Staying in Sunnyside (week 51)

Transfer week! Elder Steadman and I are going to be together for another transfer here in Sunnyside. Elder Baker and Elder Buchanan (the elders we share the apartment with) are getting doubled out. They are going to Toppenish and Yakima. They are going to be replaced by sisters and the english elders are going to be moving in with us. Some other news I got from transfer calls is that Elder Sanchez is going to be district leader. Although I don't know what area he is in yet. I hope to find out soon. 

We have had ourselves a pretty good week. We had district council last Tuesday and worked on asking questions and listening. Asking questions is a really big part because if we don't ask questions our lesson turns into a lecture and we leave the investigator confused. When we do ask questions we can see where they stand in their understanding and it makes it more comfortable for them to ask questions as well. Then on Wednesday we had district language study and started wrapping up on the subjunctive verb tense. Doing a weekly study of the verb tense has helped out a bunch and now it's a whole lot more comfortable using it in conversation with people. I still have more Spanish to learn though. 

Biking on Wednesday after Dls was rough. The tempature is getting hotter, or was last week, and has been sitting around 110. It makes it less than enjoyable being out side. Means we have to be in the shade more and try not to get sun burns. It also mean drinking more water during the day. But the bike riding is a good work out even though it leaves me a little worn out the next day. Tomorrow morning we are planning on riding a bike route in town for our morning work out. On Friday morning we had a good 2.5 mile run to Wal-mart and back. Some times we make effort to get up and do a little more for out morning workout. 

Not to much has happened this last week or at least nothing really comes to mind. We are looking forward to a really great week with some small changes coming this way. Hopefully we can make the most out of this week and find those that have been prepared to hear the gospel. 

I hope all is well back home and everyone is having a great week. Happy 4th of July! 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                           Apartment picture before we go our ways for transfers.
 Elder Baker's promo picture for Pepsi.

Really great week (week 50)

We had a really great time this past week. We are keeping busy and finding those that have been prepared to receive the gospel. Looks like it's starting to get warm again ,but at least it's not that humid. 

The recent convert family the Acostas is doing really well. We had family home evening with them on Monday and talked about the plan of salvation. We were able to answer questions and help them understand things they hadn't grasped yet. It's a lot of fun teaching them because they ask questions and give input. It helps learning how to involve people into the discussion. That's why it's so important to teach people and not lessons. When we teach lessons it's almost impossible to get people involved. 

On Tuesday I went o exchanges with Elder Allsop here in Sunnyside. It was a bunch of fun and we got to teach 4 lessons. We got to teach on of our investigators who has been trying to find out if he should be baptized. He has been coming to church and really enjoys it. We have been working with him to answer his questions and help him in his search for the truth. We have been talking about the Holy Ghost and how it helps us find our answers and the many other roles it can play in our lives. We were also blessed when on Sunday the two speakers both spoke on the Holy Ghost. It shows how much Heavenly father loves each of his children and wants to answer the questions they have. He does a lot to make sure we know the truth. We get to see his again tomorrow and help him answer more of him questions. 

The is so much that has been going on that it's hard to remember all of it. We are on the last fully week of the transfer and it is a little hard to imagine. Doesn't feel like I've been in Sunnyside for that long. We'll see what transfers see this Saturday.  It sounds like everyone has been having a great summer so far. Hopefully the rest of the summer is just as great if not better.

Love you,

Elder Boren

                 The Super Trucker Burger from bob's burgers here in SunnySide. Three layers of good burger.

                         We went to a really good Mexican chicken place. This is the painting on the side.

 Elder Buchanan had his birthday this last Friday. We went to a fancy restaurant thanks to our awesome branch mission leader.

My desk as it is now. That's a mint plant sitting in the middle.

Riding Dinosaurs (week 49)

We had such a great week here in Sunnyside. It seems like it was just the other day that I was writing an email home and now here I am again. Not too much happened this past week but what we got to do was a bunch of fun.

We have been teaching an investigator named Eric and we have been trying to get him to see the importance of him getting baptized even though he just got baptized last year into another church. We asked to him come to church on Sunday praying to find the answer to whether he should be baptized or not. He cam yesterday and told us that he enjoyed it. We are going to see him again this Tuesday to talk to him a bit more that the little conversation we had at church. I'll keep you updated. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Johnson this last week and it was a blast. We had the bike since it was Wednesday, but we didn't really ride much. His is a very bold missionary and gave me an example of how to be bold yet show love to those we meet and teach. We got to talk to some great people while out knocking doors. I figured out that being bold is the best way to find those that have been prepared (red tomatoes). I think it would help out a lot knowing who is prepared and not in our area so I'm gonna work on the showing love with boldness thing. 

I think I'm starting to better understand this whole Spanish thing. I've known how to speak it and I defiantly know what people are saying but I think I'm finally getting a really good grasp on the whole grammar and structure part. I've gotten better with studying grammar and now I can easily notice when certain verb tenses are being used and some other grammar structures. I still have a bunch to go and I still have to put it into practice but its getting better. 

