Week 25

Monday 4/18/16

After studies we did our laundry at the Pinnacle missionary apartments. We picked up some stuff at Walmart and Ross. Acacia Park met us at the institute and we picked up some food. Everyone met at the church and we played chair soccer and gator ball. We had dinner at the Jorgensons and taught them about the Atonement.

Tuesday 

After lunch and studies we tried to go see some people with no success. We saw Homer sitting in his front yard when we drove by so we talked to him. He gave us some petrified wood. He had about 3 tons of it and a 700 pound log. He also gave us various other items like 20 gallons of water and bikes. He is planning on moving to Arizona so he is getting rid of his stuff. We had dinner with the Garcias. We met with Jean after and talked with her about some of her concerns. We finished our district finding and then went back to the church to report what we found. 

Wednesday 

District meeting in the morning. We focused on meeting people's concerns. We did a district grab and gather. We picked up little Caesars. After lunch we played pivot until someone stabbed the ball. We had dinner with a less active and we met him at a place that serves Phó. He wants us to start teaching his girlfriend the lessons. We went to see Liza but she was not home. 

Thursday 

Studies 

We had lunch at Cali tacos. We always feel bad after eating there but it is so good. We headed over to Mary's kitchen and helped serve. We went to Joe's and got some Italian ice. We had a lesson with Adam, he is not going to be ready for his baptismal date this month. We dropped brother Jernigan off after the lesson with Adam. We headed over to the Pinnacle and exchanged with the zone leaders. I stayed in my area with Elder Haynie

Friday 

After studies we went out an did some tracting no success. We met some people that were from Ohio. We went to Craig park to do park contacting no one was there which was shocking. We went and saw Homer, he dropped us. Homer gave us this antique bike. The bike wouldn't fit in our bike rack, so Elder Haynie rode it to the church building down the road. The rest of the day was attempts to contact people, but everything fell through. We had dinner with the Jernigans. Brother Jernigan has a lot of funny stories serving in New Jersey. We exchanged back at the end of the night. 

Saturday 

We had to change the tire in the morning we caught a screw in the tire somewhere. We went to the zone leaders to drop off some things that Elder Haynie forgot. We got a Angelos pizza with the zone leaders for lunch (probably one of the best pizza places). We went to the tire shop and got our tire fixed. We stopped by Joe's ice on the way back to Fullerton. We exchanged with the zone leaders since Elder Henderson was sick. I went with Elder Haynie to a YSA barbecue. We went back and I stayed with Elder Henderson. We exchanged back and called it night. 

Sunday 

Ward council was in the morning before church. We got a new ward mission leader he is really excited to start working with us. In gospel principles we learned about praying to our Heavenly Father. After church we went back to the apartment and did our weekly planning. We had dinner with the Purrington's. The dessert was a tres leaches cake which was good. We setup a appointment with sister Talavara for this week. We stopped by to see the Bertichini's. We ended the night playing settlers of catan with the Bertichini's 

Kind of a slow week this week.

                                                      Homer

                             The bike we got from homer

Angelos Pizza Elder Sparacino's head was cut off 

Week 24

Monday 4/10/2016

We stopped by Acacia Park to pickup my laundry. We went to Ross then Sears with the zone leaders. The zone leaders heard from a member that they are going out of business, but the prices aren't that discounted yet. We went back to Ross and had lunch at Wendy's. Elder Sparacino got a hair cut from one of the Samoan Elders at our apartment. We went to P-Day activity, we played nerd wars with the whole zone the last game was a few hours. We picked up some Chipotle for dinner. 

Tuesday 

We went and saw Josie we shared the restoration with her, she showed interest in learning more she couldn't believe how young we were. We setup another appointment so here grandsons wouldn't be there. They kept running out the door and then back in. We did some other things we didn't get done on pday. We had lunch and then finished weekly planning. We had dinner with the Browns they have a parrot named Mango. It was cool to have Mango climb up and sit on us. We went and tried to have an appointment with Jesus but he wasn't there. Stopped by the Browns and picked up some fruit that we forgot to grab on the way out the door. 

