September 20, 2011
Two Sundays ago (9/11) one of the members of the stake presidency asked me if I could help with the translation for stake conference. Usually, I would think about it but I had the prompting just to say yes without thinking. The next week I kind of forgot that I was going to translate until Saturday. So, like I always do, I started cramming. I was on Spanish overload. I was studying anything in Spanish that I could get my hands on. But during all this, the thought was in the back of my mind, "Why did you say yes so
fast?” So Saturday night came around and when I said my personal prayers I pleaded with the Lord to help me the next day and keep me calm and help me to convey the spirit of the message to the Spanish people listening. I felt an overwhelming since of happiness after I prayed and when I got into bed I just knew everything was going to be ok. Then Sunday morning, I started freaking out again and was studying like crazy and right before we left to conference, I asked some elders for a blessing. So we went to conference and we were there for the last part of the English session. I got to hear the stake president's talk and it was about the life Joseph Smith and he was using some words that I had no idea how to translate. After it was over, I went to talk with the member of the stake presidency who asked me to translate and I asked him who I would be translating for and he smiled and told me, the stake president. I was floored. I thought that there was no way I could translate for him. So the meeting started and I was scared the entire time. During the talk before the stake president's I began to pray and before I even started, I heard a voice in my head saying, "Don’t worry Ross, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I told you that I would help you, just have confidence." I was like"uh..ok!" So needless to say, I got up and only messed up once in the translation. I was pretty amazed, not in myself, but in the Lord. Afterwards, one of the members of the Spanish Branch came up to me and told me how good I did and he said that while I was translating he felt proud that I was doing it and that I was his missionary. It was an awesome experience that I’ll always remember.
But back to my first question, "Why did I say yes so fast without doubting?" I realized later Sunday afternoon, in a lesson we were having, that the reason that I agreed without thinking was because my Spanish needed to improve. I had kind of become relaxed with my Spanish and not studying it that much. But I learned numerous new words and other things while studying and my Spanish is improving again..pretty cool.
Well that’s about it...hahah pretty crazy week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!
September 13, 2011
So yeah...I SURVIVED THE SAN DIEGO BLACKOUT OF 2011! Me and my comp left our apartment and the lights where still working. Our fans were all running and everything was good. We got in our car and when we got to the street light, it started blinking. Then we started visiting people, and everyone was saying they had lost power. The we started getting texts from other missionaries saying power was down everywhere...all the way to New Mexico. Some people in our area thought it was the end of the world and that everyone was going to burn hahaha. Pres Clayton sent all the missionaries home early and so we chilled in our apartment basically the entire night. People in our area were going a little crazy, we heard police sirens all night. The little Mexican market by our house was robbed and the police had to come and guard it...that was pretty crazy! the power ended up coming back on at like 130 or so for us. We went to sleep at like 1030 or so...it was pretty hot.
So this week...we had a pretty cool experience with one of our investigators. We talked to her and used to visit her like 2 months ago, but for one reason or another we lost contact. But for the past month or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about her and feeling like we needed to visit her. So we went and saw her last Friday and had a pretty good talk. Then we stopped by yesterday and she told us that she had been praying for help with her family and asking God if He was there and when she was done praying, we knocked on the door (last Friday). She started crying and bore a strong testimony that God does answer prayers and how she knows now that he really does exist and loves her. It was another testimony builder for me to know that God works through us and that even though I had been thinking about her for awhile, God told when I needed to talk to her. It was kind of like him telling me that he was preparing her and that he would let me know when the time was right, and he did....pretty cool.
So yeah, that was basically my week. The lesson I realized this week, was that if we take a step back and allow God to help us in our struggles, we will be able to overcome them a lot easier and we will see the blessings in our struggles. Not that I am struggling with anything major or anything like that, but I’m a missionary, the past 2 years have been a struggle. When I just think about my problems and try to handle them myself, I don’t really learn. But if I ask God to help me understand the lessons to be learned in my problems and challenges, I see the lessons and I see the blessings and understand why I need to go through those trials.
