Ishmael's baptism

Hello everyone! We’ve had a super good week. Ismael's baptism went through without a hitch. He invited his daughters to come. It’s really cool how quick he accepted the gospel. He saw that it was good for him and he knew that it was true. I think what really got him was general conference. Last week he was saying he wasn't quite sure he'd be ready for the 13th but this week we met with him the Monday after conference and he said he was ready. He truly must of felt the spirit and truth of the words of the living prophet and apostles of god. He's awesome! Sister Ruiz invited a friend to the baptism and she also came to church the next day. So we're going to start teaching her. Its really cool how we receive blessings and people are placed in our path as missionaries.

Elder Holland's talk in General Conference was excellent. It was actually a modified version of a talk he gave at the MTC in January of 2011. Every companionship in our mission has a copy of it on DVD. I prefer the MTC version of it to the one he gave in conference. He talks a little more about the history and Purpose of Preach My Gospel at the beginning and then goes in to talking about Peter. It is really a powerful talk but that version appears to be only available to a select audience of full time missionaries, and we aren't to take or make copies of it.

Well in other news this week Odi's son got baptized in California on Saturday also! Odi is very proud and happy and It has motivated him a lot. So much to where he is now on his 4th day without smoking. if he can keep it up than he'll be able to be baptized on the 27th so we're excited about that! The Sister missionaries also have a baptism planned for the 27th so it will be an exciting month for our branch!

We went to Multnomah Falls today. It was really beautiful! We went with 2 other companionships in our zone. We had a lot of fun and got some good pictures. Well I hope everyone has a good week!

-Elder Partridge

Derek's Address

Derek loves letters.  His address is 8202 W. Quinault Ave. #D
Kennewick, WA  99336

Conference

Well this week was pretty packed and busy. We've been trying to meet with our Investigators and then get them out to conference and all that. And than conference took a lot of time. But was very uplifting. We got Ismael out to the 2 saturday sessions so that was good. I was very surprised about the announcement that President Monson made. This is a very historic announcement I think. I think short term it will provide a big boost in missionaries, and long term, in conjunction with the new Young Mens, young womens, and seminary curriculum based on Preach My gospel that there will be more people that will be prepared and have the desire to serve missions. The work is hastening on! It appears this is also where the six week spanish pilot program comes in. Elder Holland stated in the press conference that the MTC training for all missionaries will be shortened by 1/3. This is a really exciting thing!

In other news our investigators are progressing pretty well here. Ismael is on track for baptism this Saturday. We just need to review a couple more things and than have his interview on Thursday. He really enjoyed conference and he says he likes church and believes in what we have taught him. We haven't been able to get in contact with German still sadly. It appears he is going to need more time. We met with Samira and Joel this week to and things were going good.

So this week I had authentic pupusas. The Pupusa is a food from El Salvador. I have tried it before at a taco truck in Boardman but this time I had them made by a real Abuela Salvadorena. They were so good. Essentially what it is, is a thick tortilla with beans and cheese cooked into it topped with cabbage and salsa rojo. They were very very good. I'm going to have her teach me how to make them before I leave.
Well thats all for this week, take care everyone!

con amor,

Elder Partridge

Portland

Wow 23 new missionaries?? Thats NUTS Happy Birthday mom!!!!!

 

Well its been a good week here in Vancouver. October has started and still no rain. We had our temple trip this morning, thats why I'm emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday again. It was cool to have another opportunity to go to the portland temple. I really enjoy the drive through Portland, everything looks so interesting, I'd like to visit Portland in depth when I'm able, but as for now its out of the mission. Anyways this week has been pretty good. We've worked a lot with Odi this week and his roomate Pedro. Pedro is the brother of sister Morelli and is a big old goof ball. Its hard to get him to take things seriously. We did however have success with showing him some of the ol' book of mormon seminary videos. He seemed to get a lot out of them and enjoy them. Odi's still doing better step by step. We're teaching him gospel principles that we feel will aid in his efforts to quit smoking. We talked about the power of prayer, and read Enos with him. We watched the BoM Seminary video about agency, which by the way is phenomenal. I would recommend it to anyone. As long as we keep working with him and supporting him he'll be able to make that change in his life. Ismael is doing good also. We're having some problems with german, but we're still working with him.