Wednesday 

In the morning we went to district meeting. We focused on getting people to come to church. After district meeting we grabbed lunch at Wendy's and brought it back to the church building. After we went and saw Kim she is a potential investigator that has been really busy. The La Habra elders needed to use a computer so they came over and ours was being used. We took them to the pinnacle and got them into the lab there. We had dinner with the Davis family. We went and saw Tamara and setup an appointment for Friday. We saw Sister Hozner and setup and appointment for Friday too. We met Homer who served in the Navy he told us a lot about his life story. He said we can stop by most days and was intrigued by us offering service. One of his stories was how he took down a large guy with two Bulldogs that was in his yard a few days before. Now Homer is around 180 lbs and 80 years old. He taught us the tuck, grab and roll which he used on the guy in his yard. We saw sister Mierelez and setup some service with her on Saturday.

Thursday 

We did some Tracting between studies and lunch. We met a woman named Aria and we will go back to see her. After lunch we went to the church building for president interviews. We went back to the apartment and planning for our lesson with Adam. We went to Craig park and met a kid named Ernie. Ernie was certainly under the influence of some drugs. We tried to see Brother Fisher no luck. Dinner was at George's one of the optometry students in the ward. Their baby Landon is quite the hand full. We headed to the church for our lesson with Adam. Brother Bennion came Adam is really starting to grasp it.  

Friday 

After we finished in the morning we picked up Elder Sparacino's clothes for the Taylor. The Acacia Park elders came over for lunch. We did our weekly planning. After weekly planning we got a referral to go bless someone at St. Jude. It was Mary Thompson, I remember when I first got into the area we gave her a blessing. She had just come out of surgery and was not her regular self. After we blessed Mary we went and saw Michael a recent convert. We taught him about the importance of church and why we go. We got a referral from the zone leaders. We went to check it out, but no one was home so we will be back. We checked out the named we received for district finding. We knocked on the door and this giant pit bull slams into the screen door. I thought Elder Sparacino was just going to start running when he jumped. We grabbed dinner at the apartment. Quinn a youth in the ward that is going to be going on a mission in October came out with us. We went and saw Tamara, she has been feeling better recently. We have her a blessing and shared a quick lesson with her. We brought Quinn back after we tried to see everyone we were going to see. They made homemade tortillas and some awesome sandwiches.   

Saturday 

After studies we cleaned for the apartment inspection. Acacia Park came over since Elder Henderson grabbed their phone by mistake. We passed with and all clean on our inspection. We went over and picked Quinn up and headed over to do service for sister Mereliez. She made us lunch after we were done. We changed and went over and saw Homer. It is kind of hard to teach Homer he will start talking about something and he will go. They are great stories, but our lesson was three hours. We taught him the restoration and he accepted baptism. He wanted to know when the happy feeling he was having would wear off. We got him a ride to church for the next day. We took Quinn home. We grabbed the 5 for $4 at Burger King, we decided that we will not do that again. We walked to Liza, but she is out of town. We walked to Krystal's and setup an

appointment with her. 

Sunday 

Went to church and Brother Bennion picked up Homer. Adam also came, but he still hasn't stayed for the three hours. It seemed that quite a bit of people knew Homer. He was able to get along with the members in the ward. After church we went to Acacia Park for lunch. After we went and saw Cecilia she is not interested at this time. We had dinner with the Miller family. After dinner we tried to see Tamara, but she was not feeling well again. Then we saw brother Fisher and setup an appointment for this week. We went to the closest church building and fixed elder Saparcinos I Pad. We went back to the apartment to pickup laundry. Went back to the apartment and called it a night. 

                                                Elder Caleb Smith Bailey with Mango

Elder Sparacino with Mango

Mango

A Snail

Week 23

Monday 4/4/2016 

We went on a hike at vantage pointe in the morning. There was quite a bit of interesting stuff to say the least. There was abandoned shacks and water towers and various other miscellaneous things. I walked through a bunch of honey bee hives, the bees were everywhere and swarming me and Elder Durney. After the hike we went to Wendy's and grabbed some lunch. We got ready for P-day activity and went to the church building. They weren't really doing anything so Acacia Park came with us to the institute and we picked up some food. We went back to the apartment and walked over to the Jernigan's complex which is right next door for dinner. After dinner we exchanged with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Henderson to the YSA area. 

Tuesday 

After we left the apartment in the morning we stopped by the church building and picked up the STL's car report. We headed to the mission office dropped off the car report and picked up some mail. We had lunch at Wendy's. We went to the Cal State institute and met up with the Placentia zone leaders. Elder Thomas my MTC companion was on exchanges with the Placentia zone leaders, that was cool to see how he was doing. We did tabling on the campus, that is were we talk to them when they walk past us. We were able to get some solid contacts. We met up with one of their investigators at the Fullerton institute. He taught us the Plan of Salvation and he has a great knowledge of the gospel. We picked up dinner from a member in the ward, Chinese food. After dinner we tried to see some people they are teaching, but they weren't home. We went to Joe's ice. After Joe's we tried to see a former passed to them. We met Diego he races pigeons. It was funny because we thought he said raise, but he meant race. We taught him the Restoration and he received it well. We picked up my stuff and went back to the Euclid apartment and exchanged back.   

