Cal Poly Pomora

On Monday, March 6, 2017 12:51 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

After our email session last Monday, I was able to hit at the cages for a while. It was a pretty good session- still a bit of rust to knock off understandably. Then we had a great dinner with the Rasmussen family. He is a police officer and had some really funny stories to tell. He is with the K-9 unit, and he had his dog home. Such a cool dog- really high energy and loves to box. Yes, box. Brother Rasmussen and the dog had a good boxing match before we left. It was classic. Our FHE was at Bishop Taccone's home. We had a great turn out and talked about how our weaknesses can become our strengths. Tuesday was district meetings as usual. We watched a training by Elder Bednar, one of the apostles, and he talked about repentance and then becoming converted. My biggest take away is that repentance is a choice, so choose to do it! We tried by a lot of people later in the day, and then had dinner with the Zavala family. Not a ton on Tuesday, but we for sure gave it maximum effort.

Wednesday was pretty sweet. We had a lesson with Veronica about the temple and how she can go there. While the lesson was in progress, we had a visitor. He was a man from the Middle East, and he was just wandering around church property and then approached us. He said he is new to the area and wanted to see what the two big buildings were on the corner. We talked to him a little about the church and then invited him to our Book of Mormon class that would occur later in the night. His name is Mehdi. We then continued with Veronica on her lesson. After her lesson, we went to the Cauley family for dinner. They used to live in Hesperia and know a ton of people from the Arrowhead ward where I used to serve. Dinner was a massive steak, I mean a giant. I typically don't eat a mass amount of food, in fact people take note at how little I eat at some meals. I pounded this steak down. It was too good, I almost didn't even taste it. Following this fantastic feast, we returned for the Book of Mormon class. We had our usual three participants and then five minutes after class began we added another member to the class, Mehdi!!! Our Book of Mormon class quickly began to be a restoration lesson. It was really cool, we introduced him to Jesus Christ, his Savior. He had heard of Christ from his religion, but not as the Savior of the world. He really liked what we had to say. He will be at class again this week!!

Thursday we went over to the local college, Cal Poly Pomona. We had no idea, but it is pretty massive. 25,000 students is what we have been told. They have on Thursday what they call U hour. So, from 12-1 pm no one on campus has class. We stood in the main area of campus by the library and talked to people for that hour. We had moderate success. We taught Jake the Restoration lesson and he left quite a bit happier than when he came. We also met this other guy who knows a bunch of returned missionaries from the Carbon Canyon ward. It was way worth it, and we will go each week. We will be working with the local Mormon students on campus in the future so that we can have hopefully more success. Then in the evening we contacted a referral that came in on Tuesday. His name is Jerome. We knocked on the door, got to know him, and taught the Restoration. He is really smart. We helped him realize that the same priesthood authority that was on the earth is once again on the earth, and that fact means that the ordinances God wished us to have are available. Our biggest road block with him will be his work schedule. He works two jobs and does in home care for his grandmother. We will pray that he finds a Sunday off one of these weeks to make it to church. For dinner we went to PF Chang's to celebrate Elder Ludwig's birthday. We ate a fantastic meal, and then when it came time for the check to come we were told by Lindsey, our server, that is was paid for. So cool. We have multiple theories. There was a man in the restaurant that had a BYU shirt on- he is our best prospect. But, Lindsey was really nice to us and talked to us for a while about what we do as missionaries, so it may have just been on the house? Whatever the case is, the Lord blessed us that night!!!

Friday was another trip up to Rancho, then by the time we got back down to Chino Hills it was time to weekly plan. We finished that and then had dinner and made a Snowy Village run. After that it was back to Rancho Cucamonga for our exchange with the AP's. We had a great night talking together, and then the next day was fantastic as well. I was with Elder Wilhelm for the day. We have known each other on the mission for a long time. He is really down to earth and has a dynamic testimony. He is a convert to the church of about 3 years. We taught a Tongan guy they call J-Rock, and then we taught Alex. A really good day! I learned a lot, and we set some great goals that I can work on here in the future.

Sunday was a great Sabbath. We heard a lot of great testimonies, and I felt a great deal of peace all day. I love the gospel, and I know that God loves my unconditionally. We had break the fast for the YSA ward and that was really good. Small group, but a great group. Today is Elder Ludwig's birthday!!! The big 20 for him!! Love you all!!

Scripture of the week is from Helaman, Chapter 5, verse 47, "Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world."

Love,

Elder Thelander