Golden Investigators: Luis and Noami

Hey Everyone,

 It's been another crazy week. But the best part was the lesson we had with Luis and that Noami came to church yesterday. The lesson this week with Luis was great. He's a young single adult and lives with his roommate, and he's a super intelligent guy that works on computers and delivers seafood. It was super easy to teach him because...I don't know... he just understood. We taught the plan of salvation and the Atonement and we brought a member Ricardo a young man the same age as him. We were able to read a lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and the Bible with him because we knew that he would understand what they meant. Ricardo was able to read him the Alma the younger conversion story to help him understand the purpose of the atonement and bore a marvelous testimony. I really touched Luis's heart. We invited him to baptism and he accepted a date for the 28th of April. Church attendance for him may be difficult because he works in the early mornings, but I think he will make an effort to prepare and learn. It was one of the most spiritual lesson I've been a part of so far in my mission. But on Sunday, Noami came to church, we weren't able to teach her, but she committed to come to church as a member when to pick her up. She enjoyed the Gospel Principles class as they taught about Christ and his purpose as our Savior and what it means to us specifically. She made a lot of friends and the Relief Society President was able to give her a ride home. Just perfect! Things are looking up and we are counting all the tender mercies we've seen so far.

"Prayer is not the substitute for work; it is a sometimes desperate effort to work further and to be efficient beyond the range of one's own powers. It is not the lazy who are most inclined to prayer ; those who pray most, who care most, and who have worked hard, find it intolerable to be defeated"

             George Santayana

Os amo tano

Elder Marrott

An Investigator From Who Learned About Church from Jail

Hey Everyone

      It’s been another awesome week as I'm still adjusting to my new area and responsibilities as district leader. This past Tuesday, I went on splits with Elder Beecher an elder in my district so I could do the baptismal interview for their GOLDEN investigators Junior. He has an amazing conversion story. A couple years back he made plans to have his first lesson with the missionaries one night but he ended up getting arrested due to possession of drugs and never got to meet with the missionaries. One day when he was in jail he ran into some missionaries that were teaching in the jail there and he basically learned everything of the gospel there and built his testimony. The missionaries gave him a pass along card to call as soon as he got out of jail so he could find a church and get baptized and that's exactly what he did! During the interview he constantly was bearing his testimony and I knew without a doubt that he was ready to make this step. This Sunday was his baptism and he had all his kids from Arizona come up for the service. Unfortunately he had a family member of his die on the freeway minutes before the baptism and it almost seemed like it wasn't going to happen. But it happened, and it was super powerful and his testimony was super strong! I'm looking again to teach a person like him again. That is what motivates me to work hard so I can be ready to find these kind of people!

The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. the world would take the people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of the people and then they take the slums out of themselves. The world would mold men by changing environment. Christ changes man, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior bur Christ can change human nature.

Ezra Taft Benson

Os amo tanto

Elder Marrott

With Elder Marin in Downey

Hey Everyone!

      It’s been crazy with all the changes here in the mission with areas being split and half the missionaries here being transferred to different areas because of the influx of 33 new missionaries here to Los Angeles. I was transferred to Maywood as a new district leader and senior companion to Elder Marin. He is from Florida and Texas and his parents are Colombian and Dominican, so his Spanish is pretty good. He has 3 transfers in the mission. My district is pretty cool. I look over the missionaries that are in the Santa Fe Springs Ward even though I go to the Bell Gardens Ward with 2 other companionships that aren't in my district. It’s different but fun. I directed my first district meeting on Saturday, so I was a little nervous but I enjoyed it.  I love the Maywood area and the people seem to like me because my last district leader Elder Behnke served a long time here and also a friend from home in St. Louis served in this area too. I'm able to click with members here really well. It's been a crazy week with transfers but we expect work with the investigators here will get better. Elder Marin and I had a great lesson with a new investigator Noami. Only had time to explain our purpose as missionaries and promise that she will be blessed for accepting our message. She felt the spirit strongly especially when the member we brought Hermano Naranjo bore his testimony she really has the desire to continue learning. I'm excited to work with her. Lastly, on Sunday we had stake conference for the Huntington Park Stake and it was the first one since they combined the both Spanish and English wards into one stake. They had to adjust to the language differences but I felt the spirit very strongly. Elder Ellis from the Quorum of the Seventy came to visit and gave a fantastic talk. I loved it when he said that "No one in the world can survive spiritually unless they learn how to receive revelation" So true! I'm still adjusting to life here but I love the mission and hope to help the mission grow here in Downey!

Os amo tanto!

Elder Marrott

Elder Marrott as District Leader!

