Hey fam!

Things are going pretty good here in Santa Ana. Looks like the wedding was super sweet and that Zack and Spencer are growing out their hair jaja. The rainy season has started and it rains just about every day! It had been raining about every night but we have only come home soaked about 2 times. Now it’s raining during the day and it feels like October. It’s been pretty cloudy during the day and then about 2 o clock to 4 it starts raining. Saturday it was super cloudy and basically sprinkling all day which was super awesome because the weather was perfect but the work is not perfect. It’s a lot harder to contact people or get members to leave with you when it’s cloudy and rainy... nobody really wants to do much and with a fast you gotta avoid the people who always give food jaja jk. Anyways this week was super fast and full of stuff. By the way I got your letters! Thanks! I got a huge group of like 8 letters on Friday when we had our district meeting I think that there had been a back up on letters but everyone was pretty jealous jaja. Its sweet I love to get letters even when Brynlee is just rubbing Florida in my face jaja --but seriously don’t hesitate to send them jaja. Also, thanks Granddad and Grandma it’s great to hear from you guys every week! I got the reception invitation Friday and it’s too bad it didn't come earlier because I might have been able to go jaja, but I had already made plans. It looks sweet but I’m a little confused at why I wasn't invited to the wedding? jaja jk jk. Anyways its super sweet to have conference and the song of hymns of our Savior --Come Thou Fount is super awesome. Are there more songs on the album or more like that song? If you just send it through email I can prob put it on the MP3 but it might be easier if you just send it to me although it takes a lot longer. Oh and the talk by Elder Holland is super awesome he really pulls out the machete jaja. The talk his grace is sufficient is super sweet also. I had listened to it before but it’s sweet to have it on paper. Anyways this week we moved! We weren’t living in our area before and we still don't live in our area jaja, but now we live  a lot closer. We were walking like 15 minutes to our area and 20 to the church.  Now it’s like 5 minutes by bus if we are lucky and 10 walking and like 3 blocks to our area which is way better although the house we are in now is Huge! At some point there were 4 missionaries in this house but now only 2. The thing that happened with the house is that the missionaries that were living here one ended his mission mid change. I’m not exactly sure why but anyways he ended mid change and so they closed this area which put no missionaries in this house. Well the house is much closer so we asked if we could move to the house and they said yes which was sweet. although when we showed up the house was super dirty so we have been spending the mornings and nights cleaning and yes I did what all of my brothers have done I went into the shower dumped straight bleach and now its white and not black. Now the house is pretty clean and its super sweet. Anyways this week was pretty sweet although we are finding a lot of investigators which is awesome they aren't progressing very fast. Although we have a family that’s a reference of a member that we are gonna have a family night with them. They were gonna come to church, but then his brother died so we are gonna throw down the lesson 2 which will help him a lot. The family is super awesome and he is super weak from what happened to his brother so hopefully he can find peace.  We have been teaching the mom of Claudia who is still attending the other ward but the prob is that it is earlier and she is super busy in her work right now. She goes to church and then goes to work but she said that it is going to calm down and that she will go at 10 the next week to our ward. but anyways we have been teaching her mom named Adela and she is super great but she owns a pupuseria and makes pupusas in the morning in the market and so she is super busy Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays because these days are the most busy. We went Sunday and she gave us pupusas as a gift which was sweet hopefully it’s not against the Sabbath. jaja. Anyways she was super busy and said she might be able to come but then wasn't able. She has seen the changes in her daughter since baptism and this really makes her want to be baptized but the big problem is the work. We have taught her to have faith and the Lord will prepare a way but its super hard. We are gonna try to keep helping her and do what we can and rely on the Holy Ghost so that hopefully she can receive the blessings of the Gospel. She has accepted a baptismal goal but if she can’t go to church it’s hard to keep it but we will see what will happen. The Ramirez family is starting to activate super well which is super awesome. They have been coming to church the last three weeks and 3 weeks ago she received a calling. The bishop said oh look all she needed was a calling and I was thinking this is what we have been saying since February! But it’s all good and she and Steven went to all 3 classes which was super awesome! Anyways I hope we are gonna have a sweet week. And you guys have fun in your trip!

