hey everyone!
Things have been progressing well here in my new area, Manhattan Beach!
I am currently with Elder Bingham form West Jordan, UT, who has been out for a little less than a year.
We have one investigator, Chantal, who we are really excited about. We found her and her mother through street contacting. One day we were visiting a less-active member and, upon finding him uninterested, were heading back to our car.
We saw a woman struggling to get her groceries out of the back of her truck so we went over and helped her unload. After talking with her, we learned that she and her family had just moved out here from Las Vegas (about half a mile from our house actually) and had had contact with missionaries before.
She invited us back a couple hours later to meet her daughter, Chantal, who is 15. We met her and learned that a friend of hers had actually taken her to church several times in Vegas, but lost contact with the church after she had moved away. She has now come to church twice here and we will be setting her with a baptismal date later today for December 6th!
I'm really excited for this work and can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas than BAPTIZING PEOPLE!
yay!
Love,
Jared
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Transferred Again
HEY EVERYONE!
Well i found out today that I am being Transferred. as to where i wont find out until tomorrow but i know that im being moved again. I realized that if I get 2 more companions i will hit the 20 comp mark! oy vey!
Things are Really slowing down in our area as we no longer have any active investigators... but at least transfers are on wednesday and I'll get a new area to work. Kepp your fingers crossed that I will go back into the branch!
Good luck to zack going into the MTC this week, good luck in the MTC and ill see you out here in january! PS wake up earlier than 630. you'll avoid the line in the shower. and if you end up in room 16M-101 get the top bunk by the door! 'Twas my old bed!
Love y'all!
Jared
Well i found out today that I am being Transferred. as to where i wont find out until tomorrow but i know that im being moved again. I realized that if I get 2 more companions i will hit the 20 comp mark! oy vey!
Things are Really slowing down in our area as we no longer have any active investigators... but at least transfers are on wednesday and I'll get a new area to work. Kepp your fingers crossed that I will go back into the branch!
Good luck to zack going into the MTC this week, good luck in the MTC and ill see you out here in january! PS wake up earlier than 630. you'll avoid the line in the shower. and if you end up in room 16M-101 get the top bunk by the door! 'Twas my old bed!
Love y'all!
Jared
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Another week in So. Cal
Hey everyone!
Conference was this week and was TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME! I loved all the talks Especially Elder Holland's talk on the truth of the Book of Mormon. you don't know how many times I hear people saying that the Book of Mormon was made up. All I have to say is watch that and know.
I also noticed how many of the talks, especially on Saturday, were all about Love. Love to one another and especially love toward god. I liked Elder Oaks' remark that God does not need our love. We need it.
AHH! I can't wait until conference releases and i can study the talks more in detail.
Alexandra is having struggles right now so please keep her in your prayers that she will find the truth of what we are teaching her.
well love all of you!
Jared
PS: for my birthday i really don't need all that much. Its getting colder here and we are allowed to wear sweater vests with our suit coats. we were at JCPenney last week and i saw some beautiful ones but they were like 30 dollars...
IDK really. im coming home in 5 months and don't really need a lot. Money mostly to be honest.... :P
Conference was this week and was TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME! I loved all the talks Especially Elder Holland's talk on the truth of the Book of Mormon. you don't know how many times I hear people saying that the Book of Mormon was made up. All I have to say is watch that and know.
I also noticed how many of the talks, especially on Saturday, were all about Love. Love to one another and especially love toward god. I liked Elder Oaks' remark that God does not need our love. We need it.
AHH! I can't wait until conference releases and i can study the talks more in detail.
Alexandra is having struggles right now so please keep her in your prayers that she will find the truth of what we are teaching her.
well love all of you!
Jared
PS: for my birthday i really don't need all that much. Its getting colder here and we are allowed to wear sweater vests with our suit coats. we were at JCPenney last week and i saw some beautiful ones but they were like 30 dollars...
IDK really. im coming home in 5 months and don't really need a lot. Money mostly to be honest.... :P
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Staying in Palos Verdes for Now
Hey everyone!
Transfer information came in and i am staying here in Harbor 1st Ward for the next 6 weeks.
