BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Letter from July 22, 2013

Well Mom, I am getting increasingly worried for you now. You somehow look for and find new ways to hurt yourself. I know masochism sounds fun, but trust me, it's not for you lol.

Anyway, Juan and his fiance, who are getting married in about a week or two, wanted to hold off getting baptized until after marriage (which is fine, it's better that way.) Antonio and Chewy are having some issues right now so we rescheduled their dates, but don't know when yet. You can only imagine my frustration. 

That Saturday was kind of annoying, but opening up that box MADE MY DAY!!! We had a party in my apartment that night... President decided to visit me that night and just walked right in while we were hitting the piñata... However, he thought it was funny and hugged me saying, "Happy B-day." He also wanted to sit down with me for about 10 minutes. In my head I was thinking CRAP! However, it worked out very well. The talk started like this. "Elder Sierra I've noticed that the relationship between you and my assistants is rapidly going downhill. Do you agree?" "Well President...in my defense, they kinda are pretty annoying and are interfering with the progress here. Maybe if I had someone else to actually report to and give me good insights, then there wouldn't be any problems." (WRONG THING TO SAY!) "All right, Elder Sierra, we can make that happen." "Really Pres!" (He set me up for the fall.) "From now on, you report straight to me. Every Week! That sounds like a good compromise. You report to me, the AP's are out of your way, and I will tell you what you need to do. Does that work?" So yeah, in short, I report to him now. Which isn't bad. In fact, it's MUCH BETTER. I'm LIKIN IT! So yeah, AP's are forbidden to talk to me. It all worked out well. I've just got the mission president watching everything I do now so I gotta watch myself and straighten up more haha. Anyway, we LOVED the birthday box and had a VERY fun time. I will send you the sd card when I send you your b-day present. I love you Mom. Please stop hurting yourself. 

Elder Sierra

(President) told me to keep doing what I'm doing because I'm trying to follow the Spirit. This mission is so focused on numbers it's sick.

So, President likes me a lot. We have been doing great work 

Elder Sierra's birthday piñata! He is definitely a Toro!!

GROWING PAINS

Letter from July, 15, 2013
 
Remember as you read this letter that you love me with all your wonderful hearts...................


Well, Mom and Dad! It's really hard to tell you this, but..........WE'VE GOT TWO BAPTISMS SET FOR THE FLIPPIN' FREAKIN' 20th BABY!!!!!! WHAT A WAY TO START MY 20's. I'm Likin it! But I realize now that I am no longer a teenager and that I will slowly begin turning into an old man. So it's all downhill from here haha. But I ain't maturing any more than I am now (cuz I like being insane) and I am gonna do missionary MY WAY through the Lord's Way. Basically, like Elijah!! Cuz he was a BOSS! 

Anyhow, we have Chewy and Antonio set for this week. Juan is next week since he was out of town last weekend. But it's all good. He is back and ready to go. Happy to hear how Dad is doing with his business as well as with his weight loss. He is LOOKING FINE!! 

Also, thank you very much for the B-Day pics. Haven't gotten any package yet, but president called me and wants to have a sit down with me (Didn't do anything wrong.....as far as I know) and said that he will give me my package personally. Can't say if I'm looking forward to that or not. Probably wants me to make peace with the AP's, especially when they got on my case about ALMOST going over my miles given to me by the mission to use the car (I'm not even the guy driving the car) and also, all the other companionships in the zone are over their miles. I do everything in my power to not overuse miles, so this was all pure 'Baloney'. So, I've tried to, you know, love my enemies and all that... but couldn't take it and once again I let 'em have it and what not. So, president called and said we need to talk. So I may be in trouble. Well, it was a good run so far....

Anyhow, we had a wonderful lesson with a new investigator WHO IS GOLDEN!!!!! She was literally shining throughout the lesson. Her name is Olivia and she called us asking us to come over IMMEDIATELY! So, obviously, we did (which was why we ALMOST went over all our miles) and taught her a very nice lesson on the restoration. She loved it so much and didn't want us to leave, but we told her that we'd be back tomorrow. SO EXCITED! Our area is seriously picking up and we can't even keep track of anything anymore. I love my mission. So that is all for now. I love you all.  

