FULL-DAY P-DAY?!! PRESIDENT JARDINE IS A BAUSS!
Letter from Sept. 29, 2014


Hey Mom,

This week has been BOSS! We have been getting a lot of lessons and new investigators. There is one investigator that we picked up yesterday by the name of Jose Diaz. He was very ready and excited to hear about the gospel. The lesson was very spiritual. I had the impression after we had finished a lesson to go knock on a door at the end of the house. Not much came of the initial contact, but the person that lived in the house referred us to a different house on the street. So we made our way over there and, lo and behold, Jose was excited to see us. He had been searching for answers to questions he had about life and religion and had hoped God would send someone to answer them. We were more than happy to. We started off with the restoration. He was very interested and understood very well the importance of Prophets. He told us that he had understood why it was necessary for a prophet to lead and guide us. He then asked, "Por que no tenemos profetas hoy en estos tiempos?"(Why don't we have prophets now?) To which I responded, "Pues, actualmente tenemos un Profeta hoy y su nombre es Thomas S. Monson." (Actually, we have a prophet today and his name is Thomas S. Monson) We then explained Joseph Smith's vision. The Spirit was very powerful. My companion then challenged him to be baptized. Without hesitation or second thought, he said, yes. He has a date for Nov. 1st. Our next appointment is on Wednesday and we are very excited. 

Brian Arevalo is set for the 25th of October (it would be sooner, but he will be on vacation for a couple weeks). He is very prepared, his family is supporting him and they are also taking the lessons. He is 13 years old. Brian is SO ready for baptism it's not even funny. His mother told us to get him baptized and that she would follow right after she is finished with work. She has two more weeks in los campos (the fields) and afterwards, she will be off [the rest] of this year and most of next year.  We are PUMPED!!

We have been blessed to find a lot of work and prepared, humble people that are willing to make and keep commitments. My companion and I are doing great still and we are just chillin' now. Today, we have been blessed with a FULL DAY P-DAY (a day which is basically a vacation day almost) because we got to see the new movie, Meet the Mormons (I so recommend watching it), meaning we got the whole day to chill. We don't proselyte that day.  President Jardine is a bauss.

Anyway that is all I got for you guys this week. I love you Mom

Elder Sierra

BEING BAUSSES
Letter from Sept. 22, 2014

Dear Mom,

You are the best, but also crazy!!! My companion and good friend, Elder Rentz thought that was pretty funny what you did to my passcode... I will talk to you more about education later, but thank you so much for making life easy for me, Mom! I love and appreciate the fact that you took the time to help me to get the details and obstacles out of the way so it can be a very smooth transition when I come home.

As far as the mission goes, life goes on and Elder Williams and I are continuing to be Bausses!! We just got 25 lessons last week and we have been picking up new investigators. Two of them are from an investigator we are already teaching named Armando. Armando is a 17 year-old kid who really was prepared to receive the gospel. At first his parents weren't all for it, especially when he accepted a baptismal date for Oct. 18, but as they saw the changes he was making, they were curious to understand why he was doing what he was doing. Now we are teaching them and his younger brother. Brian is still trudging along. It's been tough because he hasn't been able to come to church, but he still has his eye on the prize and his mother gets off work soon, meaning that her schedule will be a lot more flexible. In short, winning!! 

Today was an awesome pday because I went to Coloma which is a site for gold discovery that was established by the Mormon Battalion. It has some interesting stories and a fantastic history about the saints back then. Sadly, we didn't have time for most of it that and there was a huge wildfire that had happened before we got there so there was a lot of smoke and the view wasn't that great, but we still had fun. Later our buddy Mike, you will meet him soon (he is da bomb!!!), took us to Deseret bookstore (I couldn't buy anything I had no $$), then to the DI to get some mission library stuff, then to nike because mike decided that my tennis shoes are utter crap and that I need to stop pulling the proud card and ask for help. So he was a boss and got me new shoes. They are nice and I'll send a pic when I can. In short I'm happy. Well anyway, I love you mom and I will do better about email next week. 

Love,

Elder Sierra

THESE THINGS I'VE LEARNED
RUMINATIONS OF A SEASONED MISSIONARY
Letter from Sept 15, 2014

Elder Sierra's dad asked him how he felt he'd changed or grown in his mission. Here's his reply:

Well Dad, 

 

I thought about the changes I've made in the mission. There are many and I will list them as follows:

 

Temper- I know my temper used to be crazy and unpredictable. You couldn't light the fuse because it would blow up in your hand. However, now there's time to throw the bomb away before it blows. The time is 5 seconds lol. 

