Another Great week.

It's always great week when ya end it with a baptism! The work here in
Glendora is great and man alive the members are incredible. It's
pretty amazing to me to see a group of people that are so willing to
do missionary work and to see happiness come from it. Alright so we
had some miracles this week. In our ward we have a lady that was the
first Syrian baptized a member of the church. She was baptized over in
Syria which of course is illegal but she did it anyway long story. So
she moved here and the brethren use her a lot to translate conference
and broadcasts like that. The coolest part is her non member husband
his name is basil just moved her from Syria. He is a Jordanian. Really
neat he was born where Christ was baptized he speaks rough English but
his wife translates for us. He has been to Jerusalem and is a roman
orthodox. One of the few churches who claim priesthood authority. So
itadel, basils, wife wants him to take the lessons so this week she
had us over for dinner twice and we taught him the restoration using
Arabic pamphlets, iPads to translate and also itadel to translate. We
invited him to be baptized and he accepted it was a really powerful
lesson and I know that what ever got lost in the translating the holy
ghost made it up. The power of testimony is so real we are currently
teaching a less active family that has had a lot of experiences and
trials that my family had growing up. Being able to bear fervent,
bold, and heartfelt testimony is one of the things I love on my
mission. Aaron's baptism was amazing it was so great to see elder
kappen and him in the font together and after Aaron bore his testimony
the spirit was so strong. We invited our zone and there was a great
show of nonmembers there! Baptisms are so amazing it is a powerful
experience. The heat here is killer and it's been super humid also.
But hopefully I will burn some pounds that will be good! Love you all
and am so grateful have such great support.  I have been reading a lot
in the New Testament and it is so amazing how much you can learn who
your savior is! His atonement is real and because of his atonement im
out here on a mission, I've seen his sacrifice provide my father
strength to raise 4 boys. I'm so grateful for the chance to serve!

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Blindside

Hey y'all!

One thing with a mission and even in life ya never know what is going
to happen that is for sure. This week was transfers and of course when
ya least expect it something happens. I am getting moved again to the
Glendora 2nd ward. Kinda similar to the Glendale 2nd ward just on
opposite sides of the mission. My new companion is elder Kappen. Elder
Kappen is a great guy, he has been out for a little over a year. The
ward is a great ward I'm excited to meet em on Sunday and I will tell
ya if a agree with him haha. He is from American fork. He is 20 years
old went to one year of college before he came out here and he chose
BYU. I also got called as zone leader so that will add some spices to
this toss up haha. I'm really excited though to be able to have this
opportunity. I am extremely nervous and don't feel like I'm made for
the job but as we all know The Lord he qualifies the called. It's
gonna be a great opportunity so serve even more and learn even more
also. That's ones great part about life is we never stop progressing
or learning of we did we would be either dead or perfect. I'm bummed
to leave Duarte cause my stay was short and we had a lot of great work
there but I'm excited to be here in Glendora. The pad I live in is
lots bigger than my old pad it's only us that live in it but could
easily fit 4. The area is struggling quite a bit so that makes it
hard, they had people drop them so I'm excited to find some more
people. The zone is doing fairly decent right now! We had one
companionship baptize 3 people on Sunday so that was good! Thanks so
much for everything! If any of ya are still wondering I'm still a
redneck, I used a Mormon.org pass along card and rubber band as a band
aid! Proves I've learned a lot from my dad. Hope you all have a great
week and especially a great Memorial Day! One thing I love about
Memorial Day is being able to tell people that they will see there
loved ones again! I know that it's true the plan of salvation is such
a comforting thing to know about. We had a older gentleman walk up to
us at the street fair and ask. "Do you really believe I will be able
to see my family again?" Being able to testify and teach him a short
part of the plan of salvation was amazing. He was not a member of any
faith and his wife was a member of Calvary chapel so she wasn't our
biggest fans but he told us if he could join he would join. Miracles
happen every day like that one! God bless you all!
Love,
Elder Connor llewelyn

IPADS

Hello family and friends,

      This whole email thing is a lot easier now all I have to do is
talk into the microphone. I'm going to give a day by day analysis
because it's so stinking easy now. I'm doing really well I I got the
package and I got the letters thank you also very much for the support
I really enjoyed it. Me and Elder Coontz are still rocking we have
lots of progressing investigators.