Wednesday 

District meeting in the morning, we have Acacia Park a ride. After district meeting we took the zone leaders with us to Charles Jr and brought it back to the church. We went out and tried to visit less actives and do some finding. We had dinner back at the apartment. We went out again and worked on our prospective elders list. We came back to the apartment and then exchanged with North Hills. I went with Elder Lindsey to the North Hills area. 

Thursday 

After our studies we went out on a list of potentials, no one seemed to be home. We visited a house and the women answered the door she said the lady we were looking for was dead. We had lunch back at the North Hills apartment. We went out again to see more people, but we had no luck of people answering the door. All of the scheduled appointments canceled. We had dinner at one of their members, we had Costco pizza.  We went to Book of Mormon class after dinner. We called it a night after and exchanged back. 

Friday

After our studies and lunch we went to Anaheim to meet a member to get some stuff notarized. We went to Joe's ice and did some street contacting. We had at the Mikols. We went to a lesson with the zone leaders. We mainly just answered her questions and concerns. We went to the pinnacle to do Elder Sparacino's laundry. 

Saturday 

We did some finding after our studies. We had lunch with Acacia Park. We went and helped Connie move her room around with Sister Mikols. We finished the night with weekly planning.  

Sunday 

Studied and went to church, Adam didn't come. We did some planning before dinner. We had dinner and a lesson with Todd at the Dean's place. The Deans made a Russian dinner which wasn't bad at all. We had more like two dinners with the Russian crepes they made for dessert. We went to Acacia park so I could start my laundry. Then called it a night. 

This week was kind of off two exchanges it also has been awfully rainy and dark. 

Some pictures from the hike on Monday, race pigeons and a staring cat. 

Week 22

Monday 3/28/2015 

Non P-Day 

We went to the Pinnacle to get our laundry from the Zone Leaders and Acacia Park after we finished our studies. We went to the institute to pickup some food for the week Acacia Park. Then we went to Walmart because Elder Wright needed some stuff. We had lunch back at the apartment I made some portobello mushrooms. Elder Sparacino wasn't feeling good so he rested for awhile. Sunny Hills came over for dinner and we made pasta. We visited prospective Elders and setup a appointment with Brother Fisher. Then called it a night. 

Tuesday 

We had lunch at the Sunny Hills apartment with North Hills, Acacia Park and La Habra South. We did service after we went to a park and picked up trash. After our service we did some contacting around the apartment. We had dinner back at the apartment. We had an appointment with Adam Brother Bennion came. We talked about some of the concerns and questions that he had from his studies. We think we helped him a lot and he might keep progressing. We went to get haircuts at a members house in the Sunny Hills ward, but too many missionaries not enough time.  

Wednesday

Zone training in the morning we had a discussion this time. We talked about the missionary fundamentals and how we can better apply them in our work. I went with Elder Russell to get subway and we went back to the church to eat. After everyone finished some Elders decided we should do trust falls off of the stage so we all did trust falls. We went to Craig Park to do some finding and the park was pretty empty do to it being a little cool out side. We tried to see some less actives and met Alexis who is a roommate of a less active member.  

Thursday 

Wake up at 2:00 Am felling absolutely terrible. I was able to ease the sickness with large amounts and small naps. By the time I woke up at 9:00 I was far better and in a state were I could work. We went to Cali Tacos for lunch with La Habra and Acacia Park . After we headed to Mary's and served the homeless. After Mary's we went to Joe's ice. We had dinner at a members house. After dinner we went back to the apartment and I went to sleep. 

Friday 

I woke up at 4 felling pretty close to my regular health. We got ready to leave for the temple and were on the highway with Acacia Park driving by 5:50 Am. We arrived fairly early at the temple. After we did the usual picture session, after the temple. We went to Cafe Rio then headed back to Fullerton. We stopped by SAMs and picked up a few things then Walmart and Costco. We went to P-day activity at the church not really anything fun. We went back and had dinner. 

