Week 88 - Loving Service, Less-Actives, and Music

Dear Mary,

For now, I have to be somewhat brief. We're going to LegoLand at 10:15, which is an hour from now haha I might be able to get back on the computer later on, but I'm not sure... We'll see just how long we're at LegoLand today haha

On Thursday, we got to go give service for a few hours at a food donation place. It was lots of fun!! Especially with all the missionaries there! I got sunburnt on one side of my neck though, which I thought was strange, but also funny! I just love giving service!! It's the greatest thing to do, at least to me! I can definitely apply Mosiah 2:17 to that time and every time I serve!

A couple days ago, Elder Sedgwick got sick, so we had to stay inside pretty much all day! Luckily I was able to entertain myself! The family that we were gonna eat with that night sent some food over to us with the Hermanas (Both sets of missionaries eat there together every month), which we were so grateful for!

We had our district leader come over to give him a blessing, and then the Zone Leaders came over after to exchange with us briefly, so that I could go to Ward Correlation. I was with Elder Horton during that time, and he's a great guy! I've never actually exchanged with him before, so I got to find out more about him. We had a good time together!

I also got to perform some songs on the guitar for those elders that came over... I was pretty happy about that haha

I got the boxes and the Halloween card this morning, thank you so much! :) and thank you for transferring funds over! It's super helpful!

I got to exchange with Elder Kapp (Our District Leader) on Wednesday after Zone Training Meeting, and it was a good time! We found some Raccoons near the water drainage, and we decided to pull over and take pics of them haha and Elder Kapp took a selfie with them as well!

We had a fun time over all! We found a Less-Active family that Sedgwick and I couldn't find before, we found another Less-active that we hadn't seen in a while and talked with her about joy in the scriptures, and how it could help her, and also a less-active Marine paid for our dinner at taco bell! So it was a good night of reactivation efforts! :)

Write when you can, I love hearing from you! :)

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 87 - Searching for Joy

Dear Mary,

We did get the car with the bike rack that we wanted!! We are happy that we have it! Now we can go biking around more!! :D

I'm glad that things are going well at home! I would highly recommend reading and deeply pondering President Nelson's talk...It's helping me a lot!! Look for ways to be happy and joyful every day! Look past the grief and focus on the joy you can and will have :)

[some personal stuff deleted]

Yesterday we had dinner with the Orduna family in the ward, which is always a blast! For our dinner message, I felt prompted to share something I found in my personal studies Sunday morning. I've made a personal study goal to search for Joy in the scriptures, and on Sunday, I found something that hit home. It's found in John 16:20-24. It talks about Joy and asking God to help have it in our lives. After reading it, I asked the family how they can search for joy in their lives. They talked about reading the scriptures and going to church and looking past your obstacles and focusing on Christ. The father of the house talked about someone in Vista that we know who's mother died when he was on his mission, and how he was able to look past that tragedy and find hope in Christ. I can't remember everything that he said about it, but I know that it helped me to feel better, and we felt the spirit really there. I don't think that family knows our situation, otherwise, they might not have brought it up, I'm not sure. But either way, it helped me!

Write when you can, I love hearing from ya'll!! If ya'll are struggling with anything, I'll do my best to help out!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 86 - General Conference Awesomeness

Dear Mary,

Conference was amazing!!! It was probably my most favorite weekend ever!! A few weeks ago, our mission president invited us to come up with 3-5 questions that we would like to have answered during conference, so I did! And I think that's why I had such a wonderful time at conference, because I was searching for specific answers and revelation! the questions that I got answers to that specifically wanted to share with you were "How can the hole in my heart be better filled?" and "how can I be happier after the death of a loved one?" These two questions are essentially one in the same, but you understand the difference, right? anyway, the answer to these questions came most powerfully in President Nelson's talk on Joy! I became so filled with happiness and joy as I listened to this talk! I did make notes on it, but I circled it on my notepad to let me know to print it off when I get the chance! Everything in that talk just helped me sooo much! He talked about how we can be happy under any circumstance, and that we can find joy as we look to Christ in all things! When he said that we can be FILLED with Joy, that sparked something in me that made me happier! And in the song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" that the choir had sung, that gave me another perspective to look at as I push through these hard times, that I can stop for a moment and appreciate the world. I know I smile all the time, and everyone knows it, even in sad times, but this time smiling came from everything in me! I rediscovered how I can be really filled! Look to Christ in all you do, focus on the joy that you can gain, look for ways to make others happy, pause and look at the world around you and take the beauty of it all, and look for how to serve others! That's how you'll be filled! That's how I WILL be filled! I'm excited for this week as I apply what I learned during that wonderful talk! :)

