A Change In Focus!

Familia!

This week we had an awesome zone conference.  I wish I could record the talks that President Porter gives; they are the standard against what I measure a powerful talk.  I am amazed at how well he knows the scriptures, and at how well he is able to invite the Spirit into his talks.  After that zone conference, Elder Elbaba and I felt that we needed to change our focus a bit.  We realized that we need to focus more on the members and on strengthening the branch.  In order to have new converts and retain them, we are going to need more member support.  It will take all of us to baptize.  The missionaries in this area have been working for years now with little member support as far as teaching goes, and that is what we are going to try and change.  Changing what I've been doing for 4 months now isn't easy, but it's what needs to be done right now.

We had a new family move in from California a few weeks ago; I think I already mentioned them.  Anyway, the house that they moved into needs a lot of work, so we've been out there helping them a few times this past week.  Right now we're digging a huge trench to put in some power lines so they can have electricity.  We were almost done with the trench, then we decided we'd take another look at the plans, and we realized that instead of 13" deep, it needed to be 30" deep...  So I've been doing a lot of digging.

Not too much else happened this week.  I saw the boundaries of my area for the first time in my mission the other day.  It is HUGE!!!!!!!  I was shocked!  I thought we had been covering quite a bit of our area, but we are only covering a tiny part of it!  Based on the map I saw, our area is roughly 60 miles long running from north to south....  And that is after it was split 2 months ago...

We had a power outage yesterday morning.  I have learned that it is really dark at 6:30 in the morning...  Luckily some other Elders had left a flashlight in the apartment, so we were able to get ready by the light of the flashlight.  That was a pretty crazy experience.

Thank you so much for your emails this week!  They were awesome!  It's great to hear how everything is going back there.  I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.  Winter clothing time is upon us...

I'm Getting Used to Hot Sauce!

We Are Shooting For 222 Baptisms!

Taking Over The Area!

Family!

I don't even know where to begin!  I guess I'll start with my new companion!  His name is Elder Elbaba.  He's from American Fork.  His grandparents are from Argentina, but he is just from Utah.  Because he grew up around his grandparents, he understands Spanish really well, and he speaks it pretty well, though he never really spoke it before his mission.  He has been out the exact same amount of time as I have.  We entered the MTC the same day, and I actually met him in the MTC when me and 3 other Spanish elders met with President and Sister Porter when they were there.  So that's awesome!  Because of that, and because we both just finished training, we are both senior companions!  (and I guess both junior companions too...)

Elder Elbaba is a great teacher, and I've got a lot to learn from him.  We had a few pretty powerful lessons this week, and I'm excited to be working with him.

I'm not going to lie, taking over the area has been stressful.  For this past week and at least the next few weeks, we are relying completely on my knowledge of the area and of the investigators.  It's been a lot of work, and it will continue to be, but with the Lord's help, we'll make it just fine!

We had a new family move into the branch!  They moved from California, and the house they moved into needs a lot of repairs.  They also don't have much money, and they didn't have a lot to bring, so they were in need of a lot of things.  So on Saturday Elder Elbaba and I spent the majority of the day with our branch President gathering items that had been donated by people of the stake.  It was absolutely amazing to see how generous people are.  No one knew this family, but when they heard that they needed help, they donated whatever they could.  We helped collect beds, grills, space heaters, and a lot more things as well.  The service that the members of this stake gave was really amazing.

A few other things:

--I have been told I look like Zach Effron.  One of the members calls me Elder Effron every now and again, and then laughs after he says it... every time.

--We went to a Pizza Hut one day, and it was in the West Dayton area, and I guess the area is dangerous enough that you have to be buzzed in.  Think about that, you have to actually be buzzed in to a Pizza Hut!  I thought that was crazy!

--Elder Elbaba brought a typewriter with him from his last area, so I now have access to a typewriter.  So you may or may not be recieving a typed out letter in the future...

--Elder Elbaba doesn't have a driver's license, so I'm the designated driver!  I drive every single day now, and I have a feeling it's going to get old pretty quick...

That's about all I've got.  Sorry, once again, I wasn't super organized and prepared for this email.  I'll do better next week.  But here's a few pictures to make up for it!  Enjoy!

Love you all so much!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Feet in Ohio?

