July 21st 2014

On Monday we got a new 2014 Corolla! It’s so nice and so smooth, I love it. It even has a rear view camera. It had 18 miles on it when we got it so please pray for us not to scratch it or anything.

On Tuesday we had the chance to go in the Temple, it's amazing. It just feels right. Everything we do as missionaries just feels "right". When we share the Gospel, when we go to church. Etc. I love these feelings because it's constantly reminding me that I am in the truth and that I am sharing the truth with others.

We are teaching this family of 7 and they are amazing. 4 of the 7 have dates :) We are working super hard with them, every time we go over they ALWAYS have someone new for us ha. Cousins, neighbors, friends, mailman, it doesn't matter they always have someone new. There's a little kid named Leo in the family, he's 1 and he is so cute! Ha-ha I took the COOLEST picture of Elder Kimball and Leo! Crazy little cute kid.

So the 2nd counseler of our bishopric has a father in law named Samuel. He is about 70 years old and still works like crazy and he has a bad knee, he's always on crutches. Well Hermano Alonzo's (2nd counselor) wife lives in Guatemala. She is there for 6 months and she visits here for 1 month. Crazy huh. Well she got here the first week of July, referred us to Samuel, we went over, taught him and we put a date for him for JULY 27th! And she leaves the 30th! He has came to church all this month and we are baptizing him this Saturday and confirming him on Sunday right before his daughter leaves. Every time we see her she always Thanks us for helping Samuel out. She said she's been waiting for this moment for a long time. God really helped us with this one. It's going be special for them.

Sunday!! Transfer calls! Some amazing missionaries are going home, it's crazy. We have this departing missionary fireside the last Sunday before they go home and SO MANY people came. About 1000 people. Well after we FINALLY got all the people out all the Zone Leaders went to this room and we get a folder that says who leaves or stays in our zone. Well Elder Kimball and I stayed :) but we are adding one more in our companionship. Elder Casco! We will be in a trio because Elder Kimball goes home half way through the transfer for school. Elder Casco is from Mexico. So it will be me and just him in a couple of weeks, 2 Hispanics In HP! The dream. I love it.

I LOVE MY MISSION! :)

July 14th 2014

We hiked HOLLYWOOD again! This was last Monday and I was so sick ha-ha. Not the best idea but hey you gotta do what you gotta do right. It was cool because that same day we were walking in the street and we saw this random guy on the street and he had a shirt that said  "Helaman, stripling warriors" WHAT.. Ha-ha yes we talked to him and he just said he bought that shirt at a random place and YES I took a picture with him. We are teaching this family named the Tamayo family and wow they are so great and progressing so much. It was one of the daughter's BDAY so we went over to celebrate a little. Elder Kimball and I straight up made Pupusas. Ha-ha they turned out great. On Saturday I was on exchanges with this guy named Elder Albert’s and wow we ate so much. People really love us here. Ha-ha. We ate lunch at 1230 with a family. Then we went over to the Tamayos at 4 and they had a carne asada going and you could NOT SAY NO.  Then we had our DINNER appointment at 530 and ate more! Then we went to this young men's activity at 7 because they had an investigator there for us and we got there and sat down and what do you know.... more food! I felt so bad that night ha. We also had a flat that day too so that was fun! Church was awesome we had some people show up and that working for baptism this month. Things here are good! I also heard about Brazil... ouch.. Moment of silence 7-1!!! Wow. Congrats for Germany though! I love you all!

Elder Puertas

P.S.
Angela- Thank you so much for the Wingers sauce!!!

July 7th 2014

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We had such an amazing week this week! On Tuesday we had dinner with this Peruvian family and they have two sons. One that is 19 and the other that is 14. They don't come to church but the mom and the sister do. Well we went over and we said if we beat them in soccer 2 on 2 then they have to come to church. Long story short, we won 5-0 and THEY CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! We are doing round 2 tomorrow night.  I love it.

