There's people that need the gospel everywhere

June 30, 2014

It has been weird adjusting to a new area. I felt weird on Sunday not being in the DeAnza ward. But my companion is cool. To answer your questions. He's been out for 6-7 months. He's name is Elder Taylor. I'm not a zone leader. It's a big relief!

The area we cover is huge! So we are in car. It's actually super close to Murrieta, which is kind of cool. We don't really have too many investigators right now. We did pick up a few new ones this week though. One lady told us she was really depressed, and doesn't really like living. She told us she would listen to us and come to church, and we promised she would overcome her depression. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday. 

We also taught some Jewish people this week. It's a very different experience teaching them since they don't believe in the Bible completely, just the Torah. It was sad to see them deny Jesus Christ as our Savior, and I told them that. They believe he was a prophet, which doesn't make sense in my mind, because he professed to be the Son of God. So he was either the Son of God our Savior, or he was a false prophet. There's no middle ground. Anyway it was interesting teaching them. The mom wanted to show me something in the Torah and told us to come back on Tuesday. So we'll see how that goes!

Other than that nothing too fancy is going on. I was able to go back to De Anza ward for 2 baptisms. L--and A--were baptized, and A-- wanted me to baptize him so I had that cool opportunity. The water was really cold and it took his breath away when he was immersed so his reaction was super funny when he came out of the water. He's funny! So that was cool to go back and see them be baptized.  L-- whole extended family was there. It was exciting!

Well, I'm still trooping along. I know I'll grow to love this area just like the last. There's people that need the gospel everywhere! 

Love you lots!

Elder Higgins

Most likely the last transfer of his mission!

June 23, 2014

Well, I don't have that much time today so I will be very brief, but we had a pretty crazy week. Last P-day after we emailed we got a call from two missionaries that weren't getting along very well so we had to exchange with them for almost the whole week until President told us what to do. So Elder Prieto and I kept on switching in and out of our area. So we spent most of the week in a weird limbo state where we were constantly switching companions back and forth, and places too. Then we ended the week being in a trio with one of the missionaries while the other went someplace else. So that was pretty intense! That's just a glimpse into the drama we see as missionaries.

We also spent 8 hours helping someone move on Saturday. My neck is super sunburnt! I guess I still haven't learned to put sunscreen on, and there's no excuses, but in my mind I didn't think I was going to be outside as much as I was.. It was really fun though!

So about transfers.. They've decided to send me to Mennifee. Where ever that is! My companion's name is Elder Taylor, and I have no idea where he's from. I've heard excellent things about him so i'm pretty stoked to meet him. I'm excited to be leaving, and for some reason I wasn't that sad to be leaving. I feel like I will still be in contact with everyone, and that I wasn't saying goodbye at all. So that's that.

Love,

Elder Higgins

Zone Conferences - June 16, 2014

                                              La Sierra Zone 

Mission Presidency

 President Smart and his counselors.  The Riverside Mission will be getting a new mission          presidency next week 

Service Projects and a Hairless Cat!!

June 9, 2014

Thanks for the Email. I'm sorry I didn't thank you for the package last week.. Thanks! :) It was a pretty inspired package. I've had a lot of cookies, and pies at members homes, and the other day I was asking myself if they even know the wonder and simplicity of a rice crispy treats in California.. 

This week was pretty slow. We did help out two families with service though. We helped a family clean the yard of their new house, there were some trees that had run wild, and they had us cut them down. With a machete! It was pretty fun and therapeutic too! We've still been going through the ward list getting to know everyone a little more, and we found some interesting stuff. We met two more families that have nine year old kids that haven't been baptized yet.. one of the families I have known for a while, and are super active and I just assumed that all the kids were baptized, but apparently the father, who isn't a member, wants him to wait until the older brother can baptize him, which wont happen for two years.. So we're going to explore more options there, cause waiting two years is a terrible idea, haha :)

The other nine year old wants to be baptized and I have no idea why he isn't.. But we told his older brother that he can help us teach the lessons, and baptize him, and he was pretty excited. 

We also taught a young woman who was referred to us by a member. She is really looking for peace in life, and has anxiety. She is not surrounded by good people, and that, in my opinion is why she is a nervous wreck. She seemed to like our message, but wasn't able to come to church. She said this week though!

Everyone else is doing good. We still visit the recent converts a lot, and make sure they are still being watched over. 

That was our week in a nut shell. Actually, we also found a hairless cat as we walked through an apartment complex. We knelt down and coaxed it towards us and it came and played with us for a few minutes. I'm not a cat lover, but that cat was super cool!

There we go. Now I think that's about it!

Thanks for everything Mom! They asked me your email a few weeks ago so I knew you'd be getting an email. It's pretty crazy!! I try not to think about going home too much, but it's hard! I'm going to finish strong though. Thanks for your encouragement!

Love Elder Higgins 

Mission Leadership Council - May 29, 2014

I Realized I Hit the 20 month mark!

May 27, 2014

Elder Prieto and I had a great week. We've actually had to ride on bike since Thursday cause I had a little accident in the car. Our parking spot in our apartment complex is a pretty tight squeeze. It has a pole on one side and we are next to the wall on the other. So one day I was in a hurry a took the corner to sharp a scraped the side of the car on the wall.. The wall was pretty stationary, so I guess I have to take all the blame for it. My excuse is that I really had to go to the bathroom. And I totally did, and I couldn't think straight!  But anyway, we've had to pay the consequences (car in the shop).  It hasn't been too bad though, and luckily I didn't get into too much trouble. 

Other than that incident I had a really good week!  Recent converts were confirmed yesterday! After church we had lunch with the A-- family.  They cooked us some sweet fish tacos. They have a daughter that is turning nine in June and isn't baptized, we're going to start teaching her more frequently, so she'll probably be baptized soon.  She's a pretty outgoing, fun little girl. So it will be fun teaching her!

We visited with an investigator that was brought to a family home evening by a member, and liked it. We taught him the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He agrees with it, and accepted to work with us and be baptized on June 14th.  He wasn't able to make to church on Sunday though.. He's awesome, we are seeing him tonight. 

Other than that we visited a lot of recent converts, and we are trying to visit all the less active members. I'm sure they'll have friends that they can bring back with them. We visited two members that didn't have any interest in returning though. Those visits are always depressing. To see that they've lost sight, and now deny everything. 

That was our week in a nutshell. Super exciting! Love you.

Love,  Elder Higgins

PS- Yesterday I realized I hit 20 months. Crazy!!