Some Dogs Don't Like Me

Letter from May 27, 2013:

Hola!

So, it's hot in Georgia, go figure. Feels good though! The squirrels don't seem to care whether it's hot or cold outside. They are always there. And watching. I love the way they run though! So fluid. and cute. Not as cute as the puppy dogs here though. Just in case you wanted to know.

The days are ticking down for my companion to finish his mission and for me to get a new companion! For at least the first little while with my new companion I will lead in the things we do in our area! :D Don't mess this up Elder Vance!

We still have two people on date for baptism and we are starting to work with other daughter in that family to get her on board too. We'll see how it plays out when we meet with them tonight. Our other progressing investigators are awesome too! And our branch members are so cool as well! The people are just all around fantastic here. And the food matches their 'coolness' level. Yum!

I am impressing more and more people (mostly little kids) with my ability to walk on my hands. I think they are just amazed at how my face can turn the same color as my hair. Hey, if I wasn't born with it I would be amazed too! 

We did some fun things this past week. We drove all the way out to Blue Ridge, like an hour and a half north, to meet up with a convert to the church who doesn't live close to our branch. We helped him paint his home and got to meet his friends. We thought he was going to be an old guy from the sound of his on the phone but it turned out he was only 28. Nice! 

We met a lot of great people while harvesting too! We saw a guy walking around outside playing the guitar and singing about Jesus. Talked with him and got to leave the Savior's Peace and Blessings in his home. He wanted to bless us too so he played and sang a song he wrote about Jesus to us. Not like any Hymns I've heard but still pretty good. :) He also had a nice dog.

One thing Elder Clark will tell you about me is that I always try to get the dogs I see to like me. Some are awesome and warm up to me really fast while others are intimidated by my dashing looks and bright hair. Or at least that's what i'm guessing. Maybe it's the power and authority that I teach with that scares the animals. Who knows? :)

Things are overall going well. It just takes good ol' hard work! Yes, I am very tired a lot but i'm persevering! So you can too with whatever trial you have in your life now. Turn to the scriptures and modern day prophets and of course fervent prayer!  That's what I'm doing! :D

With Love always,

-Elder Vance

Let the Lord be your Light

Letter from May 20, 2013:

Another week has gone by,

Oh how the time sure does fly,

Gripping firm to the plow,

Not going back now!

Bet you didn't know I was a poet too, huh? But no, I don't compare to President Packer with poetic talent. What a guy! I can't wait for the 98-year version of his poem either!

This week has been great! Firstly we had three investigators attend the baptismal service of one of the member's daughters in our Branch. It went fantastically! And then to make things even better we had three investigators at church this Sunday! First times for everything. :) Two of those investigators have a baptismal date for the 8th of June and are progressing well.

We always meet awesome people when knocking on doors. One such person is good ol' Leon! He is a young married guys with a little baby girl. He works at home as a mechanic. He is really good ans we always catch him outside ready for a good chat. (He bought us Mexican-cream pops from the street vendor the other day. So good!) He is such a happy person too! From off the bat he told us how he is the way he is because of Jesus Christ. He has such great faith in Him. Hopefully we can add to that faith!

Estoy llegando a ser mejor con mi espanol y mi abilidad para enteder otros. Basically, I'm getting better at Spanish! At least I think so :P As well as my Spanish, my ability to teach in general is getting better. But all of these are givens for someone who is called to preach!

Lots of Love to all who are reading this! Remember, "wherever you are, there you are." -Robert Vance. What better advice could you get from a doctor??

-Elder Vance

Feliz Dia de Madres! and potato rolls!

?Como estan?

I'm sure Facebook is flooded with screenshots of missionaires on Skype from all of the happy mothers with Elders/Sisters in the world. I was one of the Elders who enjoyed a nice face to face conversation through Skype with my family. It's always good to use technology again. Oh, and ya it's good to see my family and dogs and all. :)

News with the work, we have two people on date for baptism. A mom and her 16 year old daughter. We met them through tracting and they have been really receptive. They also have new born puppies which are really fun to play with when we visit them. We teach them in English and Spanish because the mom only speaks Spanish and the kids speak both. It's useful for those time when I have no idea how to say a phrase in Spanish. I'm getting better with the language though :)

 News that doesn't have to do with the work, well...I don't really have any. We got two bags of really awesome potato rolls yesterday! That's pretty neat if yo uwanted to know :)

I dno't have much more to say right now other than take advantage of this opportunity. What opportunity? Reading my emails of course! No, I'm not saying that because I'm good at typing out emails but because I do have a pretty particular calling. All missioanries actually have the closest calling to an Apostle than most other people in the church. Elder Holland said we are apostolic with a little 'a'. As such you are pretty much reading the words of one called to do one of the smae things as the general presidencies of the church, invite others the come unto Christ. Keep His work moving forward. So this is your inside look at the life of one with that calling. Yes. Fell lucky :) It's even better for you because when reading the letters of a misisary you most often read the filtered email with all the positives of the work. Sure there aren't too many negatives, but it should feel good to just get a brain-full of just the awesome things that are happening on the front lines of the battlefield. :) And some of the pleasentries. Like potato rolls. Man, they're good.

Farewell for now my dear friends and brothers/sisters of my grand Earth-wide family!

-Elder Vance

P.s. No, i'm not kididng. These rolls are so good!!

I Like Trains

Que pasa, mufasa??

So we went to a Civil War and Train museum here in Kennesaw Georgia today. It was pretty awesome actually. Civil war stuff. Trains. Really what more can you ask for from a Civil War and train museum?? Just doing my best to get into the history of Georgia!

We are teaching a lot of really awesome people right now. One of which is a guy whom we met while tracting. Chris is his name. What a great guy! He is a younger black guy who is just looking to reconnect with God and thus far he is really taking to what we are teaching him! He adds his own twist to the scriptures. We introduced Nephi to him and he said to us, 'Man, I wanna find out more about this cat Nephi!' Yes, he speaks english, but he won't let us pass him off to set of English missionaries. So he's ours for now :) But he's just one of the really interesting people we have been privileged to meet. 

I have come to see how this work really 'fills me up' you could say. Honest hour time! There were days in the earlier parts of my mission where I was overcome by the feelings of I don't even know what! I just didn't feel like I could go knock on doors for two years! That's not how it is but that's how I felt. I was just down. But honestly, I would return to the car just so up! The people we met, the lives we were allowed to be a part of for a few moments were all just so great. Therefore, the way to get over the 'new-missionary-blues' is to get out there and talk to people. Get active. Go to work. Good stuff :)

I have no more 'palabras de sabiduria'  (words of wisdom) at the moment, so for now, hasta luego companeros!

-Elder Vance