 

Patience- It goes in hand with temper, but more than anything I have learned to accept that the Lord's timing is not my timing. Being able to accept that I have no control of certain situations has helped me to become humble and see the grand scheme of things in my mission and in my life. 

 

Humility- I do think many times that I am above everyone. It has been a struggle to not get too overconfident about the success that I have. Following the Spirit, if anything, I realized that my success comes from the Lord and that gratefulness helps us to keep our ego in check.

 

Gratitude- Developing an "Attitude of Gratitude" is an attribute that I have tried to apply greatly in my mission during both the best times and bad. Especially during the hard times, it helps me to see how close the Lord really is as I work, which in turn helps me to stay diligent and endure.

 

Diligence/Endurance- I have always been a hard worker and always had the desire to go the 'second mile', but second milers are not enough for a mission. If you wish to see the fruits of your labor, you have to go a third mile and then some. It truly taxes everything out of me, but it's worth it. I get more and more exhausted as I work throughout the day, but following the Spirit gives me the strength I need to do what I must do throughout the day.

 

Obedience- There are some rules that I still ignore because I think they are ignorant and hold work back, so I can't say that I am a rule follower through and through, but I can say that when the Spirit whispers, I obey. As I obey the Spirit, I am able to fulfill my purpose as a missionary. Honestly, in this mission that is the hardest thing for a lot of Elders and Sisters to do. It's a stumbling block, because they can 'feel the Spirit', but they don't know how to act on it. That has been my greatest tool. I make plans and try to plan by the Spirit, but I also have to heed promptings to forget my plans in order to help those I serve. If I had always obeyed what the handbook would have said or what my plans asked me to do, then I would have missed SEVERAL of the people that I have met that are now baptized. Follow the Spirit. That simple. It really helps to pull down your pride. 

 

Pride- I think we all know that I am a VERY prideful man. I am prideful of a lot of things. I know I am confident about what I do, I'm tough, I learn things real fast, I have a will that can't be topped unless I let you, I'm very opinionated, and if it's a skill that I am good at, then automatically I think I am the best at it. In missionary work, I could teach very well since the beginning. I teach pretty DANG well. I can relate to my investigators very well and I have many stories and experiences that I have had in my life to help me testify and bear witness of the gospel. However, my pride halted my progression in following the Spirit and letting the Lord (or my companion) take over. It also interfered with me finding new people to teach because I thought they weren't going to accept it or even give them the chance to change. It took a lot of work, but I have learned to rely on the Spirit to utilize my skills and also to yield to my companion when he is feeling prompted by the Spirit as well. We are both called to call souls to Repentance, therefore I gotta let him do his job as well. It helps to build unity within the companionship, which allows us to testify exponentially better. Honestly, the antidote to pride is charity.

 

Charity/Love- If there is one thing that I did right in the mission, it was to love the people, the members, and the missionaries. Love one another, by this shall men know that ye are my disciples. I believe that having Christlike love will help a missionary reach his TRUE potential. When you love God with all your heart and all your soul, your faith (belief in Christ) will increase immensely, also, you will want to make your dream/hope (salvation/exaltation) become reality. To make it become reality, you must be obedient to the commandments, you must seek after knowledge, being patient to receive spiritual guidance, also being humble to recognize changes that must be made, which will help us to become pure. The pure love of Christ is unfailing. It has helped me to conquer many bad habits, including my pride and temper.

Those are more or less what I have learned on the mission. There are obviously smaller things, and some other things that I left out (I don't want to spoil everything), but these have helped me greatly to be a better disciple. 

Love you Dad,

Elder Sierra 

STREET LEAGUE SOCCER- THE NEW WAY TO 'KNOCK DOORS'

Letter from Sept 15, 2014

Hey Mom,

Missionaries are heading out from all over. We have a few in our ward that are preparing to leave as well. They are part of my crew. Them and their families make up my Stockton crew. We are going to chill out with them tonight because today is El Grito de Mexico!! They invited us over so we and other elders in our ward are going to have a fiesta. I will take pics. It's the Zavala family. It's a family of like 7 guys so we mix quite well. They all come out with us for lessons and three of them are preparing for missions. We play soccer every Friday night with them. We sorta entered an unofficial street league, and we made a team, the missionaries and them haha. We call ourselves Stockton's Street Wings. You need to tell Benjamin, "Yeah I went there!" He will understand. We have been unstoppable and we use it to get loads of contacts and referrals. It has been very successful. We are leading the spanish mission with the number of lessons we have been having. Our average is 25 lessons a week. The games are every Friday and they are all around Stockton. So we just use our dinner hour and go make chaos. The work in Stockton is AWESOME, fun, and we are so high off the Spirit. The Zavala family have been the best fellowshippers for all of our lessons. And we all got nicknames that people call us cuz of the way we play soccer. 

