Week 31

Okay so this week was pretty weird. It started out kind of slow, then got slower but just the last few days have been awesome!

Tuesday was your normal district meeting day. I dont know if I mentioned this earlier but the Adelanto north area is were Elder Jennings served early last year so he told me to go see this less active. We finally found out where he lived and visited him on tuesday, it was a good lesson. THen he told us he wanted to play some songs for us on his guitar. THinking it would be a few minutes we accepted the offer. About 45 minutes later we finally got out, haha, yea. His songs are all about the gospel somehow, which is nice, but they are kind of... eccentric 

Wednesday we got a few lessons in here and there. pretty basic day. I wasnt feeling to well going into dinner and by the time we got home I was pretty sick (it had nothing to do witht he food, it was super good!) but we had exchanges the next day so I sucked it up.

Thursday we had exchanges withthe spanish elders. I went into Elder Selph's area. Pretty much all day I felt pretty gross, but it didnt matter because I cant speak spanish haha.

Friday, we sort of took a sick day. I was all sorts of hurting and so forth.

Saturday I was feeling a lot better so we went out to Apple Valley #wedonthaveboundaries to see a Samoan potential who wasnt home :(

But the ward was having an activity in AV so we swung by and talked with some less actives. We headed back towards Victorville/Adelanto area and weekly planned. We biked around in the evening to save miles and everyone we were seeing lived close by. It was super weird, first time riding the bike on the mission. But yea, that was about it.

Sunday there was a homecoming talk in each ward. Im not biased or anything but Samoan was way better. The missionary who came home to the Samoan ward came out with us the day he was set apart. Also he was in the Jacksonville FLorida mission, although he didn't know my homie Steveoooooo.

That was my week. Hopefully yours went well.

Elder Ockey

Week 30

Well sorry folks but this week was pretty normal. 

Hopefully you will find something entertaining in here.

Monday was pretty normal. P-day activity and such. Elder Boltz screwed up his knee which he had previously had surgery on so we didnt see many people.

Tuesday was a normal district meeting day. We saw Peter, who finally came to church yesterday! He is a less-active living in a Tongan household so we always see the Tongan Elders over there. We saw Sami, he said he would go to the addiction recovery meeting that night but we haven't seen him since so we haven't been able to follow up.

Wednesday we met with and dropped an Adelanto gator, who said that you can convince yourself that anything is true if you read it enough. thus was her reason for not reading and praying about the Book of Mormon....

We saw Sami's niece and nephews, they are members. Their dad works in Alaska but he is back in California for a while. Hopefully we can get the whole fam active. That night we saw the Tupai's, Im not sure exactly what happened but we were there for a long time haha.

Thursday we went to help someone in the Adelanto ward move, anticipating maybe 2 hours of service. But naw, we were there for 7 hours because the Elders quorum was slacking and it only ended up being us 4 missionaries. It was super hot there to.

Friday we helped weed another members yard before we weekly planned. Then we saw the Rosales family. We had committed the 3 kids to read a chapter a day but they hadn't so their Samoan grandparents gave them a talkin to haha. We got all their cell #'s and we are texting them everyday to remind them to read.

Saturday we taught the Jacksons, another half Samoan family. Ray-ray is 14 and he is probably a foot taller than I am.  But they are all super hilarious. Dinner that night was a party for the Releif Society. Usually in a white ward it would be a womans only thing but because its a Samoan ward its an excuse to gather together and eat. We ended up being there 3 hours because we couldnt get out haha. But there were a lot of less-actives so its okay.

Sunday was normal. There were a lot of less actives there which was awesome but we still only had about half the turnout of a normal sunday. Its super sad but there was a Tongan RM who was killed Sunday morning and everyone was related to him so they all were elsewhere. Super sad, I never got to meet him because he lives down the hill but his father is the Adelanto ward counselor. Yea kind of a bummer on the whole week.

Hopefully you all had a good time, wherever you may be.

Elder Ockey

Week 25

Sorry I missed posting Week 25 so here it is.

I was about to say "What up fam!?"but I realized that I say that almost every week haha. I also noticed I start by saying "dang" all the time so I am just going to jump right in.

Monday was your average p-day on the miss. we played some soccer and rugby and such. Another Elder got some nice pics, Ill have him send them to me for next week.

Tuesday was zone meeting. It was longs as per usual, gosh its awful to sit there for so long. Then some Tongans came and fed us again. so much food. I dont know how I feel about Tongan food. Some of it is really good but some of it is just... there.

Wednesday was your basic Wednesday I suppose. We did some food bank and taught some peeps. Gosh normal missionary days are so boring to write about

Thursday our investigator Patrice had to cancel because she was sick so we went over to give her a blessing (she asked for one) and finally got to meet her son who is a convert (for about 13 years I think?) he is super funny though. Hopefully we can keep the progression going. We were also able to see a bunch of less-actives. 

Friday was weekly planning day... Gosh weekly planning is the worst. We saw one less-active and we had a really good lesson then at the end she just started throwing all these super anti questions at us which was super weird. But she has like 10 cats and a huge dog in a tiny one bedroom apartment so we were covered in hair.

Saturday was exchanges with the spanish elders again. Elder Ward came to our area with me. We were able to finally re-establish contact with Eunice (the mother with 9 kids) who we haven't seen since before thanksgiving! crazy stuff. She is still interested she was just busy working the holidays and taking care of her mother. I guess we just always stopped by at the wrong time. But we have return appointments set up and everything so hopefully we can get the ball rolling again.

Sunday was different this week. We didnt go to 9.5 hours of church this time because the western coast of north america all received a special broadcast from SLC. My favorite talk was from Elder Renlund probably. I would quote him but I dont take notes haha.

Love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Ockey

Week 29

Okay so I remember a bunch of super sick stuff happened this week but I cant remember a lot of it. Hopefully it will come back to me as I type haha.

Monday was basic p-day I guess. We had dinner with Bishop Pauga, man he is so funny. He just hated on his kids for making salad and healthy food. When we shared our message about the 2000 stripling warriors being taught by their mothers to be strong in the gospel. Bishop then said he would blame his wife and all the mothers in the ward if any youth fell away. haha hes crazy.

Tuesday was our zone meeting. The Hurtadop house acted out the second chapter of Alma, I wish I had the video to send we went all out it was legit. We were able to see a Samoan less active that we had never met before. She beleive that she is literal flesh and blood of Heavenly Father (like JEsus Christ material) and that the bible took place in the high desert/apple valley area. sooo yea she cray.

Wednesday we saw brother Iloilo whom I had never met before. He doesnt come to church because everyone in his house is JW or 7th day Aventist and he doesnt want tension. Anyway this guy is freakin huge! He was a security guard at the Superbowl. We saw the Rosales' as well, we had challenged the kids to read a chapter a day last week and only one of them did it, so when their Samoan grandparents heard they tore them a new one it was hilarious.

Thursday we taught a lesson with our gator Shanae, she had a ton of questions that we answered and she defs felt the spirit. All-in-all it was super good. Other than that a few uneventful LA visits

Friday we did service at the Mau'u home, we helped them lay sod and plant some bushes. They are a super cool family. We also saw the Jacksons (Samoan), they are super funny, dang these Samoan kids are legit so crazy.

Saturday was furshur the highlight of the week. For 3 hours Bednar was teachin us the most legit stuff. It was super cool because he didnt just talk he had us asking questions and stuff. I'll be straight up, from General COnference and pics of him you would think he was super stern but this guy was crackin jokes right and left. I wish I could write everything he said it was so awesome. here is a word-for-word quote or two, "Hey idiot! you are turning off the flashlight!" while using the flashlight as a metaphor for the spirit and we dont read our scriptures. He also sat everyone down by talking about how people say they dont have time to go to church or read their scriptures, he said, "everyone has the same amount of time in each day." haha then he said #firstworldproblems (minus the hashtag)

He also said most sacrament meeting talks are super crumby and he doesnt like listening to them. Haha all in all it was one of the top moments on the mission. Then he straight up gave us a prophetic warning and prophecy. But he told us not even to bother trying to describe it over email so I guess you guys are out of luck!

Anyway, sunday was normal, but we had a ton of LA Samoans at church which was awesome! Also all the kids call testimony meeting "shoutout" meeting becuase everyone just thanks the ward for helping them.

But yea, thats my week. It was awesome. 

Hope you all had/have a good week!

Elder Ockey

Week 28

Whats up fam? so this email will be short because its only been since wednesday.

Thursday was your average day. we had service at a homeless shelter. sort of mopping floors and cleaning windows sort of thing. Man I miss the food bank in Ontario cuz we could take all sorts of stuff #missionarystruggles

anyway after that we were able to teach our Adelanto investigator Bruce about the book of mormon a little bit more which was cool, he needs something to get him really progressing though. Anyway then we headed over to AppleValley which is the other side of the desert because we go where we please. Haha but we had dinner over their with a Samoan family after trying a few potentials. Its honestly such a struggle trying to get Samoan gators because you cant really tract 'em. But then we tried by a fam in Victorville (another city in the desert) named the Savea's. They have 8 kids which is crazy. But when we showed up they were just starting a party so we tried to slip out after saying we would come back the next day, then they gave us a bunch of food haha. Gotta love them Samoans

Friday we helped someone in the Adelanto ward move some furniture around before we weekly planned. We were able to see Kay, who is an Adelanto gator. We took a priest aged young buck from the ward so we can get them member presents. But Kay seems super flaky, she told us that she prayed about the BofM and Boltz and I just looked at each other because they Spirit was telling us otherwise. Don't lie to us Kay! but yea she is looking all sort of stupid stuff up on the internet and claims that she takes it with a grain of salt but her actions proved otherwise. The worst part is Bishop wants us to focus on her a ton but it wont go anywhere. Anywayyyyyyyyy, then we had dinner with the Faamafoe's, this was their second time feeding us that week. Their excuse was that one time it was her, then the other time it was her brother that fed us. It was cool they, they are super awesome. Well we were able to stop by the Savea's but only the kids were home, we tried to teach them about the BofM and church but they would always get off on tangents. Two of the kids are polar opposites but the epitome of cute little poly kids, its awesome.

Saturday we took an Adelanto member out with us and taught a few lessons to investigators. Nothing noteworthy really happened. But we got a new gator which was nice.

Sunday was stake conference in Barstow, it poured rain the whole drive up. The conference was pretty good, the new stake president is hecka young though. they presiding authoritys called eveyone out for not going to the temple more often though haha. #gettold

But yea now that takes us to today. The Hurtado household was assigned to do a skit in between trainings for the entertainment of the zone tomorrow during zone-meeting so you have a video to hopefully look forward to next week. (if it will send through email)

Love ya! stay safe!

Elder Ockey

The Hurtado homies

Adelanto represent!

(left to right: Loveless, Boltz, Hurley, Ockey)

Week 27

Dang so this week was super crazy! I guess it was a week and a half because we went to the temple today so its also our p-day. So for those who don't know Elder Boltz and I cover the north section of the Adelanto ward (which is the sketchiest place in the mission) and the whole entire freakin desert for the Samoan ward. We can go anywhere its pretty tight. Anyway hopefully I can remember all the stuff that happened last week and this week.

Monday we had dinner with the Rosales', a Samoan/Mexican family. They are super funny and need to get active! Their son Edward is hilarious. Thats about all we did other than chill at our house. (we live in a house! its super legit Ill send pics on monday)

Tuesday we had d-meet and I gave a training on successful missionary work. it was more like a zone meeting because a lot of people were down the hill (in the valley) picking up greenies so it was all combined. We were able to see an investigator for the Adelanto ward named Bruce, we had a really good lesson with him about the plan of salvation. Then we stopped by a Samoan investigator named Sami, who we were trying to and found a ride for him to go to ARP because he smokes. Anyway we set up an appt to come back right before the meeting and when we came back he ended up not going because he was nervous, but his nephews and nice are freakin so crazy its hilarious. I dont even know what happened they just love to play around and attack missionaries. It was really funny. But then we went to visit a recent convert, Jr. Tupai, in the Samoan ward. His family are all members so we taught them all about service. Lets just say its gonna take me a long time before I get all these Samoan names down because there are so many of them haha.

Wednesday we saw our Adelanto investigator named Raymond who lives a van in the Stater Brothers parking lot. He thought that if you came to church more than 3 time you had to be baptized so we cleared that up haha. We had an actual lesson with Sami, we read 2 Nephi 31 with him and we really felt the spirit, it was legit. We got 2 new investigators in North Adelanto named Shanae and Candice, we taught them the restoration on their doorstep and it was super solid! they said it answered questions they have had for a while. But they have flaked on us since :(

We saw the Tuatoga's who are less-activeish and got to know them. Its so much fun meeting all these Samoan people its awesome!

Thursday... I'll just put it the way Elder Boltz said it, its either feast or famine out here. We kill it one day and the next we only see one person or so. Thursday was a famine day. 

Friday we were supposed to meet with our Samoan WML but he had to cancel so we weekly planned. Also we had to wait for the Peterson's (senior missionaries) come from down the hill to check what needed replacing in the house. Our A/C doesn't work so they gotta fix that stat! its super hot out here #desertprobs also I dint mention the before but our neighbour has a rooster that lives next to our window and cock-a-doodle-doos at 3 in the morning...... anyway we saw some more LA Samoan families which was awesome. They all either have a million children that love to play with you or they don't have children and they try to teach you Samoan. I swear I'll be fluent by the time I get home.

Saturday was legit! I guess I haven't mentioned that the first day of the month our dinner calendar fills up, sometimes doubling up. Saturday we had 3 meals set up for us #nobigdeal. Its honestly the best thing ever. But one of the BBQ's we went to was with a Samoan member who married a Tongan and lives in a house full of Tongans. Our ZL's are the desert Tongan elders and they came a little after we showed up and tried to get Peter to go to the Tongan ward but he shut them down haha.

Sunday is weird because we cover two wards but the Adelanto ward does everything backwards so they end at the same timeish. Suffice it to say the Samoan ward is my fav. But then we had dinner with the Mau'u fam (or one of them at least, there are about 5 in the ward) and ended up staying there for a while haha. #islanderprobs Oh dang and I also found out that someone from the Samoan ward is serving in my good friend Elder Olson's Jacksonville Florida Mission. He comes home in a few weeks though.

Monday we tried to do as much service as possible to make it seem like p-day and we ended up doing a lot of Hurtado service (Hurtado is the name of our house) we cleaned up our backyard because it was filthy. Then Elder Loveless and I (house/wardmates) went to try a referral because our comps were sick. This referral was in El Mirage which is about 30 minutes away and ended up being bogus. but we saw a lessactive on the way back so it was worth it.

Tuesday was D-meet again. We met with a lessactive from the Samoan ward but he isnt Samoan which was funny. We tried by a potential investigator, and their neighbour told us to never come back haha, so rude :(

We had dinner with another Mau'u family that night hehe.

All in all this week was awesome! I swaer my mouth hurts from smiling so much its so much fun. There were more than a few sketchy moments in north Adelanto at night but Ill save them for later for my mothers sake haha.

Love you all!

Elder Ockey

Oh shoot I forgot to say the Elder Bednar is coming to the mission #nobigdeal

I found out like a month ago from president Chase but he told me not to tell anyone so now you know. exciting