We went to see the baptism of David Turner, a deaf man that me and elder balaich were teaching. It was really nice to see everyone in the branch again. Ihey all said how much they missed me and were asking again and again when i would be returning. I hope I go back. Pictures to come soon.
They also know about the "new" Elder Tritsch coming to the mission and are very excited for him.
Love
Jared
Transfer information came in and i am staying here in Harbor 1st Ward for the next 6 weeks.
We went to see the baptism of David Turner, a deaf man that me and elder balaich were teaching. It was really nice to see everyone in the branch again. Ihey all said how much they missed me and were asking again and again when i would be returning. I hope I go back. Pictures to come soon.
They also know about the "new" Elder Tritsch coming to the mission and are very excited for him.
Love
Jared
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
News from Palos Verdes
Hey Everyone!
As you may have heard, TRANSFERRED!
Yep you heard right. I was transferred. Out of the ASL program. Right when they needed me the most. Well, I'm now in Palos Verdes, serving the Harbor 1st English Ward and the Cabrillo Spanish branch. I'm also in a threesome with Elder Spellman and Elder Hirschberg. Elder Spellman is from Dallas, TX and Elder Hirschberg is from SLC, UT.
We had a slow start, but things are going great here now! We just set 2 people with baptismal dates this week!
The first one is Beverlin, she is 15 and the daughter of a less active member. She has accepted a baptismal commitment for the 26th. Although we might need to push it back because she and her father did not come to church on Sunday.... argh.... it seems lile getting people to come to church is like pulling teeth sometimes......
but the second one, that one I am excited for!
Her name is Alexandra and we actually ran into her at the end of a long sequence of miracles.
We went to try and contact a less active member who lives in Palos Verdes, but they were not home. This left us with about a half an hour of time that we needed to fill. So, since we had nothing else to do, we went tracting.
We knocked all up one side of the street, getting NOTHING! When we finally got to the end we were thinking, "lets just move on. Nothing is working here." But then we all got the impression that we should at least tract back to our car on the other side of the street. We were all like, "okay whatever" and we crossed the street to the next door. A woman opened the door and made our classic door approach (if you dont know what that means, ask dad).
About 30 seconds in she interrupts and says, "latter day saints... isn't that like the Jehovah's Witnesses?"
*mental jaw smacks against the pavement*
not again......
"No. We are not the Jehovah's Witnesses. some people call us the Mormons."
"oh! m'kay. wait.... isn't that the church that has the 15 wives?"
*mental had smacks itself repeatedly against nearest solid object*
"no... that's a different church. we haven't practiced that in over a hundred years. What he are here today is going around sharing a message about Jesus Christ and about how god loves all of us, his children."
*awkward silence*
*more awkward silence*
*woman starts crying*
"its like a miracle or something....."
What had happened was that the day before, she had given up on God an thrown her bible away, saying that he either doesn't exist or that he hates her because she has had a hard life. Then, the next day she is talking on the phone with her friend telling her all of this when a knock comes at the door. She tell her friend that she isn't going to answer it because she was not in the mood to talk to anyone else. Her friend nonetheless tell her to go and answer the door. She relents and opens the door. and its US!
This was on Saturday. So we taught her about the love of God and that all the trials and struggles we have are actually for our benefit and it is how God shapes and prepares us to become the people that He wants us to be.
She was really happy and we give her a copy of the Book of Mormon and an invitation to church the next day.
The next day we are at church and sacrament meeting is beginning and, as per usual, NO ONE IS THERE.....
Thats kind of par for the course for us anyway. Getting people to come to church, as I said before, can be like getting a root canal without novocain. lots of pain.
Its fast and testimony meeting to the meeting move on as usual, sacrament is passed and the doors open again to let those in the foyer into the chapel to join the meeting and THERE SHE IS! and not only that, She brought her friend, the one on the phone!
I completely explode in happiness to he her there and move to sit next to her.
The testimonies begin and i am just praying my hardest that something weird doesn't happen. Testimony meetings are really good experiences because investigators get to hear the testimonies of other members, but sometimes things go awry.... again ask dad if you don't quite understand.