Saturday 

First we went to the morning session of general conference. After the session the STL's needed help with a member that needed to move. So we got our service clothes on and headed over. All of the Elders that helped with the service headed to In-N-Out and had lunch. Then we changed again and went to the afternoon session. After we changed back into our service clothes and finished the move then went to the priesthood session. After we went to the bishop's house for Tony's pizza which is authentic Chicago style pizza and it is deep. After we called it a night. 

Sunday 

We went to the morning session of conference and near the end it started to wig out. We went back to the apartment and had lunch and weekly planned. We went back to the church building for the afternoon session. There was technical difficulties and we ended up packed in one of the foyers watching the ASL broadcast off of a missionary I pad connected to a tv. We toyed to see some new referrals we received and went back to the apartment. We had dinner and finished weekly planning. We visited some less active members. We finished the night by sharing a message with the Bertichini's  

Week 21

Monday 3/21/2016

Transfer Day  

After studies we went to the pinnacle and helped with the transfer that was going on there. After we went to the institute, played pool and got some free Sprouts food. Then we went to the church and long boarded and I wiped out and scraped up my arm. Some people started to show up and we had our activities. Dinner was with the Jorgensen family. After dinner we went to the Purrington's house and gave him a blessing for his health problems he has been having. 

Tuesday  

After morning studies we had dumpling for lunch. We went to see Tamara, but she is in the hospital still. Tamara's sons don't even know what hospital she is in. We stopped by and saw brother Davis. We had dinner with the Nordlin family. After dinner we went back to the church and role played some lessons. Then we had a lesson with Anna and Miguel. The zone leaders gave them a church tour and we taught the Restoration. Anna really felt he spirit and she enjoyed the message. Miguel is her son and his only concern was wearing pants because he loves wearing shorts. After the lesson we had to hurry over to the Jernigan's to have a lesson with Adam. We shared the Restoration video with him and focused on him receiving his answer. We went and saw Elder Westover and his new companion he is training. 

Wednesday 

We went to a blood drive after we finished studies. Lunch Acacia Park came over and Elder Russel made stir fry. We had a lesson with Brother Bennion our new ward missionary. Linda says she is comfortable were she is at, so she probably will not progress. We saw Sister Mireles and talked about providing service for her. We did dinner at the apartment, since we were not able to do at the time they wanted us. We did district finding for the rest of the night. 

Thursday 

Sunny Hills picked us up in the morning for district meeting. We learned about listening to what people need as we teach them. There was a grab then gather for lunch so we grabbed Del taco. I tried their fish tacos not that bad. It is interesting because we were told that the best thing they serve is their hamburger. When we got back to the church Elder Sparacino took out habaneros and challenged people to eat them. He got most of the Elders to eat one I got out of it since I ate one a few days before. It was a pretty funny result. Acacia Park brought us back to our apartment. We went and saw Connie and Delia at the Pavilion. We shared a talk called the sifting with Connie she really enjoyed that. We shared a message with Delia, but we are never sure how much she heard. We had dinner with the Oleas they are investigators and their son served a mission. They are not going to progress, since they want to stay were they are at. We had an appointment with Jesus and the bishop came. It turns out that he was running late so we rescheduled. We were able to share the Hallelujah video with and talked about the Atonement. We finished the night by visiting Quinn. We left him with ideas on introducing a friend into the church and shared Hallelujah with him.  

Friday 

After studies Sunny Hills cam and picked us up. We went to the mission office to pickup the insurance cards, but the Andersons were not there. We went to lunch at Cali tacos.Then went back to the mission office and picked up the insurance information. We stopped by Joe's ice on the way back. We started weekly planning before dinner. We had dinner with the Nuttall family. We went over to Acacia Park and did some work in their computer lab. After we called it a night.  

Saturday 

We went to Brother Canon's house when we left the apartment. We did service for him for most of the day. We tried to see people in our prospective Elders list. Dinner was back at the apartment with the Acacia Park Elders. We visited people in our potential investigators list for the rest of the night.

Sunday 

We got to church and helped with the programs. We almost didn't have programs brother Garcia was running late and he had everyone that was speaking. Sacrament meeting was on the Atonement. We learned that nearly 110,000,000,000 people have lived since Adam. After church we didn't eat a big lunch since dinner was in a couple hours. Sister Broderick invited us over for dinner along with a lot of other member and non members. We talked with Henry, he is a Caltech student that has been investigating the church for three years. He has many backgrounds one of them being a physicist so he works with NASA and other organizations. After dinner we stared our laundry at the Zone leaders and Acacia Park. 

                                     Habanero challenge 

                                              End result 

                                  From the hike few weeks ago