One Year #FlameThrower

What another great week! Earlier this week it got so hot a transformer blew up here in Downey and so the power was out in a lot of places for the whole day.. Poor people with no A/C... But it was good for us cause everyone was outside of their houses.. Hehe

Plan of Salvation-game versions

We are working with this awesome recent convert family! This is Phoenix, Isaac, Mateo and Leamsi! Phoenix was baptized almost two years ago in Long Beach and the boys have all been baptized within the last three months and they are our favorite! This week we went over and decided to make our own Plan of Salvations while reviewing the original. Lets just say they love their video games and we had a lot of "leveling up" in our plans. :) #Beanie?itsHotOutside

We have been working with this guy, Santiago for a little bit and he wants to be baptized, but we have trouble meeting with him. We hadnt seen him in almost a week and a half and then one day we were knocking a potentials door and we see him across the street. So we half doorbell ditched this house and ran over and talked with Santiago. We made a plan to see him almost everyday and he has been doing good! Then Sunday rolled around, we go over to make sure everythings all good and he is nowhere to be found. Sick. :) ahhh.. We will see. #wheredoeshego?

MIRACLE TIME. Elder Kuyoth and I drive by these apartment buildings everyday, they are kinda tucked away, no potentials over there, etc. So about 2 weeks ago, E Kuyoth says, "Hey, we should just go knock those apartments one of these days, I feel like we should." So Friday this week we decided to go do it! We started out, Spanish. Spanish. Spanish. Great referral time, but no potentials for our area. Kinda disappointed initially, but we decided to keep going! 20 or so doors/people later we knock this door and someone inside goes, "Its the missionaries." Ohh man.. Turns out we ran into a part-member family! Mom, Dad and their 3 kids, two of which havent been but can be baptized! We start talking, they ask, "Where is your church?" Turns out they have been looking for a church for the last little bit because they want to start coming back to church! We told them, found them a ride and BOOM they cam on Sunday! Wooo! They clicked with the ward instantly and loved it! Even their kids, who never really liked church before said they loved it and want to go back next week! We are super excited to start working with the Sailor family! Heavenly Father is looking out for His children! :)

We have been working with the Fortun family for a little (Kimberly, Gisella and Fernando) and Fernando is leaving to visit Peru for a month.. :( we are sad. But we are super excited to continue working Kimberly and her mom Gisella! Who knows, maybe Fernando will come home to come recent converts? ;) 

Well, its been a year. Please enjoy us doing the cliché "Burn-a-shirt" year mark event. #Flamethrower

Im thankful for the Book of Mormon and for continuous revelation. I know God loves us and has given us tools and things to aid us in our success and happiness. The simple things like prayer and the scriptures enable us to know God's will and prepare us to be taught by the Holy Ghost. We are blessed to be born in a time where continuous revelation is present and we have the fulness of the Gospel. Such simple truths such as the nature of God and Jesus Christ and the Doctrine of Christ are clarified and supported with the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. Im grateful to be a missionary. I love the mission! :)

FroYo.  #missionchangesyou

Have a good week!

Remember the drug car?  This is it--Dan drove ;)

Father's Day

Its been another hot week. Pretty sure we hit 100° yesterday. Then again Arizona is cookin in the 120° range haha. Still, its hot when you are dressed as a missionary and stay outside NOT swimming haha. But tis well, people feel sorry for us and give us water, which makes us have to go to the bathroom a lot, haha. #missionarylife

Well, we had our last zone conference with President. We talked a lot about consecration. During our studies this week I found this guy:  “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!” 

After zone conference we drove back to our area, 20 minutes later, our car was lurching, making weird sounds and the engine light came on. We pulled over popped the hood and there was oil EVERYWHERE. At conference, the staff inspects our cars and makes sure they are good, but when they forget to put the oil cap back on, usually they aren't good. Luckily, God provided for us in this time of need. Miracle 1, we were only a mile from an auto store. We start walking, its hot. Miracle 2, some members drive up and offer us a ride. They didn't even live in our mission! And they just happened to drive by?! We make it in the store. We buy a cap and some extra oil. Trek back to the car, fill up and drive back to the auto store, guys tell us our car is good but we need to clean all the oil off. Trip to the dollar store! Miracle 3, member finds us in the store, buys our things for us! We clean our car off, everything is good. Miracle 4, car is perfectly fine now :) what an adventure. 

