YEAH!! NEW EMAIL!!

I actually “chatted” with Richard a bit this week, since he was emailing at the same time I was online.  He was having trouble getting logged on to his LDS.ORG account (which apparently is what missionaries use for their email login), so I was able to help him.  We traded about six emails over an hour or so.  I suppose that counts as “really slow chat”, right :-) - Mark

     It feels good to be emailing from a Gmail app again. It really is so much neater. Anyways please, please, please make sure everyone hears about the change. It's pretty simple. It's funny that they didn't let me choose the name :P I would have made it shorter, but I'm happy nonetheless.

     So I'm emailing this week from the Sonoma Library Family History Center because it's President's Day! Happy Holiday. It always bugs me that all of these holidays fall on Mondays. It really messes up the emailing system we have. Anyways something funny to look think about is that since arriving to California I have been here for 2 transfers, lived in 3 apartments, and have had a total of 4 companions. Yep, I'm with the gringo Elders now. They're funny, but it's just weird to see how crazy some of these Elders can get. We actually made the switch yesterday, on Valentine's Day. The APs came and picked up Elder Grandela and I moved over to English's apartment. It's still weird getting used to it. The other apartment still feels like home.

     So Yeah, I'm sad to see Elder Grandela is gone, but I know that he will have a great impact on his home community because he's a great guy. He has taught me much from his example, and I will working hard to keep up the pace with the Spanish work here.

     We have Angeles Anguiano and Elizabeth Ramirez with baptismal dates for March 6th. Elder Grandela and I lost base with Elizabeth last week, so I'll be doing my best to call / contact her and continue on from where we left off so that she can prepare to make those covenants that will bring her closer to her Savior, Lord and Redeemer. Angeles I will be seeing tomorrow with one of the best Spanish Sisters in the ward. They are becoming great friends, and Angeles is getting more and more excited about the baptism as the time draws near. She was close to Elder Grandela, and was sad to see him leave as many people from the Sonoma area were, but I will do my best to teach strongly with the spirit so that she will be prepared to be baptized.

     This week was pretty slow compared to other weeks, we had a lot of people who dropped appointments, but still have an interest in meeting with us, so I'll be contacting them as soon as possible to help them to progress. Hopefully I'll be able to get in touch with Ares Perez who called us to apologize for not being at the lesson, and told us he wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon, and wants to come out to church. So I hope to be able to tell you more about him and his progress if I can get ahold on him this week. We have several people who are progressing, but are doing so in small steps. I plan to excite them with the spirit to come out to church, and as they come to church they will progress faster.

     One good thing about Elder Grandela leaving is now I'm having to be more dependant on the Spanish members to help come and teach with the lessons that I have set up. Fortunately they are happy, willing, and able to help me out. I feel good that I have a great support from the English Elders and the ward to help keep this the Lord's work moving. My Spanish has been blessed, since I'm alone, and cannot ask for support from the English Elders when we're walking around to contact people. I know that the Lord is with me, and that He has a great work for Sonoma. I hope things are going well in the other areas of the mission.

     So to answer a few questions about the last bike: it was from a member, Bro Newman. It was pretty good until the bike seat went haywire. I have a picture of how totally screwed up it got. I'll be buying a new one since it broke while I was riding it. In contrast the new bike is amazing!!! It takes halve as much work to go up the hills around here, but I'm still figuring out how to smoothly change the gears since it's a little different than bikes I've ridden in the past. I love it. Thank Keith for putting fenders on it, that will be useful when things get wet again. It's a great blessing. The bike came down with the English Elders new car, or rather Truck. Yep, a new truck that only had 35 miles on it. Ridiculous, I know. They pick us up sometimes so it's useful when we're biking and we all need to head somewhere. So I've mentioned my new English compies, but I haven't even mentioned their names yet :P my bad. They're Elder Bankhead and Elder Balagna (pronounced like lasagna and yes he's from an Italian family) Bankhead's a greenie from Utah and Elder Balagna has 6 months left and is from Illinois. They're great. I look forward to some fun times with them. I'll tell you more about them as I learn more. I've only been with them in their companionship for a half-day so far. We usually do emails around 10AM, but my emails to you guys are usually last and I don't usually have time for a back and forth email conversation. Congrats to Sam!! It's cool that she's found someone that she can spend the rest of her life and eternity with. :P I don't know if she'll send me anything, but still, way to go!

     Well that's all for this week, I love you all and I want you to know that I know that our Savior lives and that He's constantly looking out for us and ways for us to grow and become more like Him. I know that He loves each and everyone one of us and that He's always there to give us a hand when we are weak. I know that the Book of Mormon is the work of God for our day, and that ANYONE can read from them and learn something. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and He restored Christ's church as it was in His day, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

     Love your Missionary,

     Elder Richard Mackelprang