What Dad was in Sunnyside (week 63)

It has been another great week here in Sunnyside. Sad to say that I'm going to be leaving and heading to another area This Wednesay, I'm going to be transferred to Mission Ridge in Wenatchee. There I'll continue to be district leader and I will be greenie busting Elder Adams. Its going to be great. I'll be living with the zone leaders up there which will be a lot of fun. Elder Bergman is going to be transferred to Yakima east with Elder Palacios. The two of them are going to finish training each other. That was a little surprising when we found out. I didn't expect to be double out of Sunnyside seeing that I was doubled into this area just three transfers ago. I know that this is going to be a good change for the area and it strengthens my testimony that the Lord has a plan for each one of us and he puts us in places so we can help the people in the time that they need help. This is going to be another wonderful transfer. 

I'm going to guess that you would like to hear my side of dad coming to Sunnyside. Here it is. So Friday night as we were getting ready for bed brother Anderson sent us a text to make sure that we were going to be at the service on Saturday. I didn't make much of the text until I found out that dad stayed the night at their house and was probably involved in asking. So Friday morning when we got to the breakfast for the service project brother weaver and the Toppenish elders kept asking me if I had gotten any news. I had no idea what they were talking about but I had a guess that it had to do with dad passing through during his trip. Then while painting the house someone finally told me that dad stayed the night and went to the football game Friday night. It hadn't gone through my head that dad would stay the night with the Andersons. I though it was a possibility he'd pass through town but not stay a whole night. Then the Andersons had us over Sunday night so they could give me my package and so the English elders could share a message with them. They said that dad is a bunch of fun and that they had a great time getting to know you. It is so cool to know that you were able to have that experience. Sunnyside is the best! 

This past week we also had an attack of maggots. I didn't get to see the full extent of it because I was in the shower when they found them all but, from what the other elders tell me there were a bunch. We took a bunch of time vacuuming and cleaning the whole apartment to make sure we got rid of them. We are pretty sure that we got them all out. At least our apartment is a lot cleaner. 

We had an awesome district council this past week. We were able to have a great discussion on what our teaching ruts are and how we can get out of them. We made chart with the teaching ruts we fall into and the ways we can get out of them. One of the biggest take-aways was that we need to search out the spirit and follow its guidance. When we do so we will be able to better teach people and we will be able to avoid teaching rote lessons. We were also able to have a great role play on finding when teaching and teaching when finding. We had two missionaries teaching an investigator and then a person would interrupt the lesson in some random way. The idea was that we need to make the most of every situation we have to talk to other people. whether in a lesson or knocking doors. We have an awesome district here and I'm sad that I have to leave them this week. 

This is going to be another great week and hopefully y'alls back home have a great week too. 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                               Last week we had carne asada as a zone for P-day.

 District picture. We were joined by the zone leaders (sitting) and Elder Palacios whose trainer went home for medical reasons. 

                                   At the service painting houses. We had a little fun while painting. 

Elder Wilson Telling us the game plan

Talking to wonderful people here in Sunnyside (week 61)

We had a pretty great week here in Sunnyside. We had training's, I went on exchanges (I've been on one every week this transfer and have two more to go), and we have been able to talk to some great people.

 So to start off we had out Zone Training meeting on Tuesday. It was great! Most of our meeting centered around our goal setting session. We were trying to come to a united decision on what our baptismal goal for the months of September and October should be. We wanted it to be a completely united decision and not just a majority vote. When it is just a majority vote we lose a bit of zone unity and not everyone feels as committed to that goal. We had some very long discussions on why we wanted one goal or another. At the end of our goal setting I felt a lot more accountable to the goal that we set. The other part of the meeting was a discussion over the importance of teaching people and not lessons. That is our focus for this month and it is pretty exciting. We didn't get too much into it due to a lack of time in the meeting ,but we were able to discuss it more in depth the next day in our district council. District council is so much fun. It's so great because it really is a council. It is a time to raise questions and share ideas that can help all of us in the missionary work. We related the Teaching people not lessons to having charity toward the people we interact with. We need to invest time into these people and show them that we really care about them. It helps gain trust and when that trust is established it becomes so much easier to teach to their needs. I am looking forward to the many more things we are going to learn about teaching people and not lessons. 

Right after Zone training meeting I went on exchanges with Elder King, one of our zone leaders. He is from Plano Tx. We got to reminisce a little on Jubilee. It was fun and we were able to practice bringing the Book of Mormon to life for people. We need to help them see that it applies to them and that they can learn something from it. We also have to show them that it means something to us. We talked to this guy and helped him see how it would be able to help him in his family life. I also got to do the same thing while teaching some other investigators later in the week with Elder Bergman. We have seen improvement and the people are actually reading. They read because they are excited to read for themselves the things that we shared with them. 

We have been meeting some really great people and because of it we have a pretty busy schedule. We always have something going on and some one to see. We are also trying to get better at how we work with the members and gain more of their trust. I also recently figured out how to do that fire and scribble disappearing trick. Maybe I'll make a video with it sometime this week. 

We have a great week ahead with an awesome Zone Conference to look forward to. Hope all is well back home.

