Things Are going much better....finally!

We picked up 5 new investigators this week, Black people with face tattoos, Janet and Estavon. We taught them really quick and asked them if they wanted to come to church on Sunday and they said, "Yeah. sure. If we have time." We weren't expecting them to come and then they showed up. It was pretty cool. They're from LA and looking to start cleans. Serena might get baptized this Sunday, which would be really cool, since we have been working on this one for awhile.

We don't know a lot about Estavon and Janet and their family. I don't even know if they're married. Hopefully they are, otherwise we have to get them married before they can be baptized.

Spiritual thought for the week: The word Gethsemane translates from Aramic to "oil press". Gethsemane was an olive garden. When you are getting oil from olives, there are two ways: one way is to put the olives into basin or rut and then use a round stone to go in circles smashing the olives until you get all the oil out. Another way is for the olives to be placed on a stone slab, then another stone is placed on top of the olives and they are smashed. Both ways involve immense pressure to derive the oil out. The Garden of Gethsemane is where the Saviour went when he took upon himself the pain, afflictions, and infirmities of the world (Alma 7:11-13). When he did that, the weight of the sins and pains of the worlds put on pressure, and more pressure, and more pressure until he finally bled from every pore (Mosiah 3:7) and the "oil" was derived. We call this event the Atonement. Through the blood of Christ we can be made better and whole. When we are sent to this Earth, we are going through our own little Gethsemane's. Pressure is added pushing out the worst parts of us and sanctifying us. But unlike Christ, we don't have to do it alone. We have Him and is His Atonement to guide us. .

Love to All,

Cody

As you can see, he is finally starting to come around. He has about 14 months to go and just emailing him, I can tell he is starting to get outside of his head and coming back around. He is enjoying his new companion and hopefully he will be able to get a few of the investigators to commit. If not, He will at least plant a seed for another missionary to finish up the work. Thank you all for your prayers for him.. keep them coming.

Merry Christmas!

Long Time, no Blog

It's been a few since I have blogged for Cody.  He is struggling, but we are hoping that he will get better and won't have to come home...again, but If he does, it is what it is and I am so grateful for his service, as is the Lord. 

He wasn't transferred but he did receive a new companion, Not sure of his name, I will hunt it down and share that with you.  He is a 300 lb 6'5 Black dude! He is too big to ride a bike, so they get to roll around in a 2014 Toyota Corolla (be jealous).

I will post more when I find out more.  Remember that Jesus was the first gift of Christmas and to
#Sharethegift.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Prayers for Cody

I'm not going to post his letters for the last couple of weeks, they haven't been very positive.  However, I do want to ask that you pray for him at this time.  He has been doing really well until lately.  He has some companions that really aren't following the rules,(Cody himself isn't totally obedient, it's pretty easy to follow a crowd) and we all know when that happens, the spirit has a harder time being there.  So, I ask that you all pray for him and his companions.

I know that they are all there to learn and grow, and Cody still has a lot of growing to do, however, he is struggling with depression again. Our Family is going to have a special fast for him on Sunday if you would all like to join with us that would be great!  We Love Cody and want what is best for him.  So please keep him and his companions in your prayers.  I will post pictures later.

Also, all Christmas packages must reach the Mission home in California on or before Dec. 11th.

Thanks for all of your love and Support.

DelMarie

Bashing with Gang members.... probably not the best idea!

Hey, this week has been...fun. We (Noorda, Petey, Hall, and I) were heading home after the night was done and got into a drunk bash last night with a Crip named Augustine in the parking lot of our apartment complex. He was faaaaddddeeedddd. He kept asking us if God wanted to tell him something, so we'd start telling him about the restoration, but he'd just cut us off and tell us to "be real with him", so we got fed up with trying to find a nice way to say it and told him that when he drinks and smokes weed and is sleeping around, he's breaking God's commandments, he's breaking God's trust, and he's breaking God's heart when he treats women the way he's been treating them, and if he doesn't knock it off, his life is never going to get better. It struck with him...for about 2 seconds and then he was back to rambling about how all he has to do is be a good person and God is going to love him. Well, no duh. Of course God loves us just the way we are. That was never in question. But that doesn't mean he doesn't want us to improve. We've talked with him before and he claims that he has to be drunk to say anything that he's been saying. Him and his girlfriend were so wasted and got in their car and drove off, so I had to call the cops. That was fun. Reminded me of my days as a mall cop. Haha. It was frustrating because every person that reaches out to us in anyway they were put there for a reason, so we have to at least try. But we picked up a new investigator this week named Breanna. She grew up in Long Beach which is a pretty bad area. She's 20 and has two kids and no high school diploma, but she's starting classes. It's so amazing to see how the Lord has directed people into the Gospel and prepared them. Put your application in. It'll all work out. We heard from two General Authorities yesterday for Stake Conference. Elder Rasband who is the senior Seventy of the First Quorum of the Seventy. That was really cool. He's a really good speaker.
Things are doing okay out here. It's all good.