Cool people we met this week. We were tracting an area, without much luck. We saw these two guys under a tree, they were busy, kinda brushed us off. Well, the next day, we are in a completely new area. 15 min in, we talk to this guy in his driveway playing with his son. "Hey, have you ever seen missionaries before?" "Yeah! I saw you guys yesterday!" "...? We weren't here yesterday...?" "Yeah but you guys said hello over at my dads house. We were sitting under a tree!" "What?!" God led us to this guy, Arley two days in a row! Pretty cool! He was awesome, we set up a time to come back and teach his small family. :) 

We met this girl Kimberly out on the street about a week ago, she told us we could come back. So we did. We end up teaching her mom, her and her younger brother. The mom kept saying "Ohh its so hard being a single mom, I just need some peace. We need to start going to church, praying, etc." Boy did they light up during the lesson. Its soo cool to see how someone's whole atmosphere can change within a couple minutes. We went back later in the week and taught the kids, and Kimberly accepted the invitation to be baptized. Fernando, her little brother is taking a long trip to Peru at the end of this month, but he was on board as well. He LOVES his video games, but he was so interactive in the lesson that it even surprised Kimberly. We are going back early this week to catch the mom, Gisella with them. Awesome family! 

Here in Downey, I'm getting really good practice with my Spanish. Its been good. We had a 20min convo in Spanish all about how alone she feels and what Jesus can do to help her. She agreed to meet with the Spanish sisters and we hope all is going well. I guess God wants me to keep my Spanish.

Fun fact. There is a member in our ward that speaks Arabic. And she is white. :) #closeenough

Areceli, her kids and the neighbor kids

Also this is Areceli and her family. We met her last week, we stopped by and there was literally 10 kids running around. We were like... :O Turns out that 5 of the kids were a family friend, and they are MEMBERS! What?! So we taught Areceli (Mom) and her 4 kids and the neighbor with these 5 member kids :) pretty cool little tender mercy. :) 

Happy Fathers Day! Also, this week is HUMP WEEK. What. Even. Is. Life.? 

ارشد اِكبرگ

Breaking the Rules

So this morning we get a call at 4:50 from our vehicle coordinator. E Kuyoth looks at the phone and says, "Yeah, its too early, not a chance. If its important, he will call again." He calls us a second time. "Good morning Elders! This past week a mission car was stolen and the cops just found it and I need someone to go get it from them, can you help me out?" So we get dressed in our jeans and tags and drive down to the middle of the ghetto and find this stolen car. We sign some papers, cop gives us the keys and we pull it off to the side of the road. Then the cop tells us we should probably get out of the neighborhood and park it in a safer location. We call our vehicle coordinator and he tells us just to drive to the nearest McDonalds and wait for him to get there. So E Kuyoth and I drove solo for about 10min this morning. Mission Rule: Be with your companion 24/7 practically no exceptions. Also, this car was TRASHED and reeked of marijuana and TIWI, the automated driving aid was ripped out of the car. So, windows rolled down, companion in a different car, we drove to a McDonalds where we met up with our vehicle coordinator and passed the car on. What an eventful morning :)

#whereisyourcomp?  #whytwocars?

Besides that, we had a TON of meetings. The APs called us Monday and asked us to give a quick demonstration Tuesday morning at the Mission Leadership Council. 10 min before the demo they switch it and ask us to do a full blown training. It went well but man.. #wherewasthepreparation

Wednesday was temple day! Only took us an hour and a half to drive to Santa Monica this time! Quite the change from the 5 minute walk in Farsi. But none the less, temple was awesome. :)

Elders of the HP2 Zone

Thursday, went on splits with the Assistants, I went with Elder Dayley, who was an ASL missionary! Twas cool to talk about our respective programs and how it differs in missionary work. Things may be very different, but the gospel is still the same! 