With love,

Elder Boren

                                                                         Elder Flamm.

                  An investigator gave us a big bag of apples so I made some homemade apples sauce. 

                                     Also eggs are really cheap here so we eat eggs a bunch.

                                           Some of the Gala apples our investigator gave us. 

Zone Conference and volunteer work (week 62)

We had a great week and now it is hard to believe that Saturday we are going to be getting transfer calls. 

The highlight of the week would have to be zone conference which was on Thursday. It was so much fun being able to be around a bunch of other missionaries and see familiar faces. Zone conference makes me thing of the reuniting of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. 

"therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God." (Alma 17:2) 

Thats what it is every zone conference and basically every missionary meeting we have. We get to come together and rejoice in this gospel and the opportunity we have to share this gospel with others. We also get to share experiences that aid one another in furthering this work. This zone conference we talked about, PMG planning, working with members, finding, and effectively teaching people. We talked about what it means for some one to be converted and how we can help them reach that point. We reviewed the talk by Elder Oaks on teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It was a great meeting and it was also pretty fun. When we sang called to serve for the members that prepared our lunch, President Lewis had us do a little bit of choreography and move around while singing. 

This past week we were also able to do a bit of service. We had service at the food bank like most weeks and that was pretty fun. This time around they had me translating for those that don't speak English. On Saturday we had two service projects. The first one we helped a lady move rocks out of her yard and that wasn't too bad. Then later that day we helped with special olympics at the bowling alley. We helped cheer on and make sure they knew who was up to bowl. The people Elder Bergman and I helped out were really good. They were bowling on average 120. They are a lot better than I am. They can put some pretty good spin on the ball. 

We are continuing to teach so really awesome people and we are also working on finding some more as well. The hard part is finding them at home consistently. The people here are pretty busy working. When apple season comes to an end people will be more available. 

We are looking forward to another great week and hopefully we will be able to make the most out of last full week of the transfer. I hope all y'all have a great week too.

With love,

Elder Boren

                                               Doing service moving rocks for a lady. It was great!

                                         Starting exchanges with Elder Aguilar and Elder Nielson

                        I made some more applesauce. Just what happens when people give us tons of apples.

Improving how we talk to people (week 60)

It was a pretty good week here in Sunnyside for us. 

we have been working at improving how much we talk to people on the streets. We are trying to do a lot more of Opening our Mouths. While working on meeting more people we tracked into a girl and got to know her a little on the door step. She told us that she had just lost her great-grandmother and that a lot of her family was here for it. As we were finishing talking with her I handed her a Hallelujah pass-along card out of habit. To make it different I had the prompting that I should ask if we could watch it right there and then on her phone. We watched it and as it went for a little she said, "That's actually kind of interesting". The video applied a ton to her and her current situation. At the end of the video we got to testify of the resurrection and the many blessings that Christ has in store for us. It is super fun being able to talk to a bunch of people and share the joys we know with them. There are so many people we just pass up each day and it just takes five minutes to share a quick card with them and invite them to check it out. We usually go for more quality OYMs than that ,but I just wanted to show how easy it is. 

Elder Bergman is doing really well and working on his Spanish a bunch. He is very much in the same spot as I was when I got into the mission field. I think I may have had a little more experience that he does though. I've just got to work with him to boost his confidence in speaking the language. Time to also give him the chance to speak Spanish with all the members. He is a stellar missionary and will have Spanish mastered in no time. 

The fruit here is awesome. I've been loving all the pears people have been giving us. Asian pears are the best. We aren't very deep into apple season so not all the apples I like are being picked yet. Shouldn't be too long though. Every Sunday at church there is a box of fruit or vegetables sitting in the kitchen for people to take. 

This upcoming week we have Zone training meeting and District council. We also have exchanges with the zone leaders which will be awesome. We have some awesome stuff planned and some really cool people to stop by. Hopefully all is well back home. 

 Sorry it's a little blurry but I liked this one the most. We got hair cuts at a members house this morning and we had fun taking pictures on a swing while the others got their hair cut.

 Elder Bergman posing for a picture on the swing. Elder Hanna in the background ready to take a picture on Elder Bergman's return

                                                   Elder Flamm having a go at the swing.

                                        Elder Flamm taking a moment to think while writing letters.

An Email to his Dad........

Recently I feel like I've been a lot more confident with leading conversations, especially in Spanish. Spanish is actually a lot more comfortable to speak in when talking about the gospel. I need to find a prefect balance so I can also give Elder Bergman time to speak and practice his language skills. I can't be dominating all the lessons. Elder Sanchez didn't have to learn a language so we just jumped right into teaching people and working on his teaching skills. With Elder Bergman I'm helping him learn Spanish as well as improving his teaching skills. Elder Bergman is super ready and is going to take off as a missionary once he gets a good handle of the language. ( He is already a stellar missionary) Thankfully it doesn't feel all to different or more stressful. I've just got to keep trusting in the Lord and his plan for me.

Sounds like you had a super awesome time camping with Blaze. Mom also told me that you are going to be in California soon. Enjoy the trip.

Love you too,

Elder Boren