“TELL ME THAT THE LORD IS NOT FUNNY” AKA JOHNNY'S BAPTISM

Dear Padres,

Wow! Benjamin is now 15! Man, I did feel homesick on his b-day because I really wanted to call and wish him a Happy B-Day. I miss my brother. I miss you, too, Mom and I sometimes miss Dad. haha chiste (Te quiero papi). Life is going all right. We challenged Chewy Valdez to be baptized on the 15 of June and he ACCEPTED!!!! 

Last Saturday, Johnny was baptized and I heard that it was unbelievable. He bore his testimony saying that, "I have always looked to find the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I yearned for it, prayed for it, and I waited patiently for it. Who knew that my answer would come in a psychotic young man chasing me down after I threw a rock at him because I thought he was a child of the devil. For that few minutes of him running me all the way back into my house and banging on the door with all the fury in the world, screaming at me to come outside, I thought he was gonna drag me to hell. Instead, when I mustered up enough courage to meet him, he told me to sit down and hear the message of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. After just one hour, this same young man who scared me half to death, filled my soul with light. He told me that my sins could be forgiven, that I could be with my wife and son, who have passed away three years ago, for all eternity. I know that this gospel is true. I used to think that it was a cult and now I stand here as a member, knowing that this is the Church of God." Tell me that the Lord is not funny haha! This guy hated the church and now he is a member. And his testimony filled the room. I wasn't able to be there, but an elder told me how he literally shone when he came out of the water. 

There have definitely been small miracles in the mission. We are meeting with the Gonzales family tonight and this may be our last lesson with them, depending how it goes. We have been praying for them and we hope that they have received an answer and are willing to act on it. They know how to recognize the Spirit very well. If they are still on the fence about it then, perhaps, they are just not ready yet. But the Lord will know what to do with them, so I am not discouraged. 

Anyway, I am happy that Sister Boga has been reading my emails. That is pretty cool that my old cub scout leader is commenting on my blog. I hope she is doing well. Tell her that I love her and hope that her kids are doing great. Thanks for always encouraging me Mom. I appreciate it. Now, can you get Dad to write me? haha. Haven't heard from him, personally, in a while now. I know he is busy so I am NOT going to bother him about it. And tell Elder Marchand to e-mail me... Anyway, I love you Mom and thank you very much for all that you do.

Your Son (who misses your hugs and the annoying way you mess with my hair),

Elder Sierra

PICS FROM THE MISSION FIELD

'SKYPING' WITH ELDER SIERRA FOR MOTHER'S DAY

Elder Sierra with his mission president, President Lewis and Sister Lewis

MIRACLES AND 'TRAGEDIES'


Dear Mom and Dad,

So sorry that you thought I didn't write again. For transfer weeks our p-day is on Tuesday, so yeah, I forgot to tell you that. Anyway, Elder Villalva and I are still in the area together since he is still my trainer, so transfer week essentially meant nothing to us. So, on to the good news: Pedro Galvez has accepted our invitation to be baptized!!!!!!, but will not commit to a date just yet. He wants to pick out a day when he isn't busy and also wants to get his wife involved in our discussions as well. We are very excited for him and we are continuously working with him and praying hard to get him progressing. He has a powerful desire to seek out the truth and he has been doing everything that he can to do so. 

Another miracle/slash tragedy is Johnny Talons. Because he is English-speaking, he is not in our area where we work, since we focus with only the Spanish speakers. So, once again, I had to give him to the English elders. He had a hard time wanting to change over to the other elders, but he understood the reason why. He wouldn't progress much in a spanish ward. On a brighter note his baptism is this Saturday and he is excited. It's funny how chasing a guy down and scaring him half to death can be a wonderful conversion story in the end. 

Work is still progressing slowly.  None of our other investigators want to make or keep commitments and we had to drop quite a few of them. We are still raring to go, though. We have plans to go and find people in areas that neither of us have been to and now we have more referrals coming in. There's bound to be somebody out there in need of the gospel and we will find them. 

Entonces, I am happy things are looking up as far as work and callings in the church are going. I am especially proud of Benjamin getting all A's. He has always been the smartest guy out of the two of us. Going back to the investigators, the Gonzales family has been an awesome experience and our next lesson with them is kind of the do-or-die lesson. Last lesson we had with them, they recognized the Spirit and they all felt that the Book of Mormon is true. It was a wonderful lesson and at the end of it, Carlos Gonzales (the Father), said, "We truly enjoy and love to hear your lessons and learn more about Christ, but you have to understand that we are Catholic." I was pretty mad when he said that and my companion saw my scalp gettin' hot, but before he could calm me down, I stood up and told him straight out, "Hermano Gonzales, we have shaken the VERY foundation of your beliefs to the CORE. The ONLY reason why you said that you are 'Catholic' is because you are making a last ditch effort to pacify your ego and to desperately hold on to your pride." [This was a quote from a talk.] He then realized that this was not a joke, this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that, to become closer to Him, you have to follow His example, to which he then responded, "Can we talk as a family about this decision and let you know next Tuesday about our decision?" So, we are going to find out how committed he is tonight. We have been praying for them every day. I love you all very much. The mission is getting harder and harder, but we are still working. We will not give up and we are still determined to do the Lord's work. I am so grateful for all the support that you give me. I love you Mom and Dad.

Your Son,

Elder Sierra

MOTHER'S DAY UPDATE   

May, 13, 2013

Hey MOM,

I truly did enjoy skyping you all, as well. I feel a lot more motivation to work harder out here. My companion and I have buckled down and we are just trying to figure out what we need. We know that this week is gonna be crucial for our investigators. We are gonna pray for each one of them personally and try our hardest to know how to help and teach them. 

I appreciate you telling me some of your experiences Mom. This mission is freakin tough. Every minute is used and I am always collapsing in my bed half dead. But I'm likin it! This week we wanna challenge Pedro Galvez to be baptized and we feel that he is completely ready. He has accepted and done more than what we ask him to read and ponder and pray. He loves the Lord and he has literally fallen in love with the Plan of Salvation! Truly, he wants to be with his family forever. It is really exciting. 

We are also meeting with the mission president about starting a new Spanish branch in Rancho Cordova. He and I are getting pretty ambitious haha. [My companion and I] keep feeling that prompting that this is what our area needs and we have to get on the ball and set it up. Elder Villalva is very excited about it. Our current Bishop wants us to do it, as well, so he is going to the stake president about it. When we called the Mission President yesterday, he told me, "Elder Sierra, ever since you came into Sacramento, I feel that you are trying to literally turn this whole city upside down. Can you tell me why you want to destroy the status quo?" All I told him was, "You think I could've started tearin' up Sac-Town sooner?" In short, he does agree with the idea and he is very surprised at how hard we are working lol. I love the work out here. That's all that is going on, but next week, I will tell you how it's all going and if our investigators are coming along or not. I love you all.

Elder Sierra

BEST WEEK EVER!
 A quick email on May 6, 2013:
 

Well thanks for rubbing the IRON MAN 3 IN MY FACE!!! LOL! Pero está bien, (But, it's ok) I'll see it when I get home. Things here get tough, but this week was by far my best week. We picked up 5 wonderful families. Our schedules are full of appointments and lessons to teach. One of our investigators, Raul, is very excited about learning about the gospel with his wife & they wanted us to us to go to his parents house and teach them as well. They were reluctant at first, but as we talked and testified they were touched by the Spirit and they want to learn more. My companion, Elder Villalva, who is awesome!! wants us to try and get them baptized all on the same date. And today, when we woke up, we got a call from Rafaela, Raul's wife, and she wants us to stop by her parents and teach them as well. I will talk to you soon I hope.

Elder Sierra