A'ight. Here's the skinny...

That was a lame subject line, but I figure you're getting sick of my "unique" ones.   

Testimony:  Heavenly Father wants us to repent so he can HEAL us and help us to BE and feel better. 3 Nephi 9:13. That's Bom.com Truth right there, but maybe Nike says in best: Just do it.  Repentance=Joy.

Bom.com in this instance=Book of Mormon. I love it so much.

Bad news of the week:  I kinda sorta might have spent $70 on one of those super-trendy Boba drinks (google it if you don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout).  And by $70, I actually mean $5 (which is still super expensive) + $63 on a parking ticket I got while I was there. 

...Good news:  I am now a true Californian who "loves Boba" and pays ridiculous amounts in parking tickets.

It's AMAZING how Heavenly Father gives me a whole slew of tender mercies right as I feel at my worst. You can read about some of my miracles in my letter to president below. 

But the one I didn't mention:  PRESIDENT UCHTDORF CAME INTO THE VC THIS WEEK! (just a note: this is what I WANTED to put as my "unique" subject line...but I decided to make you work for it.)

...and I got to shake his hand and feel the incredible spirit fill this place (which is already pretty spiritual...so that's sayin' something, you know?). He was here for a grandson's sealing and for a special devotional for all of the temple workers.  Are we so blessed? Yes. Do we know we are so blessed? Yes.

FAMILY & FRIENDS IN MESA:  Go to the Costco on Sossaman on Saturday, June 22nd between 12-3pm and get your book signed by Adam Sidwell...(I totally forgot the name of the book he wrote...but it's Young Adult fiction, so maybe ***** and ****** would like it???)...'cause he's in the Mar Vista ward here and said he'd love to meet my fam (/bring back a small care package if you want).   Just a thought if you have time!  He's super cool.

Love you all so much.  Keep living the Gospel and blessing lives.

Love,

Sister Wells

 

Hello President,

It's been a great week in Mar Vista!

We are making progress with members. We're planning a big 5th Sunday lesson with the missionary committee that will ideally "kick off" the family mission plans/5-name lists. We now have one additional female ward missionary (who happens to have some connections with one of our former investigators, Christine). Good things are happening in the Mar Vista ward!

One thing that never ceases to amaze me, President, is how the Lord consistently and constantly carries us through his work. I may have a few bad moments of a day, but not an hour later, I am experiencing yet another tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.

We found one new investigator this week with a lot of potential. His name is *******, and we found him in the potential records. He has a life-long member friend named *****, who has consistently shared his testimony and invited ****** to learn more. And it seems that ***** is finally at a point where he may be willing to give it a shot (as he is separated from his wife, about to retire in a few weeks, and taking care of his dying mother). SO...we are hopeful and faithfully returning in 2 weeks to see how his Book of Mormon reading and prayers went. He was one of our happiest miracles of the week.

  **** is still doing well. We had dinner with Sister ******, ****, and a slew of other potential/current investigators (of other missionaries) in Sister *****'s home. It was AMAZING, President. There are some incredibly faithful Persians who are investigating the church. They're trying to get the visas resolved. I would love to talk with you more about this sometime. The visa issue but also the language issue. If they want to get baptized regardless of the personal danger it would pose for them...would they be able to? Or is it a more general issue with the church possibly putting itself in danger?

Also, how close are we to getting Farsi-speaking missionaries here? Sister ******'s doing a phenomenal job, but I imagine she would love some assistance at some point. The other day, she came to a lesson with **** and said that it was her 4th member-present lesson that day...yes, her numbers are higher than ours, President. Anyway, it's a fun thought. Hopefully we'll get them soon!

Thanks for all you do. We love you.

Sister Wells

ALSO:  Angela ******* came to the VC!!! She got to the go to the temple for her b-day. :)

And it all started with "Shalam."

I'm learning Farsi!

Why? Because...

1) Our faithful investigator, *****, is from Iran and is teaching me little by little. 2) Sister ******, our favorite member missionary (We're talking "she-teaches-more-lessons-than-I-do-each-week" status), is also from Iran.  3) I just went to a rockin' "LA Persian Mormon Mafia" party on Saturday and I'm still twitterpated about it. (Hosted by Sister ****** to celebrate her 30-year baptismal anniversary and all the baptisms of all of her cool Persian friends and their family members)  4) I wanna help start a Farsi branch! Ah! This is my dream. 

So that's why I'm learning Farsi.

[For mom:  I told Sis. ******* you used to live in Iran! And she got super excited! She wants to invite grandpa to another Persian Mormon Mafia party in Salt Lake in October/conference weekend. Do they have an e-mail address I could send the info to? p.s. "Persian Mormon Mafia" is not an official title. It's just what our Ward mission leader calls it...but maybe don't pass it on, haha]

What About ***?

