Fireside Guitars and a Baptism!

Elder Robb, Jeremiah, Brother Pehrsson and Me

Our guitars waiting to go to fireside

Hey dad and grandma and everyone else! How are you all doing? This week was not normal but that's good because we had a baptism for Jeremiah last Saturday!

The baptism: we have been teaching Jeremiah for about 3 months and it was so was amazing to see him be baptized on Saturday. We had a lot of members come to it and my trainer Elder Fisi'ihoi came too. He sang and gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. President Tanner gave a talk on baptism. The whole thing went by smoothly and the spirit was soooo strong there. I was very glad to see Jeremiah turn his life around and being able to start with a clean slate. He has changed a lot and it truly strengthens my testimony on how this gospel can change people's lives and bless them greatly for doing so. He was confirmed yesterday and now he is an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Now the next step is to help him prepare for the priesthood.

Hanford: so after the baptism on Saturday my zone leaders called me and Elder Gipper to ask if we could play guitar for a fireside in the Hanford Stake right after church. I said sure and so me and Elder Gipper quickly arranged music for the song " hark all ye nations".  We had only 20 minutes to practice before the show last night. The program began at 6:30pm and we had to be there at 6:00 and it was 45 minutes away so we left right after church. The office missionaries, Elder and Sister Mauro (they are from Pennsylvania) dropped us off there. When we got to the stake center we started to practice for a couple minutes and then President Gelwix (my mission president) said "Alright we begin in 5 minutes. I haven't finished making the program so I'm going to at random call you to play when I feel it is right. Let's make this look like a well planned fireside" haha.  So that's what we did... we played in the middle of it and everyone really enjoyed it.

After that President Gelwix drove us home.  It was really cool to talk with him and get to know him. Halfway through the car ride a mission president from Madagascar called and he had his blue tooth hooked up in his car so we called all hear them both speak. They talked about how much they love their missionaries and how they are trying to increase converts. The mission president in Madagascar said that one of the missionaries caught something and he is slowly recovering. President Gelwix said " if he doesn't heal up fast enough, find the local shaman and maybe he can fix it".  Elder Gipper and I were laughing pretty hard when we heard him say that.

Anyway, that was pretty much my week!  So I will talk to you and grandma next week. By the way, thank you for the package and I'm excited to read it!

Talk to you soon.

Love,

Elder DeMarco



Word of Wisdom and the Yoga instructor

                                                 Backyard of Auberry missionaries home.

Hey dad! Thanks for the pictures of Mike and scout camp. I'm glad Joey is having fun and getting work done. Tell Josh that he is superrrr lucky that he wasn't hurt but that will be a cool story to tell his friends.

Last Monday I had exchanges with Elder Furness and we went to Auberry which is out in the country part of our mission. All they had was a little super market, couple of restaurants and a CVS.  That  was it! We went and visited a 95 year old man named Charles and he has been a yoga instructor for 45 years (he also eats super healthy and does 2 hours of yoga a day). We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he didn't have anything bad to say about it and completely agreed with it. It was neat to see how he understand why we live by it and the benefits it brings to him.

We have a baptism planned for Jeremiah this coming Saturday and our mission president is interviewing him sometime this week. Jeremiah is really excited about it and he tells people he is Mormon even though he's not one officially haha!  How cool is that!  We got a new investigator named Carole.  She came to church this Sunday and liked the principles that were being taught. we plan on seeing her this Saturday and her baptismal date is in August.

Other than that not much else happened this week. Hope everyone is doing great! And make sure you or Josh take Ralphie on walks.

PS koki tepukokoemia puaka = the stomach is full and the pig sleeps ....our ward mission leader taught me that word. He served his mission in New Zealand in the same area as my trainer Elder Fisi'ihoi....tell grandma he Elder fisi'ihoi got her package and he likes it a lot.

Love,

Elder DeMarco

Glad my brothers are alive!!!!!