LesAmo,

Elder Hendricks

Rain, Temple and Miracles

Letter from Parker April 20, 2015

This week was freaking sweet here in the S.A. of E.L. It sounds like everything is super sweet in the Lou. When are you guys gonna send the Elder Holland CES devotional talk? Could you also send the Book of Mormon audio in Spanish? That would be sweet! School of the Prophets by Joseph smith it’s like 7 lessons for the missionaries in the 1800s something like that... I think there is a mission Facebook page... you guys should check it out I could be on there ... jaja send the blue small oil vile also that’s in the house. Thanks for everything talk to you next weekkk... jaja jk

This week was super awesome though. We don’t have a lot of investigators but the ones we have are progressing like crazy which is awesome. Monday we ended P-day at 3 because we were going to the temple on Wednesday which was super awesome. Monday started the rain and it stormed like crazy! We got soaked which was great after a nice hot day. But the other nights we were in houses when it rained or back in our house. One night when we were planning we heard a lightning bolt and then thunder super loud it was crazy! And I was super glad to be in the house. Wednesday we got up a 4:30 to go to the temple which was super awesome. The spirit was super strong and it felt like I was home. The temple was super beautiful also. We went to taco bell after which was sweet because there is no taco bell in Santa Ana. Sunday was awesome. Carlos and Kevin were confirmed and I gave a talk which I took like 20 minutes and not 10 jaja whoops! I talked about leccion 3 and like every point and used sweet scriptures. It was there first time I gave a talk by only an outline but went super well although Elder Lopez didn’t have time to talk... I talked about the missionary purpose and each point which is lesson 3. Elder Lopez and I were waiting outside for investigators when Claudia walked around the corner from out of a class we had not expected here to be there because she had to work but she came to the ward before us which was way sweet and a huge miracle. She received answers to questions and when we taught her that night we were  able to set a baptism date for the 30 of abril!!! She said she wants elder Lopez to baptize her and is way positive! Its super awesome! Last week we tried to set a date but she didn’t want anything before June. Its super cool to see the change the gospel has in people’s lives. This week was way sweet though and we hope to have another great week.

