January 18, 2016

Wow what a week!!! Planning a baptism was much more stressful than I imagined. II didn't realize how many things actually go into a baptism! I didn't want to talk a lot about it last week because everything was going so smoothly and I didn't want to jinx anything!

But let me tell you, the baptism went very smooth!! (Except for the little fiasco with Jose) Elder Fife came down from Chico and hung out with us for a little before the baptism. He preformed the ordinance and it was great!

Yesterday, Sunday I had the privilege to confirm Donna in sacrament meeting. It was so spiritual and wonderful. I blessed her for a few things, like her health and then when we took our hands off her head she was crying. I know that she was feeling the spirit as strongly as I was. It is so comforting knowing that Donna is making important covenants with our Heavenly Father.

We did a little work in Wheatland last Wednesday and met one of the only investigators in the area. Her name is Maryellen and she's an awesome old lady. She's been investigating for years, has been taught all the lessons, and has been waiting for her husband to pass away to get baptized.  Her husband passed in October, so now me and Tomlinson are coming in to finish the job! She has a funny parrot named lulu that loves the missionaries (except for when you don't share your candy with her. Then she gets mad and bites at you.........) she loves giving people kisses and is a super funny bird.

Well, I kinda did my email backwards where I bore my testimony first haha. I love you all and pray for you continually! Take care and be safe!

Elder Funley

Another week goes by in the Mission Field in NOCAL

Donna is solid! If you don't remember Donna, she's our newly found investigator as of like a month ago. Her baptism is set for this Friday and everything is good good knock knock! We almost had a huge snafu with donnas friend who is a member! His name is Jose and he's really close friends with Donna.

On to the story!! We were teaching Donna and Jose rolled up about 15 minutes into the lesson. We both thought "awesome! Jose is here! It'll be a member present lesson!" Well Jose comes in and says that he has to tell us something. We ask him what's going on and he tells us.

He said that he had some revelation in a dream the other night. In his dream he saw God and God told him that he wants him to go back to his old church, the Catholic Church. We sat there and tried to help him understand that it was not revelation from God and that he was in the right church and God didn't want him to leave.

Well, we continued the lesson with Donna and she's still on date for baptism this Friday! It's funny because Donna fells the same way that we do about Jose leaving the church. She's just as confused as we are and equally as sad.

This week ahead been so stressful planning for the baptism. It feels like I'm doing everything all by myself. Me and my companion are both super excited for the baptism. Not a whole lot has happened this week, so I'm keeping it short. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!

 

Elder Funley

                         When us elders are workin hard; but when you da driver......so you gotta stay awake!

2016, here we are!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I know I sure did!

Thank you to everyone who sent me either a letter, or a package for the holidays! I received a total of 13 lbs of candy for Christmas and New Years! I'm gonna get soo fat!! Haha.

So, there are a total of like 7 Hmong missionaries in the whole mission, and 3 Hmong areas. One of those are in my zone (yuba zone) For some reason, the Hmong area in my zone has a Hmong elder and an English elder. The other 2 areas each have a brand new missionary being trained by 2 seasoned missionaries as a trio. One of those greenies was not getting along with his trainers. So he called president and told him. President thought long and hard and came to a conclusion. He was going to stick him in the only Hmong branch in the mission, in yuba. He wanted him to be trained like a normal missionary, not in a trio. So he took out the English elder and stuck him with us! So for the past 2 weeks, I have been in a trio companionship!

We received transfer updates last night and elder Fife is leaving us to go to Chico :( I'll miss him a lot :( we became really good friends and have a lot in common. I understand that this is heavenly fathers work and not mine and that he needs to go to Chico for a reason. Also!

The Wheatland area adjacent to my area is being shut down! President has asked us to double cover our area and Wheatland. I'm stoked because the Wheatland apartment has a lava lamp!!

Our investigator on date, Donna, is doing super awesome! Her baptism is set for the 15th of this month! Last visit, we went through the interview questions and she passed with flying colors! Since Fife is leaving, it's left up to me to plan out the whole baptism. Scheduling the time, who's going to talk, and pray, and who's going to preform the baptism! I think Fife would like to come down to do it.

 Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to the temple! It was awesome! We went with a family who lives in antelope, close to Sacramento and some sister missionaries. We attended a session at the Sacramento temple and it was beautiful! Here's a pic of the crew

 

 

New Years Message from President Marsten

Dear Missionaries,
We love you.  We pray for you.

As we start a new year together in the California Roseville Mission I want you to know what a blessing it is to serve with you.  At few other times have I felt such a goodness around me.

We have seen many miracles in our mission through our missionary efforts and zone conferences, mission tours, the all-mission temple day, service projects,  church-wide Easter and Christmas initiatives and increased diligence. Our commitment to obedience is ever improving and we are seeing the results in our work.   We are baptizing at a rate of more than ONE baptism every day of the year (on average).  Though our baptisms have been fewer than 2014 I am confident that we are moving forward in a way that will accomplish the work that the Lord has in mind for this mission.  Missionary/Member work is improving.  Ward Mission Leaders are playing a greater role in our finding, teaching and baptisms. While there are fewer missionaries in our mission the expectations have not changed.  Our missionary purposes will always be “to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end”.   During 2016 we will place greater emphasis on teaching repentance and baptism to our investigators.

Traditionally New Year’s Day is a time to reflect on the past and resolve to improve in the new year.  Elder Holland has taught “every day ought to be the start of a new year and a new life.  Such is the wonder of faith and repentance and the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”….The past is to be learned from and not live in…..and when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed to the future.”

