MISSIONARY WORK HAS BEEN GOING GREAT!

Hey Mom,

That's pretty neat how you have been finding relatives and other friends as you have been having fun up in Utah. And to think your voice teacher was Ralynne's Great Aunt! Maybe you being a 2nd mother to her is a crazy way of saying thanks. I like how you said how your teacher taught us to sing with emotion and not worry [only] about the technicalities. Although they are necessary, I realize how much of a better singer you are when you put your heart into it. It's kinda like missionary work. Don't just do missionary things, be the missionary that you want and the Lord wants you to be. What's funny is that the Lord wants us to be ministers but to also be friends to those we teach. It's quite hard to find the balance but in the end, Love trumps all. 

Missionary work has been going great. Violet is now picking a day for baptism and Ivan is coming to church (we will be challenging him to a date very soon...will be needing your prayers). Also, tell Ralynne that I did get a miracle last p-day. I got a call from Ricky and he told me that he will be getting baptized by the end of this month. I AM PUMPED!!!! He asked me to do it. Of course I am honored. Also, one of my investigators from Folsom gave me a call, as well, telling me that he is getting baptized on the 22 of February!!!! Quite a few miracles. To top it all off, we have just begun re-activating 3 additional families. One of the kids is named Angel and has had a rough upbringing (I swear every time I talk to him I think of Dad having 'heart to hearts' with me when I was growing up), but has been making strides to come back to church and turn life around. I was able to connect with him very well, and he sits by me almost every Sunday. Much has been happening. Y si madre. Mi espanol esta progresando mucho. Al veces necesito usar un diccionario para buscar por algunas palabras por frases, pero como yo dije cuando hable con tu al navidad, puedo ensenar sin problema. Ahora necesito aprender como conversar en actual conversaciones sobre desportes y otras cosas. But yeah, Spanish is coming along just fine. I love the work mom and the branch is seeing better days now. 

Love you Mom, 

Elder Sierra

OFF OUR HIGH HORSE
Letter from 1/28/14

Dear Mom, 

As far as work goes, we finished our lesson [last week] and committed Violet and her friend Ivan to baptism. They are SO READY!! SO EXCITED!! We would have a date for Ivan and Violet, but they want to wait for their family to be there (understandably so). So we are making sure they continue to go to church and stay strong. 

Word came in that I will be staying again. I will admit this area is by far my hardest and it will probably keep on getting harder but, if anything, I am happy to be able to stay. Many things have happened in the past week. We had dinner with the branch president and we had a pretty huge heart to heart. We cleared the air of quite a lot that has been bothering us. So....yeah a lot of words were said. However, once we got it all out of the way, we told him that miscommunication was as much our fault, as well, and partly due to our pride of not wanting or accepting help from the branch leaders. So, we came off our high horse and in the end we both came to the agreement that we want to better the branch and make it a baptizing area. Dinner went very well and we all enjoyed each others' company and left a nice spirit in the home. Ever since then, we have been working much closer with him. There have been small miracles as we go. We have picked up a teaching pool of 10 and are still in the work of reactivating 5 families. We love them all and we continue to push forward showing our faith and working hard.  

I am so happy to hear that Nic is a grandma and that Berlin is healthy and cute as a button. I pray for Jace everyday that he will go out and serve his mission. He will become a fantastic missionary. I will include Cydnee in my prayers and fast. My companion offered to join as well. You have our support and more. Well Mom, tell Ralynne I say hi. Love you Mom. 

Elder Sierra

MIRACLE!
Letter from 1/20/14

Dear Madre,

All is well in the universe again. Yesterday we talked with a member named Hermana Martinez and she was talking to us with her niece. Her niece had been coming to church for a month now (she is on vacation) and I just got the prompting to ask her, "So, how do you like our branch? Is it just as good as your home ward?" She replied, "Oh no! I'm not a member. I do love this church, though."  I was like, "Well, you outta be!! You want to take the lessons?" She excitedly said, "Yes, I really want to learn everything." MIRACLE!!! SO we are PUMPED!!! Our lesson with her is tonight. She's excited and we are excited. Her name is Violet. 

We have added many new investigators. We are all very excited. We topped the mission last week with 38 other lessons. Don't think that will ever happen again lol. But, it was a nice feeling. Elder Ruiz is healthy again and we have been keeping up with our families that have been returning to church. Well, that is all I really have to share for right now. Thanks for the support and the pics Mom. Tell Ralynne I say break a leg and Adolfo and Michael that I say hi. Love you mom. Till next week.

Elder Sierra