November 30,2015

Hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving. This week was a week where we set up appointments for this week, so we'll see what happens. We'll be working it anyway, so it'll all work. I got roped into speaking in Sacrament. I went 21 months without speaking in Sacrament and they got me. It was fine. I've gotten over public speaking at this point. You get over it. It was easy too. It was on Christlike service. It's the Christmas season, so it's easy to tell people to be Christlike. It's easy anyway, but super easy now. 
Stay tight

Cody

Cody and the Sister missionaries.....

Cody and Haileighs Grandma... I wonder if she has a name????

Cody and Elder Calvert.... he's a big kid.. 

November 23,2015

So, this was my first week back in MoVal. It's been odd. On Saturday we went to a member's house and she knew who Kylee was. That was weird. We have Thanksgiving with them this week. I'm on bike again and I want to die. I think that biking is probably my worst enemy. It's all good though, I only have 11 weeks left, so I can just put up with it. It's no biggie. I'm with Elder Truman. He just finished getting trained, so he's really new. It's weird to think that I was at that point, and it feels like yesterday that I was just being trained. Missions are weird.  Not a whole lot to report this week. We're trying to build the area up. 

Cody

Transfer time again

This email was really short, we had a meltdown because the internet and all phones went down, so I didn't get his email until the next day, and so I didn't have a chance to email back and get a response, so very little info on him this week, but hey, we only have 83 days until he is home! YAY!!!

I've been transferred to Moreno Valley again and I'm on bike. Super short email because I have no time.

Cody

Awe inpiring story

Joseph got baptized. 

Weeks ago Elder’s Frost and Denning of the Circle City Ward talked to a young man at a bus stop outside Centennial High School. They felt the Spirit prompt them to speak with this young man. They spoke for a little bit and right as the Elders were about to get this young man’s information, his bus arrived and he had to leave. We arrived and picked Elder’s Denning and Frost up for the dinner appointment and they re-told all that had just happened and told us that they thought that the young man lived in our area. We were disappointed that an address or phone number wasn’t obtained, but that’s what happens with missionary work sometimes. My companion and I went about our day the same and a couple of days later we were trying some potentials from our area book that were from over a year ago. We found a name for someone named George that looked like it had some potential, so we decided that we would try it out. We arrived at the house and knocked on the door and young man answered the door.

We asked, “Is George here?” The young said, “Which George?” My companion and I were taken back. That had never happened to me before. After a moment we asked, “Has there ever been someone who has taken missionary lessons here before?” The young man said, “No, but I spoke with a couple of you a couple days ago. They said that they were both from Utah.” Elder Vang and I were perplexed by this because there wasn’t a companionship in the zone where both missionaries were from Utah at that time. I asked, “You spoke to guys like us? They were wearing white shirts, ties, and black name tags like us?” He said, “Yes. One was Samoan.” I knew exactly who he was speaking of. Elder Denning was from Elk Ridge, Utah while Elder Frost was from American Samoa and his family had moved from American Samoa to Utah while Elder Frost had been out on his mission. I said, “You were waiting for a bus a few days ago.” He said that he had been. I asked him if he thought that it was a coincident he talked with them, but they didn’t get any contact information, but that we found him anyway. He said that he didn’t think that it was, and I agreed. We asked his name and he said his name was Joseph. We met with Joseph and taught him the first lesson and taught about the Restoration of the Gospel in its fullness. We asked Joseph to be baptized and he said, “Just tell me when and where.” Brothers and Sisters, when the Lord asks us to do something that we aren’t familiar with or that seems redundant, do we ask, “Lord, how long do I have to do this? How hard is it going to be? What do I get out of it?” Or do we, like Joseph, simply say, “Just tell me when and where, Lord. Just give me the chance.” We saw Joseph take that first step on his road to returning to be with our Heavenly Father.
I bear witness of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He saw our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the word of God along with the Bible. It contains the fullness of the everlasting Gospel of Christ.
I testify of the divinity and the reality of the Christ. He is the Living Song of the Living God. He felt our pains, afflictions, and infirmities in Gethsemane, He suffered our sins on the cross at Calvary, and He rose from the tomb on the third day like He said he would. I had a friend who wrote me a personal letter while she was serving on the Canada Vancouver Mission. She said, “I am realizing that the tomb is empty and that makes all the difference.” She is one-hundred percent correct. He lives, his Atonement can change you, but only if you let it.

Cody

Joseph got baptized. 

                                              Sister Burris took my volleyball and drew all over it. It looks sick

 California Bear

Underwater adventure 

Not Ship Wrecked, Not Quite Yet

I think I'm in my last 100 days.  That's crazy. It feels like yesterday that I was in the MTC. Javier and Briana didn't come to church again, so they'll probably be dropped soon. Sister Cruiz went to Utah, but still made it back in time for church. She'll probably go down in November. But other than that, it's the same old, same old. 

Calvert crashed super hard on the way to dinner. 

October 26,2015

This week it felt like we were just spinning our wheels. It was hard to meet with people. Javier didn't show up to church yesterday because he got sick, and last week he didn't show up because his car wouldn't unlock. Satan just don't want that kid to come to church. We'll get him, though. S'all good. Sister Cruiz is progressing as well and comes every week. She just needs to get a witness for living prophets. 

Anyway, have a good week.
Cody

Elder Calvert Quote for the week. 
"There are only two people in the world that rock a middle part in their hair. Do you know who those two are, Elder Greenburg?"
"No, Elder Calvert. Please tell me. Who are they?"
"Jesus Christ and Brad Pitt. No one else should even try."

Elder Ferrin bought a huge Zebra portrait for $5 at a yard sale. It's tight

Dat smolder, doe. 

Two in one... Yeah, I'm a slacker October 19,2015

This week was blah. I had zero motivation to do anything. It was a long week for me. Javier and Briana didn't come to church and we don't know why. It sucks when someone isn't as gold as you thought at first. But we're going to keep going and trucking on. 

This friggin' dog house has a solar panel. #CaliLyfe

This one is filthy, doe. It has a hot tub. #Dawgs 

Moonlight huunies

Elder Mecham...that's just...I don't even know. 

Macky Derald Ferrin. My boy Ferrin. 

The jerks I live with (Ferrin, Mecham, and Calvert) found out I hate the Christmas season. Jerkwads. 

We were playing Hearts last night and Elder Calvert just gets up and leaves in between hands and just decides to get in the tub and eat his fried chicken. I...just...whatevs

Hey, guys. This week was kind of a hard one. We had to end up giving our golden investigator to the YSA Elder's because he's single and 19. That sucked, then we had Stake Conference so not a whole lot got done, but we're pushing through. Sometimes you just have the thought, "The only way that we're going to baptize in around here is if I burn this place to the ground and start doing baptisms for the dead. Whelp...better get the matches." But you just keep going. I hit twenty months yesterday. That was weird. On November 1st I'll have 100 days left. Crazy. 

Keep it tight

Calvert Quote of the Week ( For the record, Cody really does LOVE Elder Calvert)

So...Elder Clavert ...He's a goof and says really goofy things.
Case in point:
We were just talking and I said, "If I train next transfer, I'm going to make my Padawan Learner share a bowl of cereal with me. That's some comp unity!"
Then Elder Mecham said, "Nah, we should all do that as an apartment. We'll get one big bowl for all four of us to eat out of."
Elder Calvert then said, "Screw that! I'm just going to have a cereal orgy."
"Elder Calvert, what is a 'cereal orgy, pray tell?"
"Duh, it's where I take like six different cereals and throw them in a giant bowl and eat them all!"

"Elder Calvert...did you live under power lines as a kid?"

Hey, all. We have transfers this p-day and I haven't been transferred. I am staying in Corona for a least 6 more weeks. Conference was great. I met Elder Rasband about this time last year when he came out and called a new stake presidency in Moreno Valley, and that is super cool that Jared was interviewed by Elder Renlund. Cool story: We had a lesson with that kid that we found last week after he was lost by other missionaries. We asked him to be baptized and he said, "Just tell me when and where". What can we gather from his words? When the Lord comes to us and asks us to do something, do we say, "Lord, how hard is this going to be? How long do I have to do it?" Or do we say, "Lord, just tell me when and where. What else can I do?"
My new companion is Elder Calvert from Riverton, Utah. 
Love, 
Cody 

"'Twas I, but 'tis not I."

I asked why he always looks so thrilled in photos... his reponse? "I'm so over group photos" Love this kid of mine!

Sept. 21st and Sept. 28th

September 21, 2015


We found two new investigators this week and they're on date for October 17th. They're a part member family. The Aunt and Grandma are less active and they called us last Monday to come over and see them. So we went over and saw how they were doing. The Aunt Melissa suffers from depression and hardly makes it to church, and the grandma Dephina is morbidly obese and doesn't come to church much either. But we met Javier and Breanna, Dephina's grandkids and started talking to them. We set a return appointment and came back and started talking about baptism and Breanna says, "I've always wanted to be baptized, but my mom just hasn't ever done it." So we said, "Would you like to be baptized?" And she said, "I'd love to!" and we asked Javier if he wanted to as well and he said, "Yeah. I would. I was baptized when I was younger, but I feel like it didn't count." So they're on date. That's pretty much it. 


September 28, 2015

This week was really good. We went over to a Part-member family who has been worked with a ton in the past and was kind of dead in the water. So we went over and she was like, "I want to start over and really get involved." And now she's progressing towards baptism. Then Elder Frost and Denning talked to a kid at a bus stop and the bus came right as he was about to give his info. So we were like, "That sucks. Better luck next time, dude." and then we were contacted some old potentials from a year ago and this kid answers the door and is like, "I know you guys. I talked to two of you guys a couple days ago." And we're like, "Huh? Not us." and we found out that it was Denning and Frost, and we found him! We're going over on Wednesday. This week has been good. We just hiked a mountain and it hurt. A lot. Ouch. 

Peace.

Cody and Elder Vang Hiking.... Don't even ask what Cody is doing.....