"Kevin, you are so weird." "He's not weird, he's awesome!"

Buenos dias! (I'm not sure what that means but I'm pretty sure it's French or something. Hm, German, maybe?)

The highlight of our week was definitely our time spent with our top three investigators, Maria and her two sons Kevin and Brandon. I have mention them before and how they didn't show up for church two weeks ago. We stopped by late and turns out they were all sick. *PHEW* Just like when you send a text to somebody and they don't respond your mind starts going 100mph reasoning as to why they didn't respond. We do the same things as missionaries.

"They didn't show up for church? Oh no, maybe their car broke down and their cell phones all fell into a puddle of water so they can't call us! Or maybe they got lost and showed up at a different church and are now getting baptized there! Or maybe they realized that they just don't like redheads at all! Oh man, we are just horrible missionaries! "

That's kind of what it sounds like in our heads. But it all just turns out to be our silly imagination most of the time. :) So we were able to have another lesson with them and they actually even came to church yesterday! Best part is that they loved it! Kevin, who is nine, joined his brother Brandon, who is twelve, in the older kids class. And he was participating and everything! Haha I'm serious, these kids are so funny and weird at the same time. I can't help but laugh, shake my head and say 'Kevin, you are so weird!' after he comes up with a very witty comment or super smart response to a question. But I'm always reminded that they are not weird, they are awesome.

They have all accepted to be baptized too. We are looking at the beginning of June for them. Help us out with your prayers to get them there! :)

Other than that the only 'big' news is that we may paint a wall in our apartment purple. Hey, someone has some leftover paint we can use. So, why not?


-El Elder Vancito

District before transfers

New comp Elder Young

New comp Elder Young

Hey!! How are y-...Oh, your faces all froze...

How were all the missionary to family Skype sessions this weekend? Hopefully as good as mine was! Even though at times it felt as though there was nothing much to say of any real significance it was still nice to see the fam. All went well, even though the wifi connection cut out multiple times causing some pretty funny frozen face images. 

This week was good (I probably say that about every week but that's just because no matter what every week is a good one!). Transfers are in two days! My current companion, Elder Welker, is going to one of my old areas with an elder who was also trained by my trainer. Now that I've been out for a bit I have all these connections to people and places around Georgia. So it's fun to hear who is going where and what is happening with old companions and old areas. I am going to get the MTC companion of the Elder who I trained. His name is Elder Young. Never served around him but I only hear good things about him. So I'm excited :) Change always brings excitement. And sometimes tears. And usually growth and progression! And on rare occasions you may see change bring ice cream... Only the best kids of change do. :D

So our top investigators are still those two younger kids, Kevin and Brandon. They haven't been able to come to church because their mom was sick. We stopped by before church yesterday and talked with them. The hope has not vanished, it is still there! We were able to talk with the mom a bit about how she is willing to listen even if somethings we teach are a little different. She pointed out how she is really questioning why she still carries some of her own beliefs. "Conviction or tradition?" she said. So that made us happy :)

I...I love you all. Don't go breaking my heart now... Unless of course you find something better than me, then by all means! 

-Elder Vance :D

Mother's Day Skype call with Elder Vance.

Feast upon the good word. It's the Law!

I love you all. You know that, right? Though my love is imperfect and limited, it is there. 

But you know what I don't love right now? Food. I have had enough of that stuff in my life. I think I am done with it. I am going to start studying seriously the plausibility of an all water diet. 

Okay, I'm not giving up food. But after yesterday I might think hard about it! We were given the opportunity to go with the English ward Elders to their dinner with a loving Haitian family. This family has a tradition going on fifteen years that they do with the missionaries. 'The Law'. That is what is is called. To do the Law one must eat two full plates of food, a bowl of fruit, a piece of cake and then ten Snickers ice cream bars. It may not sound like much but the human stomach wasn't necessarily designed to eat like that, heh. I only got to three bars. :( Not that many. My companion got to nine. He wasn't feeling so well afterward. 

