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

September 6 Ideas,Thoughts and Observations

Hey everyone (I've grown tired of writing all the names),

So, I got all my mail like last Thursday. It was like 10 letters, so forgive me for reprimanding ya'll for not writing.

I write on Tuesday instead of Monday because we had to switch our P-Day to Tuesday. More on that later.

Things out here are going great. I am loving life, I am loving the obra misional, I am loving the people. It is awesome.

We have some really great investigators. Elizabeth and Heliot have really progressed and we have a baptismal date for Elizabeth on the 25th. Heliot still has a little bit to go before we can extend a baptismal invitation. But both have progressed, both are going to church consistently. both will be baptized soon. Hopefully...

Had my first experience tocando puertas (knocking doors). Elder Hawke says it is a lot harder to tocar puertas here than anywhere else in the mission because there are so many apartment complexes that like to kick us out and there are very few Latino homes. For example, we got kicked out of one apartment complex and had no luck knocking other doors. So most of our new investigators come from former investigators. We very very rarely get any media or member referrals. We're working on the members.

Actually, the members here give so much support to us missionaries. Hermana Salegio has helped out a lot with Elizabeth. She tries to come as much as she can to our lessons with her, she takes Elizabeth to church every Sunday, she is a really great friend to Elizabeth. And they both have like the same story. They are both from El Salvador, they both have a daughter, they both were opposed to the church when they first received it. It's pretty cool.

Sometimes, though, it's best not to have members in our lessons. Last Sunday, we asked if we could visit Heliot with Hno. Casco. We were all ready for our cita (appointment) with him, when a couple hours before, Hno. Casco cancelled, said he couldn't make it. We scrambled to find someone else to replace him. Finally, about 10 minutes before our cita, we decided that the Lord didn't want a member to be at our cita with Heliot, and left it in his hands. We are so glad that we did not have a member there. Heliot really opened up to us, told us about the difficulties of raising 3 kids (1 set of rambunctious 10 year old twin boys and a girl), how he lost his first child after he lived only a few weeks, and the rough divorce he had just gone through. It was the first time he really talked openly with us. Now he trusts us, so it's going really good.

But with members, it's sometimes a little difficult. We told Elizabeth not to worry about what she was wearing as long as she wore something modest and respectful because she didn't have a falda (dress? I think) to wear or some nice dress pants. So she wore some nice jeans and a nice blouse. Unfortunately, the topic at sacrament meeting that day was modesty in our apparel, and the lady that spoke ripped apart anyone that was wearing jeans to church. We had some damage control to do.

Another story... So we went out going to find new investigators. We went out to go find this one person that lived in this mobile home park. So we looked and looked and found it. We knocked on the door, and this young man, 18 years old, comes to the door. He speaks English so we talk to him. Find out his name is Ulysses. His parents are from Mexico and El Salvador. We are able to have a good doorstep conversation with him, and invite him to read the Book of Mormon. Elder Hawke only had a Spanish copy. But I, for some reason or another, had packed away an English copy of the Book of Mormon and we gave that to him. I think I had packed it away because we were supposed to have a lesson in English with one of our less active members, but we ended up giving that lesson in Spanish. We also found out that he has a really busy schedule, that he works full-time at Jack in the Box and also goes to school and has a girlfriend, and it is really hard to find him, so we were lucky to find him at home. So we teach Ulysses in his home, invite him to read and pray, and he gives us his word (he said it pretty firmly too, so I believe him).  When we got home later that day, we reviewed the day, talked about Ulysses. We looked at the area book at the investigator we were supposed to visit and we realized that we had knocked at the wrong address, at the wrong home. This is like by far the coolest story I have for this week.

Something else that's cool, Alice Larson you'll love this. Our stake center has one of the coolest pipe organs. I mean, it's not as grand as the Conference Center pipe organ, but it's so much fun. I got to play it yesterday, and I loved it! Pres. Martin gave me the key to open the console and open the door to the pipes and stuff. It does need some fixing up, but Pres. Martin said whatever is wrong with it, just to e-mail him about what is wrong and he will tell the facilities managers to get someone to fix it. So that's what I'm going to be doing as soon as I am done with this e-mail. But I get to go into the back and see all the pipes, show people what a pipe organ is like, show them all the pipes. It was awesome!

Yesterday we had what's called a mission tour, where a general authority comes and tours the mission. Elder Golden from the Seventy came. It was good. We learned about planning, becoming a better missionary, the good stuff. Talked about doctrinal questions that we had. Explained to us why we have key indicators as missionaries. Excellent.

So I've got some pictures. I'm just hoping they're the right pictures. I can't preview them on here. Dumb stuff huh. One is of me and my MTC companion, Elder Schoenfeld (the one where I am wearing an orange tie and no suit). One is of me and my MTC district. One is of me and Elder Morga (the one where I am wearing a suit). Mom, that's Lori's friend that you met and thought we would see each other in the MTC. Well, we were in the same zone. Another is of me and the Budge Boys (the one by the map). And one is of me and Sis. Mullen. I would add more pictures, but there's a limit on here, and we only have one cord for all the missionaries that want to send pictures to their parents. 