We're pretty excited for conference coming up!!! I like to read the opening verses of Mosiah 2 and apply them to my preparation for General Conference. I like how king Benjamin opens his address by asking that they not "come up hither to ^btrifle with the words" which he spoke to them, "but that [they] should ^chearken unto [him], and open [their] ears that [they] may hear, and [their] ^dhearts that [they] may understand, and [their] ^eminds that the ^fmysteries of God may be unfolded to [their] view[s]."

This is the attitude that I would like to be able to take towards every general conference. I know that as we do that we will be blessed and receive "that portion that shall be meted unto every man."

 

Well thanks for the birthday wishes hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Love, Elder Derek Partridge

branch activity, wedding, transfer calls

Good Morning to all!

Its been a great week! We had a branch activity, a wedding and transfer calls! I guess I will start with the latter. We received our transfer calls this morning, as opposed to Saturday afternoon, because of the large influx of missionaries and the hard work it takes getting these things all figured out. And Elder Anderson and I are both staying here in Vancouver for another transfer! I'm excited about this because I love the branch here in Vancouver. It is very strong and fun to work with. And also, we will both get to be here for German's baptism this Saturday. So its pretty exciting! So we have another 6 weeks together here to work hard and help prepare our investigator's for baptism.

So that out of the way, this week has been crazy! I went on an exchange with our District leader, Elder Macaraeg on Wednesday and we went and taught Samira and Joel the Restoration. It really answered a lot of questions that Joel had, and he commited to read the book of Mormon and pray about it. they didn't make it to the cultural activity, but they did come to church yesterday and really enjoyed it! So that was awesome.

Friday we had our cultural night! It was awesome! We were helping set up tables, chairs, and decorations for most of the day, and then we had the Activity. It was really cool to see the dances from all the different countries. I'm definitely a fan of traditional lLatin America music and dance. It was pretty cool because Sister Morelli and her non member husband Gino, did a Chilean dance together. In total we got about 5 or 6 of our investigators there. thats not including the Sister's investigators that came, and other non-members that we hadn't met before. In all it was a very good turn out and a super fun night. On Saturday we had our stake day of service at Heritage farms. This is a county owned farm that leases land to charitable organizations and uses other land to grow food for the local food bank! We were there harvesting, washing, and packing carrots. It was super cool! I've never seen so many carrots before in my life! After that we took the St. Johns ward elders to lunch at Don Pedro's and then headed to the hazel dell chapel to start setting up for the Wedding. We got all the tables and chairs and decorations set up with help from several members of the Branch Relief Society and Todd and Jessica Kanekoa. From there we rushed home, got cleaned up and ready and made it back for the wedding. President Ross married them and gave them some very good advice. That they needed to have Charity for there marriage to last there whole lives, and also he talked about how they could have an eternal marriage if Rachel decides to join the church too and they prepare and enter the temple. It was a very good and spiritually moving ceremony. After that we gathered in the cultural hall to eat and dance. And then we finished at about nine, cleaned everything up, and headed home exhausted, fulfilled, and ready to get some sleep. Next step: Baptism, this Saturday!

Well it was great hearing from you all and I hope you have a great week! Take care everyone!

Elder Partridge

Faith of Nephi

We've had a pretty good week here in Vancouver! Things have been coming together pretty good! We got the details hammered out on German's wedding. We got the building scheduled and everything. So that will be this Saturday night. The stake president wants to wait a week to do the baptism after the wedding, so we will have his baptism the following saturday, the 22nd. We had his baptismal interview yesterday and he passed, so he is good to go!

