Don't worry about me

Thanks for the email mom!
We had a huge celebration for pioneer day in our stake. We tried to get a ton of less actives there but i think only one showed up! But look at that success.
I am learning so much about myself! Something big i have learned today is the importance of getting married in the temple! I hope my wife wants to get married in the temple cause she isn't marrying me anywhere else than in the temple. I need someone who we can be active together and help each other be better.  ANYWAY, this week has sorta been slow. So we only got 9 lessons this week and the mission standard is 16, so that doesn't make me happy at all. So during weekly planning i have a goal to get 18 lessons this next week. We are trying to meet with active members, so we can build their testimonies and that will help them want to do missionary work. So its been nice. But its really hard to get into anyone's home, Non-member or member. Which is weird. Really no one is home.

Elder Simons and zone just before transfers

Anyway...i need some ties by the way. I will be happy with anything i'm just like super low on them. 
I have to give a talk on getting spiritually ready for missionary work next week. We will see how that goes.
We are really working hard to find people to teach. I hope you guys are having a great week. I love you all so dang much. I'm so proud of you all and everything you are doing. Don't worry about me --- the Lord and i are pretty tight. He has got my back so there is no need to worry. I love Jesus Christ and i learn more about the Atonement each and every day. How could someone die for a 19 year old child so that when he does something wrong he can have that wiped away. So amazing.
One last story, so last night we had dinner at this members house and she is like "okay desert time" and she said we are going to have pie. In my head i was like sweet just as long as it isn't lemon pie, but no one ever has lemon pie. But of course for complaining i got lemon pie. i had to gag that down with a smile on. That was the hardest thing i had to do that day. So it was a good day!
Love you all

Spaghetti with mushrooms

Thanks for the great letter mom!! It seems like it has been such a busy week for you guys.
This week has flown by. It has already been one transfer. Isnt that weird? This is where i am supposed to be. I feel it more and more everyday.  Its so cool cause i am falling in love with the scriptures! Like as soon as we get in for the night and finish planning i just want to read.  its really nice.
The float eh? you guys are busy little bees. That sounds so much fun. I bet the girls did very well throwing out candy. 
Dang i miss you guys! But it was such a good week for letters! Mom by the way i love getting all the talks and stuff you send me! Everyone in the district knows i have the best the support system at home. Its way cool.. Im so grateful. I love you guys. I am learning how to be patient at the times where i used to not even think about being patient.  
This work is fulfilling. Even when i knock on 389 doors and 4 get opened and 3 get slammed in your face and 1 just says not today, i feel like i'm doing my part in building up the kingdom of god. So even those hard days can be made not hard. I guess cause Heavenly Father pours down His spirit and lets you know He is proud and He sees your effort. Its crazy that Heavenly Father trusts His gospel to be carried to the world thru 19-21 years olds. That shows how much love He has and also how much trust. I feel truly blessed to be serving the Lord. I have already learned many things that will affect my life.
So news about the area...I was on exchanges with Zone leader Christensen (i seriously love that kid) and we went and knocked on Tim's door, to see if he was there so we could just talk to him and see how he was doing. And also maybe that i was disappointed i didnt get to see him all slicked up in my shirt for church. But we knock on the door and he comes out and says "I'm never coming back to your church again, its a cult" and goes way anti on the church. Man....that was so hard! But Tim isn't ready right now. He will partake of this gospel though. he will be so blessed by it. I know he will because i am so blessed from the gospel. It literally turned my life around. Made me a competely different person. I will never be able to thank Heavenly Father enough. Sorry i am getting side tracked.
Next is Matt. Our little slippery friend who wants to be baptized. So we (Elder Barron i love him!) had dinner with him on Wednesday. Going in there we wanted to just go over the baptismal interview questions and see how he was doing. But he did every little thing he could not to get a lesson started.. He showed us his crawdad traps. Which were cool...but turns out getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost is cooler. But he has come to church the last two weeks. This next week we have an appt. on Wednesday. So we will see how that goes. Oh at their house we had spaghetti  and on it there was mushrooms and zuchinnis. I was pumped about the zucs but the mushrooms?? Come on don't ruin it like that! But i didnt want to offend this family so i wolfed them down. 
So our next investigator is an older man named Bill. He is very deaf. Like very deaf. He has a word of wisdom problem. He said he doesn't have faith to get his answer about baptism. and i was trying to get him to commit to praying FOR faith but he thought i was saying praying IN faith. That really took about nine minutes to get sorted out. Because without faith nothing can happen really. Faith can be tiny or it can be huge. I have faith that when i take my next step my other foot will catch me or faith when you have lost someone that you WILL see them again. Faith is really interesting to me actually. I love it. I want to study it more in depth this week. Sorry i am like talking to myself here!
mom exchanges went amazing this week. I will write it in yours and dads letter. Really they went great!
And to meet the Westons we had a zone conference where like three different zones meet together. and we had lunch and stuff. it was cool. i saw Elder Trevort and we hugged and had a good old time. I miss Elder Bowerman.
The Westons have four kids Twin girls who are 15, a boy who is 11, and another girl who is nine! Crazy huh?
and the cool thing mom is we do presidents letters so i totally can ask him about anything and he will write a short response to me over the week! Its so nice!
Welll i love you a ton! and the family.
Have a great week!

Planting seeds...