Hey dad! I'm glad to hear that James and Joey are alive and doing well. Hopefully James will make sure to always look both ways before crossing. Tell Josh I'm proud of him for getting a job and to give him a good handshake from me. Yeah don't worry I'm not going to spend as much as I have been, I spent some more money than I usually do but I will make sure I budget more.

 Things that happened this week:

-Brother "C" got a bike back from these guys that stole a bike from a missionary (Elder Barney). we went to Brother "C's" house and picked it up and brought it back to Elder Barney.  He was super happy to get it and he told me that it is worth $1,000....he is so lucky!

 -We found 2 new investigators Ruby and Anthony. Anthony is a single dad and has two sons and Ruby is Anthony's mom. We taught them a little about the restoration yesterday after church and they want to come to church this Sunday to learn more. They seem really interested and they ask a lot of good questions about Jesus Christ and Heavenly.  Like being separate beings but the same in purpose which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Anthony heard that Mormons can't drink soda and we laughed and told him yeah it's okay to drink soda. We plan on seeing them tomorrow and hopefully we shall have another great lesson.

-For my personal study this week I've been memorizing more scriptures and when I recite slowly and confidently to members and investigators it brings the spirit in more strongly. My favorite scripture to quote so far is Joseph smiths first vision even though I learned it before I came out its always powerful when telling it to investigators.

That's pretty much it.  Later on today I will be going to Auberry for exchanges with Elder Furness from New Jersey haha. I tell him all the time that New Jersey people are crazy drivers. I will be in a car all day! so not biking in the hot sun for the day.
I'm excited to get the books and tell everyone I love them and have a great week.

Love,
Elder DeMarco
PS I'm glad Tyler likes her gift. Give her a big hug from me.

Great Week!

Hey how are you doing this week. It's getting a lot hotter here but I'm getting use to it. I drink water like I breathe air which is all the time.

Things I did this week:

 Wednesday: Happy 4th of July. So we went to the ward picnic at 8:30 am and it was great! There was a lot of members and nonmembers. We talked with as many nonmembers as possible and we plan on seeing one of them sometime next week. After the picnic we went back to missionary work mode and stopped by our investigator Jeremiah's house and shared a lesson with him. We set a baptismal date with him for July 28th and all he has to do is not smoke for 2 weeks. He said he hasn't smoked for 3 days and we are doing our best to help him with his addiction. It's amazing when you see someone change so quickly when they live the gospel.

 After that we went to the Malcolm home for dinner/ fireworks! ( I took some pictures but I forgot to bring my camera...I will show you them next Monday). It was really fun hanging with them, we played ping pong, tether ball, soccer and guitar. They bought some fireworks and a couple of them were so big. I took a picture of one but my camera didn't catch it that well. Then when the clock struck 10:00pm we headed back home and slept.

 Thursday: we found 2 new investigators from street contacting. One of them is Jeremy who is 25 years old and the other is Landon who is around 60 years old. we were able to teach them a little bit about the restoration and we set up a time to see them again this week.

 Sunday: we shared the ATM with the "L" family. After we finished, Sister "L" told me since I came here in January, I've grown up a lot and became more confident in teaching and I'm not shy anymore. I laughed and said I didn't think I've changed much but she said you may not see it but we can see it. So it was pretty cool to hear that from a member that I'm growing.

 That was pretty much my week and tell grandma thank you for sending the packages and I'm excited to get them. I hope everyone is doing great! Have some fun where ever you go for vacation!

 Love,

Elder DeMarco

.

July 2, 2012

So this week has been pretty good. We were able to meet with Jeremiah and continue to help him quit smoking so he can be baptized.
This is a summary of what I did last week:
Monday: Preparation day, sports, emailing and cleaning the house
Tuesday: Normal day
Wednesday: so after lunch we went and taught Jeremiah and then we met up with the zone leaders. 3 people came out of the car and one of them was Elder Fisi'ihio! President Gelwix let him work on my area for the day because he was going to be a trainer again and the mission office is right next door to us. So my companion Elder "R" went with Elder "O" to see our other appointments while me and Elder Fisi'ihoi separated and taught as many members as possible. It was soooooo good to see him. We did 12 lessons in one day how awesome is that?

