Leaving for now...

Transfer Calls. Bit of a surprise, I am leaving Farsi and going to Downey, serving in an English area. As for the rest of the program, Elder Arguelles is going back to Spanish and Elder Wiedrich and Elder McCracken are getting together and will be the only Farsi companionship in the mission. From 4 to 2 Elders.. we will see what comes of the program, I hope I will be coming back soon! 

This week was another one! A bit slow, our friends Amir and Yasna have been up in Sacramento for job interviews and Amir got the job he wanted! Which is great, but its in Sacramento and they want to stay up there, live with a friend for a while just to feel out the job and then move permanently as things go well. That makes things a tad difficult when they live 200 miles away, so we will be Skype teaching them (I believe) with Sister Mead, who has been teaching Persian refugees in Germany! 

Farsi has been good! I have learned a ton, both about different cultures and people, and about myself. I think my favorite part of the mission thus far has been meeting new people everyday, who have a different story, background and set of core values. It been very interesting to learn about the different struggles and lives that people live not only outside Gilbert, Arizona, but the United States. Its hard to say I can relate, I cant, but I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and experience in a sense the realization that there is someone out there that can provide peace and love no matter what the circumstance. 

Keep being beautiful and strange! :P Have a good week! 

Persian Food.  

We tried visiting a bunch of potential on Saturday and didn't have much luck, but there were a lot of mirrors.

 Also this view. 

Cavemen Going Pro

Another week in the Farsi! 

Brother Anvaripour from Palos Verde

Yasna got her job! She had a skills test type deal on Monday and got the job! Wooo! And Amir has an interview today! Blessings for learning about Jesus and reading the Book of Mormon! 

Things we did this week:

Helped some Senior missionaries move

Had interviews with President

Went street contacting until we hit the beach

Graduated from UCLA

Ate lots of Persian food

I liked these quotes. "You are an average of your 5 best friends." Who do we surround ourselves with?

In Elders Quorum we talked about learning and progressing, and the purpose of the church, a collect body of people coming together to help each other. Do we isolate ourselves from being helped by others? Influenced by others' good? Do we deprive ourselves from receiving light from others? Is our lack of participation hindering others? Do we pretend like we are in a cave when we are really in the midst of those who want to help us? 

The gospel takes practice, much like everything else. Are you an amateur or a pro? :) the team is only as good as its weakest player :) 

I love you! Keep going! :) 

Another Week Already?

Well.. I cant believe its been another week already, wow. 

We have the best friends and they bring us homemade Persian food. Please enjoy this picture. It was Persian BBQ Chicken, roasted pickles and tomatoes and of course your rice with saffron on top. :) My favorite. Yes, I burned my hand on the pan :P 

We found Hamed! He has been super busy with school and work but on Saturday he called us and we met up and had a little lesson at the VC! It was so good to see him and know that he is doing ok! 

Church was good! We didn't see Amir and Yasna walk into sacrament so we were a little bummed out, but then they surprised us and let us know they had been there the whole time! haha. We had an awesome lesson about first having faith, then needing to repent, being baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and then keep going! It was so good in fact that a couple hours after church, Amir texted us with a scripture from the Book of Mormon and shared with us about how true it is that we need to follow Christ's example in all things. Super cool and we are stoked for our good friends Amir and Yasna! :) Yasna also wanted more things to study, so we hooked her up with about 100 pamphlets and a gospel principles book from the 70s. #RetroFarsiProgram Also Picture to come soon. We keep forgetting. 

Here is a view of the San Fernando Mission, we pit stopped on our way to a member dinner. :) Also, it is windy here in the LA, which is good! Not too hot! 

T'was a good week, although it was a rather slow week. :) #answerthephonewhensomeonecallsyou

Have a good week! Love you! 

PersianTime

Happy Mothers Day! Someone in church gave a talk about how everyone is a mother because we all should take care of eachother and help each other out, so happy "You're a Human Day". 

Here is a picture of Persian food. It twas yummy in my tummy. 

Also, Elder Wiedrich and I took these selfies. Enjoy. We are having too much fun. 

So the day is Tuesday, the other Farsi elders steal our car, so we decide to walk about 1000 miles to visit our buds Mohammad and Hadi. We asked if they had been reading, no, so we opened up to Enos and started reading. I dont think there has been a more distracted pair of people. We managed to get through the 12 verses about prayer but after it was "ohh, let me go get something out of the car down the zip code" or "ohh, now is a good time to smoke a cigarette" or "this is old people langauge, we cant understand it". Then Mohammad starts to pitch the Quran to us, and has to look up how many times it mentions Jesus, so it must be true right? It was quite the adventure. Anyway, we left and didnt feel the greatest. 