Hey Everyone,

Not much time to write, things are going crazy here with transfers tomorrow. Last Wednesday I was informed that I am going to be serving as a district leader and I received training on Thursday. I'm a little nervous but I was positive that I was going to stay as a district leader here in my area now. Well I was wrong.....I'm being transferred AGAIN I'm going to serve in Maywood in the City of Downey with Elder Marin on BIKE finally! I was upset that they are moving me again so soon. It’s going to be my 5th area in less than a year! But I know I will be help the mission as the big changes start this month with 34 new missionaries coming in. President and the Lord trust me that I will be loyal to the mission no matter the circumstances. Everyone pray for the missionaries it’s a very stressful time for every missionary here and around the world. I'm so excited!

Os amo tanto!

Elder Marrott

More News from North Lomita

Hey Everyone,

       Another super busy week in North Lomita. I swear that right now that people our having to wait in line because we have so many people we are working with that it’s overwhelming to keep up with them all. I really hoping that they split our area this next transfer so we can help this area live up to its potential. The highlights from this week included several lessons with our investigators. We had a lesson with Alicia and her father again where we deeply covered the plan of salvation and how God has provided us answers to the life’s greatest questions. Where did I come from? Why am I here? And where am I going after this life? After we passed through it all, they both agreed that its God's plan. Unfortunately, Alicia’s father is an older man and he's promised to stick with the religion he has even though he completely agreed with everything we taught. It’s so easy to have a testimony in the restored gospel but super difficult for people to make the change necessary to live according to it. It's very frustrating but that's how it is sometimes. Afterward Alicia cooked up some amazing Mole con Pollo for Dinner. SO DIVINE! She's an awesome cook. Also this week we finally were able to have a lesson with Maria Garcia. She's been so busy with work she hasn't had time these past weeks. She already knows the church is true but we just have to be patient with her busy life. We ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation, the Word of Wisdom and the Sabbath Day in one class, and she understood perfectly. She’s golden but just busy. Another fun lesson we had was a Bible Class we were invited to on Thursday by family of 6 or so people. We taught the Restoration and testified that the church of Jesus Christ is back on the earth in its fullness and by reading the Book of Mormon they can know too. However one lady appreciated what we taught and what we do, she didn't feel inclined to read the Book of Mormon as she only reads the Bible. Unfortunately everyone followed the bandwagon with her. No problem because we are going by tomorrow to do a Family Home Evening to spark up some more interest with them. This Sunday also, we attended church and taught both Gospel Principles Class and Priesthood. I could have never done that before the mission. We had a good turnout of investigators and the classes went well. In the evening, the sisters in the Young Women asked my companion to play the piano for the New Beginnings meeting so we went. It was weird because I never went to a Young Women meeting before and I feel out of place. They talked about the importance of marriage, so I felt even more out of place. They had all the young women stand behind a wedding dress in front of a mirror to envision themselves in their Wedding dress. One of the counselors in the bishopric Hno Cardoso and I were making jokes about seeing the Bishop in the ward in a wedding dress. The Bishopric here is awesome. So that was last week, but on Monday we had service for the mission as we drove up to the mission home to help President Baker set up furniture for the new missionaries coming in this next transfer. There's 37 missionaries coming in on next Wednesday! Wow! I'm so excited to see what’s going to happen. Also on Saturday I'm going back to Hollywood for another baptism for a man that I tracted into and taught as well. So Good!!!!

Quote of the Week

While we must practice tolerance and respect for others and their beliefs including their right to explain and advocated their positions, we are not required to respect and tolerate wrong behavior

                               Dallin H Oaks

Isn't that the truth!

Os amos tanto!

Elder Marrott

Sis. Monzon and a Really Nice Mansion

Hey Everyone!

      It's been another fantastic week again, and I'm even happier than last week!!!! Yay!!!!! Yesterday was the best overall because I got to return to Hollywood to participate in the baptisms of an investigator that I found and taught 4 months ago, Ana Monzon. I saw former missionary friends and members and it was awesome to be there with everyone from before. I gave a talk on the importance of baptism at the service and I focused on taking upon the name of Christ, part of the baptismal covenant that she made. Later both Ana and Elder Walker, my companion at the time when we found her, gave fantastic testimonies of story of how we found her and how she herself came to know that the church was true. Ana was so confident and proud of the decision that she made at baptism and she is going to be a great blessing to the LA 4th ward for years to come. I couldn't be happier for her! Afterward we traveled to the temple where the visitor’s center was going to have a missionary fireside and we were hoping that some of our investigators were going to be there, but no came unfortunately. Its a long drive up to Hollywood and then to Santa Monica to the temple from our area in Torrance, so we were a little disappointed about that but it was fun catching up with some old missionary companions and friends there that can up to visit. Because we had no investigators there we couldn't stay for the fireside, but as we were leaving I saw a girl walking inside that looked super familiar. Somehow Elder Low and I stalled outside the VC for some reason and she came up and greeted me. She recognized me too. Apparently she was in my singles ward with me at BYU and is good friends with my roommates and other friends at school. I remembered her, Nicol, as she came over to our apartment a couple times to hang out. She gave me updates from every one of my roommates and other friends and how they are doing on their missions. Super awesome! It took me back, and It helped me see how far I've come and changed since I was at school. Craziness! Anyway, the funniest part of last week was that on Monday, the zone went to President Chen's mansion. He is the branch president of the Chinese branch in Palos Verdes and he's a multi-billionaire. It's the biggest house that I've ever been inside. He was a basement with ping pong, pool, weight room, and.... a BOWLING ALLEY! It was like as if I was at the White House. It was so much fun! We missionaries get so pampered sometimes! Relating to Missionary work in my area, we have so much work and so many people we are teaching that its almost overwhelming to keep tract of all of them. The best lesson we had this week was with Eduardo who is just coming back to church (super humble guy) and he's wife Allison who is a not a member and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. It just seemed to click so easy with them that she knows that it’s the plan that God has for us. She's a little hesitant about being baptized but with more spiritual experiences she will commit to it. Eduardo is so awesome and will be a great example to Allison and their little kids. One 1 year old and one on the way. An update on Bishop Madrid and his health, he's basically superman, as he survived 3 mini strokes and is perfectly fine. He's now in Utah visiting family. Crazy awesome. God has him still for a reason.

Quote of the week

Rationalizing is bringing one's ideals to the level of one's conduct

Repentance is the bringing of one's conduct to the level of one's ideals

We should always strive to repent and do what’s right and not try to justify are wrong actions no matter what!

Os amo tanto

Elder Marrott

Successful Week!

Hey Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        I"M SOOOOOOOOOO HAAPPYY!!!!!! This week was so great because so many good things are happening in my area and on my mission. I've never been happier in my life. But I guess I have to share the sad news first. My Ward Mission Leader Bishop Madrid has been struggling with health problems as of late and during sacrament meeting, he felt uneasy and had to go to the hospital. He's been such a fireball for missionary work since I've been in this area and he's such a great mentor to me. I would ask everyone who reads this to pray for him. He's the greatest spiritual giant you will ever meet. On Saturday, I when on exchanges with him, just he and I to a less actives home. He had no obligation to visit him but he just wanted to, it shows what a great man he is. It so happened that this man was baptized a couple years back by an elder from St Louis Elder Clark (don't know him) and also happens to be a crazy St Louis Cardinals fan. We got off really well. Hopefully we can get him activated again. He's suffered effects from a car wreck a couple months ago. Anyway there were several things this week that made it one of the best. 1) We had a lesson with Frank and Alicia again and had their member friends from Long Beach over to help us teach the Carmonas. Hna Carmona is super nice to the missionary as she feeds 12 missionaries every Saturday in the ward she attends. She told us of how grateful she is for the gospel. Frank and Alicia have great respect for this lady, so it was easy to share the message with them. It was funny we were talking about music and how we as missionaries don't listen to the radio. Hna Carmona mentioned that us members of the church try to listen to clean music, but told us that she a big fan of Pitbull. :) We also got a referral from a member visiting from Mexico and has brought her nephew and his wife to church. The nephew Eduardo is a less active of 8 years and he's wanted to return so he can raise his young family in the gospel. We watched Together Forever at his apartment with all his family and they knew that it was true. We are excited for all of his family and their decision to come back. Also we had a mini missionary come with us for this weekend a 17 year young man named Jhorrdy from Huntington Park, and he recently got baptized in October. We had fun teaching him about missionary life and having him help us teach some of our investigators. He has a strong testimony and he helped us out a lot. When we went to drop him back off in Downey, the missionaries that were serving in one of my prior areas Silverlake up in Hollywood came up and told me that one of the investigators that I found there in October Ana Monzon is going to be baptized this next Sunday and she wanted me to give a talk at here baptismal service. I was so excited as it will be my first investigator that will be baptized that my companion Elder Walker and I found. I'm ecstatic! Things are so good!

Quote of the week!

Many blessing come soon, some come much later in life, and others don't even come in this life, perhaps they come in the next, but for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they come.

           Jeffery R Holland

Os amo tanto!

Elder Marrott