Thursday: Normal day
Friday: Normal day
Saturday:Normal day
Sunday: The young men handed out flyers for the 4th of July and the members had to give 5 flyers out to their neighbors and friends. We are expecting a lot of people at the ward picnic. We want to get 2 investigators out of it. And we are going to get 2 more later on in the week because there are member who want us to teach their grandchildren. We plan on baptizing them by the end of July.
By the way tell grandma thank you for the package she sent and tell mike and his family thank you for the package they sent.

The picture: there's a billboard in Utah and it has President Gelwix (my mission president) on it and that's what it looks like!
Love, Elder DeMarco

Not being transferred!

Last Saturday night was transfer calls and it looks like I am ..........staying haha. I can't believe I have been staying in my 1st location for 7 months ! I have a feeling I will be probably leaving next transfer but that's okay with me. I love the Peachwood area but I am excited to see the other areas in this mission.
I'm glad to hear you got my package and you loved it. This week has been pretty good. My trainer elder fisi'ihoi called and said he is going to train again and he is going to be district leader again how cool is that? Last ward council we talked a lot about missionary work and decided to make flyers for the 4th of July picnic. Every member is going to get 5 flyers and they have to hand them out to their friends and neighbors. So hopefully we can get some investigators from it and increase our teaching pool. 
Also we stopped by a members house to get some water and his two grandchildren were outside playing (they have been going to church since they were little and I didn't know they were not members) so Brother "V" said his grand kids... "E" age-11, and "D" age-9 ......need to get the lessons so they can be baptized. We got 2 new investigators right there! But they are leaving for vacation this week so next week we will start teaching them. Elder Robb and I were sooo happy to get more investigators and we are going to be able to have a baptism by the end of July.
I hope everyone is doing great and keep giving me Elder Gagne and Blanchard's blogs.
 Love, Elder DeMarco

The 3rd Apostle I have met!!!

Hey….how was your Father’s day? I just sent you a little something.  I’m not sure when you will get it but I hope you like it. This week was normal for the most part.
We visited with members and did a follow up with the program called ATM.  Some of the members have received answers on who the individual heavenly father has prepared for them.  Also what they should invite that individual too.  My companion and I still have only 2 investigators we are teaching and we are going through our Area Book and visiting some of the old potential investigators. Last Sunday for MCM we got a list of names of part member families that we are going to visit and hopefully we can get a new investigator from that.
The meeting with M. Russell Ballard was GREAT!  One of the things I took from him is that missionaries are apostles just with a lower case "a" .  Definition as an Apostle is some who bears witness of Jesus Christ, teaches about Him and lives a righteous life. I never thought of it in that way before.  Another thing I got from him was Satan tries to make the doctrine of Christ complex and confusing when in reality is very simple. So many people in the world don't really know who God is and they each have a different opinion about him.  It’s our job to teach the doctrine simply and not make sure the individual we teach has a basic understanding of it. By the way all the missionaries shook hands with him and so this is the 3rd Apostle I shook hands with...how cool is that?
Weather report.......super hotttttttttt.  Luckily a lot members live in the area so if we need to refill we just stop by there house and ask for some water.
I had an epiphany while tracking in the hot sun a couple of days ago. I remembered you brought me out to work with you a couple of summers ago and how hot we got from being in the truck and then running to the door to drop off a package.  So I thought of you being outside most of the day like me and how we are both working in the hot sun all day haha.
Anyways thanks for the pictures and the blogs from Elder Gagne and Elder Blanchard.  I promise you next Monday I’m going to send you pictures....that reminds me did you receive a picture of me from one of the members in my ward.  A family called the "Rynders" said they were going to send you it so I’m wondering if you got it yet?
Talk to you next Monday.  Hope everyone is doing great and tell them I love them.
Love,
Elder DeMarco