November 10th 2014

First off Monday Bowling is the best! It was just good to relax and have some fun. We paid $15 to play for 2 hours, we bowled 4 games and it was great. Well on Tuesday we had a meeting with some missionaries and had some great trainings that were great. We also got to hear the testimonies from the departing missionaries that are finishing their mission. The Spirit is so strong, it really is. They all said how crazy fast time flies by and to enjoy every second of your mission, even the tough times. Some sisters I came out with are going home next week. Transfers are next week already!!! So ill be emailing all you about if I got changed or not. We'll see :)

We had an awesome miracle about 2 nights ago, we got a phone call from Mexico and it was a member there that had a referral for us. She said that the referral is very interested and that it is "Una Familia Complete" we are meeting with them tonight so I am excited for that. We also got the chance to go to the Visitor Center last night with this less active lady that's returning and her daughter Tashkia. She's 8 but turns 9 in 2 weeks. She's also not baptized so we are helping out with that :) They are from Mexico and just got here about 3 months ago! They are so great! Well that's my week! I love you all!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Louie and to my Sister Ashley! Te Quiero y te extrano mucho!

Elder Puertas

Pictures: Bowling.

District Picture at our Ward mission Leader's house.

Visitors center with Karina and Tashkia.

November 3rd 2014

This week was really good. A lot of things happened. We had a chance to have Zone Conference this week and it was good. Elder Okerlund and I gave a training on "Sincere Prayer" and just preparing for that training helped me a ton. My prayers have changed a lot. It's so much more personal then before. We are literally talking with our Heavenly Father, He's there and He is listening to us. It's just being honest and specific with Him. It's really just pouring out your whole heart to Him. The time's I've done so I have felt so much peace and love come to me. The power of prayer can change so much. It was a prayer that changed the world forever. I learned a lot and the spirit was defiantly there.

HALLOWEEN! Well this year I decided to dress up as a missionary... ha because that's all we can dress up as. We had to be in by 6 so we bought a "GIGANTIC PIZZA" and took it back to the apartment. We have some other elders living with us for a little while so it was super fun. It was a rainy Halloween here though and it's starting to get cold. We have to wear sweaters now, I know.

The mission is super fun, way tough some times, but way fun. Time just flies but we talk to so many people everyday and it's just good to hear their story and help their faith grown in Christ. Our message is unique and can truly bless everyone.

I love my mission, I love this Gospel and I love my Savior.

Love, Elder Puertas

October 27th 2014

All right so I am really bad at writing in my journal every night so I don't remember much of what happened but I will tell you what I do remember!

       Sooo we have found so many great people to teach this last week. We received a referral last week and went by and man they are awesome. Their names or Fabiola and Irene. One of the daughters is a member and she's the one that referred us actually. The reason Fabiola (mom) wants to change is because she has seen a HUGE change in her daughter that was baptized a year ago. That's what the Gospel does, it changes you. They have a baptismal date for the 23rd of Nov. We also found 2 part-member families where the members have been baptized for 9 years but the other family members have not. They also now have a date for next month as well. Things are great here. We literally almost talk to every single person we meet and man we really meet some interesting people out here in LA. It’s great! I love it. We also had the chance to go to the temple with one of our investigators named Mario. He's way cool too and should be baptized in about 2 weeks! The ward is great and the area is great! Time really flies by way to fast!

I love you all!

Happy Birthday to my amazing mom and my beautiful little sister Sophia! Love you <3

Elder Puertas :) 

October 20th 2014

Here are some pics of me saying bye to some amazing people in HP! Harbor 3rd is nice. I like it a lot and am excited to work here now with the people here! love you all!

October 13th 2014

Wow this weekend was kind of crazy/awesome.

All right so throughout the week we found some people that are ready for this message. I love talking to people on the street that give us their address and when we go over, they don't live there but it brings us to people that are ready and then we start teaching them. It happened 2x this week. On Saturday I was able to go back to my first area, Bell Gardens, for a baptism. There was this guy named Juan we baptized in January and just on Saturday his daughter, Raquel,  turned 8 and Juan baptized her! It was  cool to see that. He looked so happy. We were also able to confirm her right after. Well that Saturday when we got home there was a party that was barely starting at 10 pm in our apartment complex. They always throw parties but this one was out of control. Our window is right there was well. It was a very long night, didn't sleep until 3am.  It was bad.

Well the next day we had church and as a ward we had 5 baptisms! A family of 4 got baptized and they are sooooooo cool. They are from a different area in our ward but I've been over on exchanges a couple of time to teach them and the youngest one named Jackie asked me to baptize her. She is so cool! She is 12 and has an older brother name Carlos that is 14 and they remind me a lot of my sister Noni and Me. It's way cool. Jackie's real name is Jaqueline actually too. But they are way cool. An awesome Awesome family!

Sunday night we went to the Departing Missionary Fireside and it was really good. There are a lot of great missionaries that are going home. Time goes by way to fast! After the fireside we all met up and got our transfers folder and............... It happened! I GOT TRANSFERRED! After 7.5 months of being in Huntington Park I am now leaving. I am going to Torrance with Elder Okerlund.  I am super excited actually! I love meeting new people and kind of starting over. Wish me luck!

Love you all! :)

Pictures:

1. The Matoes' Family Baptism. (Jackie is the one in the middle)

2. Raquel's baptism. (She's the one in the blue in the middle) Juan is next to me.

Love, Elder Puertas

October 6th 2014

This week in our area, we had a great experience. Last night we were with one of our new investigators named Reyna and her husband named Rafael. Reyna really wanted to listen but her husband is a little loud (like he's crazy ha). He talks A LOT too so it was really hard to teach, but finally Rafael said "I know everything already, you can't teach me anything so teach my wife". We said..... okay and started teaching her, she was so happy throughout the lesson and Rafael was paying attention too. At the end we invited Reyna to pray and she was too shy to do so at first and then finally she said okay. Right before we asked her to pray about the BOM and she did and it was awesome, she kept saying "I know God will answer my prayer, I know it". Well she prayed, and when she finished she just looked at us and started to cry. The spirit was there and so much love and peace came over that room. It was a really great experience to have. She's one of those people that are just ready for this message.

Our ward is blowing up. We are at 25 baptisms right now and we are working super close with 6 of them to be baptized this weekend and we will work super hard and expect to have 5 more for the ward this next weekend. With that we should be at about 36 baptisms for the year and we want 40. I believe that by the end of the month we could be between 37-40 baptisms. The ward is so good and they TRUST us so much. The bishop is really on board. It's going really great right now.

The conference was also very inspiring to watch and I was able to learn a lot and will apply much of it in my daily life. One thing that stood out to me were the talks by Elder Ballard and Elder Bednar. Stay on the boat, get your life jacket on and HOLD ON. I loved Elder Bednar's story about the little boy and it's just a reminder really on WHY we share the Gospel. It reminding me WHY I am here and do the things I do. I love watching conference now because NOW I know the importance of it.

We have a Prophet in these days and he loves and guides us.

Super grateful for that.

Love you all,

Elder Puertas