(Sister Bunker – Richard’s Mission Mom posted some pictures on her blog which I’m including here. They’re of the Napa Zone Conference and include pictures of Richard – Mark)
 | This is the entire zone. You can see Richard near the left hand side of the picture. |
 | This is Richard in the lunch line. I asked who the other Elders were, but he told me that they were just in line with him. Sister Bunker told them to line up for pictures together :-) |
Hello everybody!
Here's a special hello for Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Steven! I hope you guys have enjoyed NC!
*Whew* This week has been longer than others, but that's a given when I've been keeping my pants together with strings of thread until I got my new polyester ones. We've had bike problems (more Elder Knowles than myself), and crazy happenings all around. It's been cloudless, sunny, and hot. Classic California weather. The English Elders lost the truck, and got a dinky little Carolla. It'll be a little more crazy taking the bikes everywhere now... but we'll manage.
I love this little town, I know just about all the little streets in it, and I'm growing to love the people more and more. It's funny seeing all the little quirks that come with living in a small town like this one, but it's nice all in all. I'll definitely be stopping by here sometime, if Aunt Marsha and family still live in Santa Rosa. I've almost spent 4.5 months here! I'll laugh if I stay another transfer after this one. I'll have been here for 6 months then. Being with Elder Knowles is great. We get along really well, giving each other trouble every once in a while. It's a guy thing I guess. I'm happy that I'm with him though. He's a great missionary, and a hard worker. We've been exploring some of the parts of Sonoma we hardly get around to, that are higher up in the hills ( on our bikes of course! ;) ) and have had fun whizzing down the streets really fast. We've been looking for Spanish "pockets" of good areas to tract while talking to people on the road. It's good stuff.
To answer some ?'s
- Being on bike is always an adventure
- I don't have the old SD card, it's lost with the other camera the new one works good.
- The pants work great! and they're machine washable! Hallelujah! They should last a good long while.
- Mother's Day... well we'll probably call after 2PM our time if we have lunch with a member, or about 6PM if we have dinner. I'll have more info as we get closer.
- I don't remember if I already mentioned this, but I sang in sacrament a week or 2 ago, a solo of "Rock of Ages" It was fun, and everyone loved it. I'm enjoying the opportunity to sing at all times. It's just great to sing out and share my love for the Gospel.
- Stamps and Stickers are great for the package, if your sending snacks I'd appreciate jerky and honey roasted peanuts, I'm still working on all of those bags of sunflower seeds you sent me last time. They're not my favorite type of nut, but they are good. Thanks! (the SD card too)
Here's an update on what's been happening with people I've been teaching:
This week has been good, with it's share of challenges, and spiritual fulfillment. We've been working with getting into lessons with our investigators, but they are still workaholics and are always doing something. The Lord always provides other opportunities to take care of, and to help us fulfill our goals, but it's still sad to see the world taking control of our investigator's lives with the need to work. I loved Zone Conference! I always learn something new to apply to the work, and how I can utilize the resources we have, how we can better work with members, etc. We really have all the tools we need to get the work done; we as missionaries just need to use them! This week we've had some bike trouble, but Bro. Newman has been a great help with some backup bikes so that we're not terribly hindered in getting to appointments, and getting around. We've been working with Sara Perez; Estella, Succorro, and Alejandro; and Moises, Berta, Teresa, and Francisco Gutierrez. Sara had to change her baptismal date because she didn't feel ready, and because we can only meet with her once a week. She feels the spirit each time we teach her, and she has told US that. She feels that it's true, but we've only had the opportunity to teach her up the latter part of the Plan of Salvation. She likes our church, but with her new job she's struggling to adjust to the new schedule. We're trying to help her get out to church like she did in the beginning. We are excited for her, and just have to get into her busy schedule and teach her. Estella, Succorro, and Alejandro came to church this week! With almost the entire family! It was beautiful to see them sitting next to their inlaws the Sanchez family. Actually Estella's son Rudulfo got baptized a few months ago, and he's married to Sis Sanchez. They were at his baptism, and know a little bit about our church. Succorro is progressing, but she's feeling oppression from the adversary. She told us that she was feeling sick that Sunday morning and really didn't want to go, but she went anyway and felt fine. Also when she was praying, she was praying to know and then she felt ugly, and bad, and couldn't concentrate. Bro. Moreno was with us and testified to her that it was the adversary trying to fight against her knowing about our church. We are very excited for them, and their family. We'll see how they progress. The Gutierrez family has been out of the loop for about a month or so, and they really didn't remember anything about the Restoration, so we went back and taught it to them again to get them on track and start the fires of faith again. It seemed to light back up with them as we taught it, and we're excited to see them progress too. The thing that would help them most is getting out to church. Hopefully the party that we're throwing will break whatever ice that is preventing them from actually coming out.
I love you all!
Your Missionary,
Elder Richard Mackelprang
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