Well, I don't advocate frequent 'feasting' of that kind but I do advocate feasting upon the words of Christ. We are teaching two younger boys, ages nine and twelve, who are just learning how to feast upon the words of Christ. They are very bright and quick to understand and have expressed their desires to be baptized. They sadly did not come to church yesterday and we aren't sure why. We haven't yet been able to talk with them yet. But I know they are very special sons of God who He has allowed to come in contact with us for a reason. :)

Do you all have something special planned for your mother for this Sunday? I know I do! It has something to do with Skype and me talking to a computer screen... But I'm sure you all can come up with something good too :)

-Elder Vance

Tie burning for hump day.  A few weeks after the fact.

A boy and his reptiles.

More from their "selfie" session.  

What happens when you run out of miles in your car. 

Missing his doggies :)

Two missionaries eating "The Law."

Hey... we're... missionaries..Sorry, gotta catch my breath here..

Helloooo there!

How are we all doing today. Good? Great! I'm doing fantastic here as well! 

Not sure if you could guess but what the title suggests is true, we have been riding our bikes. In this lovely area of Stone Mountain we are blessed to drive a nice Volkswagen Jetta. But poor distance planning lead to us being super close to the limit of miles we are allotted to drive meaning we had to pull out the bikes and bike helmets. Riding brought back the memories of my time spent in Roswell on a bike. It is a different experience proselyting on bike because of the ability to stop and talk with most people you see. In our few days of biking we for sure we able to meet some very interesting personalities. We always leave a contact laughing and feeling grateful that we were able to meet that specific person, whether or not they were really interested in what we had to say. My companion, Elder Welker, is a bit sore but glad to be experiencing the mission life the real way. Though he tiredly admitted as we rode the second day, "This was a lot more fun the first time..".

We have been meeting a lot of awesome people who show genuine interest with a potential of Gospel acceptance within the upcoming weeks and months. Wow, I sort of said that like I was giving the statistical reports for the church. Haha, we all know it isn't the amount of baptisms that matter, though numbers have their place, but it is the depth of conversion and the long-term retention of people that allows Zion in her beauty to rise. We had an investigator come to church yesterday who has been reading from the Book of Mormon without needing us to really push him. 

I've come to learn that there really is a need for opposition in all things. It does help me to not get discouraged understating that. It's easy to meet a great new person interested in learning more and then becoming super bummed when the first signs of opposition show up. As I change my mind set from, 'Wow, this person is golden! I really hope there aren't any obstacles with this one!' to, 'Wow, this person has been really prepared. I wonder which obstacles we will need to walk by their side to overcome together' (was that cliche enough?). Something like that. :P Stress, pressure, and opposition are good and are requisites for real change! And I'm not just reading that in books. I have a front row seat to watch it happen in others as well as in myself. But don't be expecting anything more than a young-looking, freckle-faced kid to come home next year. Well, maybe you could add adjectives like 'handsome', 'glowing', 'muscular' and 'always super humble' to that list. Hey, there's nothing wrong with some self-promoting options now and then. :)

Stay safe. Stay warm. Sleep only five minutes more than needed. Try some fried SPAM, its' good.

With lots of love!

Elder Vance

Feliz dia de Pascua

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Easter brings family, fun, chocolate, and maybe one of two eggs that go rotten because the Easter bunny tried to get tricky and hid some eggs inside the piano and forgot about them. But of course as we all most definitely heard in church yesterday, Easter is about Christ. I had the nice opportunity to sing with the other missionaries in the English ward in an all missionary choir. Even the missionary couples sang with us :) I also got to sing with the Spanish branch choir in our sacrament meeting. Some food and cake afterwards made for a nice church experience. :D

Though it would have been a lot better had our top investigator, Jose, come to church. He was unable to do so for understandable reasons, so I forgive him. :P We met Jose this past week and we have already met with him three times. He is reading the Book of Mormon and understands well what we teach him. He accepted an invitation to be baptized on the first visit and has not turned back from it since. He is an example of someone looking for real and lasting change. And by the faith he is showing through his actions he is definitely going to be able to find it. I am so blessed to be able to see a first hand view of all of this. Please pray for him and for us to be able to help him! :)

I am a missionary. It is pretty life changing what is happening out here. For us just as much as for the people we meet. Even in the low points I feel in awe at the wisdom my Father in Heaven has demonstrated by allowing me to be out here at all! His plan is a puzzle to me at times but little by little I think it is making for sense. Not just intellectually. :) 

Missionary work. Not overrated. 

