Suppy!

Suppy.
That...looks...painful, Ky. You're killing it, girl. Stay strong and keep praying. (Ether 12.27) The Lord, Heavenly Father, and I love you. You're great. You're going to be able to breathe a ton better. It sucks now, but in the long run you're going to love it. Is Jared and Elder yet? If he is, get him and Mikey to bless her. Make sure to use the oil because it's for health. If Jared isn't yet, have some one from the ward come and assist. It will help immensely. 

The Lord is so good. We picked up a kid named Alex just a little while ago and he's progressing well. We found out that his Uncle is growing weed. A lot of weed. Haha. Like, 200 plants. It's all 100% legal here in California if you have the right license, but on a Federal level it's still illegal. Alex doesn't smoke or drink, do drugs, or drink tea or coffee. He's preparing to head into the military. He's really cool. We brought him to church yesterday and he liked it a lot, despite that fact that everything went wrong. Since it was a 5th Sunday, the Bishop taught all the adults in 3rd hour, and the topic was gay marriage. Holy crap. It was suppose to focus on the doctrine concerning the subject, but what really happened was that it turned into a political rally, which is unacceptable for church. Love for all people as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father took a back seat to political views and bigotry. We had to do a lot of damage control with some of our recent converts. It was a rough day, but it turned out well. #SatanSucksTellEveryone. Vasti got moved from June 22nd, to the 29th...then to July 20th. That was a hard call to make because we wanted her to get baptized as soon as possible. But she's going to wait to get her boot off, and in the mean time we can work with Corrina's mother to see if she'll approve her to get baptized too. I would push off 1 baptism for a month to gain 2. I guess the world is exploding over the World Cup. Not going to lie, I'm starting to get interested in Soccer more. Haha. I got Wendy's package. I can't remember if I told you that. It's good that you guys are going down for the 4th. We're having dinner with the Marquette's and I'm super stoked on it. I love that family so much. We have to be in by 7:30, though. Lotta of drunk people. Haha. Cali is fun. It's good that Riley was being good, and Gavin is having fun. It's good that Andrew is doing well, also. Tell Jared to finish paying off his Mini so I can drive it when I get home. Haha. #MiniSwag. How are Tyler and Allison doing? When do I get another nephew?
The work is bumping, the church is awesome. Missions are #MostDope.
Love you guys,
Cody

Week 5 transfer 3

Last Zone Conference with President and Sister Smart

Hey,
This week as been pretty great. We had transfer calls on Saturday night and I'm staying in Woodcrest for 7 more weeks. When that's done it will be 6 months in my Greenie area, and I'm staying with Hughes for that time too. We had Vasti scheduled for baptism yesterday, but she fell off date that Friday before because she felt like she didn't know enough. We've been teaching her since the middle of April. Haha. We don't have anymore to teach her. Haha. She's been moved to be baptized this coming Sunday. She said she didn't understand a lot about how church worked. She'll get baptized, though. No biggie. The plus side to staying in the Riverside Zone is I get to see Allen die. That's going to be sweet. Haha. We picked up a new investigator named Alex. He's really cool, but he might be YSA, we'll get it all figured out. He's joining the military soon.

So the pageant was good? That's good that everyone had a good time. The best part is I imagine that Les wasn't even really aware of what he was doing. He was just being Les. Haha. Yeah, I wrote Grandma and I got her letter on Thursday. That's the day that we had our last Multi-Zone with President and Sister Smart before they go home. We get President Mullen on the 30th. That Multi-zone was sooooo good. They gave us "10 Secrets to Living a Happy Life."
Here they are:

1) Commit to living a Christ Centered Life
The First and Great Commandment: Love God
The Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30)
Gratitude (Alma 37:37)
Christlike Attributes (PMG pg. 126)
Dating Tip: Run as fast as you can toward God, and if someone keeps up, introduce yourself
Find an Eternal Companion who is committed and trustworthy
The Family: A Proclamation to the World

2) Be Obedient - it is as easy today as it was when Moses told the Isrealites to look at the brass serpent and live (Numbers 21:6-9). This was very simple; too simple for some (See Alma 37:46). We need to look to the Savior and live. Today the simpleness of the way includes:
Reading Scripture (daily)
Pondering / Meditating (daily)
Praying (daily)
Go to Church (Weekly)
Attend the Temple as often as your circumstances allow