Ohio Spanish Family

Elder Foote and Elder Elbaba

Elder Foote and Elder Graf

Elder Foote and a Great Member of the Stake

They Must Not Like Cats?

Elder Foote Halloween Package

Dayton Spanish Elders!

A Full Fledged Missionary!

Family!

So this past week was pretty crazy.  Usually I write in my journal what happened each day, then before I come to the library I look over what I wrote and decide what to put in an email.  But I haven't been able to keep up with journal writing very well this past week, so this email will most likely be very disorganized and shorter than normal.  Sorry!

So we had 2 exchanges this past week, one with the zone leaders and one with the other Spanish elders.  With the zone leaders we went out to Englewood for the day, and I did English work!  It was crazy!  I could communicate!  Well ok, I can communicate in Spanish, but English is still easier.  But I like Spanish work better... =).  Anyway, the zone leader area is the ghetto of the Dayton area, so they call it "EngleHood" instead of Englewood.  We had some pretty interesting experiences... 

The cool thing about the Spanish work here is that we have been commissioned to become friends with the people and really get to know them and love them.  So one night we ended up joining a backyard soccer game for a while, and we made friends with a lot of people, and then got to share a brief message with them afterwards.  Finding through futbol!

I am done with training now!  I finished yesterday, so I'm now a full-fledged missionary!  And to celebrate, we taught the law of chastity to a couple that wasn't exactly keeping it.  I've never taught it to someone before, so that was an experience...

This morning we went and played golf with the branch president and his son.  We just did the driving range, but it was really fun.  Then his son put on Zelda music on the way back home, which pretty much made my day... =)

Ok, as far as transfers go, I'm going to be staying here, but Elder Graf will be leaving.  He's going to be training again, and he'll be the district leader in his new area.  So I'm going to be taking over this area, which is a little nerve-wracking, but I'm also excited.  I know that if the Lord says I can do it, then with his help, I'll do it! 

That's about all I've got!  Have a great week!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Foote                       

                                    

Elder Foote, Elder Graf and a great church member!

General Conference Week!

Familia!

Much to say and not much time.  Of course, conference is a topic that I have to touch on.  It was so good!  I don't think I've ever got as much out of conference as I got this past weekend.  I could spend a ton of time talking about different things I learned, but I don't have a ton of time, so I'll include a part of the letter I sent to President Porter about it:

Saturday Morning Session:

Edward Dube of the 70 said something along these lines: "Every part of the gospel and its teaching are only appendages to the Atonement of Christ".  This is something that I can apply in my life.  There are many aspects of the gospel and many things that we are to teach, but as I study and teach people these principles, I can and should always keep in mind that all these things are only appendages to the Atonement of our Savior.

Saturday Afternoon Session:

S. Gifford Neilson said: "This work won't move forward in the Lord's appointed way without the members."  We need to work on involving the members more in the work in this area.  This might entail strengthening their testimonies first and helping them realize the importance of the work.  This quote helped me realize more that it is the will of the Lord to involve members in the work.

Priesthood Session:

President Monson said: "Above all, be a sincere friend to those you teach; truly care about them."  This is something I have been working on over the past little while, and it is something I will definitely continue to work on.  I need to continue to strive for charity and to have a pure, Christ-like love for all people with whom I come in contact.

Sunday Morning Session:

Elder Richard G. Scott said: "As you fill your life with service to Heavenly Father's children, Satan's influence will lose power over you."  By truly consecrating myself and fully losing myself in service to the people in this area, I will have an even greater capacity to resist temptation and not yield to my own selfish desires.

Sunday Afternoon Session:

David M. McConkie said: "You cannot expect the Spirit to help you remember the scriptures and teachings if you have not studied."  Don't get me wrong, I study.  I study a lot.  But I really liked this quote.  There are many like it throughout Preach My Gospel, and it is always something I need to keep in mind.  As I seriously study, with real intent, and really try to understand things for my investigators, the Spirit will be able to recall the things I sincerely study to my remembrance when I need them.

There you go, there's a few of my thoughts on the matter.  I hope you all were able to get something out of it too!

We were blessed to be able to watch one of the conference sessions with A….. and D…...  It was an amazing experience.  The session we watched with them focused on their needs to an amazing degree, and it ended up being a very spiritual experience for all of us.  Afterwards, they both told us how the Spirit feels to them, and that it has changed their lives as we've been meeting with them over the past little while.  That whole experience allowed me to gain a greater testimony of our Heavenly Father's love for each and every one of us.  He loves us so much.  He'll do anything He can to help us return to live with Him.  It's amazing to me.

