Week 81

One more week down! The week started off on a good note on our drive
to Mckinelyville for our Zone Meeting. Unlike the time when we drove
from Eureka to Crescent City, it was for free, warm, and beautiful. We
passed by a place called Trees of Mystery, marked by a 30 foot wood
carving of Paul Bunyan and Babe his big blue ox. Somehow we missed
that on the drive up the first time, which shows you how tired we
were, or how foggy it was. Well zone meeting was great, all about
Diligence and Faith and Obedience. All in at it went well, probably
one of the better zone meeting I've had in a long time.

Other big news- The California Santa Rosa Mission is now taking a
"break" from Facebook. It is an indefinite break, but it sounds like
it might be a loooong time. So I might not even be on Facebook until I
go home. Lame? Kind of. But it'll be good to put all the focus on the
area.

President Alba is coming to Crescent City this Friday for interviews
and will be staying until church on Sunday. He is coming to our
baptism on Saturday and then in presenting a fireside that evening.
What does this all mean? Well three days in Crescents City means that
he will be wanting to see how the Spanish work is going up here. Which
means that he will want to come out with us. It's at an unsure time,
but I'm just getting prepared for, in his President Alba voice "Elder
Foster, what the heck was that contact?" "FALSE DOCTRINE!" Or "Pack
your bags, you're going home!" Not that I'm really that worried, it's
more like I don't know what to expect. I'll let you guys know how it
goes on Friday!

So I guess with all of the other crazy stuff that has been happening
here in Crescent City, I forgot to mention the baptism of Sharon
S! She is a very sweet lady in her 50s, she is getting baptized
this Saturday. She has given up coffee, tobacco, and medical mota. She
bore her testimony yesterday and it was awesome. So pray for her this
week, that everything will go well. She will be my first American
baptism!

We also have another investigator scheduled for baptism on October
4th. He is a stud by the name of Jonah D. His father is a Jew, his
mother is an Egyptian Christian, and he describes himself as a future
Mormon. He's a great guy and we're really hoping that he progresses to
baptism well. He had a question about why the Sabbath day is practiced
on Sunday in our church. The reason he wants to know, according to
him, is to be able to convert all of his Jewish friends. We're going
to share Acts 20:7 with him. His brother a 2nd counselor to the Bishop
somewhere in LA.

Grace is doing very well and is
super excited for her baptism. Her family is coming from Alaska to
perform the baptism! The hardest thing is that on the weekends, she is
supposed to be with her biological dad. She wants to come to church,
so she had to talk to him about that. Sister Olson, a treat
fellowshipper for that family, asked her if she would like a
Priesthood blessing to have strength to talk to her dad and know what
to say to him. She said yes and asked that I give her one. So I gave
it to her, and when it was done she had this huuuuuge smile on her
face. It was really cute. Sister Olson told us after that she talked
to her dad and said that the blessing helped her to stand strong in
her decision.

We also had 6 investigators in church yesterday! It was awesome. 2 of
them are a young Hmong couple, Yeng and Vivian. They brought they 2
month old son Theodor. It was super cool because they are close to a
lot of members, so the members did a great job of fellowshipping.

That's probably it for the week! Tonight we are teaching 2 families
that we've met from soccer on Sundays. We're really excited to see how
it goes. One of the lessons will be with a recently returned RM from
the Saint George mission. I'll have to tell him that I went to school
in Cedar City. Today we are going to Stout's grove for P Day, which is
where they filmed Star Wars. I'm excited.

Well, I love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Foster

Week 80

Wow what a week! Once again, lots has happened. I feel like after so
long of doing the normal routine over and over that change makes
things new and exciting, and that's exactly what Crescent City is for
me! It's been exciting and different. A new climate, new challenges,
and new people. So I guess I got to Crescent City at just the right
time. It's been super sunny here with the perfect weather. From what
most people are saying, it stays like for about 2 months, August and
September, and then the fog hits until the next summer. It's super
foggy every morning anyway on our morning jogs, and it's so bad that I
don't even wear my glasses because they just get all fogged up and
water all over the lenses and the fog is so thick that I honestly
can't see far enough in front of me to warrant wearing glasses.

