Monday, December 28, 2015

Week 46 - We are the Shepherds

Skyping with our wonderful missionary!


Dear Mom,

It was very lovely to get to talk to you all on Christmas day! That was the best part of the day! :D After we hung up, and I walked into the kitchen, everyone could see how happy I was! One lady mentioned (in spanish) that I was just beaming from ear to ear when I walked in, and I looked very content and happy :)

These past few weeks we've been sharing Luke 2:8-18 with everyone, and pointing out that fact the angel told the shepherds to not fear. We could place ourselves as these shepherds, because we all have a "flock" to watch over. As Parents, you watch over your children, as missionaries, we watch over our investigators and the members, as Church Leaders, you watch over the unit that you are assigned to. And with these assignments, we might have a bit of fear, fear that we can't do it, fear that we're not good enough, fear that someone's going to fall away and that you won't find them. But the Angel (or the prophets) tell us fear not, because THE Good News has been born, and will save all those willing to repent. That's something I've learned this week.

Man, what else is there to talk about that we didn't talk about on Christmas?? haha

Megan sent me a lovely package on goodies that I really really enjoyed!! :) I'm planning on sending my late Christmas package to you all today, and hopefully it gets there soon! :)

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Monday, December 21, 2015

Week 45 - Elder Santa Claus, and Lessons with a Less Active/Part Member Family

Dear Mom,

I'm glad that you all enjoyed the Star Wars movie!! I was wondering how it was haha So I'm sure I won't be disappointed :)

3:00 works good for us for Skyping! We'll be at our Branch President's house to Skype and eat dinner, so I'll let him know of when we're gonna skype :)

This week we had a pretty good experience with a LA/PM family this past week. We visited this family with our branch mission leader, and everything happened one right after another. We knocked on the family's door immediately after they had just finished watching the Cokeville Miracle, we then came in and shared a message about Luke 2 and helping our fellowman. After we shared the message, the husband (who isn't a member) came home, so we summarized and discussed with him what we shared to his family. After we ended with a prayer, a young man came downstairs and asked if we were mormons or christians. We explained how we are both, and then he told us that he had gotten baptized in the YSA Branch about a month ago, and now he's living with our LAPM family. Neither the family nor the young man knew that the other was mormon. So it was all a very interesting experience for us all. It may not sound interesting in email, but it was very cool to experience!

I've gotten lots of your Christmas packages this week haha I opened them to see lots of Christmas presents inside haha I have them all underneath my tree right now haha

Speaking of Christmas, guess who was Santa at our Branch Christmas party?? 

"Under the beard and wig, you know that face haha"


It was a really great activity! And Elder Clark and I both got Christmas presents out of it too haha We both got a penguin pillow pet, and a lightsaber toy thing! I'll send pics next week!

Not too much else happened this week, just little randomness bits of Clarkenfuss through the week haha At the end of the day, we always vote on the quote of the day, the one thing that was said or done, that made us laugh the most! I don't remember all of them, but they always make me laugh haha :)

I can't wait to see you at Christmas! :D

Please continue to write and email when you can! I love hearing from you!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

[something he shared in his e-mail to Mary]

So something I learned a while ago at the beginning of mission, is that in Spanish, the phrase "Endure to the End" is "Perseverar hasta el fin", which is to Persevere to the End. To me, that sounds a lot better than Endure. To me, Endure sounds like you're just letting everything beat against you till it's done, but Persevere sounds actually like you're pushing through the storms of this life, that you're doing the right in good times and bad, like you have an attitude that you WILL make to the end. So, I like the spanish version of the phrase better. And then Megan told me today that she had heard from someone that it should be Enjoy to the End instead. And that is exactly right! We can't just be grumpy about everything and not enjoy the small moments as they pass by. Our time on the earth is short, lets make the most out of it! and have joy in the journey! :)

Monday, December 14, 2015

Week 44 - Two Baptisms, Christmas, and Companion Shena-nion-gans

Dear Mom,

Everything went super well this week! We had 2 baptisms last night, which was awesome!! :D

Our 2 baptisms, Miguel and Tristan
This past weekend was also a Christmas activity for the stake and the community at large. All the missionaries in Temecula helped set it all up on Thursday, we were there pretty much all day helping out.  then the next evening, we were there just being ushers and helpers. It was a very cool activity!

This upcoming Friday we have a Branch Christmas activity! I can't wait to see what that's like! We're also preparing for an activity in January to help out with Missionary Work here in the Branch. We're going to be showing Meet The Mormons in the gym and have little snacks for people to enjoy. Not sure yet what else we're going to do for it, but we'll see :)

On Christmas Eve, we're going to have a Christmas Party with the whole mission, and there's going to be a talent show too! I am going to be performing twice haha once with Elder Talbot in the more fun portion, and once by myself in the devotional part.

Also, what time would work best for you all on Christmas, so that we can skype? 

Elder Clark and I after Transfer Meeting :D Same style tie, exact same bag!
We were meant to be companions haha
Man... I can't think of anything else that happened this week of great significance. Elder Clark and I have our usual shenanigans, which are always fun and weird at the same time. Sometimes he puts me in a wrestler hold, sometimes I shoot him with a nerf gun as he's coming out of the bathroom, sometimes we both just open fire (with all our nerf guns) on the missionaries in our car share when they come to take the car haha sometimes we just say random stupid things and laugh haha so needless to say, we have a great time!

Please continue to write and email when you can, I love hearing from you!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss



"If the Grinch were turned into a tie."


Monday, December 7, 2015

Week 43 - New Companion "like Troy", Potential Baptism, and Chicken Soup for the Sick Missionary's Soul

Dear Mom,

My new companion's name is Elder Clark. And we have both been trained by Elder Garcia! So in mission terms, Elder Clark and I are brothers!! :D He was trained before I was, so he's my "big brother" haha

Elder Clark is very much like Troy haha so we get along great! I've already died laughing so many times this week, I just can't count haha I can't wait for the different shenanigans that we get into!! haha After Transfer Meeting, Elder Clark and I discovered that we had the same patterned tie, just different colors, and we have the exact same shoulder bag. We concluded that this companionship was meant to be haha

We taught our investigators twice this week (who are the kids of less-active member) and in the first lesson, we read Mosiah 18:8-10, asked one of them a question about baptism, then he started crying because he wants to get baptized so badly. So we invited both of them to be baptized this Sunday! :D and all is going according to plan with that so far :) You'll probably see a pic of us at his baptism next P-Day :)

I did get the package with my coat and fun Christmas ties! I'll send pics of me wearing the ties next week! Is it just me or does the green tie you sent in the package looks like what the grinch would be if someone turned him into a tie? haha I love it!!

On Saturday, Elder Clark and I were sicker than dogs! So we just stayed inside all day and flopped around, it wasn't fun haha but we called the Morgan family and asked them for some Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner, which they graciously provided for us :) It made us feel tons better!!

I'll be praying for you during Finals :)

Please continue to write and email when you can! I love hearing from you!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss


[An excerpt from his e-mail to Mary]

Something I learned in my scripture study this week was about Nephi and how the Lord asked him to build a ship. And instead of asking immediately for the ship, or for the tools, he asked the lord where to go to find the ore so that he could MAKE the tools. It's kind of like our lives. We all have "ships" that God has asked us to build, but instead of saying "ok, give me the result right now," we can ask "where should I go and what should I do to begin the endeavor of accomplishing this task?" 


It was pretty powerful to me, so I've been sharing it as dinner messages :)