Friday, Zone Training Meeting. Saturday, ward had a baptism and we were asked to share a thought.

Sunday, we had stake reports with President and the Stake Presidency. #stressful We are supposed to report on our zone's investigators and recent converts and their progress each month and of course you want it to be accurate, organized and make President happy. Luckily, we did :) and to reward us, we got asked to give a training this next Saturday at Zone Conference.. :) #theblessings? #dutycalls?

When your favorite Indian family isn't home...

Crazy week. Language study is a thing of the past. I am getting my Spanish back though! We met a guy from Armenia yesterday, bordering Iran so thats as close as Ill get :) 

This week has also been a rollercoaster for our area. We started the week off with a lesson with a girl Ashley, who asked if she could bring her friend, Ashley to the lesson. So we taught Ashley and Ashley and invited the, to be baptized. Fast forward, the one dropped us on Saturday. We got yelled at, cursed at, some guy told us that we cant solicit to minors? Also, if you commit to come to church, and the missionaries love you enough to knock on your door Sunday morning because you dont answer your phone :) #weloveyou then you shouldnt get mad at us :)

#sandwichgoals

Awesome week! Hope all is going well! #schoolsout Love you!

June

Well its been a week! This week flew by, lots of change but we are having a grand ol time. New area is in Downey, hottest part of the mission. Just in time for summer... Yes. :) Everyone asks me if I'm used to the heat since I'm from Arizona.. Nope haha. It's not the Arizona 115s but I got so used to the breeze up in Santa Monica and now I'm 20 miles from the beach and its HOT. #Ohwell

Comp is E Kuyoth. He's from Bountiful Utah and he is almost done here on the mish, starts school in August. So he will leave me to spend the rest of summer in Downey haha. We get along really well. He kinda reminds me of my cousin Todd, and looks like him too #halfasians 

Downey 3rd ward. I swear, the average age in the ward is 70 but you gotta love them. Everyone is super awesome, there is a great Ward Mission Leader and Bishop and make everything run so smooth. Also, we get fed almost everyday, good food too. #WeightGain 

The area reminds me a lot of some parts of Mesa Arizona. Very suburb-y. Some people say its Hispanic Beverly Hills over here, there are some BIG houses. Fun facts: They are building a Raising Canes in the area! (Hopefully its done by the time I bounce). Dasani Water is pumped from here so our tap water is basically Dasani water. Oldest running McDonalds is in our area. I really like the area haha.

Whats been cool is there have been a couple baptisms in the past couple months here so we get to work with recent converts! We also have a couple dates lined up and we are working hard with em. Its been cool to teach in English, although its a bit strange. Adjusting but its good. Havent seen any Persians but Im on the look out. I hope I get to go back, I wanna keep my Farsi up. But its all good.

This week is gonna be jammed pack full of stuff and Im excited. Its been a really good, really fast week. I hope everyone is doing well! Let me know if I can do anything :) Love you!

ارشد اِكبرگ

Elder Ekberg

Zone Leader

31 May 2016

Carri Ekberg

3919 E. Morrison Ranch Parkway

Gilbert, AZ 85296

Dear Sister Ekberg,

Elder Daniel Brett Ekberg has been called as a Zone Leader in the California Los Angeles Mission.  This assignment has come in recognition of his dedication and commitment to the Lord and to missionary service.  This appointment is in partial recognition of his leadership qualities and skills already demonstrated.

Elder Ekberg will supervise and direct the activities of between 18-24 Missionaries in his Zone.  He will also serve as a representative of the Mission President to the stakes in which his zone is located.  I am confident that he will continue to be a worthy example to all missionaries in the zone as well as a dedicated leader.

Sister Weidman joins me in expressing appreciation for your fine son.  We know that your training, love, and encouragement have contributed to his success as a missionary for the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Please accept our appreciation for the privilege of having Elder Ekberg in the California Los Angeles Mission.

Sincerely yours,

President David N. Weidman

California Los Angeles Mission