Well, we met *** last Saturday as well. *** loves the Book of Mormon. *** is already in Mosiah. *** has "warm" and "positive" feelings as he reads and prays about the Book of Mormon. *** is praying about baptism. *** is brilliant and awesome. But *** doesn't feel comfy with the idea of coming to church quite yet. :(

But we LOVE ***! We had a really powerful lesson with him. He will get baptized. Pray for him though, yeah?

FRIENDS and FAMILY, I have a request! I need your ideas--whether from your own mission experiences or your own life experiences with missionaries or your own creative brilliance...

We're trying to work and build members. How can we do this more effectively? What are some of the most powerful lessons you remember having with missionaries with your ward? How did they help you to be better missionaries?  How did they engage your families and children and win your respect and love (and more importantly--your friends' love and respect...).  I would love specific ideas, but also general thoughts...just word vomit at me. And then let's build the kingdom together, shall we? 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. Repentance is change and healing. I love it and I'm trying to live it.

So much love,

Sister Wells 

P.S. I finally put my English tag on. ...In other words, I love white people again. Hooray!

Hello President! 

Thank you for your response to my e-mail--in particular to my question about tracting. It's nice to have some guidelines for finding, and I think we could be significantly more effective as we create and utilize our annotated area map (outlining all LA's, formers, etc.). We actually had followed a similar plan of action today--tracting and street contacting as we visited specific less actives and former investigators (all assignments from our enthusiastic bishop and ward mission leader!)...and it was a really positive experience (with the exception of a few mean dogs). We placed a handful of pass-along cards and ended up with one hopeful potential investigator. 

The second investigator that I mentioned last week is named ***. We met with him and his neighbor, Sister Heath (wife of President Heath), in his home on Saturday morning, and it went really well! He loves the Book of Mormon, and he has generally "warm" and "positive" feelings as he reads it. While he says he prays and meditates often while he reads it, he admitted that he hadn't offered a prayer in which he asked Heavenly Father specifically if it were true...he was afraid of not getting an answer and of losing his sense of commitment to finishing the Book of Mormon. We shared Alma 32 with him and explained the idea of faith as a seed. That seemed to bring him a great deal of comfort, and he committed to offer that specific prayer as well as a prayer asking specifically about a baptismal date/goal. (He turned down July 7th) We just have to get him to church! He still doesn't feel comfortable coming. The ward council is already helping us with that. And we also need to meet with him more than once every two weeks...

We also had the opportunity to attend (and sing at) Sister *******s baptismal anniversary party with our investigator, *****. It was amazing!!! Every member of the "LA Persian Mormon Maffia" (as our ward mission leader calls it) was in attendance, as well as their friends and family members. I was so overwhelmed with the faith and missionary efforts of these people, and I forsee a Farsi/Persian branch here in LA sometime within the next few years. Especially once they finish translating the Farsi Book of Mormon!

We are also continuing to have a lot of miracles in the Visitors' Center. The transition was inevitably difficult--returning back to the VC schedule from a full-proselyting schedule, but I am feeling more deeply now than ever before the beauty and testimony of my calling and purpose here. I have literally experienced the whole spectrum of tours over the past few weeks--from incredibly active members whose testimonies strengthen me to recent converts to less actives to non-members to investigators...I am feeling the spirit working through me! 

In terms of my consecration efforts, I am working (as always...and therefore somewhat discouragedly) on my living of the SCHEDULE. I am almost always in bed/praying by 10:30, and I am more often than not at personal study by 8am, but getting to the Visitors' Center (and other meetings) early is something I am (still) struggling with. And I am finally making myself specifically accountable to you, President. 

We are also working on daily contact with our ward mission leader. 

Thank you for all you do, President! We'll see you at our special zone meeting tomorrow!

Sister Wells 

p.s. Shalam means "Hello" in Farsi

p.p.s. PICTURES NEXT WEEK. .

"He's BACK!" ...this is a reference to a Harry Potter Book/Movie that no one else will remember as naturally as I do.

But what I'm geting at is that...

I'm back in the Visitors' Center!!!  And it is wonderful and joyful and perfect! 

...But also kinda hard. At least it was for the first few days. But that's kind of a normal Transfer deal. A little crying, a little missing my old companeras and my Lynwood fam...a little "Oh my gosh. What am I doing here?"-ness...but Heavenly Father was there every step of the way giving me little miracles and tender mercies to pull me through to the state of inexplicable joy in which I currently reside.  (P.S. It's a Temple P-Day...the day in which my joy reaches an unheard of level of inexplicability. Go to the temple, friends. Also, the little red spell-check lines tell me that inexplicability is not actually a word. So don't hold me accountable when they do the same to you.)

Because here's the deal:  The Visitors' Center is AMAZING.  I love it.  And I have already had some pretty deeply powerful experiences just in this last week.  A few less-actives coming back, a few bomb.com investigator tours with their missionaries, a few super-cool phone conversations with people who were beyond prepared to receive the missionaries (and they KNEW it too, you know? Part of the definition of the elect: knowing your elect) = LOVE & JOY OF MISSIONARIES.  