Well I hope everyone is doing good. Tell everybody hi for me and spread the word....ROOS LITTLE IS COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
September 6, 2011
We had a good week. Another baptism!!!!haha We went over to our recent convert's house to talk to the mom about how things were going and she said that her boyfriend had left and she wanted to be baptized, but she didn’t know when because she was going through a lot. I told her to talk to our branch pres. and he would help her know what to do. The next night we got a call from Pte Lopez telling us that she was getting baptized on Saturday and that he knew we could handle the rest hahah so yeah, we had another baptism on Saturday and then we had 4 confirmations on Sunday. Overall, pretty good week!
The lesson I remembered this week was that sometimes as members of the church we grow comfortable with the amount of faith that we have. I kind of fell back into the trap of doing the work my way again this past week, but I’m starting to come out of it and put it back into the Lord's hands. That is definitely hard, because he asks a lot. I've been absolutely exhausted some nights and on the way home when I get a prompting to go see someone. It is the Lord's way of saying, "What are you going to do? take the easy way and go home, or take that one little step more and keep going?" It is definitely hard to keep going, but somehow I make it through. When we push ourselves to the edge and then go a little further, the blessings will come and we will be rewarded for our efforts.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Welcome Home...
Hello Everyone,
Ross sent us the following email this past week:
Elder Little,
It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that your release date has been officially changed to Dec. 20. I know it's the best thing for you, but we will certainly miss you. Now, get back to work!! :)
Pres. Clayton
We look forward to welcoming Ross home and are very happy that he will be home for Christmas. We appreciate your prayers and support in Ross’ behalf and wanted you to share in our excitement. We have encouraged Ross to stay focused and to “keep his head down and his feet moving” over the next three months—a phrase coined by Ross’ high school football coach, Coach Byrd.
We love you all!
Martha & Gordon
Ross sent us the following email this past week:
Elder Little,
It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that your release date has been officially changed to Dec. 20. I know it's the best thing for you, but we will certainly miss you. Now, get back to work!! :)
Pres. Clayton
We look forward to welcoming Ross home and are very happy that he will be home for Christmas. We appreciate your prayers and support in Ross’ behalf and wanted you to share in our excitement. We have encouraged Ross to stay focused and to “keep his head down and his feet moving” over the next three months—a phrase coined by Ross’ high school football coach, Coach Byrd.
We love you all!
Martha & Gordon
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
August Letters...
August 9, 2011
I'm feeling a lot better. (Ross was hospitalized this week with food poisoning.) I still don't know what caused it. I've given up trying to know. It was kind of like that time when we came back from Mexico when I was sick, but more intense.
Well this week was great. We had two surprise baptisms hahah. Do you remember Maricela? Me and Elder Guennete baptized her back in November? Her son turned 9 last Monday and we went and talked to Maricela and her son, Edward. We met with them on Saturday and we asked Eddie when he wanted to be baptized and he said, "ASAP. Tomorrow!" The other was the daughter of Maricela's friend, who is also a member. She had a date for this past weekend, but she was gettin cold feet but then she decided to do it haha it was pretty cool.
Also, things are really picking up in our area. We found a lot of good people, and the next few months are going to be really successful if we work hard and follow God.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go one exchanges with the elders that work at the SD Institute. It brought back some good times haha. What they do over there is just be at the Institute all day and talk with everybody who walks in. Its pretty cool. Kids from school walk in that need help, or just random people walk in. And then last night we went to the FHE.,....they play softball.....and all I could do was watch.....it killed me!!! haha but it was a lot of fun.
