Monday, November 17, 2014

November 10th to November 16th

This week went really well. We had transfers on Tuesday, I got transferred to Bakersfield 1st ward. I moved to another apartment in the same complex and I already knew the area so I didn't really get transferred. The bishop of the 1st ward is Sister Stanton's dad so he was excited when I got called to the ward and likewise I am happy to serve in it. This week was a rude awakening on how I need to be working out more and how much I miss soccer because it kept me fit. We have two sets of missionaries serving in the first ward and so it is a car share which means half of the week we have a car and the other half we bike. The hill we have to bike up each night is a killer on the thighs but it is good to get an extra workout. We white washed the area which means me and my new companion Elder Park replaced two missionaries that were in the area before us. White washing an area is hard because no one is familiar with the ward or the people or how the area is. So this week was spent meeting members and introducing ourselves to our investigators. It is still in the 50's here. I don't want it to get cold i enjoy this weather it is at right now. It is weird so during the day we wear short sleeves because it is hot and then once it hits 4:00 pm we go inside and put on sweaters and jackets because the temperature drops like crazy. It was a good week. I hope yours was just as good and I hope this next week is even better. 

Love,
Elder Loertscher


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Here is my new companion Elder P. He is super cool. I am so excited to serve with him. 

November 3rd-7th

This week was amazing. We got to go to the temple on Tuesday which was amazing. We had a baptism this week also. This week was very good. We got transfer calls last night and i am getting moved to a car share area. I will find out where tomorrow. I am excited and sad to leave. This email is going to be short because Elder M and I got asked to go out and tract with the new missionaries for their first day. We are going to do that in an hour. It should be so much fun. Thank you all for your emails. 

There is a quote from the book "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith"
Does the journey seem long
The path rugged and steep?
Are there brairs and thorns on the way?
do sharp stones cut your feet
As you struggle to rise
To the heights thru the heat of the day?

Is your heart faint and sad
Your soul weary within
as you toil neath your burden of care?
does the load heavy seem
You are forced to now lift?
Is ther no one your burden to share?

Let your heart be not faint 
Now the journey's begun
there is one who still beckons to you
so look upward in joy
and take hold of his hand he will lead you to heights that are new

A land holy and pure,
where all trouble doth end
and your life shall be free from all sin
where no tears shall be shed
For no sorrows remain
Take his hand and with him enter in

I love that so much. Make sure that you pray everyday. 

Hope you all have a good week

Love,
Elder Loertscher

Oct 27th- Nov 2

This week was a really good week. This week we got a referral and decided to stop by his house. When we showed up the man came outside to meet us. He welcomed us in. We taught his the restoration and we set him with a baptism date. The YSA work is really hard and faith testing. We are doing really good though. Our area hasn't had a baptism in like almost a year. We are about to have our second one this Saturday. It is so exciting. This weekend I got food poisoning or the stomach flu and got sick super bad. I'm a still a little bit sick but hopefully it will get better because we haven't done much work the past few days because I have been inside trying to get better. In our mission you get to go to the temple during the month of your birthday. So you pick a day in the month and you get to go. We are going to go tomorrow with our ward mission leader. I am so excited. I heard the LA temple is amazing. The weather is starting to cool down. Its in the 60's. We saw some rain the other day. It was amazing because California is in a really bad drought so it helped alot. Mixed feelings about this week but it was good to get a new investigator because that is something we have been struggling with for a while now.

A good quote my mom sent me that I wanted to share
"Don't pray for easy lives. Pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. YOU shall be the miracle" (Phillip Brooks) 




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Us on the way to district meeting with the zone leaders

Hope you all have a great week 

Love,
Elder Loertscher


October 20th-26th

I hope you all had a good week. This week we got a new investigator which was awesome because that is something we have been struggling in for a while now. It is hard to tract for the YSA ward. Our investigator is progressing really well towards her baptism. This week we got to try donut hot dogs. The hamburgers were better but the hot dogs were pretty good. On Monday football got a little to intense and elder M ripped my shirt. This week we tracted quite a bit and we knocked into this one guy who was interested but he had a family so we had to give him off as a referral. We were also walking down the road and me and Elder M were messing around and this guy asked us if we were having fun and we said yes. We went to talk to him and he told us that he listens to this Catholic-Mormon debate and he had some questions and we were able to answer them the best we could. He wanted to meet with us another time and go through the lessons with us. It was super cool having success tracking because we have a really hard time with that in YSA. It was a good week. I got some pretty cool info. I heard that the movie holes was filmed in ridge crest which is really close to where i am at. Also part of the movie planet of the apes was also filmed there. The temperature is starting to cool down finally. This week it was around the 70's. It felt so good. 

I wanted to share with you the most humbling part of the week. So we had baptism interviews for the sister in Tehachapi and there was three children that got interviewed. I talked to the little girl after she got out of her interview and i asked her what are you going to ask Santa for this year. Keep in mind this is a 9 year old little girl. Her response was this "well I already got what I wanted but all I want for Christmas is a family that loves and cares for me". Her brother who was 11 told me that his birthday was two days before his baptism. He said "the best birthday present I could ever ask for was to be baptized". This little girl and boy were the most humble children I have ever met. I hope we can all learn a valuable lesson from this. It isn't about all the valuables for the holidays. Be grateful for your family and all the things you have. 

There was a quote I wanted to share with you.

"The altitude you climb in life is based on the attitude you have"



I hope you all have a great week.
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