August Is Ending...

I'm glad that Leah's surgery went well. I'm sure that when Leah emailed that to Matthew that he freaked out a little bit like I did. (Surgery!? WHAT SURGERY!?! ;-) Jury duty sounds like fun. Not. :P I'm sure your glad that's over. Way to go Josh on your scouting achievements! Keep up the good work! 

It's been interesting to see how missionary work has changed to be a whole lot more focused on teaching by the spirit, and how it's completely changing how we teach our investigators. It's really cool! It's weird that school's already up and running again! It just goes to show that time is flying by way too fast! I'm glad Leah's enjoying her new job, and I hope that she enjoys her new budget. :-)

Yep. Everything has been going great! I'm loving the time I have to be with Elder Zufelt again. We just seem to get along better than most of my other companions. I guess I feel more of a connection with him, that started when we first met at the MTC. He's a photographer, so I should be more picture-taking conscious with these next few weeks that we're together as a companionship for sure. We're working hard with our investigators and with the 4 people who have baptismal dates right now.

• Gerardo- He's got a baptismal date for this Saturday, but it'll probably be moved back a week or two. He's been busy with work this entire week so we didn't have any lessons with him. We've got an appointment for tomorrow, so we'll see what he  wants to do.
• Janet- She's a neighbor to our ward mission leader. She loves the gospel and the scriptures, but we might have some trouble until we talk to her husband and see if he's on board with everything, but she is super excited to be baptized! Her date is set for Sept 11
• Anita- She was a referral from another set of missionaries around Fairfield. She was worried about knowing enough, but we shared a scripture from Alma 8 that talked about the few and simple things that we need to desire/ do to be prepared to be baptized. Her date is set for Sept 18th.
• Miguel- he's golden. He has a super solid testimony of the Book of Mormon, and he's really excited about his baptism too. His foot has some broken tendons... and he has surgery this Thursday, so we'll see if he'll be ok to be baptized by Sept 11 too.

We're working with a lot of amazing people, and I'm just growing more and more attached to this area. I love this work and I'm happy to be out here serving the Lord. You really can't find a better thing to do with your life. It's one the greatest sacrifices you can give, and it also has some of the greatest blessings that you can ever receive. I know I must say this all the time, but for those of you who haven't even considered going on a mission, thinking that it isn't for you, then think again. You have something that everyone in the world wants. It's something that sometimes they don't even understand that they were missing until they received it. The understanding of God's plan for all of us, and the happiness he desires for everyone, is unrivaled. Especially, when you talk about the story of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. Either God has showed forth His hand through a modern-day prophet, or that man is a blatant liar. Either Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God, making it the most true and correct of any book in existence, or it's completely false. Evil cannot produce truth, and evil cannot come from a good man. So how do we know which is which? By ourselves, we can't. That's why God is there, because who can be a better witness of these things than God himself? That's our purpose as missionaries. We invite people to read, ponder, and pray on the message of the Book of Mormon, to find out if it's true. I know that God does answer us, because He loves us, and He wants what's best for us and our happiness. Our message is wonderful, and I would invite anyone who hasn't thought about talking to the missionaries to please think about it. I know that it's message will bless your lives, and that it will bless the lives of your families as well.

I bear my testimony again that this church is Christ's restored church, the same one that Christ himself established when he was on the Earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that God has answered my prayers, and I know He will answer yours if you are willing to ask Him, and listen for His answer.

May God bless you and watch over you,

Your missionary in California,

Elder Mackelprang  

Regarding your ?'s

1. <<Tell us about your All Mission Conference I read about on your Mission Mom’s Blog>> Yeah, we had Elders Packard and Bowen of the 70 come and talk to us. They focused on how we can improve on our daily contacts and how it can make or break our missions out here. He also talked about how we always need to testify to everyone of our unique message about the Restoration. People will have to make a choice when they listen to that testimony, either it could be true, or it's completely ridiculous. So we just need to remember that when we do face those people who think that our message is ridiculous that they are rejecting Christ, and not ourselves. Because that's who we're out here for. We are here for Christ, and not for ourselves. It was some very hardcore teaching. They focused a LOT on Chapters 4 and 5 of PMG. (heads up for those of you preparing for missions, those are good chapters to know forwards and backwards to contact people on the street.) It was great. 
2. <<You mentioned some upcoming baptisms.  How are they coming?>> Yes, we have 4 people with baptismal dates. We should be pretty busy come September. We will be getting lots of pictures, I promise. They are all on track, and it's blatantly obvious to see Satan working hard on them to slow them down, but they're making their way forward!
3. <<How is the memory card reader I sent working for you?>> I appreciate the memory card reader, I have a regular SD card, but I'm sure that the different formats will be useful for transfering other peoples pictures that they take of me too. Thank you for that.
4. <<Send more pictures of you, your companion, your house, etc.>> I will make sure to send some next week. I haven't taken some of everything just yet. I'll make sure to get some pictures of the house and car and stuff too. I like suggestions for pictures.