And here's the other deal:  My companion is OUTSTANDING.  And surprising in all of the best ways. 1) She eats as much as I do and thinks about food just as much.  Which is RIDICULOUS if you know me. 2) She's HILARIOUS. Like witty. Like sometimes you think she doesn't understand you ('cause she's Cambodian and she still doesn't feel totally great about her English), but then she comes back w/ a one-liner that makes you laugh loud enough to get shushed and chastised for chasing the spirit out of the VC. 3) She has a DEEP, POWERFUL testimony of this restored gospel. Especially in regards to eternal families. Amazing, amazing experiences. She's just solid. And I love her. And she's crazy clean and crazy sweet. 

Below is a copy of my letter to pres. Enjoy it. Judge it. Whatever.  Love you all SO MUCH. You're in my prayers and on the LA Temple Prayer role. Keep prayin' for us Mar Vista sistas as we white wash this area into a Celestial oblivion.

Man. That was a good line.

Okay. So much love.

-Sister Wells

p.s. I totally still wear my Spanish name tag. I promise I'll get over it soon. :)

Hello President Baker,

Below is a copy of our Transfer Vision. White washing while serving in the Visitors' Center is proving to be an adjustment and somewhat of a challenge, but I emerged from the temple today with renewed hope and motivation to build this ward (AND the Visitors' Center) in the way that the Lord would have us do so. 

We have met with Bishop *****, and he has been wonderfully helpful in providing us with the information we need to move forward. We're hoping to get more specific assignments from him soon. He seems excited to have us there. We've already been assigned to speak in Sacrament meeting on Father's Day, which is mildly intimidating--but a wonderful opportunity. And our meal calendar is mostly filled out, which represents a lot more wonderful opportunities. 

The ward mission leader is also excellent. He has a lot of energy and innovative ideas, but from what I've heard, it's been his assistant who really carries them out. They haven't seen a baptism in a while, and they all recognize the discouragement that follows that, but they have focused on encouraging and helping members in their individual seed-planting efforts. We're hoping to bolster their efforts with a series of Active Member Trainings, in which we help members deepen their own conversion through the creation of their own mission plan and in gaining some missionary conversation skills, etc. 

The 5-5-5 program hasn't been moving forward in the way anyone could hope for...(which is the unfortunate norm that I have witnessed in my time in the mission. I think everyone needs to gain a clearer vision of what and how and why the 5-5-5 program works. It was designed by the first presidency, wasn't it? I don't even know...should I not be worry about it as much as I am? Then again, I probably shouldn't be worrying about a lot things as much as I am. Let's be honest. :) 

...but they do have an almost-official "shepherding" program in place in which each less-active family is "unofficially" assigned an active family fellowshipper. We'll be getting that list of assignments soon, and we're hoping to utilize it in our LA efforts. 

The ward, overall, is wonderful. A lot of great people, and a lot of potential. As Elder Cook admonished us, we will leave the Mar Vista ward better than we found it. Hooray for member work! 

We have two investigators. One (*****) cannot get baptized until he gets his long-term visa, but he's amazing! He has an incredible amount of faith, and he knows that he will be blessed for it. We love him. The other we will meet on Saturday. The elders have met with him twice. 

[Note for those of you at home:  ***** is outrageously cool, and is teaching me Farsi. From Iran. Sister *******, one of our members, is also from Iran, and she translates a lot of the lessons for us. She's also outrageously cool.]

[Other note for those of you at home:  Don't judge the following paragraph.White people can be nasty when you knock them out of their houses, you know? Understandably. We have an increasingly impersonal culture. Front porches have gone out of style. Dr. Ralph Brown taught me that...Again, I'm so glad I'm a Sociology major. Somehow being able to explain away the horrible behavior we encounter while tracting by attributing it to overarching societal patterns makes me feel better. And tracting will get better.  I really do see the value in it. Especially since that's how Sis. ***'s family found the missionaries. Her testimony of it is softening my heart.]

I'm still working on my testimony of tracting, President. I know everyone tracts (unless you're in Lynwood and everyone's outside...) And I know a lot of people have been baptized who were found tracting, but I can't help but wonder if that's just because of the inevitability of finding SOME prepared people regardless of the finding method you use. 
Because statistically-speaking, it's not that effective, right? 1/1,000 doors gets baptized? As opposed to member referrals...? I don't know. Feel free to chastise me. I need to learn. It's probably mostly a pride thing, and should therefore be placed on the altar of sacrifice...but there's also the fact VC sisters don't have time to knock 1,000 doors. And my increased desire to work with and train members with the limited time we have. Given, with faith, all things are possible. So of course we can try and do both! I actually don't know if I need to be chastised now. I think just writing this may have given me the necessary testimony of tracting. Sorry to waste your time. 

Thank you for all you do!

Sister Wells

[Other note for those at home:  Once upon a time, this was beautifully formatted in Microsoft Word.  I promise I have not lost my love and obsession with beautifully formatted things. It just doesn't transfer over sometimes.]