So I flew in on a wonderful Monday afternoon to the Ontario Airport in sunny California. Met the mission president, President Hobbs. He is a wonderful man who is clearly inspired of God. That night we went to the mission office which is in a church building, and while there, we studied and watched some church films while the president was interviewing the new missionaries. This took a while as there were 28 to get through. I got to meet with him on the second day, Tuesday, and he loves that I am playing baseball at the Y, and he says he expects me to do great things. That was a long day, as I got my bike and got all of the training I'll need to get me started.
Day 2 was exciting, as I knew it would bring me an area and my comp. Well, to my great surprise, I was called to be in a threesome. So it is myself, Elder Brown, and Elder Jennings. They are both really great, Elder Brown is the jokester and loves all things movies. In fact, we spent about 3 hours in one day going over all of the details of Jurassic World. He has been out 18 months. Elder Jennings is great- he has many talents and teaching is one of them. He has taught me so much- I feel like a vet already.
The next couple of days were interesting because I got called to serve in the Ontario area, more specifically in the Rancho Park Ward AND the Chaffey YSA branch. It was extra interesting because we got white washed into the area. So, that means of the Elders that are here now, none have served in the area before. All we had to go off of was some sub-par notes the sisters left for us when they left. We spent the majority of our time contacting less active and recent convert members. All of the people here are super nice and live in the most humble of circumstances. It is said the only area more ghetto is some parts of Barstow.
So the title of my email haha. My first dinner appointment was one to remember. We had on the calendar one Sister Ramirez to eat with. We called to confirm and all we heard was "you come tonight, eat" and then a hang up. We knocked at the door and just as we were about to leave she came to the door. This really old woman using a walker. She invited us in, and I looked at the counter with the food on it and was astonished. This frail old Philippine woman who could speak almost no English had prepared a feast. There was a noodle dish which could have fed an army, then to the right of that was a full on, at least 12 pound, turkey. Boy, I just about needed to be wheeled out of there because she kept on saying "You get more!". The funniest part was she kept leaving the room so the three of us were left in awkward silence. Finally, toward the end of the meal she sat down and we kind of talked for a little bit. We left that scene bursting out in laughter.
So right now we have two investigators, Cici and Ben. We have not met Ben yet, and he is a bit hard to get a hold of. From what we hear, he is ready to be baptized, but wants to wait until his missionary friend gets back in September. A little weird, I'm confident we can get him there sooner. Then there is Cici. She is probably about 60 years old and has the sweetest spirit. She wants so badly to be baptized but has a terrible smoking problem.... at least that is the only issue she admits. We have already seen her three times and have taught some great lessons that she is taking great too. Then we gave her a blessing after she got treatment for a sore hip. She came to church!!!!!! She said she felt so good while she was there.
One more thing. The spirit works in interesting ways. We were out meeting people, and had no luck really so we said let's visit one more house. We pretty much picked "randomly" and went to the Hirst's house. They happened to live no more than 600 feet from where we were parked. The father of the home answered the door and said it was a bad time, then the wife stuck out her head and said "blessing". Apparently, they had gotten home no less than an hour ago from the surgery of their daughter who had just gotten news she would not be able to have children anymore, as the baby got stuck in and burst her tubes. She was very down, and we were invited in and talked for a while. Then Elder Jennings gave her the most spiritual blessing I have ever heard. It truly was the Lord talking and it meant the world to this girl. They couldn't explain it, but they said we showed up at the perfect time. I'm sitting here crying just thinking about it. Hopefully, that is the sign that will get them active in the church again as they haven't been in a long time.
I love being here, and I love the area and my comps. I'll be with the two of them for at least the next 5 weeks. One will probably leave when the next set of Elders comes in to train one of them.
I love you all so much.
Love,
Elder Thelander