A couple days ago I got sick, but I recovered by Conference! Our District Leader had come by that evening to give me some medicines that he had in his apartment, which was super kind of him! Him and his companion are super nice guys, and I'm excited to serve with them this transfer! :)

I have not gotten Keegan's artwork yet, but hopefully today!! I can't wait to see it! :D

We're hopefully gonna get a different car this week that has a bike rack, so that we can start using our bikes more effectively in our area!

Thank you for praying for me, I always feel the power of prayer working in my everyday life here :)

How is everything else at home? Are ya'll keeping up with family study and prayer, cleaning, and any other things? How's handling the bills and the grown up people stuff? haha

Write and email when you can, I love hearing from you guys!!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

PS We loved LEGOLAND so much, that we're gonna go again pretty soon haha maybe next week, or the one after!

PPS Next week, P-day will be on Tuesday, because of Columbus Day

PPPS Halloween is a full day P-DAY!!!! :D On Halloween, we have to go in at 6, because of the trick of treating and all, and this year it falls on a p-day, which typically ENDS at 6.... SO...P-DAY ALL DAY!!!! :D

Week 83 - LegoLand and a Baptism

Dear Mary,

I'm so glad that ya'll had a great time at stake conference, and a great week! I absolutely love the analogy of the Star Trek crew and ward council!! That fits so perfectly!! XD

[Note: a brother at Stake Conference said that Captain Picard showed a perfect example of how a ward council ought to go. Whenever a tough decision arises, he calls the heads of the major organizations throughout the ship, asks their advice, listens, and makes the decision, then everyone gets up and goes to work.]

Now you know my pain of wisdom teeth!! Although, I don't think mine were all that bad...only one was kinda off, but it wasn't hard to get out at all! I remember I got one half done at a time, so it wasn't agonizing for me. But I'm glad that you got it done! :)

LEGOLAND was soooo much fun!!! :D Others have told me in the past that it wasn't that great, but we're lego people... so I had a blast!!! I even bought a little lego batman keychain. There was so many things to look at! It was very impressive to see all the amazing things that people built out of legos! I definitely want to take ya'll there after the mission!

A cool little thing to know about LEGOLAND is that if you bring a little figurine with you, you can trade with the workers for the figurines that they have! It was so fun!

My favorite ride was probably the Ninjago ride! You sit with 3D glasses on and as you go to different rooms, the screens come alive with lego Ninjago characters and you have to "fight" them. You just thrust your hands forward to shoot "lasers" at the bad guys...I loved it so stinkin much! I also won haha my score was 98,532... SO FUN!!!

Several days this week were kinda hard for me.... I'm not sure why this week of all weeks, but I missed Mom a lot! I was thinking about how we're gonna do Christmas, and would think about all the different things I was so excited to show her and tell her about after the mission, but now it'll have to wait a little longer.... I know that she's here, but it's different, ya know? We went over to the Crump's house last night, because I needed it pretty bad. They are always willing to listen to me and cheer me up when I need it. I felt better after that :)

We baptized Santiago on Saturday!!! :D Elder Sedgwick Baptized him, and I confirmed him. You could definitely feel the spirit there! It was another super awesome day! :) You should've seen it, Santiago was also wearing a little "future missionary" name tag on his suit. It was the cutest thing ever! At church the next day I also gave him a tie from my collection that I signed, so that he could remember me in the future, and wear it when he gets older :) His mom told us what a huge impact we've made on Santiago, and how much we really have helped him. I'm so glad that I get to be a part of helping these children of God to grow and to have goodness placed in their hearts :)

Please continue to write when you can, I love hearing how life is progressing back home!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

[Prepare yourself for LOTS of pictures!!!]

Everything is awesome!!!