The day is Wednesday night. We get a call from Hadi, the roommate. He tells us he had been reading after we left and LOVES what he is reading. He told us he even went online and read about how the church is all about families and he wants to marry a Mormon girl in a year or so! haha! #TheChange

We took Sister Mead with us and we drove another 1000 miles out to the valley to visit our dear Persian couple Amir and Yasna. They are AWESOME! We had dinner at their place (I thought the whole "EAT EAT EAT" thing was a hispanic thing, but Persians dont tell you, I just found Elder Wiedrich and Amir teaming up on me and just serving me more food and more food. #Vacuum

We had an awesome lesson with them that night. We taught the Restoration and got to hear a lot about their backgrounds and where they are coming from. I can not believe some of the things they have been through. Man, they are awesome. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted and are praying for a date. They planned on coming to church the next day and even asked what they could read to prepare for gospel principles! WHAT?!

Sunday. Church. Elder Wiedrich and I were able to teach Gospel Principles. We taught about the Priesthood and twas good. We finished, stood out in the hallway for a bit and then took Amir and Yasna in again to followup with everything last night. It all of a sudden turned into the Plan of Salvation! We get about halfway through, then Sister Mead had to leave to help another Persian member and we were left alone to our devices to teach the second half (harder half) of the plan. BUT! We got through it and Amir and Yasna told us that we helped answer some questions that had always bugged them from the bible! So sweet! They are the best!!!

Also, we got a TON of homemade Persian food. :) #YUM

I love you all! Have an awesome week! It was awesome to be able to talk with the fam bam yesterday! I cant believe how deep your voice is Sam! Dont kiss any girls! ...yet ;P

The First Vision in Farsi

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Next week. Be there.

This week was a good one! We started off our week with 3 lessons in about 18 hours, which is cookin' here in the Farsiland! We met with two guys, Mohammad and Hadi, the guys who offered us everything from Persian Tea to Beer. We were able to sit down and have a sweet discussion about faith and praying for strength in the moment. Also, E Wiedrich and I play guitar, and Hadi was able to teach us a cool Persian guitar strumming thing. Its like those nutso uke players on steroids. Awesome. 

We then had a lesson with a guy David. He was a referral and wanted to know why Christ, He being all powerful and the Son of God, would allow people to kill him. Answering questions to certain people of certain religious backgrounds, which specifically Persians tend to be, is often like talking to a wall. They are set in their ways and dont wanna change. However, E Wiedrich and I followed the Spirit and brought it down to: Would you die for your son? He responded yes and we followed up accordingly. Christ loves us infinitely. He really does. 

Third was the next morning and we met with our friend Nikoo at Santa Monica College! She is our friend back in December when we went to those cool VC events! We finally were able to meet with her and simply teach her about the Book of Mormon. She is the best! 

Church! AHH! So we had our new friends Amir and his wife Yasna come, and they are literally the best! Im so excited! They are honest truth seekers and simply want to learn about Christ and follow Him. Often times we struggle with helping Persians understand why Christ is so important, but Amir and Yasna have been prepared. They have attended other churches and congregations and found conflicts in doctrine (imagine that). We had a quick lesson after church with them and Yasna pulls out a sheet of paper with like 5 or 6 questions on it, she has been studying! We covered everything from Polygamy to Proxy baptisms to authority and baptism to the true nature of God. Honestly an awesome experience and the Farsi came through! #WhatEvenIsLife

Plan of Salvation

Since there are very limited materials in Farsi... We only have the Book of Mormon (which has only been available since September), Articles of Faith and a Gospel Principles book from the 70s, I have decided to make my own pamphlets! Thought I would share my Plan of Salvation drawing. Written across is just scripture references. Can you tell which are from the Book of Mormon? #Betyoucant

Also, I have been asked how the food is. Although we live in a very wealthy area, we dont get fed a whole lot. Maybe 2 or 3 times a week. So, with the help of E Arguelles and a hungry stomach, I have advanced to level "OK missionary cook" status. Here is Elder Wiedrich and my plate of Hamburger Pesto Alfredo Pasta with Love. 

Also, Happy Mothers Day! Have a great week! I love you!