LesAmo,

Elder Hendricks

Temple Conference and More

How’s the brood? I’ll start with last week because I didn’t have time to write everything. The temple trip Friday was super awesome. I was a guide and Elder Lopez taught in a class although it wasn’t really much it was an important assignment.  I just took all the people in my group to different stations I felt like a church history missionary jaja. But it was super awesome. Anyway the temple trip went like this-- we all met at the church and took a bus to the temple all free for everyone. When we got there all the people went to the chapel where they watched some videos and president spoke to them. Then they went to different stations and different missionaries taught different things like auxiliary organizations like Elders Quorum Relief society and young mens and young womens. Also the missionaries gave “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlets which was sweet cause this explains super well the standards and the whys for them. Claudia our investigator really liked this. Her friend and nieces are young but she is like 40 but it’s still awesome that she brought people and learned a lot and its progressing. Anyway the other stations were the Plan of Salvation, Family History, Angel Moroni and the doors of the temple, Conferences, and After Baptism. It started in the church and goes outside circles around the temple and then after they leave the stations goes back into the temple. It was a way spiritual experience and I had hoped that the members would have brought more people but we didn’t have many from the members. Afterwards Elder Lopez was asked to help drive Hermana Spjut’s car back but there is a tradition with the office workers to do different things after the temple trip because they are super stressed all day trying to put all of this together and keep it running smoothly so our group left and there was one more group so we helped with whatever thing they needed and then after we helped the office workers clean up the church and we left to see an area of San Salvador. I would have taken pics but left my camera in the car but hopefully I can get some from other people. It was super cool they had like photos in the road of Christ and other things cause it was Good Friday. they made it with like salt or sand and then later in the night I guess they have like some sort of parade and walk through it down the street it’s kind of crazy but they are super crazy about their religion here. Afterwards we went to Chilis! jaja It’s like a tradition with all of the office workers they work super hard all day and since Elder Lopez was going to drive home we got to go which was awesome! Yes I know what you’re thinking... Presidente did take a group of missionaries to eat at a restaurant that has a bar. But it was super sweet. So I guess when Colton was eating at Pappy’s after the temple I was eating at Chili’s after the temple jaja. We are going to have a mission temple trip the 15 of april which is going to be super sweet! I’m stoked to be able to go and enter! I think that they have like 2 temple trips a year for the mission and if one of your converts gets their endowment you can go I’m pretty sure one of Elder Lopez’s conversos is taking a temple prep class right now and were hoping that she goes before changes so that we can go also! It would be super sweet! Anyway Saturday started conference we felt like we hadn’t talked to anyone after conference because it had been so long and we hadn’t had time to visit some people. Claudia came to the first conference session and really like it which was super awesome we visited her later that day and she is really positive and we are starting to be able to see how God is preparing her. We went into the house and there was a photo of the temple on the wall. Which means she totally felt the spirit of the temple there and the power of temples. It was way sweet! Hopefully we can get her to church and help her to accept the gospel more in her life. Anyway conference was way sick! We had three investigators there and Pablo came to Priesthood session and all of the ones on Sunday. Elder Lopez watched in Spanish and I watched in English in another room because Its way hard to understand the translator and its wayyy!! better in English jaja. I’m pretty sure Saturday Cameron was glad he was engaged... they really laid that one down jaja. It made some missionaries that are close to going home start thinking about where their biggest priorities should be. Anyways I really liked the talk by Pres Eyring.  It had never occurred to me that fasting is a commandment of God! Also it made me realize I need to not think of myself and pay more fast offerings because there are millions of people out there that I could help with that. Some other sweet talks were Elder Holland... Wow that was a super awesome story and application to the atonement of Jesus Christ. His atonement is amazing! The other sweet thing is that I get to see his atonement everyday as it works in people and helps them to overcome their problems in life. Another talk well there were so many sweet ones but, the 70 that talked about Leadership in missions and how it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are the missionaries that God wants us to be, if we do that we are going to be successful and have no regrets. The other talk that about the guy on his mission and his comp got off the bike and he was wondering what he was doing and complaining and after heard a voice that said compared to me there’s not much difference between the two of you... WoW!! That was super crazy and humbling. Many times you think you know better than someone else but everyone needs to be humble. it’s like the talk about pride by Ezra Taft Benson about pride man that talk really makes you rethink yourself and your pride problems. The other talk by Brent H. Nielson was super awesome also. The way he compared the prodigal son and the story of his sister was way powerful! It’s a good application to use with part member families is that you need to keep loving them. Tons of families give up and don’t show love and this is completely wrong! Do as Jesus would do and things will all be alright and you will feel better about your relationship. Anyway... what’s up with Pres. Monson? He barely spoke in like all the conference and he looks super sick... Maybe he is working on delagating more?  jaja. After conference we had a baptism by Kevin and we had a friend in the ward baptize him it was super sweet but he is a lot taller than his friend and the water was low so after 4 tries they went to the knees and after like 2 tries they went sitting and after we got it! jaja. It was a little rough but all good. This week was good we are working on working with the member because we need more investigators. Also the family that went to the temple doesn’t live in our area so were probably going to pass on this reference. This is the problem with the church in Latin America nobody goes to their correct ward! It’s terrible because if someone goes inactive the missionaries can’t visit them! But last night there was a Meeting for the Endowed and we were curious of what this was for. It’s a stake meeting. Apparently the president of the stake had revelation for this during conference and this is what the area 70 said to do. but in the meeting he said (we didn’t go but heard it from members) if you are attending the wrong ward and don’t change they are going to start taking away calling and not giving temple recommends to those who don’t live in the area. We have a ton of illegals in our ward and some may go inactive from this but it’s like who’s going to stand faithful in the end. We are prepping for the second coming. anyways this week was super good. we had the baptism of Carlos he lives out of the area but lives with his grandma who lives on a mountain where nobody knows what area it is. Also his mom and Dad attend this ward. But eventually many people are going to have to return to their own wards. Which will make missionary work soooo much better! Anyway I continue to work hard with Elder Lopez and I am learning much from him. I really hope to be ready to work without him after this change. His is not baggy (trunky) and is trying hard not to end his mission that way. Anyways all is sweet here.