-Elder Vance

Selfies for the Lord. 

Tour of the Hindu temple

It takes courage! and Captain Crunch!

Well, my first week in the mission field has gone by! Wow what a crazy week. So many changes, but you know what, I'm ready for these next two years! I just hope I can ever get this Spanish down. :/ 

.......

I kid, I kid! That is probably something I might have said a little over a year ago. My time flies, huh? It feels like I was a greenie just last week. Eh, not really, it still feels like it has been a long time. But in hindsight things always seem so close. It makes me wonder how God feels having Eternity always before him, seeing the beginning from the end.. *mind blown* Anyway! This new area that I'm in reminds me in a lot of ways of my first area. Or as we like to refer to it here, my 'baby area'. :) Lots of green. Lots of houses. Lots of awesome people!

I had the great opportunity to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. I spoke on 'el valor' or as most people who speak English like to say it, courage. I used lines from President Monson's talk given in the Priesthood session of General Conference. I don't need to preach it to you but I do invite you all to check it out again or for the first time! :) During my talk I was able to get some laughs, look people in the eyes and call them to repentance (not really :P ) and ,of course, turn really red. I just..I can't control that part of me. Whether I'm nervous or not I just beam brightly when in front of people. But it is a change for the Spanish branches because they never have redheads. So they like it!

The pollen right now is very thick and everything is yellow. We are surviving though, even if only slightly surviving. It is actually pouring rain right now so for a while it will all be washed away. Sweet! the weather is a lot warmer, which I love, so things are generally going smoothly. But there are still mountains left to climb.

Hasta luego,

El Elder Vance

p.s. For all you who are preparing to serve missions I highly suggest figuring out what type of cereal you like now. It is a big aisle in the store and your time will be cut well if you can be decisive. This is very serious advice, almost as serious as preparing yourself mentally and spiritually. (eh, not quite..) I recently finished a bag of a captain crunch type cereal with marshmallows in it. The bomb! Though I think I'll stay away from that for a while. Something about too much sugar being bad or something like that.. Well, off to eat my lightly-sweetened multi-grain cheerios!

Just Hanging around doing a service project!

Que Lo Muerda!

Transfers are gone! I am here in my new area of Lilburn with my new companion Elder Welker. HE is from California and enjoys singing around the apartment and anywhere else, as I do. He just got finished being trained so he is still fresh and ready to be molded in my hands as clay! Or something like that.. Nah, I have a bunch to learn from him! This area has been having a lot of success recently so we will see how well we keep it up. :)

Did everyone else enjoy General Conference as much as I did? I hope so! If not, just re-watch Elder Holland's talk over and over again until you feel obligated to be good and enjoy conference. Hah, but they were all fantastic for many different reasons. We are all going to like something different from all of the speakers. I really enjoyed Elder Aidukaitis' talk in the last session on Sunday. I have seen him speak in person at the MTC as well as here in Georgia. Love that accent and enthusiasm! But he was just one of many that hit me.

So far things in this new area are going well. My voice is finally back after four days of being gone! Do you know how hard that was for me?? I love to talk! Sometimes too much, but still! I guess God wanted me to learn to let my companion talk more. It worked out fine though. Elder Welker had a Peruvian companion last so he didn't get too many opportunities to really practice his Spanish. But now that he is with another Gringo he will be speaking a lot more :)

I must be off now. I wish you all the best of luck and blessings in all your endeavors! This is your four minutes to perform. How are you doing so far?

-Elder Vance

(The email title refers to a nice family in my last area wanting me to bite into a cake they bought for me as a going away thing. They shoved my face into it. Saw it coming. I let it happen :P you'll probably see the pictures from my sweet mother :D )

Saying good bye to investigator

Farewell party from a member family

Saw it coming.

District before transfers