives has brought me so much joy.

Interesting story: As we were doing our weekly planning on Saturday, we were debating whether or not to set a baptismal date for Heliot's kids. The kids' mom is kinda against the church and she has joint-custody of the children (Heliot and the mom are divorced). This week, the kids were supposed to be with their mother. So we prayed whether or not we should set the goal to set a baptismal date with the kids. We felt like we should set that goal, so we did. I remember me saying that I dunno how this will happen, but God wants this to happen, so he'll prepare a way for it to happen. The next day at church, we were talking to Heliot and he said that the kids' mom would not be able to take care of the kids this week, so he would have the kids. I remember thinking "answers to prayers." Yeah, I love God and how he answers prayers.

We were listening to Christmas music this week. We needed to be reminded of Christmas because it's been a whole 9 months since we've had Christmas.

Oh, and we were also listening to the Saturdays Warriors CD. And the first thing I thought of is mom singing "Who are these children coming down?" every time we walked down the stairs. So every time we walk down the stairs, I sing that song. Fun stuff.

Apparently there was an earthquake a few weeks ago that I forgot to mention. 3.9, I think. Yeah, I must've missed it. The hermanas in our district were all freaking out. I might've been asleep or I dunno what. But yeah...

Well, that's about everything. Stay safe. Send letters. Be honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and do good to all things.

Love ya.

Elder Nathan Gruenewald