Elder Hendricks

Temple and Conference

This week was super sweet and I hope I have time to write about all of it. Conference was super awesome. I’m pretty sure Cameron is glad to be engaged --wow they really put that down hard. Jaja! (Saturday’s sessions). It is way important to have questions at conference. I had like 6 but only two were answered clearly. I bet if I look through and study the talks and my notes the answers are there. It’s so awesome to hear from the apostles and prophets, I feel bad for the people who believe they only need the bible. Think of all the revelation they are missing out on. The bible only contains part of the fullness of the gospel. It’s like the story of the person in conference that started to read the bible, but found herself back reading the Book of Mormon. We have one investigator that I want her to know this is true and open her heart to the word of God. She is a great women and I hate that she is living in ignorance to the word of God. The true word is in front of her and all she needs to do is read!

The temple trip was super awesome. We had 7 Inv there. 1 family who has a son on a mission in Panama that I’m pretty sure I met in the CMM. We have been teaching this family that I feel sure we are going to baptize the 25th. The only prob is that they live outside of our area, but they have friends here. This was a prob yesterday. We had a baptism of Kevin after conf. Well he lives in Pyramidal right on the limit of Independencia. The bishop of Pyramidal found out and kind of got mad at us and told us not to. We told the bishop to send members to visit him, but he didn’t. So during the baptism he saw we were baptizing him and called president. Who called the ZLs, the other problem is that he has been attending church in another area. We have been working on getting him friends here and one of his friends in the ward baptized him yesterday it was super sweet! He is way taller, so I felt bad because he baptized him like ten times before it was right. The water wasn’t high enough so he went to his knees and it didn’t work. So then they went to sitting and we finally got it! jaja. It was quite interesting.

At the temple we had an investigator there that’s called Claudia. She brought a friend and 2 nieces to the temple trip and one wants to get baptized! She lives out of the area so we are going to pass the reference on and hopefully she can! It’s super sweet! The temple was way awesome. Claudia is a hard investigator but she learned a ton and came to conference the first session which I wasn’t expecting. We have noticed a change in her since. The investigators learned a ton at the temple and the spirit was awesome. Ill explain a little bit more next week about the temple trip, but it was way sweet! Anyways I’ll talk to you guys next week. Sounds like everything is sweet back home

Peace and Love,

Elder Hendricks

March 30, 2015

Hey Fam,

I doubt I will have time to write my family letter. The ZLs want us out of here ASAP. So basically when the time is up they kick us out. But I can prob do it another way I will see. This week is changes and I am staying here in Indepencia with Elder Lopez. This means that He is going to die with me. Yes it is his last change. We are going to work hard in making sure he doesn’t leave the mission baggy. That’s sweet for Colton to be in the office. Elder Lopez only trained for 6 weeks instead of 12 and after his first 6 weeks he went to the office and hasn’t been just a normal missionary since then. He went DL, ZL, AP, ZL, Trainer. Which is pretty crazy, but I’m glad I have a trainer who has a lot of experience from leading.