Right now, I think I’m in the time of my mission where I feel the most grind. I just feel worn out. I realized the other day that I’ve been doing this for over 18 months now and if you think about it, that’s a long time. Its taught me a lot, but its been hard. I've been getting the urge to complain a lot lately but I know I can’t complain. So if you could just pray for extra hard this week..it would be great, especially with the news of my friend from high school dying. He wasn't like a great friend or anything, but I always kind of admired him in HS. He was in my 5th and 6th grade homeroom class and we had a lot of classes together in high school. Its tough. Thanks for everything!!
Ross
August 22, 2011
Things are going good. Sorry my emails have been so short lately. Nothing has really changed. We went to the temple last week, that was fun. Then on Thursday the Recent Converts in the branch went to do baptism and they called us to go and do the confirmations but it turns out they didn't need us, so Pres. Lopez, our Branch President, took my companionship and the other companionship of elders out to dinner and we talked about the branch. With our 2 baptisms this next weekend, we will have reached the branch's yearly baptismal goal of 35. So we have to set some new goals and start working on some plans to reach those. Oh, something that you will like to hear. In the branch, we don't have a piano player, so after 3 months of singing acapella, I told the branch music lady that I would learn how to play the piano again and start playing for the branch. So last Sunday was my first Sunday to play. It went well. Only a few mistakes, but I haven't played for any group of people since I played in PH when I was like 14. So hopefully by the time I get home, I'll be able to play everything hahah.
Thanks for everything. I guess its crunch time! 4 month to go....the time has gone by fast and these next 4 months are going to fly! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!
Ross
August 30, 2011
What are your living conditions like—is it an apartment or house?
Right now, we live in a little house. It’s got one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. But, our lease is up and the senior missionary in charge of housing told us we could look for a new one. We found a nice one with a few of downtown and the ocean....and we are getting it! Missionaries in the future will love me for getting this apartment. It’s how I will leave my legacy on the mission haha
Is poverty or gang activity the most prevalent in your area?
Probably equal. We see a lot of things everyday. A LOT. In downtown, there is a lot of homeless people that just set up their little tents on the sidewalk. Around our apartment, there is probably more gangs than anything else. But they all like us, they don’t mess with Jesus.
Not too much to report on this week. It seems like the longer I'm out on a mission, the less I have to say. hahaha. Sorry! I'm just keeping my head down right now haha We had another baptism this past weekend. Ignacio Garcia. He is a stud. He called the mission office because he wanted to talk to missionaries. He didn't have a problem with anything. He drank coffee everyday for the past 20 years, and he just dropped the habit like that. It took him 1 day to stop. And he hasn't touched it since. It just goes to say that Heavenly Father prepares His children. It is comforting to me to know that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to let me have these experiences and teach his children. It's way cool. I've been thinking a lot about all the spiritual experiences I’ve had over the past 19 months. I've been blessed a ton and I'm starting to see and put into practice all the lessons I've learned. The most important lesson I've learned is humility. In order to have success, you have to be humble enough to let the Lord teach you until he knows you are ready to do what he wants you to do. It's kind of like the brother of Jared. He trained the brother of Jared and then allowed him to figure some things out on his own and then was blessed for his efforts. Humility is key. It is something that I have learned by serving around our branch president, Pte Lopez. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He loves everyone he talks to and is willing to do anything to help anyone. In Branch council on Sunday, he trained the branch leadership on how to be a good leader. I threw out that in order to be a good leader, you have to humble. Then for the rest of the training, he talked about humility and told the branch leaders that in order to a good leader, you have to be a good follower. So true. Well that’s it for this week. Things really haven't changed. I figure that the rest of my emails will be me sharing a little bit about my week, and sharing different lessons that I’ve learned. Well that’s all I’ve got for this week. I LOVE YOU!!!! Ross
I'm feeling a lot better. (Ross was hospitalized this week with food poisoning.) I still don't know what caused it. I've given up trying to know. It was kind of like that time when we came back from Mexico when I was sick, but more intense.