In the meantime we're working with Odi to help him quit smoking so he can get baptized. He's doing pretty awesome. He's been reading the Book of Mormon, and getting a lot out of it. He made some very good comments relating to what he's been reading, during gospel principles class, yesterday. So its good he's getting a lot out of it. He is really enjoying the story of Nephi and looking for how Nephi built his great faith and how he can build his own faith.

We had a cool finding experience this week. We were tracting through an apartment complex in SE Vancouver when we knocked on a door. A woman named Samira opened the door and told us she was an inactive member of one of the english wards, and she would love to have us come by on Saturday night to come talk to her and her husband. Leading up to Saturday we were looking at this and thinking, well this looks like a less active family of an english ward maybe we should just send the appropriate elders, but we felt that we should go and find out more about the situation. So on Saturday we had kind of a slow night. Everything had kind of fallen through except this appointment. My companion had prayed that morning that the Lord would give us something to motivate us and keep us going. Well the time came to go visit this Woman and her husband. So we went and knocked on the door, she answered and let us in. We quickly saw that while she wasn't hispanic her husband was. We talked to them and found out this husband was a nonmember, and that he had talked to missionaries many years ago, it didn't really go anywhere, but lately they were thinking they needed religion in there lives and were looking for a church to go to. We talked to them about how the gospel blesses families and that if they came to church and if he would get baptized then they could prepare to enter the temple and have the ultimate blessing of being sealed as a family. The spirit was so Strong!!! We told them about the Spanish branch and they both said they would like to go, so we invited them to come to the Branch Party on friday night and then the Church meetings the following week, and they said they would love to, and we got a return appointment set for this week. We let them know that we felt like we were led to them at this time for a reason and they agreed! I know our Heavenly Father answers prayers and guides us to people who have been prepared to receive the Gospel.

One more cool thing, while German was in being interviewed by President Hartley, we were walking over to the clerk's office and found the Ridgefield Elders with a member who spoke spanish waiting for us. There was a mexican family there looking for the spanish missionaries. They live in Oregon right now and were investigating the church down there. They are planning on moving up to Vancouver though and wanted to get to in contact with the church and get help finding a place to move! So that will be another family to teach! We've really been seeing the blessings pouring in this transfer and we are greatful for them!

Its been a very good transfer, we'll be getting the calls this Saturday and we'll find out who is staying and who is going. Its hard to believe another transfer is finally over!

Well thats about is for this week. Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Derek Spencer Partridge

Place for a reason

Hey everyone! I'm emailing on tuesday because we had a little hiccup in the schedule, we weren't able to because the library was closed yesterday. Well it sounds like everyone had a good week.

I can't believe its September! Time has really been flying. Well it has been a good week here in Vancouver. One little set back is that Odi's baptism is going to be postponed. We're going to have to put a little bit more work into helping him quit smoking. We've got an arsenal of Ideas, so that will help. We fasted for him on sunday, and encouraged him to do the same. He's still eager to quit so we'll keep working with him.
Things are going good with German though. His friend in the branch Todd Kanekoa has been helping us a lot.

 

We've been seeing a few really cool experiences in the work here. One in particular happened last night. It was about 8 PM and our investigator, Ismael called to cancel his appointment. So we decided to contact a few referrals that we had received. We tried 1 and it fell through, and than we traveled to another one which also wasn't there. At this point, it was 8:30, we were close to our apartment, we had already used a lot of miles that day so we didn't want to drive farther away to try anyone else. It would have been really nice to just call it a night, but we decided we wouldn't. Moments later to teenagers come down the stairs carrying a dresser. We offered to help them move and they said to go up and ask their mom. We went up and offered and she agreed to let us help. so over the next 45 minutes we helped them move things out of their apartment, inbetween trips down the stairs answering questions about our mission. She ultimately gave us her phone number and said she'd be interested in learning more, and we went home feeling accomplished. Its true that the Lord always knows where we are and if we are being good boys he puts us in places for a reason.

 

Well everything else is going good. We're working hard and seeing success!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Partridge