On a lighter note, D….. had never heard President Monson speak before, and he thinks that the Prophet sounds like Batman...

This past week I took over the area again.  But this time, I took over to a whole new level.  One of the Zone Leaders came and did exchanges with me, which is awesome, except for one small detail... he didn't speak Spanish!  So not only was it up to me to lead everything and know where everything was in the area, but it was also up to me to do all of the speaking in every single lesson we had.  Well, not all of the talking I guess.  He did say "Hola" at the beginning of the lessons, and "Adios" at the end.  But other than that, it was all up to me.  And I was pretty nervous.  But I prayed really hard, and with the Lord's help I was able to communicate alright with everyone we taught, and we actually had some pretty good lessons.  All things are possible when the Lord is on your side!

I learned at futbol this past week that I am a terrible goalie.  I can't block a goal to save my life.  So just for future reference, if I'm ever on your soccer team, don't put me in as goalie...

I had my definition of hot salsa redefined this week.  We were at a member's house eating, and she brought out this tiny bottle of salsa that supposedly made full-grown Hispanic men cry.  I am still working on developing a respect for salsa, and so I figured I'd try it just to see how bad it really was.  I tried to get some out, but the bottle was super small, so after a while of shaking it, I just gave up.  As I put the lid back on, a tiny bit of this salsa got on my finger.  I put this tiny amount in my mouth, and nothing happened.  For a few seconds.  Then all of the sudden, it started to burn.  I could literally feel it spread over my tongue.  I was lucky that I had only tried a tiny bit, because I think I would have lost the ability to taste if I had tried a lot...  So yeah, my respect for salsa has grown this past week.

That's about it.  Thanks for the conference package.  It's just me and Elder Graf, so I don't know how we'll eat all of that food, but we'll sure try... =)

Have a great week, and apply something you learned in conference!

Love,

Elder Foote

Elder Foote and Elder Garcia

Mis tacos de futbol!

Zone meeting on Thursday

Elder Foote and Elder Graf and Senior Couple

Another Week In The Great Ohio!

Mi Famila!

Thanks so much for the package with the talks.  They were all amazing!  Reading talks is always a nice way to break up the scripture reading.  Not saying I don't like reading in the scriptures, but it is nice to get to read some modern language every once in a while...

We had interviews with President Porter this week.  In addition to my own personal interview, us four Spanish Elders in Dayton area had a joint interview with him.  He told us all that we have to keep working at becoming Hispanic.  That is the big challenge for us in this area.  He said that's why he felt inspired to send Elder Garcia to this area.  So once again, I have been given the charge to become Hispanic. =) 

We found a family with 7 kids!  I might have already said something about them, but I'm still going to talk about them for a bit.  They have been taught by missionaries before, and they absolutely love it!  The kids are super interested, and one of the girls even asked me for some Book of Mormon homework before we left!  The only problem we have is getting the Dad interested.  He's not too interested in what we have to say, and I don't think he had a good relationship with the previous missionaries.  But, a little later in the week we had a mini-miracle that might help us get through to him.  We drove past their house on our way out of the city, and it looked like there was a huge party going on at their house, so we figured we would come back another day to talk with them when it was just their family.  We were almost out of the city when I got the prompting to go back to their house.  So we went back and walked up to this huge party.  Immediately the Dad of the family walked up, greeted us, sat us down, and started serving us food.  We talked to him a little bit, and although we weren't best friends by the end of our time there, it was definitely a step in the right direction.  We'll keep at it!

We had our weekly futbol game, and afterwards the branch hosted a breakfast at the church.  We had a really good turn out, and we got quite a few less actives and investigators there, which was awesome!  And just so you know, I'm getting better at futbol, I stole the ball from a native Honduranian! (maybe a little bit by luck, but still...)

Like I might have mentioned in a previous email, we have started singing to people to help invite the Spirit.  We went and talked to this one investigator later on at night right before heading back to the apartment.  She seemed super burdened with work and kids and everything, so we decided to sing her a song before leaving.  We sang "Nearer My God to Thee".  And it brought the Spirit so strong!  It was amazing!  She felt it too, and it was amazing to see how it completely changed her attitude that night.  Jesus called the Spirit "The Comforter", and that most definitely is one of His roles.