Well this week was great. We had two surprise baptisms hahah. Do you remember Maricela? Me and Elder Guennete baptized her back in November? Her son turned 9 last Monday and we went and talked to Maricela and her son, Edward. We met with them on Saturday and we asked Eddie when he wanted to be baptized and he said, "ASAP. Tomorrow!" The other was the daughter of Maricela's friend, who is also a member. She had a date for this past weekend, but she was gettin cold feet but then she decided to do it haha it was pretty cool.
Also, things are really picking up in our area. We found a lot of good people, and the next few months are going to be really successful if we work hard and follow God.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go one exchanges with the elders that work at the SD Institute. It brought back some good times haha. What they do over there is just be at the Institute all day and talk with everybody who walks in. Its pretty cool. Kids from school walk in that need help, or just random people walk in. And then last night we went to the FHE.,....they play softball.....and all I could do was watch.....it killed me!!! haha but it was a lot of fun.
Right now, I think I’m in the time of my mission where I feel the most grind. I just feel worn out. I realized the other day that I’ve been doing this for over 18 months now and if you think about it, that’s a long time. Its taught me a lot, but its been hard. I've been getting the urge to complain a lot lately but I know I can’t complain. So if you could just pray for extra hard this week..it would be great, especially with the news of my friend from high school dying. He wasn't like a great friend or anything, but I always kind of admired him in HS. He was in my 5th and 6th grade homeroom class and we had a lot of classes together in high school. Its tough. Thanks for everything!!
Ross
August 22, 2011
Things are going good. Sorry my emails have been so short lately. Nothing has really changed. We went to the temple last week, that was fun. Then on Thursday the Recent Converts in the branch went to do baptism and they called us to go and do the confirmations but it turns out they didn't need us, so Pres. Lopez, our Branch President, took my companionship and the other companionship of elders out to dinner and we talked about the branch. With our 2 baptisms this next weekend, we will have reached the branch's yearly baptismal goal of 35. So we have to set some new goals and start working on some plans to reach those. Oh, something that you will like to hear. In the branch, we don't have a piano player, so after 3 months of singing acapella, I told the branch music lady that I would learn how to play the piano again and start playing for the branch. So last Sunday was my first Sunday to play. It went well. Only a few mistakes, but I haven't played for any group of people since I played in PH when I was like 14. So hopefully by the time I get home, I'll be able to play everything hahah.
Thanks for everything. I guess its crunch time! 4 month to go....the time has gone by fast and these next 4 months are going to fly! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!
Ross
August 30, 2011
What are your living conditions like—is it an apartment or house?
Right now, we live in a little house. It’s got one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. But, our lease is up and the senior missionary in charge of housing told us we could look for a new one. We found a nice one with a few of downtown and the ocean....and we are getting it! Missionaries in the future will love me for getting this apartment. It’s how I will leave my legacy on the mission haha
Is poverty or gang activity the most prevalent in your area?
Probably equal. We see a lot of things everyday. A LOT. In downtown, there is a lot of homeless people that just set up their little tents on the sidewalk. Around our apartment, there is probably more gangs than anything else. But they all like us, they don’t mess with Jesus.