Well, that's all. I have 10 minutes to write my mission president.

Love you.

Elder Nathan Gruenewald

Library Closed on Labor Day....?

Hey Mom, Dad, Brian, Joclyn JoAnn, Jordan, Chico, and all other family and friends reading this e-mail,

     Sorry I was unable to e-mail yesterday. Libraries were closed for Labor Day, so we were unable to get that done at the library. But today the libraries are open, and thus we were given permission to e-mail today.

     A lot has been going on this week. We have been working hard to help the obra misional (missionary work, for all ye non-Spanish speakers) grow here in North Hollywood. We go out to work sometime around noon or 1 and generally don't get home until about 9:30 at night (we're supposed to be home at 9, but if we get permission from the district leader, we can be out until 9:30. And since Elder Hawke is the district leader, we always have permission).

     But yeah, missionary work is just awesome. The people here are just awesome. The only thing I have to remember is never to call them Mexican. Most of the people here are not Mexican. Most of the immigrants are people from El Salvador and Guatemela who came about 20 years ago when some wars were going on in those two countries. They tend to get offended when I accidentally call them Mexican. So I have to get used to calling them Latinos or Hispanos.

     We do run into the occasional Mexican, and that's when I'm at my best. I'm able to connect a lot more with the Mexican community than with the El Salvadorian or the Guatemalteco (that's what they're called in Spanish) community. I just talk about how I live 10 minutes from Mexico, that I could throw a rock into Mexico from my middle school (ok, so that's not entirely true, but it really is a stone throw away) and how dangerous it's become and how our temple is in Mexico. Once I talk about the temple, it's an easy transition into gospel topics. Guess I kinda found my niche with the Mexicans. With the El Salvadorians, I talk about pupusas, an El Salvadorian delicacy that are pretty common around here. And with the Guatemaltecos, well, I still haven't really found anything. I just talk about someone I know that served in the Quetzaltenango Mission, which shows I know a little bit more than just Guatemala City. But I'm still trying to find out how best to approach Guatemaltecos and El Salvadorians. Eh, I've got 23 more months to figure it out.

     Speaking of which, can you guys find out where Bro. Diaz served his mission? I'm pretty sure it was Guatemala but for some reason, I also think it was Nicaragua. Just let me know.

     As for the actual missionary work, the past week was really successful for us. We had 9 new investigators, which was really really really good. And we have a couple more people that we still need to teach, which would add to our new investigator pool. Most of our new investigators came from former investigators. We have two investigators that have really progressed and we think can be baptized in September. One of those investigators has 3 kids, so that would be really awesome to bring that whole family closer to Jesus Christ through baptism. We also had 4 investigators at church on Sunday, which also was really good.

     Yesterday for P-Day, we went on a hike up in the mountains as a zone activity. Kinda reminded me of an El Paso hike, where we find a tiny little stream of water, call that an amazing thing of natural beauty, and want to take a huge hike to bask in the serenity of mother nature. It was still really fun. We have a really great zone, and we get along very great. They are so much fun to be around and I love all the other missionaries. Afterwards, with our district, we went to the park and just kinda hung out. Played cards. Talked about stuff. I really love our district too. We're a very diverse group of people. 2 Mexicans, 1 Canadian, 1 Colombian, 2 Texans (cuz you know, Texas is its own country) and one Idahoian (Idahoan? Idahote? Eh, who cares. It's only Idaho). It's fun stuff.

I just realized how much I love using parentheses.

     Oh, we invited one of our investigators to the zone activity. And he came... kinda. We all met up at the church building and were gonna drive up to the park near the trailhead. Only, he got lost. And we all got to the park and he didn't. And there was really bad cell phone reception at the park. So we couldn't find him. Elder Hawke and I felt so bad. And this was one of our investigators that has really progressed. So we hope he doesn't hate us because of it. That would be terrible.

Like I said last week, the members love to feed us. And it's really really really good food. It's funny because it's always pollo, arroz, tortillas y frijoles (chicken, rice, tortillas, and beans). I'm not complaining one bit. I absolutely love it. Just one of those things that I thought I should point out.

     Wellllllllllllll, I can't think of much else to write. Please write letters to the mission office (which is the address on my facebook notes). Especially those of you at BYU or UVU or wherever that have just recently moved into a new apartment because I don't have your new apartment address (*cough cough* Kelsey Louise Allan, Dana Allan, Beka Altorefer, Rachel Kelley and all you others who know who you are). Once I get a letter from there, I can give you guys my return apartment address so I don't have to wait a whole week to get the letters.

     Mom and dad, you guys can send me e-mails through here. It's okay, that's approved. And actually, I think any family member can.

     That's all folks. Miss you guys and hope you guys are doing well.

Con amor,

       Elder Nathan Gruenewald