Tender Mercies

Well we had a reel good week here in Vancouver! Last Sunday we had a member bring his friend, German, to church. We talked to him a bit and set up an appointment for Tuesday. We went by Tuesday and had a lesson and got to know him a little bit. It turns out he's been taught everything by missionaries in the past. We talked about preparing for baptism, and he agreed to be baptized on September 15th! We met with him another time and he seemed to be really excited to do it, so we're going to review everything and than get him all ready! That was really a tender mercy. That night we were also able to meet with Odi, the brother in law of sister Morelli and we set a baptismal date for September 8th! So those are to great miracles we've seen this week!

We had interviews with President Greer also. It went pretty good, I talked with Sister Greer about how the family was doing and how the work in Vancouver was going. We had a good talk. President Greer talked about the approaching need for trainers and leadership in the spanish work, and that the younger group needs to step up to the plate and prepare themselves for these responsibilities. So, I might be training within a couple transfers! That will be exciting!

Some more good things that happened, we had a little scuffle in Relief Society between a less active member and a recent convert, to the which the recent convert had her feelings hurt and left church early. The branch members jumped in to the rescue and paid visits to this sister, and now the conflict has passed and she has decided she will return to the church, and she did come yesterday, so that was a relief! We went by with President Ross on saturday night, and she said that for a while she thought she would never go back to the church, but when the branch reached out in love to her, then she realized she needed to let it go. That was awesome. I loved seeing how quickly the members got on the ball to make sure we didn't lose a precious family.

We've been blessed with a lot of referrals from members and English missionaries this week. It has made doing work here in Vancouver a lot easier. Its hard because Vancouver is so big, and the hispanic population is spread out all over, and so it helps that when english missionaries tract into hispanic people, the send us over. We try to return the favor!

Well it was great to hear from everyone, hope you all have a great week!

Elder Derek Partridge

V-dub

Well its been a great week here in V-dub. (I think thats the latest nickname I've heard for it.) Its been a little slow this week. Some of our investigators and families we visit have been busy so we weren't able to meet with them, but the ones we did meet with went good. We found 2 new investigators this week, Erica and Rogelio. We taught them together at Erica's house this week about the Restoration. They seemed to take it well and are eager to read the BoM and learn more. We met with Luis again this week. He's taking everything pretty seriously, so thats good. We left him with a goal to read at least 5 pages in th Book of Mormon this week and pray about it and then from there he'll decide if he wants to come to church this Sunday. We're excited for him. We haven't been able to meet with Carlos or Odi, but we talked to Gino Morelli on Friday night and told him we want to help him to quit smoking and be baptized like his wife and daughter. Also Todd Kanekoa, a member of the branch, came back this week. I guess every summer he usually leaves vancouver to work and earn money and now he's back. He brought his friend German, who has read from the BoM and is interested in the Gospel. So we set up an  appointment to meet with him this Tuesday. So things are going good!

 

Friday we had the Branch campout, we were able to go for a little bit on Friday night. I hear it was a success and that they all had a lot of fun. It was a little sad that none of our investigators, that we invited could go, though. Oh well, there's always next months activity. Next month they will be having a cultural night, so that should be lots of fun. We have a pretty diverse branch. We have families from Chile, El Salvador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico. Those are all I can think of but there could be more!\

Well tomorrow we have interviews, which I'm pretty excited for, its been a while since my last interview and I look forward to talking to President and Sister Greer. Elder Anderson is getting a root canal on Thursday. It should be an eventful week! Que les vaya bien!!!!

-Elder Derek S. Partridge

The temple was beautiful!

Hey everybody!!!

It has been a very good transfer week in vancouver. I picked up Elder Anderson at the stake center early Wednesday morning, and after getting shopping done and going to the apartment to get him unpacked, we buckled down and got to work! So we've seen some cool things happen this week. On Wednesday we went and knocked some doors and found a new investigator! Luis! He let us come in right away which is always a great sign. We got to know him a bit and set up a return appointment for Friday. We went by Friday and taught him the Restoration and it went well! He said we could come back next saturday so we're excited to see how things go with him!

We weren't able to meet with Carlos this week. They're busy working and trying to find an apartment, but he did make it out church yesterday so that was very good! He said he'd call us back today to set up an appointment to teach him.

