Week 1 in California - Escondido

Elder Wockenfuss with President and Sister Kendrick

My Dearest Family,

So it turns out I do have a time limit on emailing each week here in the mission field, and actually on this computer I'm using too haha but it's all good! it'll teach me to type fast!

Thank you so much for the pictures! It really means a lot to me!

That's so cool that Katie is opening up more now in talking to this missionary!

I have had to use some of my money as I went from Mexico to California to pay for baggage fees and to buy some food, just to let you know.

The mission field is different, but great! I love it out here! I've been assigned to the El Norte Ward of Escondido. It's really great here! I love the people so much, even though I can't understand them. They always smile, and you can tell they have such a great testimony of the gospel, it's incredible!

The weather is pretty hot out here, probably hotter than Arkansas right now, which is crazy to believe, but true haha

My first Sunday here was really cool because it was Stake Conference, and Elder Nelson of the twelve was actually there! And my companion got to translate for him! So that was super cool! We didn't get to meet him or shake hands with him, but it was still cool to see him there!

My companion's name is Elder Garcia, and he's such a great guy! We're getting along really well! He actually spoke both English and Spanish in his home growing up, so Spanish is super easy for him.

We have got to do some teaching this week, not a ton, but we have been able to see several people and teach them. Most of the lessons have been in English so far, because the people that we've been able to see speak both English and Spanish, and I guess they wanted to be taught in English, so that's what we've been doing with them. We have taught one or two lessons in spanish so far, but my Spanish is pretty bad in comparison, and I can't understand anything that's going on. I can catch onto a couple of words, but very few and far between, so it's a bit of a struggle right now, but I'm gonna do my best to continue learning and teaching.

I did get the packages that you sent me, they were amazing!! :D My companion and I love it all! especially the jalapeno potato chips! (Do you think you could possibly send us some more? ;) ) I had my bedding provided for me, which is great! I use the InTune in addition to my meds. Thank you so much for this next package that's coming too! I'm excited to get it!

I can't say much more right now, because I have about 10 minutes left and I still have to write sister MacNeil.

I love you all so much!! Please continue to write, send pics, and email. I love seeing them!

With much love,

Elder Wockenfuss

(a few minutes later)

I was able to get a tiny bit more time. BTW Yesterday, I actually rode the most haggard, janky bike I've seen in my life! The seat was old and rusty ish and super high and uncomfy, the front brakes were completely shot, and there was only half of one of the brakes actually on the back (so basically not even there). So I rode through town on the edge of glory haha I actually destroyed part of my shoe trying to stop myself from smashing into my companion on that bike! Like the front of the sole is not even attached anymore! so I bought some super glue, and we'll what happens with that. So that's my crazy experience for the week!

hey mom, can you send me my other pairs of church shoes? Pretty please and thanks? haha

The members feed us almost every single night, so I don't go hungry at all! It's super great to get to meet the members that way! The food is incredible! I know the best cooks live in Morrilton Ward, but I think these members here in Escondido got lost on their to Morrilton, Arkansas :P

With Love, and a broken shoe,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Last Day at the MTC

Dear Mom and family,

I´m actually able to email today since it´s my last day here at the MTC. Everything is going great! My district and teachers have told me that I´ve gotten so much better at spanish and teaching since I´ve started taking my ADD medicine! The other night, in a progressing investigator lesson, I actually spoke and taught more than my companion did! That has never happened before! My teacher was so surprised by that, that he stepped out of his investigator character at the end of the lesson to tell me how well I did. He told me I almost made him cry in the lesson too. So everything is going pretty well!

I´m getting pretty excited to go to California and start teaching people the gospel, but I´m also sad to leave the friends that I´ve made here. But I know that we´re all gonna be doing a good work! 

We had a testimony meeting last night with all the missionaries that are leaving this week, and it was truly an amazing meeting! I was filled with the spirit so much! Almost everyone shared their testimonies in english, except for me. I shared the majority of my testimony in spanish, because I feel like its more special to me now in spanish. I´m not sure why, but it is more special sharing it in spanish now.

I've had such a great experience here at MTC, I´m so glad that I've decided to come and serve a mission for God, and to help to bring others unto Christ. It´s been so amazing! I´ve become so close to my Heavenly Father in these past weeks that I´ve been here, and I feel like I´ve become more in tune with the Spirit since I´ve been here as well. I can feel the Holy Ghost guiding me, directing me, and helping me to teach and to do God´s will. Its been so great! I will never forget my experiences here at the MTC.