Elder Sierra

p.s.  I did try to diffuse 

        I truly did

 

 CHANGES, CHANGES: NEW COMPANION/RODRIGO MOVES

Letter from July 8, 2013

Dear Mom,

SWEET Papi is home!! Well that's just wonderful... Anyway, baptisms are good. Tyrone and the other crips had to be passed off to other missionaries so, yeah, that bummed me out, and Rodrigo moved to another part of Sacramento and is getting baptized this Saturday over in the building in that area so I'm pretty ticked that all of the people I teach and love go somewhere else to get baptized and I'm always too busy working in my area to go over and see it happen. HATE THAT! Oh, and tell Aunt Kathy and Amariah I say hey! 

SO my new companion is Elder Russell. He has been out as long as I have and we both don't know the language completely. It's going to be a lot of fun haha! We have 7 people we are teaching and we also have a French family we are talking to. That is even more fun haha. So I'm just tearing it up out here. The AP's asked me to hand the French family off and I'm like, there are NO French missionaries out here. Why on earth would I do that? Especially since Spanish and French are not too far off from each other. So, I ignored them and asked President (the mission president) who told me to keep teaching them (Ap's Seriously don't like me right now). President also wants me to start making a map of Rancho Cordova and to redo the division of the sections of the city so that he can see about making a branch in our area... Juan is getting baptized next Saturday (depends if he is going out of town or not) and we are teaching is fiancé and she LOVES the gospel. She wants us to teach her kids. She has an 18-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old boy. It's going to be exciting. So, in short, AP's still hate me, I'm doing great work, haven't had another Ammon moment yet, and I LOVE MY DOGG Elder Russell. We are very excited to see what is in store for this coming week. Love you all.

Elder Sierra

NEWS FROM THE "HOOD"

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME! THE CRIPS HAVE JOBS AND ARE GOING TO COLLEGE?! PLUS, ONE MORE AMMON MOMENT

Hey Mom,

I'm VERY happy to hear that Dad is going home soon. And Whoa, Aunt Kathy is out in Utah?!!(Not yet) That's great! So, Benjamin is driving now...........(just said a quick prayer for the world). I'm kidding! I'm sure he will be fine. As long as he doesn't drive like me, he will be fine. I find it funny how you share my stories of my mission with your class (To illustrate how the truths of the gospel change us from the inside, Mom shared how the gang members asked if selling drugs was a sin, since all they did was sell it to those who wanted to buy it... and then decided to look for other ways to earn $$, once Elder Sierra told them it was, since they were the ones handing out the sin.) Oh, and as far as transfers go, my trainer is going out tomorrow and I get a new boy who has been out as long as I have and we both don't know Spanish.........it's gonna be a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and the best part: from what I hear, he is exactly like me. HAHAHA!!! This mission is done for haha. His name is Elder Russel and I am excited to work with him.

Oh, and so, you will LOVE THIS! The group of Crips I have been teaching all got jobs at Wal-mart and just applied to their local community college. They want to start a business making and selling soul food! And to top it off, they all have a baptism date for July 27. Tyrone said this, "Elder Sierra, ever since you kicked my a**, and took my knife, which I would like to have back, I knew that you had soemthin' about ya'll that I wanted. I can't explain it, man, but I feel it deep in me and I just wanna tell you thanks cuz now I wanna be a better man. In fact, I want my girl to learn about this now." I was blown away. The gospel changes hearts and lives. It's true!! I love doing this work. 

Oh, and yeah, I had another Ammon moment, so brace yourself. We were teaching Juan and a random neighbor ran up to us, threatening us, and once, again telling us to get in our car and drive off. I got ticked again because it was a VERY wonderful lesson he disturbed, so while he was yelling I received an impression to wait and see what would happen. I needed to wait for my opportunity to say or do something instead of just automatically yelling back at him. So, I waited and then, he grabbed my arm. That is when I told him calmly, but sternly, "Sir, please get your hand off of me and sit down. I have listened and now it is your turn to listen, otherwise, please leave this house, or I will remove you from it." For some reason (don't know why), he was very quiet all of a sudden, sat down next to Juan, and listened to the Plan of Salvation. He now wants us to come back and teach him tomorrow. It was a very interesting experience. His name is Ronaldo Castillo. It's interesting how half of my investigators are people that used to completely hate us. Anyway, things out here are good. I love you all and will talk to you later.

Elder Sierra

Dinner with our favorite French family, the De La Voye

Love their crepes (they are SOOO French)

My awesome trainer, Elder Villalva!

My District!