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
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Father's Day Fun
Hey everyone!
Things keep chugging along here in LA. Elder Balaich and I have been staying really busy. We will be getting a new Branch President this Sunday (for the deaf branch) and we have already met with him to discuss what changes he wants to make.
We are working with the same group of people, though we have found a few that turned out to be less-active members of the church. So we are now working with them, too.
We had an epiphany today. We asked ourselves, "Is there a common factor as to why all these people went less active?" Then a thought popped into my mind to reread President Hinckley's talk on how to help recent converts. He says that all new members of the church need 3 things: a friend, a responsibility, nourishment with the good word of God. We thought, "Do these members have those things?" We went down the list and realized that ALL of them were missing at least one! Ok and behold, we now have our new strategy for reactivating members!
Happy @ Sarah! You beat out my blog in word count, grammar, and interest. LOL. You always were the better writer. Sucks with the swine flu though at the MTC.
Well that's all for me this week! Tune in next week for hopefully more pictures!
Love,
Elder Tritsch
Things keep chugging along here in LA. Elder Balaich and I have been staying really busy. We will be getting a new Branch President this Sunday (for the deaf branch) and we have already met with him to discuss what changes he wants to make.
We are working with the same group of people, though we have found a few that turned out to be less-active members of the church. So we are now working with them, too.
We had an epiphany today. We asked ourselves, "Is there a common factor as to why all these people went less active?" Then a thought popped into my mind to reread President Hinckley's talk on how to help recent converts. He says that all new members of the church need 3 things: a friend, a responsibility, nourishment with the good word of God. We thought, "Do these members have those things?" We went down the list and realized that ALL of them were missing at least one! Ok and behold, we now have our new strategy for reactivating members!
Happy @ Sarah! You beat out my blog in word count, grammar, and interest. LOL. You always were the better writer. Sucks with the swine flu though at the MTC.
Well that's all for me this week! Tune in next week for hopefully more pictures!
Love,
Elder Tritsch
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Hello Everyone,
Sorry for what seemed like a delay. P- Days are strange here. Technically they are on Mondays like in Florida but since temple p-days are on wed, thursday, or friday pday is delayed on those weeks. Plus if a holiday falls on Monday a can't email until tuesday. Fun huh? But that's the cost of being able to attend the temple.
Not many things have changed I'm the last couple weeks except we had to delay the baptismal date for the Maravilla family because the eldest son got put on house arrest for truancy and implication in a burglary. But he is free and clear on June 30 so we set the date for the 5th. Fun times.
Not many things have changed I'm the last couple weeks except we had to delay the baptismal date for the Maravilla family because the eldest son got put on house arrest for truancy and implication in a burglary. But he is free and clear on June 30 so we set the date for the 5th. Fun times.
Another of our investigators, Eddie Parker, got baptized last Sunday! yay! picture is attatched! Eddie has been investigating the church for over four years and has overcome drug addiction, alcoholism, and many other problems to get where he is today! He looks so happy like a weight is being lifted off his shoulders! you should have seen him once the baptism was complete! he looked magnificent! Elder Balaich performed the baptism and I did the confirmation. its my first confirmation in ASL and was a neat experience!
Funny tracting story. We were knocking doors in San Pedro and we came to a house where a friendly man and his sin answered the door. We had a really nice discussion and I learned that the boy hold the work record for the youngest professionally sponsored drummer. Trust me, this kid is good. Check him out his name is Cole Marcus. He's got some sick YouTube videos he says.
Here's a few:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeVuXtkd44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgiZdSAlshQ&feature=PlayList&p=1E5DB5CA5C0786A1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16
Been raining on us the last couple of days. Kinda reminds me of Miami until I realize that it's light rain... Unlike the rain in miami that's so dense you can't see more than three feet in front of you... LOL I miss that place sometimes.
Other than that things are pretty much business as usual.
Big shout out to sarah, GOOD LUCK AT THE MTC AND IN ARGENTINA!!!
Trust me, you want as much as you can get... But I mean that in a good way.
One tip: the morning schedule sucks and it never gets easier. But it's worth I so do it anyway.
---smile---
luv y'all!!!
Elder Tritsch
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Safe in LA
Hey everyone!
Dad, you're right I have a lot to report on, but I'm going to try and keep it short as i can. I'M IN LA!!!! (as if everyone doesn't already know that)
I flew out on Wednesday after spending the morning in the mission home. I had my last Personal Priesthood Interview (PPI) with President Hale, wherein I took the missionary tradition of tie trading to a new level by trading ties with President Hale, (he says he plans to wear mine next Zone Conference). The flight took me through Atlanta and I landed in LA about 9:15 PM. After getting lost in LAX trying to find the Delta Baggage claim, I met my new Mission President, President Blackburn, as well as both my new companions! Elder Johnson is from Arizona and has been out for 20 months. he is really cool and has a truly good grasp of ASL. Elder Balaich is deaf. He is from Denver, CO and is, as i just said, as deaf as Zack is. In fact, he remind me quite a lot of Zack... just taller... and bigger....
I am serving immediately in the Torrance 4th Branch for the Deaf (the ASL branch) and have really dove into the work. Things are going quite good!l Love everyone!
I had to leave some stuff behind but right now I can't think of anything im in need of. but, as always if you want to send stuff im not going to say no... :) j/k
Love you all.
Elder Tritsch
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