3) Attitude: Choose to be Happy
“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 13: 17
“But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi.” Alma 50:23
Don’t worry, be happy scriptures: D&C 100:15, D&C 98:3, D&C 121:7, D&C 122:7, John 14:27, John 16:23
Keep a good sense of humor… (Trust Fall)

4) Be Flexible and Adaptable

5) Work Hard
“Sir, I am a true laborer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of other men’s good…” (William Shakespeare)

6) Have a Purpose: define a Vision, Goals, and Plans for your life. "Dominate Chapter 8"

7) Take Care of Your Physical Body
Eat right
Exercise
Wash your hands
Get the right amount of sleep

8) Control Your Thoughts
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7)
"If you think you’re beaten, you are …" (Poem)
Recognize a bad thought and push it out
String Activity - the mind is a very powerful tool
Don't Get Too Caught Up in What Other People Think

9) Have a Forgiving Heart
It has been said, “A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”
"Be quick to admit wrong, even when you are not." (President Uchtdorf)

10) Serve Others
Model your life after the Savior

It was such a spiritual privilege to have them as leadership. They're really great people. I'll miss them, but I'm excited for President Mullen and his wife to get here. 

Hopefully Kylee gets her surgery in soon so she doesn't have to wait around. Yeah, I sent home some stuff to de-junk so that I'm not carrying around a lot of stuff. The albums I just picked up and sent home, and the missionary packets I don't need, but keep them safe. Keep it all safe. 

I did get that package from Wendy and Jerald. It's great to have new music. Haha.

Thanks, 

Love and miss you all
Cody

Transfer 3 week 4

Hey,
This week has been good, but slow. Kind of hard depression wise, but oh well. That's the downside to baptizing your investigators; you have to go find new ones. Haha. So Kylee is pretty much getting an overhaul? Haha. It's going to suck at first, but it's for the best. Just get it all out of the way while she's still covered. You did tell me about it.

I'm sorry to hear that relatives are passing away. But what great joy we can feel knowing what happens after we pass. The Plan of Salvation is real, it's also the plan of happiness. While we're mourning the passing of loved ones, we're mourning not being able to see them for a long time. We will see them again, though. The Lord and our Heavenly Father wouldn't put so much emphasis on families, then make it so that we couldn't ever see them again.
Also, new rule: Anything that I may have said before my mission, just go ahead and throw that out the window. Not relevant anymore. Haha.
Jared just shared a good experience with me about his Bishop. I don't know if he's shared it with you as well, so I won't say too much. But I will say that the Lord is going to call him to labor soon. I feel like he's going to go South America. I don't know why, but I feel like he's going to go foreign. You're right about having to get everything figured out.
Very cool about the Manti pageant.  Ben and his YM will be down there for the pageant some weekend as well. They're crashing on Grandma's front lawn. Haha.

Life in the mission is going to get a little interesting. We get a new mission president on July 1st. It's going to be hard to see President Smart go, but I'm excited for President Mullen and the changes that will happen. We're baptizing Vasti Gutierrez this coming Sunday, and I might stay in Woodcrest for this next 7 week transfer. We'll see this Saturday. I have mixed feelings about being transferred. I kind of don't want to be transferred because I love the ward, and this is Elder Allen's last transfer and I want to serve around him when he dies. He's such a good guy, I love that kid. But on the other hand I feel like my time is coming to an end in Woodcrest. We'll see where the Lord puts me.