I´m not sure if I've told you or not, but I have to be ready to leave the MTC at 2:30 tomorrow morning, we leave at 3, and our flight leaves mexico at 6:05 tomorrow morning. I´m not sure when I get to the LA airport, but I´m pretty sure that we get to San Diego at 11:45. I´m not sure if I´ll be able to call you at the airport to tell you that I´m making it to the mission okay, cuz I´ve heard rumors that we can do that, but I´m not sure. But if I can, I will definitely call you.

Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es verdadero, y es el palabra de Dios. Yo se que Jose Smith es un profeta de Dios. Yo se que Jose Smith transudo El Libro de Mormon mediante el Poder de Dios. Yo se que Dios es muy amoroso a todos personas en el mundo. Yo se que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es solo camino estaramos en el Reye de Celestiál.

I love you all so much! Please continue to write and email when you can! Tell everyone in Morrilton of my love for them as well. The next that you hear from me in email, I will be in the mission field! :D

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Exit photos from MTC

Here are some exit photos from the Mexico MTC, e-mailed to the family. Don't they look so happy and excited to have a part in helping the gospel of Jesus Christ to flood the earth? They all head out Tuesday morning.

Week 5 at the Mexico MTC

Dearest Family,

Thank you so much for all the packages that you sent me! I loved them so much! I'm sure that you know without asking that I did share what you sent me with my district, and they all love you so much too! They think that you´re the greatest ever! :)

Now about the ADD (Not ADHD, ADD): My teachers have been noticing that I've been falling behind and not doing so well on learning Spanish and learning how to teach, so they wanted me to go see the psychologist (Sister Brown) here at the MTC. I went a few days later and talked with her, and we were talking for a good while, I'm not sure how long I was in there talking with her, but at the end of our talk, she determined that I had ADD and started explaining to me the reasoning why I wasn't doing so well in class and not doing as well as I wanted. She explained the difference in how an ADD mind worked versus a non ADD mind, and she talked to me about starting me on a certain medicine that would help me in those aspects. So she got your number from me, called you that day, and the next day started using the medicine. O MY GOODNESS!! I started seeing changes just hours later! In days previous, I'd had much difficulty teaching when we would practice in the classroom, and when we would teach lessons. For instance, a couple of days ago, one of our teachers lead me and my companion into another room to teach. Hermano Chan (the teacher) and I were the missionaries, and my companion was the investigator. When it was my turn to teach a principle, it was so hard for me figure out what to say and how to teach it. But the next day when we did it again (this was 3 to 4 hours after I had taken the ADD medicine), I was able to grasp onto a concept and run with it! I could ask questions that helped the investigator think. I was able to teach clearly, and I was able to teach about that principle. That night, during class, we were supposed to practice teaching about certain things. (One of us would be a missionary, and the other would be the investigator, then we would switch), and when I was the missionary, I was able to ask questions, I could teach the lesson I was supposed to, I could help the investigator! Other days when we would do this practice teaching, I couldn´t do it. It was so hard to think of a question to ask, to think of something to say, but the day that I started taking that medicine, my thoughts were way more organized, I was way more focused, I could learn, I could teach, I could speak Spanish! This was most definitely an answer to prayer! I have praying and asking God to help to be able to learn and teach better than I was, because I knew I wasn't doing well. I also fasted this past Sunday for help in these things. And I do believe that our prayers have been answered! I can´t express how happy I was that I was able to teach and learn so much better now! Others in my district have even noticed and said how so much better I´m doing, and how much more focused I am. They are all so happy for me! Thank you so your prayers and fasting, and for saying yes to the medication haha It works so great!

Thank you for telling me about home, and for sending pictures of Katie's drawings, I really do miss seeing them. I always love hearing about home, and how life is going! Today is my last P-Day here at the MTC, and I´m not sure when P-Days are in my Mission, my next p-day may be in a couple of Mondays from now, but I´m not sure. But I will email you as soon as I can. I leave here this upcoming Tuesday morning at 3am, and my flight is at 6:05am. Elder Emerick and I are literally the only ones that are going to Carlsbad this transfer from the mexico MTC, But almost everyone else in my district is going somewhere in California.

Thank you for all that you're sending to me! I love getting things from you guys! It makes me happy to see that there´s something in the mailbox haha.

I'm glad that Jones and Tulvey could go give Buddy a blessing, they're great guys! Could you ask them and other missionaries to email me? I miss talking to them.

I love the gig bag you got for my 12 string! It´s awesome! :D 

I love the pics! please continue to send pics!