We went on exchanges with these other elders and I was with Elder Cox. Aka Superman. Well we had so many cool experiences that day. We met people that were truly ready for the message. It all came from the power of planning the night before. We just prayed and asked who we should visit the next day and when it came the next day, I saw that we did not find those people who we had planned for but the people around them. We found 4 new investigators that day and set 2 dates. Super cool. We went by this lady named Hermana Zapata and I've never met anyone more excited to see missionaries then this lady. Missionaries taught her a while ago but we had a chance to find her again and she also came to church!

Friday was the 4th of JULY so we had to be in by 6 pm :( IT WAS A WAR ZONE! So many fireworks! And it was just so loud! So we just planned a little bit inside and played mini soccer games inside. Then at Church on Sunday we had 4 people come! It was great! I was also very sick through all this. I still am :( but I love seeing miracles happen. That's why I keep working!

I love you all and no worries I’ll be back for next 4th of July! :)

Pictures! We witnessed a pretty bad car crash! :)

And we caught a cool looking beetle... so yeah :)

June 30th 2014

Okay Monday was crazy this last week. Mexico played and won and they were just going nuts on this big street called Pacific. No worries I took lots of pics! :) They were jumping on cars and there were so many cops!  5 helicopters over it all! But now they are out!!  The World Cup is sick I hear! So tempting!! I'm rooting for USA though. I hope they can get far! I know they will! Well let’s see I got a fresh haircut that day as well. I went with a .5 on the side. Almost shaved! 

Well on Tuesday I had my 12-month training. It’s official! I am over a year on the mish.  We had some sweet blessings last night and this morning. We met this girl named Stephany for the first time last night and she was telling us about her dreams that she was in this forest and there was a book. Well we showed her the pic of Moroni in Book of Mormon and she was like, "That's it!" So she feels like she found what she is looking for, we testified and now she is getting baptized on the 27th of July! So awesome. We are also teaching the 2nd counselor's father-in-law and he is just a super humble man and he is so ready as well. We set a date for him on the 27th as well.

Things here in L.A. are going pretty good! Got to love it! Love you all! :) USA USA USA USA USA!!!

Oh and I burned a shirt for my 1 year mark :)

Elder Puertas

June 23rd 2014

Wow it's been a whole year now since I've been out. So much has changed and there is still so much I can improve on. This last year I have come so much closer to my Heavenly Father. I know he's there. He has helped me so much to be the person I am now and I know he will keep helping me be the person he wants me to become. I have learned to gain the love for others even when I don't know them. I have come to love my savior Jesus Christ so much as well. I love the Atonement. It's the best gift he has given us. I am still working on improving everyday like I said, but I love my mission. I love the scriptures so much as well. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith really did restore God's true Church. I never would have imagined I would be here in this moment. ONE YEAR has past already and I have learned SO MUCH! I really understand the WHAT, WHY, HOW AND WHO of things. I have seen and been through a lot on my mission. I've seen families at their lowest points to their highest as well as families at their highest point to sadly their lowest. If we LIVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ EVERYTHING else will work out. I have come to be sure of things. My testimony has grown by a mile and it will keep growing. I know there is a GOD and I love how I can tell that to everyone with his Authority to do so. I Love it.

       So things here in L.A. are going great but of course we have the crazy parts of L.A. as well. On Friday I was on exchanges with another Elder. So it was crazy, we saw some kids jumping this other kid down this street/alley so we debated in helping out or not to break it up. Well the kid that got beat up got away and just ran, and then he walked past us and then we saw the other kids (3 of them) running at this kid again to get him again (The kid that just got jumped is on the phone while running) and all of the sudden this truck came flying in and some more guys came out to fight (the friends of the kid that just got jumped) so we backed off a little bit and this was all in this alley type of thing and then all of the sudden some kid jumped in the truck and just floored it at the group of kids (which was us as well) so we all started running while this truck is behind us trying to hit everyone.... well he ended up hitting one guy though, actually his own guy. Ah man! CRAZY stuff but I love it here.

       Well I’m just letting you all know I am still alive :)

Well I love you all! Thank you so much for everything and for all the support! 1 year will fly by!

WORLD CUP WORLD CUP WORLD CUP!!!! AHHHHHH

USA USA USA!