We have ourselves a great week a head and hopefully not a hot one. I hope all is well back home and everyone is having a fun summer.

Con Amor,

Elder Boren

                                                        There are lots of cool dino statues.

                                                             Pretty sweet huh?

                                                       Ridding our velociraptors to victory

Gotta go fast

Elder Daniel Johnson of the seventy spoke to us (week 48)

We had ourselves such an amazing week. We were blessed to have Daniel L. Johnson of the quorum of the 70 visit our mission. The time while we were not having meeting and conferences we were able to go out and enjoy the work. 

Elder Johnson shared a lot of things with us that are really going to help us in this work. On Thursday we had a conference for all the Spanish speaking missionaries up in Wenatchee. I was great as he answered questions and addressed concerns in relation to working with the Latin American culture. One thing that really stood out is how in the Latin American culture they act more based on feelings than logic. His advice to us was to testify often so they can feel of the spirit and feel that the things we are sharing with them are true. Here are some other random notes from the Spanish conference; Be direct in commitments, Be a good listener, Teach them to look for miracles, Set the example. One other thing that he emphasized is the fact that missionaries are HARVESTERS and not sowers. Our purpose is to find those that are prepared and help them make and keep commitments. His analogy was that of a tomato farmer. The farmer can go in the field and yell/encourage the unripe tomatoes as much as he wants but it will not change the fact that they are not ready. His time is better spent searching for those tomatoes that are ripe and ready to be picked. We as missionaries need to do the same thing. We need to look for those that are prepared and give those that are not more time so they can one day be found prepared and be harvested. It's not hat we should completely ignore those that are not prepared but rather that we should not force them to do something they are not ready to do. He brought our attention to the fact that so many times people a forced and coaxed into making the baptismal covenant when they are not properly prepared. Many times this results in people being baptized into inactivity and as Elder Bednar says "You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost". When they are not prepared it is like baptizing a bag of sand since they do not truly understand its purpose. This whole idea is emphasized in Doctrine and Covenants 4: "4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul". After that conference I can now say I know what that scripture means when it says we are to thrust in our sickle. 

Another topic he covered in the Southern Zone conference is how we need to practice receiving answers from the Lord and repenting so we can teach our investigators more effectively about the process. He told us of how it is very important for the youth to learn how to use the atonement and how to repent before the mission. He told us of how many missionaries get to the field and find that they don't know how to repent and how it would be so much better if they learned before hand because it will give them the experience they would be able to share with their investigators.

Sorry most of my email this week is filled with things I learned from conference. I just wanted to share the great insights and I hope you can gain something from what I have shared. I hope all is going well back home. Enjoy the summer break!

With love,

Elder Boren

week 47

We had ourselves another pretty good week here in Sunnyside. It is pretty sunny and hot here. Just the other day it hit 100 here. It was a pretty tiring day. We were fasting and I happened to be wearing a long sleeve shirt since I wasn't feeling like changing shirts after church. Then the other elders borrowed the car from us and we had a two hour block between three and five where we had to walk. So they dropped us off at one of the trailer parks in our area where we were hoping to contact a pretty golden referral. Sadly he wasn't there when we went to stop by. So we started a thirty minute walk over to  another trailer park which is about a mile and a half away. It was exhausting and we were both pretty thirsty by the end. We didn't get to talk to the person we planned on seeing there in the second trailer park ,but we did find and talk to two people with some really good potential. Another positive is that our exhaustion made dinner all the better. We had homemade tacos with one of the families in the branch here. (Not the "Tacos" they sell at taco bell or that we made at home. These are the real deal.)

Since the branch is so small most of the families will feed us just about twice a week. It's cool because we get to know the families a little more. However it would be nice to get to know more families and not feel like a burden on the families that feed us frequently. 

Elder Steadman and I have been developing a plan to improve our use of the finding tools we have over this transfer. At the beginning of our planners we have a list of activities that we can use to find people. Some examples being; Hold a fireside, Publish an article in the newspaper or organize a bible study class. We are excited to try a bunch of different finding activities and find those that are being prepared. We will see how they go and keep you updated on the outcomes. A lot of them are also in preach my gospel under finding if you want to look through them. 

This week we also had zone training meeting over in Yakima (almost and hour drive from Sunnyside). The training was all centered around becoming a representative of Jesus Christ rather than just a messenger. People are always watching us and we want them to see us as representatives of Christ and not just the messengers of his gospel. 

This upcoming week we have the opportunity to hear from Daniel L. Johnson of the 70. He is going to be speaking to all the Spanish missionaries on Thursday and we will have a normal southern zone conference on Friday. It is going to be a great experience as we learn how we can better work with those in our area. At the Spanish conference he is going to teach us how we can work to overcome the challenges that come with working with the Spanish culture. I'm excited to see what great things we can learn from him. 

I'm not sure what exactly everyone around here does during the summer but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Yes it is getting hot. But it's not humid so I think I'll make it through.  I hope it hasn't gotten too hot back home. Enjoy the summer break.

With love,

Elder Boren

transferred to Sunnyside (week 46)

Transfers have come and now I am here in Sunnyside. My new companion is Elder Steadman. He is from Orem, Utah. I have been out just a transfer longer than he has. We are also living with Elder Baker and Elder Buchanan. The area is pretty awesome we split Sunnyside with the elders we live with and we just work in Spanish. We have a car in our area and the others elders use it every Wednesday and Saturday. It is going to be an awesome transfer working here in this area. 

So Wednesday night we got here and had dinner with one of the members. Then we got back to the apartment and started looking through the area book so we could figure out our area and decide where to go and who to see. I think we have somewhat of an idea of the investigators in our area. We haven't been able to see very many of them yet ,but we are working on that. Thursday was a bit of driving around the area to figure out where people live and knocking on the doors of their houses. Not very many of them happened to be home yet but we found out from a few of them the better times to stop by. We also got to visit with the Acosta family who just got baptized about three weeks ago. The head of the household isn't a member yet but he has the potential to it soon. 

Saturday morning is when everyone in the house started to feel crummy. The only exceptions being me and Elder Buchanan at the time. So we left our companions at the house and went to the store to get them something before heading out to work our areas. While in the store Elder Buchanan dropped a liter of soda and it exploded and slid across five aisles. That combined with a trash bag ripping on him as he took out the trash started a pretty fun day for him. At about three he started to feel crummy as well so we headed in and spent the night at the apartment. It was a good time to get to know everyone and listen to some good talks. Got to listen to the conversion story of Glenn Beck. 

On Wednesday when we got here I was asked to give a talk in sacrament so thats what I did on Sunday. Luckily everyone was feeling well enough to accompany me to church. I gave my talk on the Sabbath day and then after sacrament meeting Elder Baker and Elder Steadman headed to the apartment because they were once again not feeling well. Then after Elder Buchanan and I finished church we went back and Elder Baker and Elder Buchanan were able to got out while Elder Steadman and I stayed in. We stayed in for the night again which made for a fun weekend of sickness. 

The warm weather is getting here although it's nothing in comparison to Texas heat. Hopefully it doesn't get as hot as Texas. 

We are looking forward to another great week and hopefully no one gets sick. I hope all is well back home and everyone is enjoying the beginning for summer break. 

This is our address here in Sunnyside:

418 S 13th St #9

Sunnyside WA, 98944

Love you,

Elder Boren

Transfer week (week 45)

As you probably know this week is transfer week. Elder Sanchez is going to be staying here in Royal and going to be companions with Elder Etter. I'm getting doubled into Sunnyside with Elder Steadman. It has been a great three months here in Royal but it looks like it's time for me to work in another area of the mission. It is going to be fun getting doubled in again.

We have had ourselves a great week here on the Royal Slope. Some thing awesome that happened last week on p-day is that I saw Elaine (Our recent convert in Othello 3rd) at walmart. I got to talk to her for a little and saw that she is doing very well and has gotten full custody of her kids. It is so great having tender mercies like that. The rest of the day was really good and we were able to see a few investigators that night.

This past week I went on two different exchanges. The first one was with Elder Shugart in Othello and the other was with Elder Medina in Royal. Going on exchanges with Elder Shugart to Othello was great. I got to be in my first area and see people I haven't seen in a while. One of those being Hermano Serna. I also got to see one of the less active members that we were working with in Othello. They are starting to work with him to go to the temple! So cool to hear how the different members are progressing. I also got to know Elder Shugart a little more and even cooler is that he just got called to be assistant to the president. He is such a great missionary and it will be fun to see him in that new role. I also got to learn more about helping current investigators become progressing investigators. We have to do those things that will show them that we really care and help them understand why they need to be keeping commitments. When I whet on exchanges with Elder Medina it was actually my birthday. It was a little different having a birthday on the mission but it was still enjoyable. We got to visit Anastacio and talk with him about the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saturday we of course got our transfer calls and the news that came with it. We were also able to visit with one of Anastacio's sons. It was a little stressful as he was drunk and being very stern. I discovered comfort as I focused on the fact that he is a child of God and that he has so much potential to change for the better. He isn't interested right now but he gave us permission to work with the rest of his family. We hope that he will see their example and want to follow. We were also able to get to know them more yesterday while we had carne asada at their house. We went with president cortez, Anastacio's member son, and his family. It was great as most of the conversation was centered on missionary work.

I am looking forward to a great week and another great transfer. One thing I was wondering if you could do for me is get pocket sized children's hymnbook. I hope all is well back home.

with love,

Elder Boren

I went on exchanges with Elder Shugart in Othello and got to see hermano Serna. Going on exchanges in old areas if fun.

Some members made me a cherry cheesecake. 

All the cherries are almost ready for harvest.

All my ties at the end of this transfer.