The names are: 

Hermano ZAVALA (El General)- Captain of the team. He is 50 years old and still has the skills to pay the bills. He organizes the plays and how we work. When we follow it, all we do is WIN! 

Aaron (The Speed)- The guy is wicked fast. Sometimes when guys get past us and we think that the ball is long gone, Aaron blindsides them, steals the ball, and goes through players as if they're standing still. 

Refugio (The Phantom)- Ball control is his game! He will pass you easily. If you blink, he is already around you, using slick tricks and a style that is his own. The ball will literally leave after-images. Hence, "The Phantom".

Johnny (El Ladron)- He may be small, but he is cunning. Players that try to "juke" their way around him will keep running past him only to realize... the ball is gone!!  

JP (El Matador)- The guy can predict a play and, like a bull fighter, he goes for the kill. An awesome defender. 

Ricardo (The Juggernaut)- The guys just started learning the art of the sport, but his athleticism makes up for the lost time. Once he accelerates, you best brace yourself....the guy is UNSTOPPABLE!!

Javier (The Sniper)- The boy has got some serious pin-point accuracy. He sees, he shoots, he scores, then walks off like a BAUSS! He bends it like Beckham. 

Elder Sierra (The Killer)- In this league, fouls aren't called much. Therefore, I'm takin on all comers. I earned the nickname from my unique way of "juking" players by knocking them all down. I took out four in a row (including el portero), still made my goal, and those players are still getting up as I simply, brush my shoulders ;)

Elder Williams (Daddy Longlegs or "The Prince")- My companion's first name is Stockton and he acts all royal about it so that explains "The Prince", but the boy's got long legs and uses them to their full potential. When you think your past him all he has to do is stretch and it's his. Not to mention, he's the perfect guy to pass to for a header.  

Elder Hart (The Red Baron)- Elder Hart has red hair so we thought that was creative lol. He's got some speed on his side and at times he leaves a red streak as he sprints haha.

Elder Ruiz (The Rookie)- The brotha is Mexicano, but has never played much. However, he is the #1 unpredictable player. He can either make or break a play, but he's got beginner's luck on his side, so he usually comes through. 

We have been doing good so far. It's a local competition that people can just sign up and enter. We've won 6 games, so far and lost none. So we are now in the quarterfinals, since we just won the round of 16. We are gonna smash this tournament. We have been destroying all the teams we've come across. This next one's going on our kill list as well. Stockton's Street Wings are the new crew in town! 

 We invited President to see our final game because we know we are headin there lol. 

I Love my area haha and I just received word that I am here to stay. So, dodged a bullet on that one (Love President Jardine). I really wanted to finish my transfer here. We still have Brian Arevalo and Armando on date for September and October. We are hoping for the best. We have been teaching like crazy and have been finding a lot of people. So there is no shortage of work and it continues to grow. We are loving it a lot. There is nothing better than being busy and getting compliments from everyone that we are doing great work. I love Elder Williams. The guy is my brother. We are definitely gonna chill after the mish (mission). Not too much to report right now. Everything is going great and thanks for the package. I appreciate it a lot. I love you Mom.

Elder Sierra 

Follow up:

It's cool to see where the Lord sends us. He sends me to the "ghettoburgs" because he knows I will thrive and do well in them...

And yes I am EXTREMELY happy. Soccer is a huge success that we enjoy doing. President thought it was "unorthodox and clever". He says if he doesn't see a lot of referrals from it then we should stop, but its been working so we continue to do it. And we get fed after the games haha, so I sacrifice nothing!

Bernal is out of the hospital, but he is recuperating still. So it will take a while. 