Not too much to report on this week. It seems like the longer I'm out on a mission, the less I have to say. hahaha. Sorry! I'm just keeping my head down right now haha We had another baptism this past weekend. Ignacio Garcia. He is a stud. He called the mission office because he wanted to talk to missionaries. He didn't have a problem with anything. He drank coffee everyday for the past 20 years, and he just dropped the habit like that. It took him 1 day to stop. And he hasn't touched it since. It just goes to say that Heavenly Father prepares His children. It is comforting to me to know that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to let me have these experiences and teach his children. It's way cool. I've been thinking a lot about all the spiritual experiences I’ve had over the past 19 months. I've been blessed a ton and I'm starting to see and put into practice all the lessons I've learned. The most important lesson I've learned is humility. In order to have success, you have to be humble enough to let the Lord teach you until he knows you are ready to do what he wants you to do. It's kind of like the brother of Jared. He trained the brother of Jared and then allowed him to figure some things out on his own and then was blessed for his efforts. Humility is key. It is something that I have learned by serving around our branch president, Pte Lopez. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He loves everyone he talks to and is willing to do anything to help anyone. In Branch council on Sunday, he trained the branch leadership on how to be a good leader. I threw out that in order to be a good leader, you have to humble. Then for the rest of the training, he talked about humility and told the branch leaders that in order to a good leader, you have to be a good follower. So true. Well that’s it for this week. Things really haven't changed. I figure that the rest of my emails will be me sharing a little bit about my week, and sharing different lessons that I’ve learned. Well that’s all I’ve got for this week. I LOVE YOU!!!! Ross
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Pictures
Ross sent a few pictures this week. Some investigators that he has been working with finally decided to get married and he was a witness at their wedding and helped baptize them. He's written about them to us before so he sent pictures. I didn't want to post the pictures of the family without their permission so I cropped them down to just Ross so you can at least see him!! If Ross says it's okay I'll post the real pictures later.
Signing as a witness to the wedding. :)
Signing as a witness to the wedding. :)LONG UPDATE
How do I fall so far behind?! Yikes!! So sorry to those of you that keep up with this. Here are excerpts from his letters over the past month. Thanks to mom for editing these and getting them ready to post because that's the hard part!! Enjoy!!
~Hillary
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So this week was pretty good. We didn't get to work a lot because of all the things going on with the transition to Pres Clayton, our new Mission President, but it's alright. He came into the mission last Wednesday and me and my comp snuck up to the mission office to meet him. He is a great guy. We had "meet the president" meeting with him on Thursday and we got to know him and his family. He brought his daughters with him but only one is staying. And she'll only be here for the summer, she goes to BYU. I'm excited to work with him. He is a great man and his wife is too. She said that she is going to set up a mission blog so that our parents will get to see what we are doing..so be looking for that!
Alex was confirmed on Sunday and he gets the PH next week. Way cool. His family wants to be baptized now too! Last week we had another FHE with them and the Mom, Maria, said that she is ready to be baptized. Just as long as the water isn't cold hahaha so things are going great with them.
On 4th of July, we had to be in our apartment at 6 p.m.because things get a little crazy in the SD ghetto. But we watched the fireworks from the alley way behind our apartment. They had a huge firework show/party by the naval base, which is close to our apartment. So that was cool. It sounds like yalls 4th was pretty chill.
Well that's all I've got. I hope everything is going great! Almost 5 months! LOVE YALL
Ross
July 12, 2011
Today is the transfer letter day. Me and my comp are staying together.
This Thursday is my first interview with Pres Clayton. I've talked with him a bunch of times and I'm pretty sure he will be cool with me going home early. I'm going to give him a heads up in my Presidents letter today so it will be on his mind. hahaha
This week was good. We had a lot of success on Sunday. We had 6 people at church, but it was nothing we did. The De La Cruz family came and then we had 2 random people just show up. Things are going way good. This week, we are helping a kid get his mission papers filled out. That is exciting! And...a less active that I helped reactive in Imperial Beach just went through the temple on Saturday and is leaving for his mission to North Carolina in 9 days! How cool is that? I'm way excited for him. He is a little cocky, (more than I was haha) so the mission will humble him, but he will do great!!!!
This week has been a little tough. I've been thinking a lot about home for some reason haha It is nothing that yall are doing, yall are ok. It's just me. The other day I finished the BoM for the 3rd time and I did the math to see how many pages I had to read to finish it in Spanish. I only have 5 months left.....that is crazy. 4 transfers...and this transfer is only 5 weeks. I kind of freaked out a little bit, but I'm good now! Don't worry about me!
Well thanks for everything!!!! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!!