But this time it was REALLY GOOD. 2 members who actually are her neighbors, got up and bore their testimonies about how God has helped them get through recent struggles in their lives. Then a woman who lost her eldest son in a motorcycle accident got up and bore one of the best testimonies that I have ever heard in my life. Both of us were feeling the spirit STRONG!
She had a great experience at church and when we visited her today she accepted a baptismal date for Sept. the 26th!
YAAAYYAYYYAYAAYAUYYAYYAYYYYAYAYAYAYYYAYAYYAYYAYYAYAYYA
YAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAYYAYAYYAWYYZAYZAYYAYYAYYA
YAYYAYAYYAYAYYAYAYYAAYYAY!!!!!!!!!@!!!!!!!
*COUGH*
ahem.... yes...
so aaaaanyway thats what happened this week!
Toodles!
Elder Tritsch
As you may have heard, TRANSFERRED!
Yep you heard right. I was transferred. Out of the ASL program. Right when they needed me the most. Well, I'm now in Palos Verdes, serving the Harbor 1st English Ward and the Cabrillo Spanish branch. I'm also in a threesome with Elder Spellman and Elder Hirschberg. Elder Spellman is from Dallas, TX and Elder Hirschberg is from SLC, UT.
We had a slow start, but things are going great here now! We just set 2 people with baptismal dates this week!
The first one is Beverlin, she is 15 and the daughter of a less active member. She has accepted a baptismal commitment for the 26th. Although we might need to push it back because she and her father did not come to church on Sunday.... argh.... it seems lile getting people to come to church is like pulling teeth sometimes......
but the second one, that one I am excited for!
Her name is Alexandra and we actually ran into her at the end of a long sequence of miracles.
We went to try and contact a less active member who lives in Palos Verdes, but they were not home. This left us with about a half an hour of time that we needed to fill. So, since we had nothing else to do, we went tracting.
We knocked all up one side of the street, getting NOTHING! When we finally got to the end we were thinking, "lets just move on. Nothing is working here." But then we all got the impression that we should at least tract back to our car on the other side of the street. We were all like, "okay whatever" and we crossed the street to the next door. A woman opened the door and made our classic door approach (if you dont know what that means, ask dad).
About 30 seconds in she interrupts and says, "latter day saints... isn't that like the Jehovah's Witnesses?"
*mental jaw smacks against the pavement*
not again......
"No. We are not the Jehovah's Witnesses. some people call us the Mormons."
"oh! m'kay. wait.... isn't that the church that has the 15 wives?"
*mental had smacks itself repeatedly against nearest solid object*
"no... that's a different church. we haven't practiced that in over a hundred years. What he are here today is going around sharing a message about Jesus Christ and about how god loves all of us, his children."
*awkward silence*
*more awkward silence*
*woman starts crying*
"its like a miracle or something....."
What had happened was that the day before, she had given up on God an thrown her bible away, saying that he either doesn't exist or that he hates her because she has had a hard life. Then, the next day she is talking on the phone with her friend telling her all of this when a knock comes at the door. She tell her friend that she isn't going to answer it because she was not in the mood to talk to anyone else. Her friend nonetheless tell her to go and answer the door. She relents and opens the door. and its US!
This was on Saturday. So we taught her about the love of God and that all the trials and struggles we have are actually for our benefit and it is how God shapes and prepares us to become the people that He wants us to be.
She was really happy and we give her a copy of the Book of Mormon and an invitation to church the next day.
The next day we are at church and sacrament meeting is beginning and, as per usual, NO ONE IS THERE.....
Thats kind of par for the course for us anyway. Getting people to come to church, as I said before, can be like getting a root canal without novocain. lots of pain.
Its fast and testimony meeting to the meeting move on as usual, sacrament is passed and the doors open again to let those in the foyer into the chapel to join the meeting and THERE SHE IS! and not only that, She brought her friend, the one on the phone!
I completely explode in happiness to he her there and move to sit next to her.
The testimonies begin and i am just praying my hardest that something weird doesn't happen. Testimony meetings are really good experiences because investigators get to hear the testimonies of other members, but sometimes things go awry.... again ask dad if you don't quite understand.