One of the families that helped get the Spanish Branch going in this area is having to go back to Mexico tomorrow.  They have been trying for months and months to get all the paperwork worked out, but it's taking so long that they have to go back and wait for a while.  So that has been a sad deal for the branch here.  The picture included is of us Elders with them after we helped them move some furniture.

Not much else happened this week.  I did discover that not all of the mosquitos are dead yet.  I thought they were all gone, but we taught this lady on her porch a few nights ago, and there are most definitely still living mosquitos...

Have a good week!  I love you all!  Watch General Conference this weekend!  I sure will be! =)

Love,

Elder Foote

Four Elders and a Great Family!

"Un diezmo para la iglesia..."

Family!

This past week has flown by!  Probably faster than any other week that I've been out.  I can't even believe it's time to write again...

We had a couple cool experiences this week, mostly focused around church attendance.  Church attendance has been our big focus this past week.  In all of my time here we haven't had any investigators at church.  Or at least we hadn't until yesterday...  We have been working with a family ever since I got here, the same one that we lost contact with for a few weeks and just recently got back into contact with.  Well, the wife (A…..) is inactive, and the husband (D…..) is not a member, so we've been working to try and get her back to church and get him baptized.  The progress has been slow, but they finally came to church yesterday!  It's amazing how having an investigator at church changes the whole focus of the meeting for the missionary.  The whole time I was thinking about what questions D….. was having and what things I would need to explain to him after the meeting.  It was really cool though!

We had another lesson with the T….. family this past Friday.  It was probably the best lesson we've had with them!  We learned two weeks ago that they didn't really have as solid an understanding of the restoration as we had previously thought.  When we asked T…. what he remembered about Joseph Smith, he told us the story of Nephi and how he had to kill Laban to get the plates...  He was a little confused about which plates were associated with which person...  So anyway, we decided we should probably clear that up.  So we brought along the Restoration movie to watch with them.  They are a little bit older and they don't really know how to work any technology, so I had to set up the movie.  And instead of a DVD player, they had a PS3 hooked up to the TV.  So yes, I, Elder Foote, have used a PS3 while on my mission... =).  Anyway, we watched the movie, and it brought the Spirit crazy strong.  It was absolutely amazing.  Just another testimony builder that the Restoration really did happen.  But even better than the Spirit coming during the lesson was the fact that they felt it!  T…. told us after that while he was watching the restoration, he felt a really nice feeling, and he wanted to be there in the grove with Joseph.  It was so cool!  After that lesson they were both willing to come to church with us.  The only obstacle is that R…… (T….. wife) works Sundays.  So that'll be our next challenge.  But they were nonetheless excited about it.  T…. went and got his tie, and Elder Graf tried to teach him how to tie it, but I'm not sure how much he actually learned...  And at the end of the lesson as we were leaving, R…… offered me a 20 dollar bill and said "Un diezmo para la iglesia."  They actually tried to pay tithing before we had ever taught them anything about it!  I don't know, maybe I'm making a bigger deal of it than it actually was, but I thought that was awesome!

Other than those two experiences, not much else happened that I'll take the time to write about here.  We found some new potential investigators, and we got back in contact with a family of 9 that we will begin teaching this week!  The coolest thing that happened this week outside of teaching was at our Branch President's house.  I don't know how it happened, but we somehow got on the topic of Lord of the Rings, and we found out that our Branch President is a huge fan!  He's read the books, seen the movies, and we had a short discussion about it, in Spanish!  Never did I think that I would be discussing Lord of the Rings in Spanish in my entire life, let alone my mission!

And that's it for this week!  Thanks for the package!  The blanket will come in handy, the cookies are great (even though they got a little smashed), and the poem was a work of art!  Thanks for everything you do!

Love,

Elder Foote

The Week of The Car

Family!

Let me start by telling you how my morning started off to show you just how tough we have it here in Ohio.  We start each morning with a run in our neighborhood, and this morning we decided instead of the usual exercise, we would go for a doughnut run.  A literal doughnut run.  For our exercise we ran to this little family owned bakery near our house and bought doughnuts, then ran back to the apartment and ate them!  It was the perfect way to negate all the effects of our running!  And let me tell you, they were the best doughnuts I have ever eaten.  They put Krispy Kreme to shame.  So yeah, we've got it pretty rough out here...