So I also need to clarify a little bit from last week- after talking
to Lindsey B. a little more, we learned that she and Grace
received their answer, so Grace will be baptized October 18th. Darryl
and Spencer are still waiting for their answer.

Here is the bummer news. Sophie talked to her mom- and she is not
allowed to be baptized at the moment. Sad, but the good thing is that
Sophie has a really strong testimony. She doesn't want to stop meeting
with us, coming to church, or reading her scriptures. She's being a
real trooper about the whole situation. Keep her and her family in
your prayers.

So remember that picture I posted on facebook of the trees? Well those
are at least double the height from what you see in the picture.
That's not an exaggeration, they are massive massive trees. There are
times driving though the forest and it looks like sunset because the
trees don't let in sunlight. Well, that part is right next to a less
active's house on this dirt road in the middle of nowhere. So we went
to go visit her on Tuesday night. We taught her and her kids about the
Book of Mormon, they said they would read it. While we were getting to
know them, they were talking about how there are bears in the area
that invade their trash at night. When we left, we were super scared
on the way back to the car. Well on Wednesday we were out tracting in
that area (there are like 15 houses out there), and that was when we
took the pictures. We both really had to use the restroom, and so we
decided to see if they were home. So we go inside for literally 4
minutes, they tell us they had read, they were really excited about
it, we used the bathroom, they told us that the bears had been out in
the morning, and then we left. Well, walking outside we saw a
McDonalds bag and some other food stuff scattered in her driveway, and
Elder Yepez said "holy crap, I don't think that was there 5 minutes
ago" and as we were walking past the bag we saw huuuuuge paw prints in
the dirt road. So needless we are freaking out because a freaking
black bear had passed by within the last 5 minutes. However, we made
it to the car without getting mauled. We also have seen lots of elk
still.

On Thursday we ate with the Rickner family. They are semi-less active.
Here is the cool thing about Brother Rickner- he is a fisherman. I'm
not talking some mamsy pamsy, weekend fly fishing with a paralyzed leg
fisherman. he does it for a living. That's his occupation. He fishes.
Being a counselor for the VA us cool and all, don't get me wrong, but
come on! This guys catches salmon for a living! So for dinner we had
salmon that he had caught that day. It was probably one of the best
dinners on my whole mission. That'd be such a cool job. He offered to
come let me crab with him for a season. Hey who knows? I might. It's
good money. Like good good money. Just food for thought.

If all goes well, we should have a baptism on Saturday the 13th. She
still needs some preparation, but it'll be awesome! Also on that day
President Alba is coming to CC and is staying the night. He wants to
do a fireside, but the scariest part is that he wants to do splits. I
think that's going to split my pants.

Soccer yesterday was a blast! We got there at like 2 and stayed until
around 7. We made this plan, we got three Spanish copies of the Book
of Mormon, and three English ones. On the inside, in their respective
languages, we wrote "please call us if you have questions of would
like to learn more (telephone number) or connect with us on Facebook-
Elder Nicholas Foster" since my comp doesn't use facebook at the
moment. It was way sweet, we left them on some tables, we went to one
side of the field and talked to some people. When we came back, two
were gone and one lady was reading it. This lady is the wife of one of
the guys we have been feeling that we need to work with. So anyway, he
comes up to me later and he's like "hey guys, when are you coming
over? I've got a busy schedule, but just give me a call! My wife and I
really want to learn!" So that was cool. Also, his wife's name is
Anparo or Amparo. It's a cool name because it's like Ampharos, which
is the coolest electric type Pokemon anyway. They're cool!

