Dear Family,
So to answer your questions, I am in the Santiago Creek area.
We have dinner appointments pretty much every night. I think there have only been two or three nights where we didn't have an appointment.
We get $150 a month for food, laundry, and other necessities. They usually give debit cards for missionaries, but I'm only temporary so they give me cash! They have gas cards for each of the companion ships, and they take care of everything else, like rent and what not. When we don't have appointments, we eat pretty much whatever we want. Usually peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pastas like ramen or macaroni and cheese.. The normal unhealthy missionary foods. :) We all are recommended to take multivitamins too so we are getting some nutrients! Ha h ha
Arcadia isn't in our mission, I guess its north?? I'm not sure, I just asked one of my companions and that's what he said. But speaking of the R____ family, The Spanish speaking sisters are continuing to teach the dad, while we are teaching the mom and 2 boys in English, but when they were being taught the 3rd lesson, talking a little about baptism they expressed a desire for baptism!!! They accepted the invitation, and are on track to be baptized on March 10th! They're so excited, and so are we!! There is a Brother in our ward that used to be a Spanish teacher, so we are going to utilize his skills and help L___ (the father of the family) learn English!! They are such a great family, Its crazy how you can develop relationships with the people we teach in such a short amount of time! I love it!
We continue to visit with some of the nonmembers, they are starting a program where we teach the less active families all of the lessons, starting from lesson one! It's pretty fun actually, they get reminded of the things that we believe, and we get to practice teaching.
We were walking down a street this past week, just as it was getting dark, knocking doors and we got the feeling not to knock on a few doors. Three in a row. It was a weird feeling, I thought who are we to deny these people the opportunity to learn about the gospel by not knocking on their doors. We thought.. oh well, I guess we'll keep walking... We ended up walking by a motor home parked down the street a little ways right when a man poked his head out. We asked how he was doing, introduced ourselves and what not, Turns out, his business just went under, he lost his house, he’s a recovering alcoholic, he’s divorced, and lives in this motor home outside of his parents house! We just happened to skip those few houses and walk by right when he poked his head out.. What a coincidence! NOT!! Funny how the spirit works. He’s so busy. He has tons of bills, but he works at home depot, only part time. He's having a hard time trying to support only himself, and his daughter is with him on the weekends. We talked a little bit about the church, and shared a few scriptures about the atonement. We stopped by one time, he didn't have time to meet with us, but he said he’s beginning to read out of the bible more, Which is a start!! I know he needs the gospel, and he knows it too! He just needs a little push. But, it'll all work out.
When I was on exchanges with Elder J____ (one of the zone leaders) we had about an hour of open time in the evening. We pulled out the area book, and he said, "Farr pick a name" I was looking through the names and one stood out. I didn't know why... But, we stopped by that night, and all this guy could talk about is how he doesn't know his purpose here on earth! We shared some scriptures, he has already been taught the lessons a few months ago, but we set up a time for them to go back and talk about the Plan Of Salvation!! I don't know a better place to turn to find out our purposes in life than right to the scriptures! The timing was perfect,
We were tabling at Santa Ana College, where we set up a table and wait for people to come and talk to us. We were about to leave when elder J____ said, "we will leave when you hand out one more card" I was like.. Challenge accepted!! I asked one person as they walked by.. they said no.. Then another person turned it down. We were just about to forget about it when one girl was walking passed and I said, hey can I give you a card. She said, "umm sure I guess" I said, "its for a website called mormon.org, it talks all about Jesus Christ and how he has blessed peoples lives." Then I went on to ask her if she knew about the church. She didn't know a whole lot, so we set up an appointment to talk to her again! But, her mom wont accept visitors at her house, and this girl doesn't have a cell phone, so they set a time to meet at the church building, not really thinking she would show up, SHE DID, and she brought a friend! =) The zone leaders said it went well! It was awesome.
I really wanted to get these experiences written down! This is what missionary work is all about. Just like dad always tells me to follow the spirit. It obviously works! The gospel does definitely bless peoples life. I know it for a fact. That's why I'm here, to share it with people and have it bless their lives as it has mine! I love it here!!
The priest Quorum was asking where Kyler was?? I don't know who Kyler is.. But Elder Farr is here :) (from Shannon - D____ H____ has been Elder Ky's Priesthood leader for several years and is still currently YM's Pres. He writes to the missionaries each week and shares their letters and news with each other and the Priest's quorum. He loves these boys and they also have great love and honor for him! This is the sentence from D____ letter that Elder Ky is referring to - "ALL THE PRIESTS WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE WITH KYLER. :)" This had made me smile all day! I love it!!
com amor! Eu amo voces!! (with love! I love you guys!!) -----I still get some Portuguese in there sometimes! =)
-Elder Kyler Blane Farr
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I was just asking about dad in the hospital. Don’t worry about me! I know everything is okay!! :) Don’t be sorry!! Just got your letters.. reading them right now! love you!!
AND THE PACKAGE WAS AMAZING! HA HA everything was perfect! Coming in handy too!!! :)
I forgot about more of what we eat too.. we don’t JUST eat unhealthy food. I got applesauce and bananas too! Thanks for these letters! And sister C____ said you're so sweet and her daughter is named S____ too!! She’s so awesome!! :)
Love you so much!
:)
