February 22, 2016: 2 Pictures = 2000 Words

Hey guys! I've been sick this past week and I don't feel like writing :( I still love you all and pray for each and every one of you. They say that pictures are worth 1000 words. So here are 2000 words.

                                  This is a picture of a rainbow we saw in our area!

                                This is us with a few other missionaries on Beal Air Force Base


Love, Elder Funley

A Message from President Marsten

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Dear Missionaries:

This week we invite each of you to begin to read the Book of Mormon daily starting on February 10 and to finish reading the entire book by April 10.  The next day Monday, April 11^th we have planned an all-mission temple morning (three sessions) at the Sacramento Temple.  This reading assignment will help lift us and prepare us for that wonderful experience together.   Reading the Book of Mormon in sixty days will mean reading about 9 pages per day.   A personalized copy of the Book of Mormon will be given to you by your zone leaders at your zone meeting this week.  Inside the front cover is a reading schedule as well as quotes from President Ezra Taft Benson concerning the power of reading the Book of Mormon.  As you read, we invite you to find and mark in red every reference to Jesus Christ and His Atonement.  

The authors of the Book of Mormon wanted its readers to receive a witness of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.  The Book of Mormon came forth with the intent to convince Jews and Gentiles that JESUS is the CHRIST.  The Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

In August 2005 President Gordon B. Hinckley invited everyone to read or re-read the Book of Mormon by Christmas.  In issuing that invitation, President Hinckley made this promise:  “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program . . . there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.”  I believe in these promises.  As we read the Book of Mormon together, we will see miracles in our missionary service.

Sister Marston and I are excited to embark on this wonderful program with you and to feel the power of the Book of Mormon blessing our lives and yours.

We love you and pray for you.

Much of the Christian world today rejects the divinity of the Savior. They question His miraculous birth, His perfect life, and the reality of His glorious resurrection. The Book of Mormon teaches in plain and unmistakable terms about the truth of all of those. It also provides the most complete explanation of the doctrine of the Atonement. Truly, this divinely inspired book is a keystone in bearing witness to the world that Jesus is the Christ” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 129–30). 

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland identified Twenty Teachings in the Book of Mormon on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  In your reading this week look for Number 1:  Nephi’s record of the “God of Nature” suffering and the first of Isaiah’s testimonies of the Messiah (1 Nephi 19, 21)

Best regards,

President Michael F. Marston
California Roseville Mission

I had to pack up and move.....been busy! February 8, 2016

Hey everyone!!! Sorry I was not able to email last week! I had a ton of stuff to pack up and clean. We had to move out of our beautiful home and into a little apartment in Wheatland California. We did so much service this week and it was great!

So we received a referral this week and have tried contacting her at least 8 times. Each time she answers, she tells us she's busy. That's missionary work I guess!! We've been working with many less active members these past 2 weeks and are trying our hardest to help them kale and keep commitments i.e. Church attendance... I feel that less active members are just as important as investigators.

We had a huge miracle present itself to us last Wednesday! The bishop of the Olivehurst ward called us up and told us about a family I have never met before. The Martinez family. She has 2 kids in their early teens. Neither are baptized, but both actively attend church/ mutual, and have been for quite a few years. The mother is divorced and the father has partial custody of the kids. He does not want them getting baptized. But recently, he has not been paying child support and the mother is working on full custody so that the kids can be baptized!!!

Things have been way hectic these past few weeks. We had to move out of our apartment in Olivehurst down into Wheatland. We are now living in the southern most part of the whole zone. We are so far away from everyone now haha.

All is well here in the California Roseville mission. I apologize for not being able to email any of you more recently. I love you all and keep you all in my prayers.

 

Elder Funley

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.