I love you all so much! 

Much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 4 at the Mexico MTC

My dearest Family,

I´m sorry that I have to be short in writing, but I promise that when I get to California, I´ll be able to write more, since I won´t be on limited time.

I´m glad to hear about home! I love to read your emails and see the pictures you send, it makes me happy to see how the Lord is blessing you all. I´m sorry that Elder Knoerr had to go back again, but I´m very glad that he´s still serving the Lord, and that he´s very happy about it.

Life here at the MTC is going good, I´m still struggling pretty bad with the language, and sometimes it gets me pretty down. But I have faith that the Lord will bless me and does bless me now with knowledge and learning. If you could fast for me, that would be awesome!

I´m glad that you all have faith in me as a district leader and as a missionary, cause sometimes I fear that I´m not doing as good as I could be doing, but then the Lord reassures me in my callings, and guides me by His spirit to do what He needs me to do. I saw Mary´s email and she asked me this week what my duties as District Leader are. My duties are to watch over the missionaries that are in my district, and make sure that they´re all obeying the rules. I check the mail for everyone, I go to leadership meetings for church on Sunday and report how my district is doing, I conduct class time during the week, I assign who will teach the district lesson on Sundays, I try my best to help strengthen my district, and to make sure we´re unified. I follow the spirit in helping my district in any way the Lord tells me to. Sometimes, the Lord tells me to talk to a specific missionary about something, and do my best to obey those promptings immediately, and it turns that that missionary needs help in some form or another. And the Lord tells me exactly what I need to say to help that missionary. It is simply amazing how the Lord works in all things!

Today, in my personal studies, I read 2 Nephi chapter 2 and 3. I absolutely love those chapters! To all who read this email, I invite you to read these chapters of the Book of Mormon, they testify of God, giving proof that He truly does exist, they tell of the reasoning for having opposition in all things, why bad things happen, and why good things happen, so that we may learn and grow. It tells of a prophecy of Joseph in Egypt prophesying of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and of God restoring His church and Gospel through Joseph Smith, the prophet. Reading those chapters strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon as the word of God, and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. In my mind, there is no denying this whatsoever. These chapters are now 2 of my favorites in the Book of Mormon.

Since you were asking about my Essential Oils situation, I believe I will need some more Serenity when I get to California, I´m at about half the bottle now. I will need some more OnGuard Toothpaste for sure, but for now, I think I´m fine with my other oils.

Buddy, I love your combination of Metalbeard and the micromanager. It looks super cool! And I really like your sketch of the Blonde queen so far. please send it when you´re done.

Hey Katie,  Can I see some of your latest drawings? I miss seeing them.

I´m sorry, I have to close now.

I love you all! Please continue to write and sending pictures, I love to see them!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 3 at the Mexico MTC

Mi amoroso Familia,

(To start as a side note, I found out that here at the MTC, I only have an hour to email on thursday, and you know how we as a family can only say good morning in no less than 100 words. And since I'm the District Leader, I need to be an example to the others. So it´s it gonna be pretty hard to email you and Sister Megan MacNeil in one hour and explain everything. So I apologize for short emails until I leave the MTC)

I´m very sorry to hear Sister Weeks, but I´m happy to know that she´s in a much better place now, and that she has no pain anymore.

We had a temple trip today, and unfortunately, the temple itself is closed for renovations, but we got to go inside the visitors center and store there. It was very amazing! My district and I got to move from room to room watching a series of videos concerning families and God´s eternal plan. (the videos were all connected to each other, as we moved from room to room. Where one video leaves off, the next one picks up.) The video was about this certain family that were members of the church, and they were hiking a rocky terrain, and one son fell off a rock, and the family was freaking out, the dad ran to get him, but found him safe. It wasn´t a far fall,he just slide a bit. When the family was back home that evening, the dad was really thinking about what happened that day, and how thankful he was that his son was okay. throughout the videos, it continues to show the family´s faithfulness in the gospel, and their immense faith and testimony in the knowledge that families are for eternity, and that THEIR family is forever and will be together for eternity even after death. No matter the trials, the losses, or changes, they know that they will be together forever. That itself is a very comforting thought! I thought about dad and when he died all those years ago, and I am extremely grateful for a heavenly Father who loves us and cares enough for us to give us the knowledge and plan for families, that we will be together even after death! I´m so glad that we had that knowledge when Dad died, otherwise, it would´ve much harder on all of us. But we know, and I know, that I will see Dad again one day. After the day of judgement, and as I enter the Celestial Kingdom, I know I will see and by with Dad, and you, my family, there in the Celestial Kingdom of God, where there is true joy and happiness. I know that in Heaven, that families are forever because heaven is described as perfect, full of peace and happiness, and where joy resides. And there cannot be true happiness and completeness without family. I know that getting into the Celestial Kingdom will be a most joyous day for me, because I know that we will all be together to stay in that day. I know this is true for all who try their very best to attain that Glorious Kingdom of Heavenly Father.

To answer your question about the suit, workers at the MTC took my measurements, and made me a suit, the coat and the pants. And the only expense was that I had to ask for it spanish (Which I did.) The people are very humble, and certainly have a love for the gospel!

I believe you have said that you have sent me letters, but it takes about 3 weeks for mail to get here, so I haven´t gotten anything yet, but I´m anxiously waiting haha I´ve been told that if you go to missionarypackagemx.com, you can type up a letter and send it, and they will deliver it to our mailbox that day. I apologize for the slowness of the mail here, but at least that´s a super quick way of getting it to me, if you want to write haha.

I will definitely pray for you, as I always do! Please continue telling more about things that happen, how everyone is doing, and anything you would like to add!

I´ll try to email Elder Flippo soon, but it may have to wait until California, since I do have a limited time to email.

I love you all so much! Please continue to write! Send pictures when you can! Apologize again to Buddy and Mary for me, I hardly have time to write you and Sister MacNeil. I love to read their emails though!

With all my love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

Week 2 in the Mexico MTC

My Dear Family,

Thank you so much for telling me about life back home! I love to hear how everyone is doing! Tell everyone I said HI! I´m glad that everyone is doing well! Sister (Megan) MacNeil told me that she´s actually been called as a Sister Trainer Leader in her District! I´m super excited for her! It´s really cool that both of us have been called as leaders in our Districts. I guess the Lord needs us in some way to help people grow, and from these callings, He´ll help us to grow as well .

Things are going pretty well here at the MTC! I´m still attemping to learn spanish haha I still know the least amount of spanish of the people in my district, but I´m learning though! The District is doing fantastic! We´re growing together more and more every day, it´s like we´re family now! I love them deeply as if they were my own siblings! I am going to miss them when we part ways in four weeks. I´m gonna try to send a picture of my district in this email as well. they´re really good people!

We made progress with Fernando. We taught him about prayer, and the book of mormon, and we invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! But it turns out that Fernando, our investigator, is actually our new teacher! He´s actual name is Ricardo Chan, and he´s been working here at the MTC since last year, but he was acting as an investigator to give us practice. He´s a really cool guy, and a great teacher!

Last night we had something called TRC. TRC is when they bring people that are recent converts to the church, or people that are training to be a teacher here at the MTC, and they act like investigators for us to teach. Elder Emerick and I taught one of them a lesson about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of Christ´s church in these days, and on the feedback card that we got afterwards, one of the things the lady said was that we taught with power and with the Spirit! That made me feel really happy because I was starting to get a bit down because I didn´t think I was making good progress with the language, but when we taught that lesson, I spoke spanish! The Holy Spirit worked within me and helped me to speak the words I needed to say. I've noticed that in all the lessons I´ve taught so far, the lessons where we taught and testified about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the First Vision, and the Restoration of Christ´s church, are the lessons where my spanish speaking goes from bad to good! That, in and of itself, continues to testify to me of the truthfulness of this gospel, of the Book of Mormon, and the power of God. 

* Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Yo se que la Santa Biblia tambien la palabra de Dios. Yo se que Jóse Smith es un profeta de Dios, y el vio Padre Celestial y Jesucristo. Yo se que Dios y Jesucristo amoroso todas personas. Yo se que El Espiritu Santo testificar a corazones de personas nosotros enseñemos de verdadero de El Libro de Mormon. Es mi testimonio, en el nombre de Jesucristo, Ámen

I love you all so much! Please continue to write and email when you can! I love to hear from you!

With much love,

Elder Patrick Wockenfuss

P.S. This is the picture of me and my district on our first Sunday night here. From left to right: (Back) Elder Froelick, Elder Thompson, Elder Emerick, Me, Hermana Greenfield, Hermana Simonson, Hermana Ivey, and Hermana McGill. (Front) Elder Griffin, and Elder Ackley.

* I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know the Holy Bible is also the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know God and Jesus Christ love all people. I know that the Holy Spirit testifies to the hearts of the people we teach of the truth of the Book of Mormon, is my witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.