On Saturday there was a baptism for Nicole Morelli. She is 8 years old and her Family is from Chile. Her grandma, Sonia, met with the missionaries and was baptized several years ago. Sonia is the nicest little old lady in the world. The branch affectionately calls her Abuelita. Anyways after her baptism she went to do baptisms for the dead in the temple. She felt the spirit so well there that she excitedly went home and told her daughter, Ingrid (Nicole's mother) "Ingrid, the temple was so beautiful! You need to get baptized so you can go to the temple!" So next Ingrid met with the missionaries and got baptized. Her husband Gino was thoroughly uninterested in all of this, so for the last couple of years Ingrid has been going to church with her daughters and her mother, and Gino started coming out here and there for special occasions. Well this Saturday we had the baptism for Nicole and Gino and lots of other family came and it was a really good experience. Gino definitely felt the spirit. So our job this transfer is to help him resolve his word of wisdom issues and finally get baptized!

The gospel and its temple ordinances are the greatest blessings we can have!

Thats all of the biggest news this week! We went to the Morelli's for dessert last night before going home and a former sister from the mission was there visiting. Turns out she is from Tempe and was in the same singles ward as Brian! Small World!!

Well I love y'all! have a great week

transfer call

Well on to this weeks news!

First and Foremost, we received the transfer call saturday afternoon, and Elder Hundley will be transfered to Toppenish. I'll be receiving a new companion, Elder Anderson. Elder Anderson is actually in our zone right now so I know a little bit about him. He started his mission in Mexico, and then he got a parasyte and had to come back to the states. He's got a couple of months left before he goes home in december. He is from Oklahoma and seems to be a good missionary, so I look forward to serving with him. I'll be sad to see Elder Hundley go, its been a good transfer and we got a lot of work done, but so it goes in the life of a missionary. Something unexpected happended yesterday after sacrament meeting. First, Elder Hundley went to talk to Carlos to tell him he was being transferred, and when he approached him, Carlos said he wanted to get baptized and he wanted it to be a surprise to Ana Laura. So we told him we'd teach him the rest of the lessons and make it happen. (There is a catch, he's either going to have to marry her, or move out before he can get baptized) But we'll figure that out soon enough. So next we went to tell President Ross, our branch president. When we walked up to him he told us that Odie, the brother of sister Morelli, who had investigated the church earlier but got a busy job and couldn't meet with the missionaries for a long time, had gotten a job with more flexibility, he showed up to church that day, and told Pres. Ross that he wanted to prepare to  be baptized. Just like that! within 5 minutes of eachother, we have 2 investigators that want to be baptized! Needless to say that was a very good sunday.

Well Its hard to believe its august already, and that another transfer has gone by. Its really crazy! Time flies! Well I Hope everyone has a great week! Love y'all

-Elder Derek Partridge

Ape Caves

Well well well, we have had a good week here in Vancouver. We're kind of getting gipped on our sunny season in Vancouver. There are 10 months of rain and 2 months of summer in vancouver. Right now we're in the summer months, but its been pretty cloudy the last couple of days. Anyways, we're going hiking today and I just hope it doesn't rain on our parade. We're hiking the Ape Caves in Mt. St. Helens, so that will be quite an experience. We'll actually be going through the Lava tubes. I wonder why they call them ape caves and I speculated to Elder Hundley that they are infested with wild apes that will rip your arms off if you make them mad. I hope that isn't the case. Anyways we're pretty excited to go to that.

This week we had a class with President Alder, he is the Employment specialist for the branch. He served as a mission president in one of the Chile missions. So he has a class for the spanish missionaries every so often just kind of coaching us on language learning, and making a study plan to improve our spanish. It was pretty good, he taught some good stuff. We found out at this meeting that one of the spanish elders in Longview is going home because of health problems, and that Elder Barton, a zone leader who went home for surgery like a month and a half ago, will be returning to take his place. So we're sad to see Elder Marroquin go but happy to see Elder Barton return.

We had the Branch picnic on saturday, it was a big success. Its fun to see the fellowship of the branch and how involved investigators and Recent Converts already are. Daniela and Salvador, a couple who joined the church several months ago, brought a grill and cooked carne asada for everyone. Carlos was there and he was talking with everyone and joining in with the games and sports that we played, It was really a cool activity. We have a very strong Branch here in Vancouver.

Speaking of Carlos, we met with him during the week and taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. He took it really well and said he'd pray about it. On Sunday night an older couple in the Branch, the Rodriguez' had Anna Laura, Carlos, and us over for dinner. She made us Mole, which is a special type of sauce poured over chicken usually. After all these months of eating Mole, I found out yesterday, that it has Chocolate in it. That was an interesting discovery. Nonetheless It does taste good! Before I come home I need to learn how to make these things so I can cook la comida mexicana para todos uds. I'd say my favorite food by far is still Carne Asada.