I was so excited when I found the Batman guy!!!

Elder Wockenfuss and Elder Sedgwick with Santiago,
a young man they helped prepare for baptism this weekend.

Week 82 - Gospel Analogies, Baptismal Dates, and LegoLand

Dear Mary,

I'm so glad that you're getting used to driving! I love the gospel analogy that you made with that! It makes a lot of sense honestly!

[my analogy: As I sat in sacrament meeting yesterday listening to the testimonies, it suddenly occurred to me that learning to drive and working toward a driver's license could be an analogy for gaining a testimony and converting to the gospel. At least, the way that I learned could be. It can be scary, but the more you practice, the more comfortable you are behind the wheel, the more you're ready and willing for other parts of driving that seem scary—like the roundabouts or driving on the interstate. And if you have a teacher who is calm, friendly, helpful, loving, one who celebrates every driving milestone with you, it's so much better. As a person learns about the gospel, it might seem scary, it might seem exciting, it might not be interesting, who knows how they feel? But as they learn more, their hearts are softened, and they become eager to learn more and more. It can bring about changes in their lives that they might not be ready for. But will they keep going? It's up to them.]

I have also found a gospel analogy this week! I told you of the mishap with my laundry didn't I? Ink splotches all over my white clothes...I was not pleased haha but I asked many people about how I can get the ink out of my clothes, cuz I don't wanna walk around with black spots all over myself, that would be just weird! But after asking several people that I trust, I found a few things to try, and it was not super easy! I had to scrub with one certain solution, with another solution I had to let it soak for a while, but finally after much effort, the stains came out of the majority of the clothes. The whites that had some spots remaining on them were still so much better than before! The shirts even became brighter as if I had just bought them! and that experience made me think of the scripture in Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." and also in Alma 5:21 " ...for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins."

I was literally doing just that! except for in the blood of Christ part, but if there was a cleaning product called the Blood of Christ, it would be the best stain remover ever!! Because of Christ our stains can be removed, but as I had to do with my clothes, we have to put in our best effort and then let the Blood of Christ do the rest. It can't just be us working on it, and it can't just be Christ doing everything. He did pay the price for our sins and sadness, but we have to continuously work and improve everyday. Otherwise it's just like not striving to take care of our white laundry, we could just throw them in the washer with no other thought in taking care of them then just "the washer will take care of it, I don't have to do any thing else," but that won't amount to much will it? I've learned that I have to scrub at certain spots of my white shirts in order to keep them white. If I don't scrub them and take care of them with certain solutions, they will yellow and not look nice. It's a lot like the Atonement of Christ, if we don't take advantage of it and use it to get rid of our "stains", it won't amount to much. That's one thing what I learned this week haha

We set baptismal dates with 2 of our investigators!! :D They will both be baptized on the 18th this month! We are so excited for them!

Also, we had been asked by the bishop to teach a little boy in the ward in preparation for his baptism, to make sure that he understands everything. His family had been less active until earlier this year, so they just wanted us to help Santiago understand more about baptism, the restoration, and the commandments, to make sure he knew what he was getting into. He's now going to be baptized this Saturday by Elder Sedgwick, and then he's asked that I confirm him in church the next day. It won't count as an official "number" for us as a missionary baptism, but we taught him, we're helping him to make this step, so it counts to us as helping another soul coming unto Christ.

I haven't gotten those prepaid packages yet, but I'm sure I'll get them today though!

Today, we're having a district activity! ANNNND......We're going to LEGOLAND!!!! :D 

There's nothing different regarding our areas, we just meet with our missionaries for DM, report our numbers to a different Elder, stuff like that.

I'll certainly let you know if there is anyone who needs a postcard!

Thanks for writing! Keep it up when you can, Love you!!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 81 - Kickball, Progressing, and Revelation

Dear Mary,

You remember that random call you got from a California number on Saturday?..... yeah, that was us, on accident! My comp was looking through the phone for a Mary in our ward to ask where I certain park was, and he only found your number, so he called it. I had forgotten that I saved your number, just in case I needed to call for something, so when we got to your voice mail, I remembered and then told him to text you. Sorry about that haha

 The pics I'm incuding this week are of how I have part of my desk set up. The quote on the right came from Hermana Young's mom as one of my birthday presents. 