How much money did you guy put in my bank – 50? Could you take out 5.20 from my account and pay tithing. This week I’m super stoked about Friday we have an excursion to the temple with investigators. We go up there and about half the day. There are two groups one in the morning and one in the afternoon. But we are going to be there all day because my comp is Elder Lopez and he is driving one of the vans back in the night. It's gonna be sweet. President talks to all the investigators in the chapel and after there is a bunch of stations where they can learn about the temple. After Saturday and Sunday we have conference it’s gonna be super sweet. I hope we have a bunch of investigators at these things. There are 6 things so they have no excuse not to go to one jaja.

Sunday we had two people confirmed in church which was sweet. Steven and Noemi were baptized, but Steven and the family didn’t come to church. Pablo and Noemi were confirmed this weekend and we hope to have a baptism with Kevin... yes another! jaja its super sweet. Kevin has 16 years and he wants to be baptized he lives on the limit of our area, but it’s super close to the chapel. He is an inv from Molino that Elder Lopez brought over after changes the last time. He is a super good guy and wants to serve a mission also. He has had many challenges in his live and he lives with his grandma who isn’t very accepting to the missionaries, but she signed the form which is awesome.

From this last week the work continues to move forward. We have a new video from the church that we have been watching with member it’s called GraciasAQueElVive prob something like that. “He Lives” in English. It’s super awesome. This video is amazing and we have pass along cards with it. It’s kind of like “He is the Gift” from Christmas. Members are the best for references. All of our next baptisms are references from members and our old baptisms. Our bishop is super happy with us. I don’t believe this ward has had many baptisms is the past and the last two weeks in a row we have had 5 --the hermanas had 2.  It’s super awesome! The members are necessary for the work. Without them we wouldn’t have any chosen people to teach that are progressing. Anyways this week should be super awesome and I am way excited. We had dinner with members Saturday and saw a part of the women’s conference jaja. In order to improve the relationship between members and missionaries we have made a food calendar which is super sweet. The future missionaries are gonna love us jaja. Anyway, take care. Thanks for all the love and support.

Elder Hendricks

P.S. Don’t be afraid to share the gospel even just the churches new video. The worst they’re gonna say is no... 

Week 5 In Independencia.

Things are going good here. Seems like the party is over and back to work. Yesterday Pablo was baptized! It was super sweet and I did the ordinance. It was super cool and afterwards the spirit was super strong. We didn't baptize Steven because he didn't come to church. The problem with him is he is young and lives with a less active family that doesn't really understand the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. Which makes it super hard for us to be able to get them to church. But, hopefully we can reactivate them and baptize him next Sunday. He understands the importance of baptism and wants to be baptized which is super sweet! At the baptism yesterday the mother of Pablo and his sister came and his sister has a little girl. I’ll send pics. But the mother has been inactive for a while and is a super nice lady. We are going to try to teach her also and reactivate her --vamos a ver. After the baptism Pablo shared his testimony and talked about how Alma had been racked with torment, but through Christ he was able to overcome. Pablo has faced difficulties but he has overcome them and made one of the greatest decisions in his life --to take upon him the name of Christ and follow him.

My Spanish is coming along really well. Yes, I can bear my testimony in Spanish. I can understand more or less of what people are saying. Church not really, but lessons ya. When people talk quiet or tell stories its super hard to understand although.

Some different things -- people peeing in the street. Churches everywhere. Dogs in the street. Cars that have huge speakers on top that drive around super loud advertising things. But it’s all good. Jaja. This Saturday we have another baptism. This is with Naomi. She is the wife of a convert of a year. He is a super good guy and is a counselor in the Elders Quorum. She supposedly was baptized a year ago but there is no record of it so we are teaching her. We always teach at members houses with her cause they live way out of the area. It’s really common with converts here, because they become comfortable in this ward so they stay here. But she really wants an eternal family so most of our lessons have been focused on that. But it’s going super well and my comp is great. I am having fun and learning a lot from him. As far as the area we had splits with the ZL´s and DL´s this week and I have been humbled and seen a lot more of the poorer areas. But it’s all super sweet! 