While we were there a TOOOOON of people added me on Facebook. Just
from last week I became facebook friends with like 5 people. So a lot
of people came up to me and were like Are we friends on facebook?
What's your facebook name? It was super sweet. One of the coolest
things about it is that Brookings is about 8 miles north of Smith
River, but it's not in our mission. There is only one set of
missionaries, and they don't speak Spanish (the people at la Joya
stopped them and talked to them. That's how much they like us. Between
me and the last guero Spanish missionary, they like me more. Cue the
pride!) and so basically we are THE Spanish missionaries. We teach the
Brookings people on Facebook, and everyone else in their homes. Every
single week people come up with good questions. They are really
opening up and you can see the Spirit working within them. Elder Yepez
and I are definitely the seed planters in this area. We know we're not
going to see all of the blessing that are going to come from us going
to La Joya. We are working hard out there, and it's just a blast to go
and hang with all of the Mexicans. That's where I feel comfortable!
With the Mexican Americans. That's why I've gotta marry a Mexican, you
guys! So get used to the idea of Mexican American grand kids and a
daughter in law with an accent! But you guys have plenty of time to
prepare for that ;) but on a more serious note (well, that's serious,
too. But you know what I mean.), it's cool knowing that in all the
years of Crescent City having missionaries, and that's a long time, we
are the pioneers of the Hispanic culture up here. One day there will
be a Spanish group here, and then a branch, and hopefully a ward. One
day is not today, however the foundations are being laid, and the work
is hastening. Keep praying for us to find the elect Hispanics please!
It's what we need.

Other cool thing. We went to this haircut place because this member
gives us free haircuts. Well she cut my hair and while she was cutting
my comp's hair I was looking at the products and there is this kind
called "Junior's" and it's made by Murray's pomade, but it's like a
crossover with them and Lucky 13 and so I was going to buy it because
it looked cool. I mean, on the back it talked about how if you like
hollow body guitars and fast cars you would like it, and how it's the
"1-2 punch over the weekend" and so I thought about how if I bought it
I would be like an old school Brian Setzer, the Stray Cats era or that
maybe I could be in a Psychobilly band like Tiger Army or the
Horrorpops. So I was going to buy it, and the lady was like, no! Why
would you buy that? Here, give me a second. And so she got out a tub
that she had used on like one customer, and she's like here you go!
For free! I thanked her very much. So basically that was a cool
experience. Members are awesome!

Also, we just got back from a Labor Day Picnic with the ward. We had 4
investigators there!

So that was my week. Styling hair, soccer games, and deciding to
become a fisherman. Just kidding, kind of. It was a great week full of
great finding and teaching. I've learned more in 2 weeks about the
church as far as organization and how things work than I had in 18
months before. Ok, one more thing to explain about the difference
between Spanish member and  English members. This is just how I feel,
I'm sure it's different in different parts of the world, but in this
mission this is definitely the culture. In the Spanish branches I've
served in, the majority of the members treat us like we are angels.
Since the majority of them are adulthood converts, they are so
grateful that missionaries brought them the gospel and so they feel a
very close connection to the missionaries and will do ANYTHING for us.
They love us tons. In a way, they put us on a pedestal higher than
them. Then you have the Spanish members that look at you as equals in
the work of salvation. This is my favorite kind of member. It is like
President Tobias from Vallejo. He is a convert, but he served a
mission and he is very mature and experienced in the Gospel. To him,
we are equals. That is how it should be. It is very rare that Spanish
members look down on you (certain members in Fairfield). In English
wards, we are equals many times. There a very few English members that
put us on a pedestal, unless they were converted very recently. It
happens quite often that English members look down on us. But the good
thing is from the times I taught with the missionaries and the times
that they ate with us, we treat them as equals. You guys do it right!
Moral of the story- missionaries are people, too. Give them food and
referrals. Don't act like you're better than them, don't act like they
are better than you.

Don't forget the three most important things as a missionary
1. Baptisms
2. Facebook likes
3. Leadership

Just kidding ;) love you guys!

Elder Mufosta