Hey mom whats up?
This week has been....well no words to explain really. We are still working to visit every less-active and potential investigator in the area...and really no one answered the door. On Saturday we didn't get in to any houses. Member or non-member. It was hard. Oh well! I have a feeling we left some really good seeds.
But I know that if I keep trying the Lord will bless me.
I wish I had more to talk about! Tim didn't come to church yesterday. I wanted to cry. He needs the gospel in his life so much. He copes with his experience in the war with booze. So its been hard. I gave him one of my white shirts cause he needed it. He will come this week I know it.
Our investigator who wants to be baptized...we have dinner with him Wednesday and we will be dicussing it then. We are hoping for August 6th.

Elder Simons and Elder Osejo

We have three exchanges this week. I'm so excited. We picked up another investigator named Misty. She has two kids and she is really open to what we are teaching. Her son is playing mud football with the young men this week. It will be good for him to make friends there. It will be sweet
And Mark born in Gridley? Wow what a small world!
And I'm so excited for Corbin! He will do so good!!
And Paco's parents? Going to South Africa?? Wow!
We met the The Weston family this week!! How cool. They are such a great family. President Weston is so smart and he looks like Dad and has a Ipad too. I will always think of Dad when I'm with him. He is so cool and so sharp. That's how I would describe him. Sharp and on the ball!

President & Sister Weston and missionaries

The Lord has blessed me so much! And I'm always praying. Its so nice to just know that Heavenly Father is there always. The person that created the Plan of Salvation. You can talk to Him. How amazing!
I'm sorry for not having much to say! Next week we will have more to talk about! I hope you guys are having fun!
Bye!

Elder Simons' challenge

{Editor's note: We receive letters in regular mail from Elder Simons every couple of weeks or so.  This is one he wanted us to share part of with you.  Read on, and you'll see why}

...I want to challenge you guys to do something for me.  First, think of the Plan of Salvation.  From start to end.  Second, think of what blessings you get from it.  Third, think of someone who could use specifically the Plan of Salvation in their life, and share it with them.  Pray for someone to share it with.  Someone needs it.  I expect a full report on your little challenge.  And after you guys do it, put the challenge up on my blog and say "Elder Simons fully expects anyone who sees this to do it".  The plan is so amazing.  It makes me emotional every time I think about it.  Its too much for me to comprehend.  I love it.  I want to share it with lots of people.  Everyone deserves it.

Can't even comprehend

whats up?
So this week has been good but kinda long. I have learned alot about the Atonement and I will touch on that more later.  But first....after p-day on Monday, we were going to meet the Stake President and it was all good and fun, then we leave and I look down and I'm like "no...no...no....I forgot my nametag!"  That was the only time ever! Gosh!
If you guys remember Tim, the guy we tracted into, we came to visit him on Saturday hoping to ask him to go to church and give him a Book of Mormon. So we did and he is like "I need your number".  So I wrote down on this piece of paper our number, our church time, and a message that I needed him at church. So we left and at church the next day he totally just walks in with basketball shorts and sunglasses! I loved it. We sat by him and he said "your note told me to come to church so here i am." I was so happy! I have never been so happy during sacrament meeting! But during testimony meeting this woman was talking about a car and was trying to say a dashboard but forgot the word and Tim totally yells it out.  Man I was laughing so hard! It was so great. We are going to meet up with him later this week.

Elder Simons on p-day
Note: I love that he was so particular about the clothes he packed for
his mission,and after just a few short weeks of being out, 
he's sporting some good old farmer overalls. 

So another story.  In our area book there is this investigator who has been investigating the church forever and no one could seem to get anywhere with him. So we finally get a chance to meet him, and we get out of the car and I'm like "Elder Osejo, what if he totally wants to be baptized?" and he is like "yeah that won't happen". I was like "Whatever man you never know!" So we go in and start talking and then he was like..."well we sorta discussed it and I think its time for me to be baptized."  I was like...."wait what?"  I had the biggest smile on my face. I was so happy, and they could tell it surprised us so we were all laughing. He felt like all the other elders were in a race to see who could baptize him and stuff.  We are meeting with him this weekend to talk details. I'm excited.
We are trying to visit every less active in the area. We tract some everyday too. We have actually had a fair amount of success, which has been nice. Its been hot though. Very hot. Today we have a full p-day for the fourth and we are having a zone barbeque. It will be fun. The zone is pretty cool.
So it was Tuesday and it was raining so hard (it never rains in the summer in Northern California, i heard that six hundred times) and we were tracting and I was like "seriously what am i doing out here? What could i be doing back home?" I started getting really negative, and all of a sudden I thought about Jesus Christ. I was slapped so hard in the face. He died for me. He really put down his own life for every one of my sins and pains in life. He has felt everything I have felt but ten times worse.  He died so I could be happy and He laid down his life so I could be comforted in my times of need.  I just started praying and just thanking Heavenly Father for His plan and Jesus Christ being the center piece. I felt very selfish but that's another reason to be grateful for the Atonement. Every gulity feeling I have ever had about a sin can be erased.  How amazing is that? Can't even comprehend it really. Is it crazy that a little nineteen year old can go teach that?.. It shows how much trust the Lord has in me which in turn means I have so much expected of me, I can't be messing around out here. My purpose is to bring people unto Christ. So its been a learning week for me.
I have been having fun though... I have been smiling and laughing alot which is good. Oh we also went on exchanges again so we went and visited the lady I almost fainted in front of again. She was like "make sure you sit down this time." She was cool and we laughed about it. So it was fun.
Have a great week everyone.