Chou

Elder Hendricks

March 16, 2015

Hoy Familia,

How was the vacation? I really hope you guys enjoyed the beach. I wish I could go swimming. It’s super hot! But, it’s all good. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Things are going super good here in Independencia. I am learning a lot. We had 3 Investigators at church yesterday which was super sweet. We are hoping for 2 baptisms this coming Sunday -- Pablo and Steven. Pablo is the Brother of a member that we met the first week and have been teaching. He is a super good guy and was a miracle. The first week here we went to mutual and there he was sitting on the couch and wanted to be baptized. He is super accepting to the lessons and struggled to get to church the first couple weeks but yesterday he was sick and still came which is super great. He only came to the first meeting but its super awesome that he was there. He has various addictions and problems but we have been working really hard with him and he has been reading a lot and praying. We are going to have a fast Saturday and Sunday to help him with his problems so hopefully all will go well. He is a super good man and the gospel has and can help him so much.

A funny story about fasting Saturday as started a fast for Pablo and another man in the ward. They were going to fast with us, but Pablo was sick and so we decided to change the fast to next Saturday. We had already started so we continued on and fasted with the man in the ward. We went to the first house where we had an appt. There the lady offered us fruit and we said we had to go so we bagged it and saw the sister missionaries and gave it to them. Then afterwards we had an appt with Pablo and his sister was an about to make us drinks (not alcoholic), but we had Pablo remind her we were fasting. Anyways we continued after and realized we had a dinner appt at 7 and it was 6:30. We realized we couldn’t cancel and so we had to go and eat... I felt so bad. Because I want to help these two guys and do what I can so the Lord and the atonement can strengthen them in their problems, but we couldn’t be rude. So we had to end early and were going to fast next week.

Steven is another investigator that we have been teaching from about the first week. He is 13 years old and lives with a less active family that we have been trying to reactivate. They are a super nice family and the Mom always feeds us. Anyways Stevens Mom is not alive and his Dad lives in the U.S and from what I can tell he doesn’t really want much to do with him. But, Steven is super excited to be baptized. We really need to find him friends in the church in order to strengthen him especially with young people. For my birthday the work continued to move forward jaja. Pres. called in the morning and wished me a happy birthday. Were gonna probs buy some pastel today but who knows. But, we ate lunch with some members that we usually eat lunch with on Sundays they are super nice. We had carne asada and it was super delicious and cake and they smashed my face in the cake jaja. I’ll send some pics it was pretty funny. You can also see my sweet haircut in the pics jaja.

Quick question --did you ever turn in the DTG paper? I hope cause now I can’t get it. As far as questions I think you guys have... I’m in the city so most people aren’t super poor although there are some. Cameron made it seem like they would have nothing. They don’t feed us like they do in Mexico. The food is meat or something. Salad, if it’s washed its fine and bread or tortillas. We have only ever eaten lunch with members and they only eat papusas for breakfast and dinner. It’s illegal to eat papusas for lunch jaja Jk. Yes, El Salvador is ripe and ready for harvest. The mission goal is 1600 baptisms by the end of the year and two per companionship each month. The culture has fear of saying no. We met a man from Belgium the other day and he wasn’t very accepting to even a pass along card. The people will say yes though and then won’t be there or will hide when we show up jaja -- it’s kinda funny. We had inter changes with the ZLs this week and I stayed here. I thought we were going to get lost or I wouldn't know where to go or what to do with all the investigators but all went super well. We didn’t get lost and I led the lessons really well. There are papusarias almost everywhere. The Zls don’t always go to the office so I have no Idea if I got my cards. I’m trying to do the best I can to be healthy I've been a little sick, but let’s hope I stay good. My stomach has been adapting though. Yesterday we had sacrament meeting and it was missionary themed. The ward mission leader called an hour before church and asked me to give a testimony (yes, I can bear my testimony in Spanish) and my comp gave a talk. We are in the city of Santa Ana and about 45 minutes on bus to the mission office.

Anyways thinks are going pretty great here. 

Elder Hendricks