But this time it was REALLY GOOD. 2 members who actually are her neighbors, got up and bore their testimonies about how God has helped them get through recent struggles in their lives. Then a woman who lost her eldest son in a motorcycle accident got up and bore one of the best testimonies that I have ever heard in my life. Both of us were feeling the spirit STRONG!
She had a great experience at church and when we visited her today she accepted a baptismal date for Sept. the 26th!
YAAAYYAYYYAYAAYAUYYAYYAYYYYAYAYAYAYYYAYAYYAYYAYYAYAYYA
YAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYYAYYAYAYYAWYYZAYZAYYAYYAYYA
YAYYAYAYYAYAYYAYAYYAAYYAY!!!!!!!!!@!!!!!!!
*COUGH*
ahem.... yes...
so aaaaanyway thats what happened this week!
Toodles!
Elder Tritsch
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Update from So. Cal
hey everybody!
Things are still pluggin along as usual but a few interesting things happened this week so here is the latest update.
We are still working with the Maravilla family, the son has been in jail for a while but is now out again. he is really humbled by the experience and is excited about the gospel and what it is doing to help him. They will be moving to a better part of the city (they are in South Central right now and they're moving to Hawthorne, a much better area) and that will help get him out if his situation there. He has been in trouble mainly because he has been conscripted into a local gang, against his will. but now he is stuck and cant get out again... we are solving that by getting him as far away from SoCen as possible.
I found out its about a 95% chance that I will be a trainer of a new missionary. Elder Johnson and Ikeda, two of the four ASL elders here, are going home in 3 weeks which will leave the entire branch to me and Elder Balaich, who goes home 6 weeks later...
Which means that 9 months from now ill be the only one left... A new missionary is coming in the day that Elder Balaich leaves so I will almost certainly be training him, barring unforeseen circumstances.
We picked up a new investigator in Rodrigo. Well, he's not a new investigator, just that the other elders passed him to us in anticipation for the IMPENDING DOOM that is the combining of the areas (BTW, if my letters seem a but more frustrated after August 19, you know why. combining two busy areas into one led by a man who has NO IDEA what he's doing while trying to make his greenie THINK he knows what hes doing, quite frankly scares the crap out of me... but i digress...)
Where was I? Oh right, Rodrigo...
He is the new husband of one of our recently reacivated members. They have been living together for years, but when the other elders started teaching him, he agreed to marry her so they can live the law of chastity. Sounds like a great guy right? sounds like a baptism is around the corner right?
WRRRRRONNNNNNG!!!!
For some reason, even though he lives all the commandments and I've gotten him to bear his testimony about everything necessary to be baptized, he wont commit to it. he says, "I don't have a testimony yet" or "I'm not sure i believe everything" (usually he says the latter immediately after he tells us that he knows its true....)
One of our investigators, Carla, has accepted a baptismal date for Sept 6th! Keep her in your prayers that she will follow through and enter the waters of baptism!
I was assigned to interpret at a Statewide Young Single Adults (YSA) conference this past Saturday. Funny thing though is that one of the members, who was also assigned to help interpret, Sue, believe that missionaries should not be interpreting for fear of repetitive stress. So, we ended up just sitting there as she would not allow us to interpret. lol
We are still working with other people and preparing for the impending merging of the two areas.
CONGRATS TO ZACK on applying to go on a mission himself! Now you have the opportunity to not get any sleep at night thinking about all the places the Lord is going to send you and having nightmares somewhere along the lines of, "WHAT THE CRAP DID I JUST DO!!???!!!??!??!?!?"
Don't worry. That will go away as soon as the call arrives.
Well the nightmares wont, but at least you'll get sleep...
until the week you leave, then you'll be a basket case....
until the MTC when the nightmares come back...
until the field when you'll be too tired at night to care.
Welcome to the mission!
Dont worry its not half as bad as it sounds. I'm just making fun :)
Love you all and keep doing great wherever you are!
Elder Tritsch
Things are still pluggin along as usual but a few interesting things happened this week so here is the latest update.