Let’s look forward to 2016 with FAITH, with PURPOSE, and with GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

I have attached a talk by Elder Holland that has inspired me as I look forward to my new year.

I hope that you will read it and consider what your expectations will be for this new year as a missionary in the California Roseville Mission.

WOW What a Week!

Wow what a week!!! So much has happened in this last week! One week
ago, president called us and told me and elder Fife that he wanted to
put us in a trio companionship. There was a Hmong elder in Chico who
was not getting along with his two trainers. So president wanted to
put him in a Hmong branch so he could be immersed in the work a little
more. The only Hmong branch in the mission is in our zone of Yuba
city. I guess since Tomlinson is an English missionary, president
didn't want in a trio with the other Hmong missionaries. So he put
elder Tomlinson with us! He wanted the whole thing to happen before
Christmas Day. So, on Monday elder Tomlinson moved all his stuff into
our apartment. We were not there to help him move in on Monday. We had
to go down to Sacramento to get a bike rack and hitch put on our cute
little Toyota Corolla. Since we were down in Sacramento, we went and
played sports with our old companions, Kelly and Inman. It was so good
to see Kelly again and I'm so sad that he's leaving.

Tuesday I ate some bad tuna and got way bad food poisoning and puked
all over the side of a jeep! We were with another set of missionaries
riding in the back of their car after I had eaten some bad mayo with
my tuna for lunch. The car ride made everything worse and I got sicker
and sicker in the car. We almost made it to the stake center but it
wouldn't stay down. Before I knew it I was hanging out the window
puking in front of an intersection full of people.

 

Wednesday we had to drive down to the mission office to pick up a few last minute packages for some people in our zone. We had to leave at 7:30 in order to make it back for our district meeting on time.

Friday was Christmas!!! It was so awesome talking to my family. I love them so much and it was a true blessing to be able to see all their beautiful faces. I called them around dinner time and was asked to bless the food over Skype. It was so cool that I was able to do that with them. I received a lot of presents from people and I appreciate all of them!! But being able to say a prayer with my family over Skype was probably the best Christmas gift I have ever received!!

Yesterday was an awesome day as well!! We had our investigator at church finally! Last week she had problems with her ride and his car broke down. But this week, everything worked and Donna came and stayed for all 3 hours!! She liked it and is excited for her baptism on the 15th! She's super excited and cannot wait for all the things we are teaching her.

I love you all so very much and wish you all safe journeys as you travel this week!!

Elder Funley

 

 

Merry Christmas from Elder Funley

Guess what happens this week!?!? CHRISTMAS!!! I love Christmas so much. It's such a wonderful time of the year. It's especially great because I'm on my mission!! I am able to appreciate the meaning of Christmas so much more now that I'm serving the lord 24/7! I'm so super excited to skype my family. This is my first Christmas away from home and I feel like a little kid again! I've never been this excited!!

We were so fortunate as to be able to put someone in date this week!

We picked up a new investigator 2 weeks ago and were able to teach her the restoration Tuesday and invite her to be baptized! She was very enthused about the whole thing and we were able to put her on date for the 16th of January! She has no word of wisdom issues of anything like that and she's super awesome! She told us that there's a void in her life and she's been thinking that it's religion. The way we met her was through a member in the feather River ward. His names Jose and he attends our weekly Book of Mormon class. He has told us about his friend Donna and we've been trying to meet with her since September.

So us being able to meet with her has been a blessing of it's own. And then putting her on date for baptism!?! Wow!!!

We invited her to church yesterday and she said that she would love to come. The only problem is that she doesn't have a car. So we thought about what we could do and came to the conclusion that Jose can take her! We called up Jose and and asked if he could take her. He agreed and we were super stoked! So Sunday rolls around and they never showed for sacrament. 15 minutes till sacrament des, we get a call from Jose saying that he's stuck at donnas house and his car won't start!!

(Should have bought a Toyota) so we were sad about that, but there's always next week!

This Sunday there were a lot of less active members that attended sacrament. I don't know if it was just because yesterday was Christmas Sunday. But there were 3 less actives that attended! It was good to see them there taking the sacrament and renewing their baptismal covenants.

 

Here's some pictures of me, Fife, and our beautiful Christmas tree!!

A Message For Christmas.... from my Mission President

Dear Missionaries:

It is Christmas week. Sister Marston and I send our love to each of you and desire to express our gratitude for and testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.

There is no better time, Christmas 2015, or place, California Roseville Mission, to serve as missionaries.  Our message this season, “A Savior is Born” is the same message declared by angels to humble shepherds and seeking wise men. 

Truly ours is a message of “peace and goodwill.   As our Savior, He grasps us as we fall, holds us with His might, and, through our obedience to His commandments, lifts us to eternal life.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, April 2015 Conference)

 

There are no words to fully express the meaning of that rescue.  No other person could have done what He has done for us.  He truly is the “author and finisher of our salvation.”  He is “the light, the life and the hope of the world.”  It is a magnificent responsibility given to missionaries to declare His truth to all the world.

We know that He lives, He loves us, He is with us, going before us, preparing hearts and minds to hear the “glad tidings of great joy” which is for “all people.”

Our prayer is that each of you will have a peaceful, spirit-filled Christmas day as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We say again, there is no better time or place to be a missionary.

We love you.  We pray for you.

Best regards,

President Michael F. Marston

California Roseville Mission