Anyway in church yesterday the announced the 5th sunday fireside again. I think I told you all about it last week, but they're going to cut sacrament meeting a  bit short. Go into the cultural hall and serve sandwiches and then we will be back in the chapel for the special fireside where they will make the special announcement, that the branch will be doing a Pioneer trek next summer. Well at dinner that night with the Rodriguez family they were speculating that they were going to announce they were making the Branch into a spanish ward. We kind of feel bad that they have their hopes up, we hope they'll be happy with the pioneer trek announcement. Hahaha.

So with all that its been a great week. We are looking forward to Zone Conference this Thursday and district exchanges on tuesday. It should be a good week!

Well thats about it! Que tengan una buena semana!

Los Amo!

-Elder Derek Partridge

Couver Town

Hey! Its been a good week here in couver town! Investigators are awesome, except in some cases. One of our investigator's boyfriends told her she can't meet with us anymore so that was kind of a bummer. She was progressing and doing good! Sometimes significant others are the greatest enemy to missionary work. Other than that everyone is doing pretty well. We've been trying to set up a time to teach Carlos, this guy thats dating a woman in the branch. He has come to church with her 3 sundays in a row now, he's just been busy with work so its been hard to set up a day to come by. But we think we've finally got him nailed down, and they're going to have dinner with us at the house of another lady in the branch this next sunday, and we'll teach him there. He is very interested in learning about the church, so this will be good! In Branch council yesterday, President Ross told us they're going to have a special 5th sunday program, to kick off preparation for the Branch Pioneer trek next Summer! I think that is so cool. This branch has a lot of really cool activities so that makes it fun and provides a lot of missionary opportunities! This Saturday we're going to have a Branch Picnic, thats going to be a lot of fun. Elder hundley and I signed up to bring a dessert. So I'll let you know how that turns out next week.

We had a zone meeting on wednesday. Its basically like a zone conference but President and Sister Greer, and the AP's don't come, just the Zone leaders teach. The theme was kind of tied into what we need to do to have the most success in our missions and how to become converted. The answer lies in the phrase "Leave your nets, and follow me" For missionaries we have certain nets. Things that distract us from the work, like whats going on with friends at home, or in the world, sleeping in, listening to music, watching movies, but as we put those aside to follow the savior we become converted and become entitled to the spirit. Same as after the mission, whenever we put anything above keeping the commandments those are like our "Nets" If we love Him, we will "feed [His] Sheep." So what they taught really hit home, I really liked it and it really strenghtened my desires to be better missionary than I am. Well thats about all for this week, Love y'all! Echale Ganas!
-Elder Partridge

Portland Temple

Hey everybody! We've had a good week 2 in Vancouver! Today was actually temple day so thats why I'm emailing on tuesday. We got to go down to the Portland Temple! Portland was really beautiful! I got some pretty good pictures, which I'll send in a later email. It was really cool driving through Portland this morning though, and the temple there is quite beautiful.

Well this week has been pretty good. Its been kind of hard to find some of our investigators, but we did some tracting, and reached our goal for OYM's for the week. We found some good potential investigators up in Ridgefield. There's a trailer park up there and its managed by a member couple, so they told us which trailers the hispanics live in and we went and knocked all of their doors. Some seemed to have some pretty good potential and others, no. We had one guy say he was familiar with our church and he didn't like it so he didn't want to meet with us. I picked up a bit of courage from being with Elder Evans for a transfer to open my mouth more in these situations, so I asked, "Why don't you like our church?" and he told us it was because we read the Book of Mormon and not the bible. So we talked to him about how we use both and how we know that the Book of Mormon, is the word of God, equal with the Bible. So after all that I asked if he still didn't want to meet with us, he still said no, so that was that. I always get a feeling of satisfaction when I get to bear testimony in defense of the Gospel. We encountered another guy the other day. He was up on the second floor of an apartment complex and he kind of gestured like he was shooting us with a rifle as we walked into the parking lot. We kind of ignored him, so he started calling to us, so we asked if we could give him a pass along card. He said sure, so we went over, and he tried telling us there was no God. "There is no god because little children strap bombs to their chests and blow themselves up in the name of Allah." So we kind of talked about how while that was a pretty good indication that there is a devil, that was no indication that their was no God. And he wouldn't really listen and he was really drunk so we bid him good day and continued on our way. So those were two pretty interesting experiences. Other than those two we've found a lot of other pretty interested people, I'm really enjoying Vancouver. Its a very nice place!