On Monday for p day we had zone Olympics it was different we shoulda
just played basketball. PDays pretty much consist of just emails doing
nothing or playing basketball. Sometimes we play risk with other
companionship's in the zone. This payday me and Elder Coontz are
planning On going squirrel hunting with our slingshots.

  Tuesday we taught Ishmael and Alicia. They are so great Ishmael and
Alicia we were really excited about this lesson because we weren't
able to teach Ishmael and Alicia for a while. After that lesson I went
to goodwill and bought animal shirts, I found a good one it was pink
with a unicorn. Tuesday night we went to a Glendale ninth members home
to have dinner. Jackie came over and we were able to teach her the
plan of salvation. The lesson was way too deep and I'm pretty sure
blew her mind. We set her with the baptismal date at the end. for
February 23, Lots of things are starting to happen in the area I'm
very excited.

Wednesday the week has started to kind of come together it's super
slow but at the same time it looks alright. We talked I knew
investigator and gave him a tour. His name is Scott yelezekian and he
is Armenian but is a total stud. The elders quorum president in the g9
branch invited us over to his house for dinner we had street tacos.
Later that night a member named Jack McLaren took us out on rides. We
didn't have anything really going so he took us out to eat yogurt.
Jack is awesome he is pretty much missionary that's seventy years old.

Thursday we had weekly planning today. Also we had an awesome surprise
visit from Stewart Roth. It wasn't really a surprise we were actually
expecting him but me and elder coontz were very thrilled to see him.
He took us to lunch which is really nice. Then after we showed him a
little bit of our area and just caught up, it was awesome to see that
kid.

Friday well today is the day that we got these iPads. I'm not going to
lie they are really confusing and kinda hard to get used to but I'm
super stoked to learn how to use them. The iPads are mainly used for
planning and finding new investigators.  A cool feature is we can use
Facebook on them. The down part is we need Wi-Fi to use Internet who'd
a  thought. I think they are going to help out a lot.

Saturday today was a long day. Me and Coontz we started figuring out
who's on our ward list. We knocked a lot of doors and not many doors
were opened to us. We were able to teach a less active member named
Robert. That night we actually where invited to a Filipino ward
wedding. They cooked a whole pig and had a lot of different
concoctions. The food was overall pretty well.

Overall this week is pretty good I numbers were kind of low but we
made a lot of progress with our investigators. Even though Sunday was
kind of a letdown we had one of our investigators the one from the
mid-singles Ward attend the fireside and afterward fell she got an
answer to join the church. Will be meeting with her Tuesday and hope
to set her with a solid baptismal date. This week has been really
weird the weirdest part is all the missionaries trying to have
conversations with Siri I really think were lonely people. It's pretty
sad that's their escape from their companions. iPads are going to
weird thing to have but the pretty useful. I think the best part is
how I'm able to write my letters throughout the week through talking
into my iPad. I hope everything is going well back home.

Crazy Week

This week has been a crazy week! 

   

  It started off with us finding a great family the dads name is ishmael and his girlfriend is alisha they have one son named ishmael jr. It was great to teach them because they were so prepared and ready for the gospel. we actually just played basketball with ishmael which was way fun because he is really good so it made it better! Its crazy that there are so many miracles that are happening! we are finding new investigators like crazy and it is making the work a blast. One of these miracles that happend this week was on saturday we were studying and i texted a investigator and asked her how she was doing she texted back and said im doing great ive been attending church for awhile now can i be baptized it was a miracle for sure. we got an interview for sunday lined up and she passed so its amazing because her baptism is on friday. Its in the glendale 9th branch and there hasnt been a baptism in that branch since it has been set up for 2 plus years. Im excited for this week because there are great things happening sorry this weeks letter is so short im doing great thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! Hope you all have a great week.

   Elder Llewelyn

District Leader

Good afternoon family and friends,

    This week has been full of many surprises. which is good it keeps me on my feet I guess. It started off with a early morning call from the assistants, I was called as the new district leader mid way through transfer which was a shock but it has been great. My district is on top of it we are rocking.We lead the mission for English baptisms. That adds some weight to the load. This week was also a lot more busy we have picked up 4 new investigators that brings our teaching pool to around 13 investigators. I'm excited to see some of the miracles that come from that and from the work that we are doing. We were informed this week that we are officially getting iPads I'm so excited for this because it is going to hasten the work like crazy. We have seen some miracles come from internet proselyting. The scary part is transfer calls come this Saturday so who knows what is in store for me since I have been in this area for a goodwhile now its up in the air. I really feel like Elder Arterburn would be able to tackle the area and continue to build it. He is doing so good in training. It's been nice to have these experiences so young on my mission. Roberta wants her baby to be blessed so that is going to be really neat. I'm excited to be apart of that and to see her continue to move along this path. I am doing really good. The Lord has blessed me with many wonderful things. I'm Glad that my dad has given me such a good example. Thank you all for the love and support. Have a great week.
     love,
       Elder llewelyn

Rose Bowl Parade

hello family and friends.
   
     this week has been a pretty long week it felt like. I was surprised to see the new year come and go but it was a great year im excited to see what this one brings. the work was slow this week but im blaming that on the large ammounts of Spanish parties and vacations. California is a busy place already but when you add holidays in the mix it sky rockets. we were able to see miracles this week which was good and we also were given permission to go to the rose parade it was a blast. This parade trumps em all it was a good time to be with friends and members and spread the word by representing. This week looks like it is going to bring miracles and im excited for it. both of my companions are doing great. Armenian Christmas is today so that's odd. The Armenian group actually had there first baptism this week in 1 year it was over a year since there last one so that was amazing. We are getting fed tamales like crazy so im trying not to gain weight but oh well. I hope you all have a great week and a blessed one too.
     Love,
        Elder Llewelyn

Happy New Year

From the sounds of things it seems like everyone is doing real good that is always a plus to hear. even when my chiefs are headed to the playoffs must be the blessings from serving a mission. this week has been a good one we are continuing to see miracles. We have been working really hard this week and it shows because I am more tired than I have ever been its bad because when ever im not talking to someone on the bus I find my self doing the legendary spencer llewelyn head bob. I just want to thank everyone for the love and for the support that you all showed over Christmas it was extremely nice to be able to recive things from the family. im excited to see what new things happen in this new year and for the blessings and changes that it brings. I know my new years resolution is going to be able to work like a mad man out here. if you all haven't noticed I am on facebook now so be prepared to do some missionary work over the internet im looking forward to see what kind of things this new tool brings us and the fruits that we are going to see ripen from it. ive noticed that my white shirts aren't very white in some places so I always have to look around before I grab the overhead bar on the buses haha. One of the many miracles that happened this week was we found a family of 6. the moms name is ester and the dads name alex they have 4 boys under the age of 6. im excited to teach them they are a great family and I can see the growth they will bring. One of the funnier stories was. We went to taco bell this week for lunch I had to use the restroom I went in and "thought" I looked the door but as I sat down about 2 minutes later the door opened and the guy walked back out.  a few more moments later it opened again and I man walked in looked at me turned to walk back out but stopped and said "oh well I don't care" he then walked to the sink and began washing himself in the sink. we started talking and he asked if I was a Mormon we ended up having a conversation on religion and I gave him a pass along card while I was on the toilet. I learned from this experience even if you get caught with your pants down continue to preach the gospel. I love you all and hope you have a great week.
    love,
     Elder Llewelyn