We are still working with the Maravilla family, the son has been in jail for a while but is now out again. he is really humbled by the experience and is excited about the gospel and what it is doing to help him. They will be moving to a better part of the city (they are in South Central right now and they're moving to Hawthorne, a much better area) and that will help get him out if his situation there. He has been in trouble mainly because he has been conscripted into a local gang, against his will. but now he is stuck and cant get out again... we are solving that by getting him as far away from SoCen as possible.
I found out its about a 95% chance that I will be a trainer of a new missionary. Elder Johnson and Ikeda, two of the four ASL elders here, are going home in 3 weeks which will leave the entire branch to me and Elder Balaich, who goes home 6 weeks later...
Which means that 9 months from now ill be the only one left... A new missionary is coming in the day that Elder Balaich leaves so I will almost certainly be training him, barring unforeseen circumstances.
We picked up a new investigator in Rodrigo. Well, he's not a new investigator, just that the other elders passed him to us in anticipation for the IMPENDING DOOM that is the combining of the areas (BTW, if my letters seem a but more frustrated after August 19, you know why. combining two busy areas into one led by a man who has NO IDEA what he's doing while trying to make his greenie THINK he knows what hes doing, quite frankly scares the crap out of me... but i digress...)
Where was I? Oh right, Rodrigo...
He is the new husband of one of our recently reacivated members. They have been living together for years, but when the other elders started teaching him, he agreed to marry her so they can live the law of chastity. Sounds like a great guy right? sounds like a baptism is around the corner right?
WRRRRRONNNNNNG!!!!
For some reason, even though he lives all the commandments and I've gotten him to bear his testimony about everything necessary to be baptized, he wont commit to it. he says, "I don't have a testimony yet" or "I'm not sure i believe everything" (usually he says the latter immediately after he tells us that he knows its true....)
One of our investigators, Carla, has accepted a baptismal date for Sept 6th! Keep her in your prayers that she will follow through and enter the waters of baptism!
I was assigned to interpret at a Statewide Young Single Adults (YSA) conference this past Saturday. Funny thing though is that one of the members, who was also assigned to help interpret, Sue, believe that missionaries should not be interpreting for fear of repetitive stress. So, we ended up just sitting there as she would not allow us to interpret. lol
We are still working with other people and preparing for the impending merging of the two areas.
CONGRATS TO ZACK on applying to go on a mission himself! Now you have the opportunity to not get any sleep at night thinking about all the places the Lord is going to send you and having nightmares somewhere along the lines of, "WHAT THE CRAP DID I JUST DO!!???!!!??!??!?!?"
Don't worry. That will go away as soon as the call arrives.
Well the nightmares wont, but at least you'll get sleep...
until the week you leave, then you'll be a basket case....
until the MTC when the nightmares come back...
until the field when you'll be too tired at night to care.
Welcome to the mission!
Dont worry its not half as bad as it sounds. I'm just making fun :)
Love you all and keep doing great wherever you are!
Elder Tritsch
Saturday, July 4, 2009
News from Sunny So. California
Hello Everybody!
Things are going great here in sunny California. The branch was reorganized and we now have FULL DEAF LEADERSHIP! This is the first time in the history of the branch that all member of the branch presidency are deaf. This is so cool!
The new branch president, President Sutton, has a lot of really cool ideas and wasted no time in putting us to work! We are really busy teaching a lot of people but unfortunately no one has realy progressed to the point of noteworthiness. We are refocusing our efforts on people who have not been active in the church for a while and really think that most of them we are working with can be reacivated soon. I will try to note any as they begin to make strides.
Happy 4th of July to everyone.
Elder Tritsch
Things are going great here in sunny California. The branch was reorganized and we now have FULL DEAF LEADERSHIP! This is the first time in the history of the branch that all member of the branch presidency are deaf. This is so cool!
The new branch president, President Sutton, has a lot of really cool ideas and wasted no time in putting us to work! We are really busy teaching a lot of people but unfortunately no one has realy progressed to the point of noteworthiness. We are refocusing our efforts on people who have not been active in the church for a while and really think that most of them we are working with can be reacivated soon. I will try to note any as they begin to make strides.
Happy 4th of July to everyone.
Elder Tritsch
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