Cali Life

Love and miss you guys,
Cody

Transfer 3, week 3

That's crazy about Kylee. I hope all goes well. I know that it will, but for sure do a blessing before hand. Always include the Lord's help. Satan is very good at making us think that we don't need to use our Heavenly Father's and Christ's help.
This week was good. We hit Standard of Excellence again, and Mark and Diane got baptized! They're super awesome. I love Mark. He has such a dry humor and is really sarcastic. Their daughter Lauren (in the green dress) got baptized about 3 years ago, then she married her husband Ryan (in the grey suit) last month in the Manti Temple. So they've been investigating the church off and on for a couple of years and we finally got them. We were just the guys who tipped them over the edge after years of other missionaries hard work. It was a weird week as well.
We dropped William because...well, he's racist, sexist, and a conspiracy theorist.  Haha. He's a 24 year old black guy that refused to make and keep commitments. He believes that the white man is keeping black people down by controlling the food industry and feeding everyone crap food that is making us dumb. Now, I love conspiracy theories as much as the next guy, but that's just waaaayyyy out there. He told us that Mormon's are cool because we practice what we preach, but that it "hurts his spirit when there aren't a lot of black people at church." He said that he just needs to draw a line and say, "What's Africa is Africa and what's Europe is Europe". So I told him that the Bible was translated by European's and that if we're following his line of logic, he didn't believe in the Bible anymore. He told us that the Bible really came from Africa. It was...interesting. Haha.

We have Vasti on date for the 22nd this month and she's really solid. She's just waiting for her cast to come off, and just has to keep coming to church. It's been a good, but weird transfer so far. Elder Hughes is a good guy. He taught me have to play a card game called "Golf". We play that a lot on lunch hours or at night before bed.
I might get transferred, I might not. If I don't, it'll be a hard 7 weeks because we'll be going back into finding mode. That's the price of baptizing all of your investigators.

We witnessed some lady back into another car on a street outside Azuree's house on Wednesday. The police didn't get involved because Cali police just don't care. Haha. Everyone speeds because they know that the cops have better things to do than to give speeding tickets. I've gotten used to driving in Cali. I'd probably be considered a jerk driver in Utah. Soooo many last minute lane changes. Cutting people off doesn't even scare me anymore. "Oop, there's that guy's finger. Byeeeeeee." Haha.

Yeah, I ran into my friend Jeff Hofeins old companion selling Vivint outside Mark and Diane's house. He was comp's with Jeff for 6 months, and Jeff was his best man at his wedding. They also taught Al Fox. So...they're dope. Haha. I haven't got that package yet, but I'm sure it'll get here.


Pictures of Baptisms 2 and 3.. The kid is hot!

 Mark and Dianne's Baptisms

 New Hair cut
Sexy beast, or little DelMar?

 Getting Pedi's with other
Missionaries.. #Dontjudge

Transfer 3, week 2

Hey,
This week was good, but hard at the same time. Mark and Diane are still on date for this Sunday. We confirmed Azuree yesterday. We picked up a guy named William as an investigator. He's cool, but a little odd, just like everyone else in Riverside. We have a possibility of 5 baptisms in a 5 week transfer, which is freaking dope. I'm excited for it because a lot of them are really solid. Vasti is just waiting until her cast comes off, Mark and Diane just need to be interviewed, Azuree is taken care of and done, then we just have to finish teaching William, get him interviewed and he's good to get dunked on the 15th. Busy, busy, busy, which is good, but tiring. We have fun with other missionaries, which is good. I'm around a lot of older missionaries that are finishing up. It's weird to see them go when it feels like I'm never going to end, but at the same time, I'm almost at six months, and looking a head to where my year mark is. It's insane how fast time moves when you're out. Elder Hughes is doing well. He's a good guy and we get a long well. He's a good teacher and I learn a lot from him.
Hope all is well at home. It's exciting out here, but I do miss home from time to time.
Elder Hughes and I were talking the other about agency the other day and he brought up and interesting thing. Justice cannot be robbed. It cannot be done, but what brings judgement and therefore bring justice? Agency. It's understandable that agency can dictate justice. Just like it says in verse 24, if we do what our Heavenly Father asks us, he immediately blesses us. Heavenly Father has armfuls of blessings he wants to give us, but we have to follow all the commandments he gives us. The commandments are to make us happier. Our Heavenly Father will never give us a commandment that will make us miserable. He only asks that we follow.

Gotta Jet, Love and miss you guys,

Cody

Pictures!

Freakin Taco Bell!

Also,  L Tom Perry and Elder Higham visited the Riverside mission.  Elder Higham is the Seventy over the mission.  Cody didn't get a chance to talk to him, but hopes he comes again so that he can have a chat with him and find the link that we are related.  Should be interesting.