Love you guys, I've split my time in half, so I'll email a little later too.

Cody is proud of the new arms he bought for his glasses. and then just some silly picture....

First Week as a trainer

This week has been fun and filled with tons of work. We're working with Serena still. She's doing so well. She actually understands the point of the Atonement and how it applies and has felt just a taste of Christ's love for us. She has noticed that since she has started to follow the commandments and come to church and read and pray, that her life has improved drastically. She was so prepared and ready for the Gospel. Reyanna is doing okay too. She came to church yesterday. All we have to do is get her a testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's pretty much a done deal. After that she's golden. We've had a ton of street lessons with drunk people and it is so funny. We came up with a little Proverb about teaching in the Lasselle North area. "It's better to teach a drunk person than a sober idiot." Haha. Elder Hall is doing great. He's teaching is getting tons better and he's understanding how to teach to people instead of just teach lessons. It's really cool to get a comp that I really get along with. I haven't really had that since McClain. I'm glad that he's willing to actually teach instead of just sit there. What's been going on with Bishop Spearman? What's been going on with Jared? It's good that Teague is getting blessed soon. Who's doing it? It's good that Jared is receiving his endowment. Tell him to go a lot. The more he goes, the more he'll learn. Also, I rode in a Pinto and a Maverick this last week. So that's a thing. We're just working hard and trying to find people and riding our bikes a lot.
Love you guys,
Cody

I bought a sick Elsa watch today. #NoShame

Elder Hall and I

Elder Foster and I

The day I got my Greenie

Me and my Brother in the mission Elder Hugie

Elder Greenburg becomes a trainer.

The time change is dope because I wake up at 6:30 and it feels like 7:30. What does Jared need exactly because I only use a little bit of the stuff I brought out. But then again, I don't have to deal with winter clothes. Are you moving to Gunnison? If so, let me know so that I can update with my mission president on where my records are and all that jazz. This week has been pretty good. Elder Rampton is being transferred to University Heights with Elder Alex Snider. Yep. There are two missionaries from Grantsville and he's gets them both back to back. Haha. I got my training call, so the next two transfers are going to be me teaching a fresh greenie how to do missionary work. Hopefully he's cool. If he's not, he's going to hate his life, because no one in our apartment takes anything seriously. Haha. Our apartment is so dope. The Moreno Valley Zone is so cool. It's seriously the chillest zone in the mission right now. There isn't one missionary that I don't like, there is zero drama because everyone is minding their own business and staying out of trouble. Halloween is crazy in California. Last year at our ward's trunk or treat, they served over 1,000 hotdogs. They really cut is down this year. We had it on the Tuesday before Halloween. On Halloween we just chilled at the Stake Center and watched The Best Two Years with the whole zone. It was kind of weird to sit down and watch a movie. Haha. It's good that Andrew is almost walking. Everyone has taken to calling me Greenburgundy, or Burgundy. I'm really excited to train. We have a ton of work to do, which is 100% better than when I was trained. Me and McClain had nothing to work with. Christmas? I can't think of anything, really. Maybe just some cash as a buffer. If the iPad works out then that will do. If you can't make it happen, don't worry about it. For real. I'm an adult, Christmas isn't something that really matters to me, it hasn't for awhile.
Love you guys,
Cody

My whole life in one picture. Deep doctrine books, Uke's, Camera's, Arizona Lemonade, cards, Daft Punk. 

The funniest Dilbert Comic I've come across

The Lassell boys. Elder Carr, Me, Elder Rampton, and Elder Andrus. 

Wingstop with the Lassell boys, Moreno Valley dudes, and the Spanish Guys

Cali Sunset

We "inherited" a couch this week and put it in our bedroom. Hangs happen with the Spanish guys who live in the same complex.

There was a bobble head of baseball player Joe Saunders in our apartment that we beat the crap out of and blamed for everything that went wrong, but we don't know what happened to him. So we've renamed this painting Joe and blame him for everything. You may or may not want to publish this one. That's my ring finger, by the way. 

That's me and my step-brother in the mission, Elder Carr. He's dope. He got his Zone Leader call and is going to Corona. Maybe he'll train me to be a ZL. That'd be cool.

Cody is still Protecting Jared from the Mission field.....

Good morning,
It was a brisk 68 degrees this morning, and it is a chilling 75 currently. I wish I was sorry, but I'm just not. Haha. I'm not even sorry that I'm not sorry that I'm not sorry. I'm just plain not sorry. Haha. The wedding sounds fun. Jared will do anything for a buck, which concerns me about his mission...haha. He's going to love it. He needs to be aware that there is tons of anti around church historical sites, and to avoid it like the plague. Anti is straight up designed by Satan to destroy testimonies. He's going to be great. Does he have to get a bike? He's going to need winter clothes. That's so weird to me. I can't imagine going out into the cold and working. He's a stronger missionary than I am for sure. Are you guys just going to celebrate Christmas a week or so early? He'll be in the MTC and might only get to call home, not Skpe. That's a bummer, but is still good. I'll see if my mission president will allow him to call me when he gets to the field, and I'll make sure his trainer get the picture. 

Moreno Valley is fun. It's still interesting. The whole town is similar to a doughnut. The further you go out, the better. The center is ghetto. We call it the ratchet zone, and we live in the dead center of the ratchet zone. The work is going. Elder Rampton is kind of getting on my nerves a bit, but what else is new. Hopefully he gets sent to another area this transfer. It would be good for him. He's kind of burnt on the area anyways. Hopefully I'll train next transfer. We find out this Saturday what's going to happen to everyone and where they're going. I can't believe it's already been six weeks. This transfer has flown by. We're just kind of skating by because Rampton doesn't really want to do anything.
Anyways, address for the mission is:
5900 Grand Ave
Riverside, California
92508. If you send letters there, they forward them to me where ever I am in the mission.

Current address, however:
25335 Alessandro
Moreno Valley, Californis
92553

Love you, guys. 

Cody

And the Work continues

If I could sum up my week in a six word story it would be: "General Authority. Chastisement. Trailer Park Drama"

Elder Evans from the Seventy came and spoke to us. I used the word "chastisement", but it wasn't really. It was weird, he'd "correct" us, but we never felt so loved. He's truly a man called on God. He talked about fasting. A lot of people think that if they fast and show Heavenly Father that we're willing to give up and sacrifice food, that he'll bless us with what we want. This is false doctrine. We fast to show God that we're willing to sacrifice food so that we can come into accordance with his will and do what he asks us, regardless of whether that's what we want or not. It's good that Tyler and Allison came to church. I'm excited to see where Jared goes. He's going to kill it. Tyler still believes, I know he does. He just needs to opportunity to come back without judgement. It's good that Ethan is putting a ring on it. Manti, I assume. Meet the Mormons was dope, right? I told you about my buddy McConkie's family and friends and what not are in that, right?
Things in the hood are...rolling. Haha. Jesus is still being dumb and really, really, really arrogant. And his girlfriend is still Coo-Coo for Coa-coa puffs. Serena had another interview with President Mullen. She has to wait 2 months to get baptized. But the silver lining is that I have someone to consistently teach for two months. Haha. She's super solid. She's going to go to the temple within a year, for sure. We picked up a new investigator named Reyanna. We just call her Rey. She's really cool. She grew up Seventh Day Adventist, but we're going to make her Mormon. Haha.
Tell Jared happy birthday for me and that's he's old now that he's twenty.

If Rampton bounces in two weeks when transfers are up, then I'll drop him. Rampton is still really green in a lot of ways and doesn't want to drop him because he's invested a lot of time into him, but if they're not going to progress, don't waste your time when you could be talking to the ones that will progress. The general consensus is that we'll be getting iPads in December. How's the fundraising going? Haha.

I probably won't get transferred. I just got here. I might train next transfer, though. Then after that I'll probably get transferred.

Love you guys,


Cody

Life is always an adventure in the Moreno Valley

Hey,
This week has been...interesting. We finally met with Jesus this week. Turns out that he wasn't in jail like we thought. But nothing has changed. He's still with his girlfriend that has the emotional maturity of a 6 year old. We were in a lesson last night with him and she refuses to leave his side, but she only berates him, curses at him, and has a constant scowl on her face. We're talking about Mosiah 2:20-25 and how Heavenly Father has given us everything and even if we served him absolutely perfectly, there is no way that we'd be able to pay him back, and she just out of no where calls him a liar and sucker punches him right in the jaw. Jesus gets pissed and dumps a whole glass of Kool-Aid on her and all Hell breaks loose. They're rumbling and pushing each other and Jesus' parents are yelling in Spanish, and a few words that I do know weren't good. Rampton and I are just chilling on the couch trying not to get stabbed (she went to jail for stabbing Jesus) or get a lamp thrown at us. Every time I go over to Jesus', I just think, "What...the...crap is my life right now?" After a phone call to the cops and 45 minutes later we're late for dinner and I've aged a year. Rampton won't let us drop him so we go over and endure and hope he gets the guts to break up with her and throw her out. He almost did last night, but the cop said that since she paid rent for the week, he can't throw her out because then it's an unlawful conviction. They both told the cops that it was just arguing and that no violence actually took place, even though she straight up punched him in the jaw, but whatever. We're going to have a "get your butt in line, or you're dropped" lesson. Every time we go over there I witness straight domestic violence.
Serene is super solid, though. She isn't getting baptized for a little bit, though.  But...she admitted that she has a huge crush on me. Yaaayyyy...if it escalates I have to inform President, which could result in an emergency transfer. I told him about it on Friday when we had interviews and he said to just watch my step. Which I agree with. It's not going to be a problem, though. She's Tyler's age and has 3 kids. #Pass. I saw Meet the Mormons on Friday as well. It was pretty good. There is a section about a football coach from Maryland and McConkie is from Maryland. He knows them and pretty much everyone in that section. They're in his homeward.
Honestly, I'm kind of struggling with depression again. The area is fine, the ward is fine, we have investigators, but the stress of all that comes with the work is just starting to get to me. I hate using the phrase "burnt out" because it means that you're giving up on yourself and the Lord, but most days are pretty hard for me to get up. I don't think I was actually up at 6:30 this entire week. Biking isn't bad, my knee is giving me a little trouble, but it's probably nothing, and nothing about the area, its people, or the work in and of itself is bad, but for some reason it's just eating at me. Anyway, this just happens from time to time. Today might be hard, tomorrow might be hard, the rest of this transfer might be hard, but one day it won't be. So I'll just hold out until that day and pray for the strength to endure.
I'm excited for Jared to get his call. Hopefully it's this Wednesday. I'm glad that Kylee is doing better.
Anyway,
Love you guys,
Cody

Transfer, Week 2 Moval

Where to begin? Like...wow. A lot going on. That's good that it was just a cyst and not cancerous. Hopefully it stays gone. It's good that you went to General Conference. I'm glad you enjoyed it. What was your favorite talk? What did you think of the speakers speaking in their own language? It was really cool to watch it here. Saw a lot of familiar faces when the choir from Stansbury, Tooele, and Grantsville sang. We got our investigator to come. She loved Elder Holland, and we were like, "Everyone loves him." Haha. Her name is Serena. She's possibly getting baptized this Sunday, pending an interview with a member of the mission presidency. I'm fairly confident that she'll be able to make it by this Sunday. If not, then that's the Lord's will. No one is barred from baptism. It's not a matter of "if", but a matter of "when". I'm sorry to hear about Mark's passing. Grandma emailed me and told me about it as well. We can take solace in knowledge that we have a loving Heavenly Father that loves us so much that he provided a way for everyone to return to be with him, and that we're able to do that as families. The Plan of Salvation is the ultimate plan that Our Father uses for his purpose (Moses 1:39).
We have our investigator named Jesus that was doing soooooo well. And then his girlfriend was released from jail. She went to jail for stabbing him. He has completely regressed. He's relapses and started using meth again, and he was pending a baptismal date. The mission presidency wanted to see what would happen when she got out of jail. He told us that he was done with her, but they're back together again. I've seen so many examples about how choosing your spouse or who you date is absolutely essential to happiness. And I've seen how people who make poor choices live lives that aren't happy. What's the saddest of all is that Jesus wants that change, but not enough to actually make it happen. He's on the verge of being dropped. This week has been crazy with Conference and everything. And this next is going to be interesting as well. I'm excited to see where Jared goes. Hopefully he'll get his call this Wednesday.

I love you, mom. 

Cody