THE FRUITS OF OUR LABOR
Letter from Sept 8, 2014

Hey Dad,

I'm doing great. Just realized in a few days I only got 5 months left, so its killing me inside. The finish line is getting ever more visible and it's a little scary. Not that I am dreading going home, but Sacramento Mission has been my home. I have a great family here, too. Of course, it's not the same, but I love them, nonetheless. It's been pretty crazy here in Stockton. We have a lot of families progressing and we are averaging about 25 lessons per week. For a couple weeks (for Spanish work) we were leading the mission for the amount of lessons we had. I was pretty proud of myself and my companion :) 

 

I love being able to work hard and see the fruits of my labor come alive as I work. The other day, we saw a kid walking from school and I just decided to stop him and talk to him about the gospel. His name is Treyvon Skelton. He is a senior in high school and was having a rough day. Ironically enough, he has a good life and nice family, but his problem is that he didn't understand what his purpose was in life and had thought several times about ending it. He couldn't find God in his life so he had wondered, "Then what's the point?". I felt impressed to say, "The point of it all is to be tested. This is our training ground Trey. Here we hone our talents and skills so that we can become joint-heirs with Christ. It's a monumental challenge bro, but its through Jesus' sacrifice that allows us to press forward. We weren't sent down here to fail. Our Father in Heaven has been guiding you and has heard your cries. His answer is the message of the restored gospel that we share. That is why I stopped you, so you could listen to what the light of his restored gospel brings." To make the story short, we taught him the Plan of Salvation and passed him off to other English elders. He has a date for the 4th of October and is very solid. That is the umpteenth time I have sent a referral and it automatically turns into a baptism. Kinda makes me want to do English work sometimes, but I love teaching in Spanish so much. I've gotten really good at it ( I can say that since I have become more fluent). I have gained a lot of confidence in my language lately. I have been speaking words that just flow off the tongue. Everyone just thinks because I'm half Cuban that I just learned it growing up, just to be utterly shocked when I tell them I learned in the field. I am pretty proud of what I have learned. I look forward to speaking Spanish to you all when I return home. That is the jist of what is going on right now. I love you very much and am trying to immerse myself and then some in the work, so I won't notice the time. But the problem is that I lose track of time and then realize that it's all slipping away!!! Love you all.

Elder Sierra

 

Mom got:

 

no jafarin joke!! (using disney to cover slang and bad words)...  the entire zone thought it was clever so they are doing it too.

You will hear "Son of a Pumba" or "You're a Mufasin' Rafiki" 

My favorite is, "Oh SIMBA"
 

NOT ANOTHER SHOT GUN?!
Letter from Sept 1, 2014

Hey Mom,

I am still lovin' Stockton and this P-Day is going good so far. A couple of elders brought two pairs of boxing gloves so we decided to box in the gym. It was a lot of fun (because I won). So, things are good here. We are gonna go check out a burger joint later on. Well, Dad was talking to me about his car crash in Uruguay. I was, like, seriously? And by Elders?? Man, one of the sisters in our zone rear-ended somebody as well. I'm pretty sure the Elders that hit Dad are Ap's because they don't use cars for proselyting down there. Hope Dad's back gets better; the man still owes me a match when I get back. And as far as my back is concerned, it's not getting in the way of anything, so I assume it's okay. I have another appointment in about two weeks with the chiro so we will find out later. 

Man, so Ralynne is sealing the deal this [Saturday]......freak. Man, that's awesome, but weird at the same time. Well send me a lot of pics. And speaking of which, did you send me that package yet? Just wanna make sure it's on the way or what not. I have been hearing rumors that President may want me to go emergency transfer to shotgun train another area. I hope that doesn't happen because I don't wanna leave Stockton nor leave Elder Williams. We have gotten so dang close and I love my zone. A lot of my good friends are here. 

So Benjamin's favorite class is A Capella? Surprise, surprise. I hope somebody picks up that phone.......cuz I freakin CALLED IT!! I knew he would fall in love with it if he ever got into it. And he told me how excited he was to learn how to decipher notes and key signatures. About dang time this kid got more in tune with his musical side. 

So did you all do the challenge yet? haha This one is not for ALS it is for Cystic Fibrosis. It is a completely different challenge. There is a newborn kid in the Leatherberry family that has that disease and it's terrible for the family. We are trying to spread this around big time to help them out because the costs for medicine are insane and they can't afford it. So we are trying everything we can to get the word out. We are trying to spread this within the mission as well. I called out President Jardine, but I have yet to send him the video. I am sure he will see it soon enough lol. So for this one, there is no limit. You call out everyone you can and we don't use a bucket (I aint no SISSY) we go BIG or go HOME! SO please do your best to get the ward in or whoever you can think of to get in on this. 

I love you Mom. Enjoy your Labor Day. That is all I got to talk about right now. 