Well, this week has been awesome, and there was one experience in particular that made it so good.  We went on exchanges with the new Spanish Elders, and Elder Graf went with Elder Taylor down to Dayton leaving me up here in our area with Elder Garcia.  Elder Garcia has been out 3 weeks, and I've been out 3 months, so we had less than 4 months experience between the two of us.  But, because he was so new, I was senior companion for the day!  Which means.........I GOT TO DRIVE A CAR!!!!!  That might not seem like a big deal, but one thing I've been missing recently is driving.  It has been 3 months since I last drove, and we do a lot of driving out here, but since I'm not the "designated driver" of our companionship, I just ride along.  But I finally got to drive!  And I didn't crash! =)  But anyways, I was in charge of the area for the day, which was super exciting, but also a lot of pressure.  It was up to me to take the lead in everything and come up with things for us to do.  But it worked out really well, and me and Elder Garcia had a great time.  We did have a pretty crazy experience with one of our lessons though.  We went to teach a guy named F-------.  F------- has been taught everything.  Everything from the restoration to tithing, he's heard it.  And he's been being taught for nearly 6 years!  So we went to go teach him the about the sacrament again and try to get him to come to church.  The lesson was going really well, but all of the sudden it took a crazy tangent, and we were out of nowhere talking about Adam and Eve!  I have to still concentrate pretty hard to understand what people are saying, so I had no idea how we had got to that point.  I kept trying to bring us back on topic, but I still don't have the language skills to cut someone off and take complete control of the lesson again, so I just had to sit and wait for an opportunity.  Elder Garcia had the language skills, but he lacked the teaching experience to know how to get us back on track.  So we both kind of just sat there, trying to get the lesson back on track, while F------- talked and talked and talked about the beginning of the world and all of his beliefs about all sorts of stuff.  We ended up finally stopping it and ending the lesson alright, but it was a pretty crazy experience.

Here's another story about a new investigator we found.  We were on exchanges and had just tried to contact a potential investigator, but they didn't answer, so we were headed back to the car to go to our next appointment.  I saw a guy sitting on his porch, and I had the idea that I should go talk to him.  He was in no wise Hispanic, but I went anyway and started talking to him.  He wasn't interested in what we had to say in the slightest, so the conversation was pretty brief.  At the end of talking with him, I asked him if there was anyone who spoke Spanish nearby.  He pointed us to his neighbor's house, so we went to try it.  No one answered, but since finding Spanish speakers is rare, we made note of it and decided to visit it again next time we were in the area.  We were in the area yesterday, so we tried it.  A guy answered the door and immediately let us in.  That was pretty surprising!  We had a really good first lesson with him (J-----), and we set up a time later in the week to meet with him.  Asking referrals from people really works!

Here are just a few other things worth noting from this week:

--We taught the T----- family again.  It went well, but for some reason they were really concerned about what types of meat we are allowed to eat in our church.  They brought it up again and again, and it was kind of weird...

--Our ragtag futbol team is growing!  We had 12 people there on Saturday!

--We spent 3 full hours digging through nearly 6 years’ worth of records in our area while splitting the area book for the new Elders. Lots of paperwork!

--There are some amazing member families out here.  We eat with the English ward every other week and one member said this: "I figure we're all here to build the Lord's kingdom, so if we're not doing that, then what are we doing?"  I really liked that quote.

--We have started singing to invite the Spirit into our lessons.  We're not too good, and we still need to work on learning the hymns in Spanish, but I have definitely gained a testimony of the power of music this past week.

--Ohio has some pretty cool sunsets!

And that's about it!  Thanks so much for the package last week!  That was amazing!  I'll send a picture of my reaction....  I do have a request.  It's not urgent, but when you get the chance, could you maybe send me a few talks?  In particular I would like:

"Seek Learning by Faith" by Elder Bednar, 2006; "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge; and "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R. Callister.  If you could find those and get them to me anytime in the future, I would really appreciate it!

Love,

Elder Foote

Colby's expression when he opened Mom's amazing package.

I got to drive!!

A sunset over Huber Heights Road..

How awesome is this sunset?!?  We're right by the air force base, so we get all sorts of cool airplane exhaust patterns.

The results of our literal doughnut run.  The best doughnuts I ever had.