And as I told you last week, I printed off that pic of Mom to put at my desk, and I found a really good frame for it as well! If you can't read it, it says " Memories: Some moments we never forget, because our lives are forever changed." I keep it right there so I can see every day when I'm studying, and whenever I'm home. :)

Today we had a Zone activity at the park! We played kick ball and had some snacks! It was pretty fun!! :D I tried to open a Dr. Pepper bottle, and it fizzed up hard core, and spewed everywhere!! So my hands were sticky with soda syrup for a while haha

Some of our investigators are progressing! The kids of the Mendez family are doing the reading assignments we give them and they're writing the words that they don't know so that we can help them to understand. And Norberto came to church as well! He now has some nice church slacks, and at least a nice white t-shirt until he can get a button up shirt. But he has to find a new place to live now, so we can't meet with him until he gets a place of his own, which should be soon!

I learned about how revelation is super important in our lives! Especially in sharing the gospel! We can't share the gospel unless we are guided by the spirit and revelation, like how ya'll are doing with the sisters help. I've actually done that on my mission as well! and it really does help members to think of people that they know, and what they can do for the next step in sharing the gospel!

Having the spirit is so important! Heavenly Father knows all things, and so if you have the spirit to guide you, you can be prompted to do or say something that will help that person in some way.

Write when you can, I love hearing from you!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

This is Elder Wimmer, he is such an awesome guy!! We had a meeting with a general authority named Elder De Hoyos on Friday, and Elder Wimmer and I discovered that our ties were exactly the same pattern, just different colors!!!! We were so excited and happy beyond belief!!! It totally made our day haha :D

The meeting itself was good, we met with him from 8:30 until like 2:30... It was a long meeting! But so very helpful! This was also his first church assignment in the United States in English! So our Mission President had to translate for him sometimes for the English missionaries, since he's still working on his English. We could understand him perfectly, since, you know, we're so good at Spanish :P haha jk but really, we were able to understand him really well!

Week 80 - New Investigators, Lessons on Fasting and Prayer, and Comfort in Sacrament

Dear Mary,

It sounds like that party was such a great time! :D I always love doing surprise parties! They are so much fun! [Mary's note: it was a surprise joint birthday party for me and another young lady from church. We share a birthday. And she leaves on her mission in a few short weeks.]

I'm not sure if I told you, but I got released as a District Leader this transfer, and they combined our district with the YSA district, so it's a little bigger now. But it's going well I believe! Norberto has not been baptized yet, sadly. He hadn't been responding to our texts or phone calls until yesterday. So we'll be working with him this week about getting ready for his baptism.

We picked up 3 new investigators this week!! :D the granddaughter of a member in our ward mentioned how she wanted to get baptized, so we went by and started teaching her, her brother, and her mom. They have a lot of potential! I can't wait to see what happens with them!

I finished Mosiah this week! :D I was reading in the chapter where Alma the younger was persecuting the church, and after the visit of the angel didn't move for several days. I thought it was interesting that it doesn't just that say that the priests just fasted and prayed for Alma in a general sense, but they were specific in what they fasted and prayed for: That his mouth would be opened, that his limbs would receive strength, so that the eyes of the people would be opened to see the glory of God at work. That reminded me how our personal prayers and fasts should be specific as well. That there should always be a purpose and that we should state that purpose clearly in prayer as well. If we ask or tell God something in a general sense, He's gonna give us a general answer. That's what I learned this week! :)

Yesterday, I was struggling a bit since it's been a month of Mom's passing. But there was a wonderful talk in church yesterday about the Plan of Salvation and how our loved ones help us! The speaker told of how her mother had passed away while she was in her first year of college, and how it was hard for her as well. I believe she said that her mother had written her a note telling her she was always going to be there now to help her, that she won't leave her alone, and that she still had a responsibility as a mother towards her. I can't remember everything that was said in the talk, but it helped me feel so much better! The spirit was very strong and said that talk was for me. Everything about the talk applied to us, and made me feel good. I even felt Mom sitting next to me, so it was a good sacrament meeting :)

Write when you can, I love hearing from ya!

With mucho love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss