Week 97 Last email!

what up! So I'm not all into this cliche last week of the mission let me bear my whole soul to you guys on the internet lol.

So If you want too hear all the deep stuff just come see me next wekk haha. But for real, the mission was crazy. Its insane that its over, I thought I would be out here forever, but like, in a good way. 

Ive learned a lot about myself and the gospel. and socal, haha.

Honestly though, Ive spoken a few times in sacrament meeting over the last few weeks alone, but that doesnt mean that ill be speaking for 30 minutes two sundays from now. 

Heres a picture of me in a pool.

Elder Ockey

Week 96

Man what a week! 

there were some ups and there were some downs. 

Our teaching pool in BB is small to begin with, then we got freakin crushed this week.

Louisa, who I usually refer to as our 'granola gator' has completely disapeared. We talked with her ex-boyfriend, who she was living with. He said she broke up with him and left. Apparently she does crystal meth and is an alcoholic. So, nobody knows where she went. He thinks shes dead but we have hope!

But yea, now we only have one serious investigator. This area is sick and the members and less-active work is bumpin, but there are zero people who want to be taught. As per usual most of our week was filled with service, cutting fire wood, mobving firewood, burning firewood.

We took some things to the dump and saw where the fire from a a few weeks ago got to. just a few miles from the chruch and our house. kinda creepy looking. 

The town is packed this weekend for 4th of July, so we try to talk to people but they are pretty rude :(

They sang Star-Spangled Banner in church but I sang O, Canada in my heart :) <3

Thats about it folks, not much else to report. Ill get a few more pics for the finale next week loooooool

Elder Ockey

week 95

Fire!

So there was a fire close to Baldwin Lake, which is like, 10 minute from us. The Lucerne Elders came up to do a hike with us and almost got stranded up here for the week. We hit up the Pacific Coast Trail. #granolalyfe

the fire burnt Monday-sometime later in the week. 1300 acres and it was craaaaaayyy! Power kept going out and we couldnt make it down to AppleValley for zone conference so we went all the way to Rancho through the front way. Got to see all the mission homies one more time :(

Pretty much did service all week, thus is the BigBear lyfe. We got a new gator though! hes pretty promising, his name is Jesus so thats a plus.

Brother Wessel is a lift mechanic at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit so we went up to the top of the hill with them today. It was pretty legit. The missionaries are the closest people to their age in the ward haha. 

pce

<3 Elder Ockey

Week 94

Hows it going you greasy gators?!

Another awesome week in the land of endless p-days and service haha

There isnt a whole lot of people up here. The second counsellor was telling us out of the 10 thousand homes up here only 3 thousand are occupied year round lol. The 4th of July Firework show is supposed to be the best in socal though so thats cool.

We had a good lesson with our only progressing investigator. She gave us some hippie stew lol, it had sweet potatoe and coconut

and goose in it. Dang good! 👌She also offered us a job so we had to tell her that we dont work haha.

But other than that we just did a lot of service and such, walked around a bit.

pce fam

Week 93

What up!

So big bear is pretty much the best place on earth, its like kalispell

but all the houses are cramped together overpopulated-Cali style.

We had some really good lessons with a lot of cool people. There are

so many granolas here haha! people talk to us about 'shakras' all the

time loool.

Mostly just pics to explain the week!

<3 you!

yea thats a dead chipmunk in someones living room

Week 92

whats up homies!

So i got transfered. 6 week shafted but I dont really consider it a shaft.

My mission dream has come true! Im in big bear! its only gonna be 6

weeks but oh well. Im with Elder Morton so we are gonna get some

serious work done!

Im super excited. I was gonna take some pics but it took us like 2

hours to drive from the mission office to here and we crashed, then I

unpacked (a little) and now Im crashing again.

Here is us in the family history center.

Also the closest missionaries to us are like 40 minutes away so we

pretty much isolated.

Wooo! Im pumped

Elder Ockey

Week 91

what up!

Memorial day was yesterday so we emailing on Tuesday. pretty exciting.

We went to a bbq at Sergios cuz he had the day off. Caught a little of

the Monaco Grand Prix but don't tell anyone ;) shhhhhhh

Man we were both sick this week so we don't have a whole lot to report on.

We have been working a ton with an excommunicated member. I don't

think I have ever wanted anyone to progress more in my live than him

right now. We got a super solid church commitment out of him for

sunday but then when church was a little into it we got a super long

text from him. it said something to the effect of, "Sorry Elders, I

don't think I can be forgiven. I don't know what to do anymore." but

really sad and heartfelt and we didn't know what to do.

We managed to catch him at home a little after church and had a crazy

talk with him.  It was hands down the most I have relied on the spirit my whole

mission. a lot was said and the spirit was felt. We are now going over

every night to make sure he has been reading at least a verse a day,

then we read a verse with him as well. Pretty awesome.  Now hes been

reading every day since and taking steps towards coming back! whoooooooo!

Elder Ockey

goodbye 6 months to sexy

Week 90

hey fam!

Ill take advantage and let the pics tell the story.

Great week!  We went to the temple with Sergio to do baptisms for the dead it was

dope!

Do you like our ride?

<3

Week 89

Greetings readers, whomever that may be

SO I'm getting lazy in terms of writing, but just so you know. its been a good week!

Called the fam yesterday that was a trip, Happy mothers day mom and all mothers!

Happy Birthday Father! Its his birthday tomorrow! 🎂🎊

We found a few solid gators this week so and we got some nice return appts all next week. I'm really excited!

We finally got a Café Rio in the mission(😋), we hit it up after zone conference on Wednesday, good to see all the mission pals.

DO you like our garden? I planted an apple seed and we planted some chia seeds, its turned into a nice pillow.

pce fam! <3

Week 88

Oh fam! I didnt see you there. what a pleasant surprise!

This week went by suuuper quick, sadly in terms of missionary work it was a little slow.

But thats okay, We built some member relationships which were lacking hardcore in this ward.

Lets see, we helped some new members move in from Upland, they are super cool and they invited us to a bbq next week so that should be a lot of fun.

We walked a looooooot I think my shoes are about to have no soles left on em. We tried by a bunch of referrals and formers that are in the sisters area but they wont go visit them so they passed them off to us (darn sister missionaries 🙄) and it took us 2 hours to get there. painful. Even more painful is that nobody answered the door. Ug

There was a ward party on friday, we helped cook all the food for a taco eating contest, it was super crazy! I tried fam but I failed, I only ate 8 tacos. Schenk and Bishops son, Tyler, kept going though and ended eating 20 and 17 respectively. It was pretty awful to watch.

Its been cooling off here like crazy, apparently 'Grey May' is a thing here. It was about 15 Celsius and I was freezing! My blood has thinned out so much I am ashamed of myself.

Other than that we have had a few good lessons with Angel and a few other Gators, nothing super note worthy though. 

<3

Elder Ockey

Week 87

Calgarians

The general epistle of Elder Ockey to the fam and friends in Calgary

1. Elder Ockey, called to be a disciple of Christ, and our brother Elder Schenk

2. To the members of the church in Calgary, or wherever they may be. Who are Sanctified in Christ Jesus and called his Holy people, together with all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

3. Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

4. Behold, I write unto you concerning the welfare of your brethren and sisters in the Church at the city of Ontario California

5. For behold my heart is filled with joy for the progression of the saints in this land, yet I feel sorrowful for the stiffneckedness of the people who are not of the Church of Christ

6. haha that sucks writing like that, how did Paul do it?

Anyway this week has been super cool. we were pretty busy, We lost contact with Tommy so thats a bummer, we are trying really hard to see him, he had a ton of potential.

A family invited us over to dinner with their non-member friend on tuesday. It ended up being us, them, another family in the ward, another guy our age all teaching their friend. It may have been alittle overwhelming for her but the spirit was there! We should see them again this week, should be good because she has a lot of member friends and support.

We were the judges for the youth activity this wednesday, it was an Iron Chef challenge. Kinda scary trusting these boisterous youths cook us meat. It ended up being good, except for a bacon wrapped hotdog with sketchily undercooked bacon. No parasites as of yet so we doin good! 

We had a lesson with Angel after the youth activity, he is a friend of the bishops son (idk if ive talked about him yet) but he is prey chill. The lessons go well and Tyler (bishops son) is really good at testifying. We also taught him on sunday so hes doing really well. His parents are sceptical about his intent but he has told us that he wants to serve a mission which is dope! He just gotta show that #realintent to his parents.

Sergio got ordained to the office of priest yesterday! soo legit! Hes super cool. He feeds us the most out of everyone in the ward haha!

Thats about it folks.

7. And thus I close mine epistle

8. Peace be unto the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

9. Grace be with them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity.  Amen.

Week 86

howgoezit?

This week was pretty 'trill'

First off, we arent getting transfered! Im super pumped because we have filled out teaching pool super high this week! Not to mention I get 6 more weeks with our racquetball court and sauna. Did I mention we have those at our apartment? #blessed

So as I mentioned, We had a few baptisms last week so our teaching pool meant that we had to... tract! duh duh duuuuh! Ok I really dont like tracting, and Ill be honest, I complained a little bit. Nearing the end of one of our tracting days (it was april 20ths, 4/20, so everyone was freakin stoned and didnt talk to us) but we walk up to a door, and there is a huge bong on the porch. Bad sign. Anywho it was was my turn to knock, and this guy about our age comes out. He says he always sees missionaries and thought they were sales people, so we told him otherwise, he took a restoration lesson right there. Awesome!  Even better, he interrupted us when we got to priesthood (like 5 minutes in) and striaght up asked to be baptized! Oh man Ill never complain about tracting (as much at least haha)  Also, golden because his girlfriend used to be a member so he said he was going to make sure she started taking the lessons with him. He gave us a hug when we gave him a Book of Mormon. So legit!

We had a fewa other sweet experiences very similar to that. Our week went really well.

We met Johnny, who used to meet with the missionaries when he was 14 (like 14 years ago) and he said he has been wanting them to come back recently! man this is gold! The area is #lit so im super pumped that Im staying.

Cute story, we were tracting around a potential (cuz the address didnt exist) and two little kids about 3-4 answered the door and totally walked with us to show us where he lived! totes adorbs. They gave us fist bumps after.

On a more temporal rather than spiritual saving note, we helped save this dude from overdosing on heroin in the library bathroom. that was pretty sketchy. He was passed out and puking everywhere and then as soon as the sirens and lights came up from the ambulance he got up and took off. Kinda crazy. I think they got him though. Hopefully. 

ANywho. Thats about it. Its been hecka hot, but also kinda cold. on and off. Ill enjoy the lack of snow while Ive got it haha.

<3

Elder Ockey

Week 85

Hey fam!

So this week seemed pretty slow and not a whole lot happened, we did a lot of service and prep for our double baptism on Saturday, which I now realize that I forgot to email about the past few weeks.

But yea, Sergio and Joseph were baptized on Saturday and it was probably one of the most stressful days of my life cuz all sorts of things went wrong. Lets just say that a lot of people who should have helped us dropped the ball hardcore so we had to scramble all day to get it all figured out. It went really well though, a lot of people showed up as well which was nice. I dont have any pictures though, maybe next week fam.

Sunday was nice, it was pretty cool because a lot of the family of our two now-recent-converts came to church, a few of them werent members so that was nice. Sergio and Joseph both bore testimony in the 3rd hour and it was hands down the most well spent 3rd hour of church I've ever attended. Granted that isn't saying much but for real this was really cool.

yeeeaaaa

Elder Ockey

New Address

Elder Ockey

1701 East D street apt #1112

Ontario California 91764

Week 84

Hey family!

This week has been a good one! other than its getting a little hot.  Today its overcast though #blessed

Both of our bikes gave out this week, within the same ride. Mine wasn't so bad, the shifting thingy is just misaligned but Elder Schenks spokes on his back wheel fell apart so we are walking again.

We finally got in touch with one of our top gators, Sergio, he just got a promotion so he has been hard to meet with. This guy is a

jokester its pretty awesome, but man we just get talking and we are there for a while. He already is doing a little missionary work of his own, he was explaining General Conference to his roommate.

We were supposed to have a baptism this upcoming Saturday but our young friend Angel didn't tell his parents and they wont allow it to happen :(  So Angel and his parents are going to meet with his fellowshipping youth friend and his parents (who happen to be the bishop and first lady) so hopefully the Spirit can get them locked in.

Emilio came with us to General Conference sunday morning. Man I am glad I never had to go to the stake center to watch before the mission, especially as a 9 year old. He watched a little bit but The tongan elders pumped him full of swedish fish and tootsie rolls so he was not paying much attention 30 minutes in haha

Pretty average week other than that. The weather is fluctuating a lot between really windy and hot or just hot haha #Californiawinter/spring

Elder Ockey

Week 83

heyooooo,

Weelll obviously there isnt a whole lot that went down worth writing cuz it seems like I wrote just a few days ago...

We walked for 6 hours on thursday cuz Schenks bike was messed up, the front brakes were rubbing hardcore and we didnt have any tools. but we got a bunch of potentials from talking to people as we walked which was nice. Ended up not needing any cuz the wheel was just misaligned #whoops #worththewalk

friday was boring to write about, missionary meetings and such. We had dinner and a lesson with an investigator which was nice.

Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Richins, Ive been on exchanges with him in Upland before so it was kind of a throwback. Like all exchanges it was pretty much a joke, we did service all day until 6 when we had a lesson at the church with a bunch of teenagers whos friend invited them to take the lessons. it was pretty cool.

Sunday we had 4 investigators come to church! thats the best ive ever had on the mission, so it was pretty crazy. Man the elders quorum lesson was especially slow, we were both pretty much asleep I felt kinda bad but oh well.

Sincerely <3

Elder Ockey

Week 82

Hola!

So im back in mini Tijuana as they call it, its super awesome here, there is a ton of work and this past week and a bit has been crazy! Its been pretty hot with the exception of the past 2 days its been pretty chilly or rainy.

I dont remember how much I said last week but im with Elder Schenk in the Mountain View ward, its pretty sick. 

We had dinner last Tuesday with the Francis' who I had dinner with all the time over a year ago because hes a counselor in the Ontario YSA, it was soooo trippy!

We have got 3 gators on baptismal date so we are working hard to find some new peeps, using potentials and formers and such (people that used to see the missionaries for all those unfamiliar with the lingo).

Wednesday we have a scripture study class, apparently more people usually show up but only one guy came last week. It was one of our investigators, Joseph. Man this guys story is soo cool! Not to sound sappy but this guy is converted! He straight up told me his story, which involves him being homosexual, but when he found the gospel he straight up threw that away and is looking forward to having an eternal family! OH man it was so legit

We are also working with an excommunicated member, which I have never done before, its so weird to be teaching and reading with him and knowing that hes been through the temple and everything.  Anywho, the same day outta the blue we got a call and found out that my brotha Scott (aka Elder Maughan) was in the area! we went and got milkshakes and talked for a while. Man it was a trip. It was a ton of fun to see him ;)

We have a child investigator Emilio, hes 11 or something, we are going to try to get his siblings involved as well. His grandmother is super active. This kid is such a clown.

Sunday was Sunday, it wasn't as weird because we meet in a different building but a bunch of YSA members go to Mountain View before the YSA so I saw a few of the homies.

Monday was a HARDCORE stuggle cuz we had no pday until wedensday #templetrip

Tuesday we had zone conference so that took our mind off there no being pday because the moeetings are so. freakin. LONG. ug I get so bored.

But that tyakes us to today, we hit up the temple, last trip allowed on the mission except for departing temple trip. #imnottrunky #forrealthoughimnot

luv ya fam!

Elder Ockey

Week 81

Heyyooooooo!

So I got transfered just across the way to Mountain View Ontario. Its been super weird today just driving around, I feel green again. Ive even spent a few nights in the apartment Im staying at. #washeranddryer #blessed

Im on bike still but Im pumped I still got #sixmonthstosexy so thats gonna be fun. Even if we didnt bike I would sweat it all off. Its soooo freakin hot here right now! I keep thinking that its the middle of summer but nope, its only march. Enjoy the cold fam cuz I miss it. 

The work in this ward sounds like it booming so im super excited to get right into it.

pce&luv

Elder Ockey

PS this orange had a mohawk so I gave myself a mohawk