Monday, April 25, 2016

Week 63 - Stake Conference, Angels and Music

Dear Mom,

Thanks for the money! I'm gonna go shoe shopping today after emailing! :D 

Not really anything much has happened this week! Yesterday we had stake conference, and there were good talks in it! Our mission president and his wife spoke about keeping the spirit, sharing the gospel, and going to church, Reading the Scriptures, and Praying. They were really good talks! But there was a talk that kind of bothered me... It was a good topic behind it, but the man told about his experience when his wife had cancer and eventually died. He went into a good amount of detail about it, and it brought to my mind many flashbacks when Dad fought cancer those 2 years. Some memories I had forgotten about until the man described things that brought the memories back. One of my fellow missionaries saw that I was struggling with the memories, so I received a sticky note that said "'Peace be unto thy soul' ~God" and it made me feel better. I just stared at the sticky note for a little bit as the man continued his story, and I found the scripture associated in D&C 121:7-9, and it brought me comfort. 

God does send angels to people in moments of need. They may not necessarily come down in pillar of light and be wearing all white, but they may be your friends or maybe even people you don't even know. If you get prompted from to help someone, in that moment, I feel like you become an angel. That's my opinion haha maybe I'm wrong, or it's not doctrine. If it's not, then sorry.

I've been practicing guitar in the early morning before studies and after planning at night, and I think I'm getting better! I'm able to learn songs quicker and with more ease now! Maybe it's because of the ADD Medication, and I can focus more? Either way, I'm learning more music! :D

But anyway, not much else has happened! We found a few more part member families that we haven't met in the past! So we got to meet them and hopefully we'll get to teach them more in the near future!

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

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss



I also just wanted to say I love you and thank you for everything you've done! 


[pictures of our Elder at Stake Conference, shared on the Missionary Moms Facebook group]


Elder Wockenfuss in the back, the tallest of the bunch, his comp, Elder Emerick,
and some sister missionaries in their district




Monday, April 18, 2016

Week 62 - Private Stuff

Elder Wockenfuss shared some deeply frustrating experiences of his mission. We're keeping it private this week.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Week 61 - New Investigators, Staying in Vista

Dear Mom,

I LOVED the wockenflockite pics!!!! I can't believe I forgot to comment on them!! They were SO funny! I showed them to my district, and they laughed out loud!! very very creative! What was the inspiration for it?

The original Wockenflockite photo

The Wockenflockites watching General Conference

"Burying" our swords after Conference


The training for District Meeting was just for my small district and the Zone leaders :) 

I got the package!! :D It had Batman bandaids, wickles, a bunch of candy, goldfish, chocolate orange, talks, YOUR essay (Super funny XD), and Mormon Guitar music. Your essay was SOOOO funny and awesome! I just laughed all through out it!

Elder Emerick and I picked up 2 new investigators from a part member family. This was the first time I met this family, and they were very welcoming to us! We talked for a while and shared the Mormon Message about the hope of God's light with them. I could tell that they felt the spirit that night. They gave us a ton of food after the lesson! So that's sure sign when hispanics like you here haha We are very excited to go back and help them progress!

I really liked the forgiveness talk because there were some things that happened on my mission that I was kinda bitter about for a while, but that talk helped me out. 

[Mom's note: Unfortunately, moms don't get to know everything.]

I'm sorry that pics from me have stopped. I can't really think of anything to take pics of that I can't just get from someone else. Plus, I don't know what I was thinking getting a big camera for my mission! It's so bulky and heavy to carry in my bag all the time, so that's why you haven't really seen any pics from me of the outside world.

I will be staying in Vista for another transfer!! :D I honestly would love to stay here for a while longer!

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

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

 P.S. People tried scamming us on Saturday. These 3 hispanic teenagers had stopped at the church we meet at, and they were claiming that their mom died from cancer 3 days ago, that they have no place to stay, no food, that they needed to get to mexico, and other parts of the story I don't know. So they told their story to the hermanas, the hermanas called the bishop to come help, and then they called us to ask us to get a couple of burgers and bring them to the church for these people. We went right away, and I got the prompting from the spirit to call our mission president about this, because I thought, if anyone know what we should do in this situation, it was him. He didn't pick up the first few times, so we continued waiting for the bishop at the church with the hermanas and the 3 teens, since people shouldn't be alone there without a priesthood holder around. The bishop shows up eventually and the teens relay their story to him and his counselor, and they start trying to figure out how to help them. Our Mission President calls me back, and I start to explain to him the situation, and then He cuts me off, and starts to relay the story to me that I was about to tell him. He said that it's a scam. Don't help them. They've been doing this for at least a few weeks, scamming money off of bishops and stake presidents in the area. He had me explain it to our bishop, and had me tell him to not help them. So we eventually had to leave because it was getting late, so we left the bishop take care of it. It got it all worked out, and the 3 of them ended just leaving. So that was quite a night haha


[A member took Elder Wockenfuss' district to When Pigs Fly to celebrate Hermana Young's birthday this past week.]







Monday, April 4, 2016

Week 60 - Really Really Loved Conference

Elder Wockenfuss, Elder Emerick, and the Hermanas they serve with

Dear Mom,

I don't have my general conference notes on me, but I really really loved it!! I especially loved the "leaders being followers" talk in the priesthood session! It helped me understand a little better about my responsibilities, and how I can be better. I also really enjoyed the talk on forgiveness! It helped me understand and let go of wrongs that have been done :)
In several of the talks about priesthood, and fatherhood responsibilities, I often did think about Dad and how well he did with us :)

I haven't made the coca-cola cake yet, but I plan on it this week!

This past week, we had an exchange with our Zone Leaders on Monday. It was a good time! I was a little frazzled by the end of the day, because I had to do almost everything, because the Zone Leader that was with me couldn't speak Spanish, but he was fun to be with, and it was still a fun exchange!

I also got the opportunity to plan and prepare the training for this past District Meeting! I decided to have the training on Street Contacting, because I believe that was something that we all needed some help on. The Zone Leaders said that it went really well!! :D So I'm happy about that haha

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

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss