¡Hola Fonzfam!
It hasn't even been a full week back in the Spanish world, yet I feel so involved and ready to take on whatever comes our way. As you can imagine, after almost a year of serving English, my Spanish tongue is very rusty, but it's loosening up with all the prayers and teaching we're doing. It helps that my new companion, Elder Silva, is originally from Brazil and so Portuguese to Spanish hasn't been to hard for him. He's been out for almost four months now but is beyond that with his teaching skills. I'm so excited to see what we can do together over the next 6 to 12 weeks.
Something about this area you need to know. Last time I was serving here we had things going really well. But the missionary work in the branch boundary was split in half and we only had the bottom half. Now we have the full boundary which includes both the Tualatin and Lake Oswego Stakes. There are mountains of work to do and a couple dozen people we're teaching. There are quite a few others who we're working with who could potentially have baptismal dates soon and so I'll update you guys as things solidify. To catch you up to speed though, we have two people with a baptismal date right now:
Brandon, who is in 5th grade, is the only one in his family not baptized yet. He's a great kid and so is family of 8. We just need to finish teaching him the lessons before his baptism on March 2nd.
Jose Lara (we're working with a lot of Jose's so I have to specify;) has been meeting with the missionaries for about two months now and has progressed so much in the gospel. He loves church and he came to watch a baptism last night of another person the missionaries had taught in the zone. He's preparing for March 9th but has been fighting a Word of Wisdom problem for a while. Jose wants to change and so little by little he's been beating his addiction. He's been clean since last Tuesday and we hope to keep it that way as he continues to grow his testimony.
The first night I was here we visited with Rosa and her family! They are doing great but she hasn't made it to the temple yet for baptisms and so this is going to be our goal for her and Eddie. Another change that's happening in our Spanish branch is that we're possibly going to combine with another branch that's up in Beaverton. We've been meeting together at our normal building for the month of February and then we'll meet at a different one that's more north. In April we'll know for sure what's going to happen.
This past Friday we, along with the rest of the world, learned that we can now instant message and even call our families. This is going to be a great blessing to so many missionaries and their families. With how easy it is to communicate, the First Presidency has put their trust in each of us as missionaries. These past 20 or so months have tested me and helped me grow stronger as I've strived to do my best to serve with all of my heart and might. The face to face family calls at Christmas and Mothers day are so precious and their value is priceless. The last three video calls with my family have been some of the sweetest memories I've made. I look forward to our last one that's coming up in a couple months before this chapter of my life comes to an end. Until then it's time to get down to business, the Lord's business, here with the Hispanic community of Oregon. I love you guys and I will always love you! Have an amazing week! And congratulate Jaiden and Lily for me on their baptism:D
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
It hasn't even been a full week back in the Spanish world, yet I feel so involved and ready to take on whatever comes our way. As you can imagine, after almost a year of serving English, my Spanish tongue is very rusty, but it's loosening up with all the prayers and teaching we're doing. It helps that my new companion, Elder Silva, is originally from Brazil and so Portuguese to Spanish hasn't been to hard for him. He's been out for almost four months now but is beyond that with his teaching skills. I'm so excited to see what we can do together over the next 6 to 12 weeks.
Something about this area you need to know. Last time I was serving here we had things going really well. But the missionary work in the branch boundary was split in half and we only had the bottom half. Now we have the full boundary which includes both the Tualatin and Lake Oswego Stakes. There are mountains of work to do and a couple dozen people we're teaching. There are quite a few others who we're working with who could potentially have baptismal dates soon and so I'll update you guys as things solidify. To catch you up to speed though, we have two people with a baptismal date right now:
Brandon, who is in 5th grade, is the only one in his family not baptized yet. He's a great kid and so is family of 8. We just need to finish teaching him the lessons before his baptism on March 2nd.
Jose Lara (we're working with a lot of Jose's so I have to specify;) has been meeting with the missionaries for about two months now and has progressed so much in the gospel. He loves church and he came to watch a baptism last night of another person the missionaries had taught in the zone. He's preparing for March 9th but has been fighting a Word of Wisdom problem for a while. Jose wants to change and so little by little he's been beating his addiction. He's been clean since last Tuesday and we hope to keep it that way as he continues to grow his testimony.
The first night I was here we visited with Rosa and her family! They are doing great but she hasn't made it to the temple yet for baptisms and so this is going to be our goal for her and Eddie. Another change that's happening in our Spanish branch is that we're possibly going to combine with another branch that's up in Beaverton. We've been meeting together at our normal building for the month of February and then we'll meet at a different one that's more north. In April we'll know for sure what's going to happen.
This past Friday we, along with the rest of the world, learned that we can now instant message and even call our families. This is going to be a great blessing to so many missionaries and their families. With how easy it is to communicate, the First Presidency has put their trust in each of us as missionaries. These past 20 or so months have tested me and helped me grow stronger as I've strived to do my best to serve with all of my heart and might. The face to face family calls at Christmas and Mothers day are so precious and their value is priceless. The last three video calls with my family have been some of the sweetest memories I've made. I look forward to our last one that's coming up in a couple months before this chapter of my life comes to an end. Until then it's time to get down to business, the Lord's business, here with the Hispanic community of Oregon. I love you guys and I will always love you! Have an amazing week! And congratulate Jaiden and Lily for me on their baptism:D
Con Amor,
Elder Fonnesbeck
Here's my new Zone Family after our SPC Breakfast this last Saturday.
Sports night this last Thursday was a ball;)
The YSA life was great, and sharing the gospel with others my age was even better. #JesusRocks!
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