Elder Sierra

 

Follow ups:

Yeah, apparently President may want me to help jump-start work out in El Dorado area, which is out in the booneys. Ap's called me to give me a heads up. They told me, "President thinks you're probably the best missionary when it comes to getting Spanish work rolling along. I'm just calling to give you a notice so you won't be surprised if they take you out of El Dorado next week." I'm all like, "Whoa, we just got things figured out here in Stockton! You can't take me out now!! I just got work rolling here. It was dead before Williams and I got here." He then replies, "Yeah, do you get the picture now? Now we want you to do the same dang thing in El Dorado. Work's been dead there for a very long time, so we thought of you." I say, "That's kinda unfair to me. Just when I was getting used to the idea that Stockton might be my last area. Look,' I won't deny anything President Jardine asks of me, but let him know that I would rather stay in Stockton if that is at all possible."

Ap: "Will do man. Peace out."

So that's what happened.

I'm so happy for Benjamin. SOOO badly with I could've been there for that one. So she said yes right?

 

Christopher Bernal survived his operation and they all still want to be baptized. Everything is going great. 

 

Well, that's cool that y'all are traveling haha i wish i could travel *sarcasm* I travel around the mission too much!...

 

 

EARTHQUAKE? WHAT EARTHQUAKE?
Letter from August 26, 2014

Hey Mom,
We never noticed any seismic movement in our area. Either we were asleep or not paying attention, something of the sort. From what we heard none of the missionaries got hurt so I think the mission is fine. Speaking of the mission, I received my call to stay in Stockton and Elder Williams and I are still together. In short, we are happy. Our work is still exploding. We have many people that we are teaching, the Bernal Family and the Arevalo Family are progressing well, and so is Brian. Hopefully, things will go smoothly in September so they can get baptized. They are all on dates. Stockton is still great, although lately we have been getting a lot of people trying to mess with us, and Elder Williams and I mess with them back. One gal was just glaring at us while we were walking by and shouted, "Y'all look like ******* Mormons!" To which I respond, "We are freaking Mormons, whatchu gonna do?" And Elder Williams adds, "Seriously, who else dresses like us in the middle of the summer!?"
Stuff like that really lol. We like a little opposition here and there, it keeps us motivated.

Hermana Mendez, one of the members that we see a lot, sent those pics to you of me and my district. I thought that it had been a while since you received anything from me that I should do that now. And yeah JP's baptism was a very happy time. Obviously I expressed to the point of breaking backs haha. It was hard to contain high levels of happiness. 

So I did hear about the Ice Bucket Challenge, I actually have an interesting surprise for you and the family later concerning that. You should be receiving a video sooner or later about that. It'll explain it better. And thank you for giving me updates on the world. It's crazy how everybody is getting married. It wasn't that long ago when Elder Eichelberger left his mission. He got to work fast haha. Anyway, love you Mom. I'll talk to you later. 

Elder Sierra

A DIFFERENT KIND OF ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE

Letter from Sept 1, 2014

Hey Mom,

I am still loving Stockton and this P-Day is going good so far. A couple of elders brought two pairs of boxing gloves so we decided to box in the gym. It was a lot of fun (because I won). So, things are good here. We are gonna go check out a burger joint later on. Well, Dad was talking to me about his car crash in Uruguay. I was, like, seriously? And by Elders?? Man, one of the sisters in our zone rear-ended somebody as well. I'm pretty sure the Elders that hit Dad are AP's because they don't use cars for proselyting down there. Hope Dad's back gets better. The man still owes me a match when I get back. And as far as my back is concerned, it's not getting in the way of anything so I assume it's okay. I have another appointment in about two weeks with the chiro, so we will find out later. 

 

Did you send me that package yet? Just wanna make sure it's on the way. I have been hearing rumors that President may want me to go emergency transfer to shotgun train another area. I hope that doesn't happen because I don't wanna leave Stockton nor leave Elder Williams. We have gotten so dang close and I love my zone. A lot of my good friends are here....

 

So did you all do the challenge yet? haha This one is not for ALS; it is for Cystic Fibrosis. It is a completely different challenge. There is a newborn kid in the Leatherberry family that has that disease and it's terrible for the family. We are trying to spread this around big time to help them out because the costs for medicine are insane and they can't afford it. So, we are trying everything we can to get the word out. We are trying to spread this within the mission as well. I called out President Jardine, but I have yet to send him the video. I am sure he will see it soon enough lol. So, for this one, there is no limit. You call out everyone you can and we don't use a bucket (I ain't no SISSY) we go BIG or go HOME! SO please do your best to get the ward in or whoever you can think of to get in on this. 

I love you, Mom. Enjoy your Labor Day. That is all I got to talk about right now. 

Elder Sierra