Ross
July 19, 2011
In preparation for a talk in church on "a mother's viewpoint in having a son on a mission--thoughts and impressions I have had as Ross has served a mission", I asked Ross what advice he has for boys as they contemplate and prepare for a mission. This is his reply:
"What advice do I have for younger kids to prepare for a mission? I guess: IT STARTS NOW. Don't put off preparing till the last minute or I guess don't procrastinate. It may seem far away, but it goes by fast. I realized this week that before your mission, everything in the church is geared towards preparing you for that time. Sunday school, mutual activities, seminary, mission prep, all that good stuff. Returned missionaries sometimes complain that there is nothing to prepare them for when they return home. I think that they didn't get "it" on their missions. The whole reason the Lord sends us out at 19 years old is so that we can prepare ourselves, for 2 years, for the rest of our lives. And because we are 19 year old kids, it takes us being pulled out of our comfort zone and taken out of everything we know (sports, TV, girls) to be able to be taught by the Lord. So that is why I say prepare now. Don't take yourselves out of everything in the world. But start to cut things down a little bit. Focus more things that matter. "Leave behind GOOD things, for BETTER things." Start to focus on what matters so that when you get to be the Lord's missionary, you learn the lessons he has for you quicker and you can become refined. I guess that's what I would tell them. The Lord has taught me so much in the past year and a half. I cant even begin to think where I would be in my life if I didn't go. If there is any doubt in their mind of going on a mission, slap yourself, and then never have those thoughts again. I wouldn't trade this, the hardest/most difficult/most trying/most humble/most rewarding, time of my life for any college football scholarship/any chance to play professional sports/any chance to become rich and famous. It means the world to me, and if they start to prepare now, it will mean even more to them. (alright, I just stepped off my soap box) I hope that helps.
(Needless, to say, it did help, immensely)
My first interview with President Clayton went great. I talked with him for about 30 minutes ( my longest interview with Pres Donaldson was like 5). He is a great man. Very humble and he told me repeatedly how grateful he was for me and how much he loved me. We talked about life back home and my family, we talked about my mission and the zone, we talked about my future. He promised me that after my mission, he would stay in contact with me. That was nice, something Pres Donaldson promised as well. In my last president's letter, I sent him a heads up about me going home early. We talked about it and he already knew when I was scheduled to go home. He asked when the semester started and I told him the middle of January. He said, "we cant have you miss that. Ill make sure you are released early." So I'm coming home early! I also told him that yall wanted to come out and pick me up out here and he said that he wouldn't trade the experience he had picking up his sons for anything. He then said, "We would love to have your parents here and meet them." So it looks like everything is a go!
July 26, 2011
Well this week we haven't had the most success, but it has been a really rewarding week.
Our week was ok. We had some good experiences. I think this week was more for me than it was for my area...if that makes any sense
On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with an elder and we went on a secret mission. Hahaha. There is an inactive member in his ward that doesn't really like missionaries. His wife is really active so she wanted us to meet with him. So she (the wife) took her husband (the inactive) to the Mormon Battalion and the plan was for me and my comp. to stop by and "accidently run into them". So my comp and I had all the Mormon Battalion sister missionaries working the situation. Then when they came out of the tour we "accidently ran into them" and started talking. To make a long story short, the guy really opened up to us and his wife said the things we told him really opened up his mind and helped him. We will see what happens there. Now, fast forward to yesterday......
THE RODRIGUEZES GOT MARRIED!!!!!!! Yeaaaaahhh! The Andres and Maria finally got married yesterday. They did it at the court house and asked me to be one of the witnesses! Then they showed one of their friends a pic of the temple and they said, "in one year from now, we are getting married there!" It was awesome to hear them say that! Really rewarding
Well that's about it for this week. Not a lot to say. I got the Dallas Cowboy package! It was great that yall took the tour of the stadium--I was jealous! My first week back we are going on a tour of the stadium. I love the shirt and other things. hahaha Tell everyone I said hey. I LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
August 2, 2011
We had a surprise meeting with Elder M. Russell Ballard on Saturday! Turns out that if your daughter is married to the Mission President, you can speak to the mission whenever you want to--if you are an apostle hahah. We had a meeting with him and with all the bishops, stake presidents, and WMLs in our mission...it was AWESOME!!!!! He answered a lot of questions about the work and explained a lot of new things. Then I got to meet him and shake his hand after. He looked at my name and said, "Elder Little......hahaha (chuckle)...God bless you" and patted me on the shoulder hahah. It was pretty cool!
THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!!! I attached the pics to the email. The wife wanted me to baptize her so I got to do that...it was great!!!!
I had to translate again in church on Sunday...this time from Spanish to English. It was our Branch Conference so we had all the stake leaders there and they used translation headsets...it was pretty intense. I could definitely feel the Lord helping me because I couldn't stop and the speakers didn't pause. I had to translate to English as they were speaking in Spanish!
So all in all....it was a pretty great week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!!
~Hillary
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So this week was pretty good. We didn't get to work a lot because of all the things going on with the transition to Pres Clayton, our new Mission President, but it's alright. He came into the mission last Wednesday and me and my comp snuck up to the mission office to meet him. He is a great guy. We had "meet the president" meeting with him on Thursday and we got to know him and his family. He brought his daughters with him but only one is staying. And she'll only be here for the summer, she goes to BYU. I'm excited to work with him. He is a great man and his wife is too. She said that she is going to set up a mission blog so that our parents will get to see what we are doing..so be looking for that!
Alex was confirmed on Sunday and he gets the PH next week. Way cool. His family wants to be baptized now too! Last week we had another FHE with them and the Mom, Maria, said that she is ready to be baptized. Just as long as the water isn't cold hahaha so things are going great with them.
On 4th of July, we had to be in our apartment at 6 p.m.because things get a little crazy in the SD ghetto. But we watched the fireworks from the alley way behind our apartment. They had a huge firework show/party by the naval base, which is close to our apartment. So that was cool. It sounds like yalls 4th was pretty chill.
Well that's all I've got. I hope everything is going great! Almost 5 months! LOVE YALL
Ross
July 12, 2011
Today is the transfer letter day. Me and my comp are staying together.
This Thursday is my first interview with Pres Clayton. I've talked with him a bunch of times and I'm pretty sure he will be cool with me going home early. I'm going to give him a heads up in my Presidents letter today so it will be on his mind. hahaha
This week was good. We had a lot of success on Sunday. We had 6 people at church, but it was nothing we did. The De La Cruz family came and then we had 2 random people just show up. Things are going way good. This week, we are helping a kid get his mission papers filled out. That is exciting! And...a less active that I helped reactive in Imperial Beach just went through the temple on Saturday and is leaving for his mission to North Carolina in 9 days! How cool is that? I'm way excited for him. He is a little cocky, (more than I was haha) so the mission will humble him, but he will do great!!!!
This week has been a little tough. I've been thinking a lot about home for some reason haha It is nothing that yall are doing, yall are ok. It's just me. The other day I finished the BoM for the 3rd time and I did the math to see how many pages I had to read to finish it in Spanish. I only have 5 months left.....that is crazy. 4 transfers...and this transfer is only 5 weeks. I kind of freaked out a little bit, but I'm good now! Don't worry about me!
Well thanks for everything!!!! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!!
Ross
July 19, 2011
In preparation for a talk in church on "a mother's viewpoint in having a son on a mission--thoughts and impressions I have had as Ross has served a mission", I asked Ross what advice he has for boys as they contemplate and prepare for a mission. This is his reply:
"What advice do I have for younger kids to prepare for a mission? I guess: IT STARTS NOW. Don't put off preparing till the last minute or I guess don't procrastinate. It may seem far away, but it goes by fast. I realized this week that before your mission, everything in the church is geared towards preparing you for that time. Sunday school, mutual activities, seminary, mission prep, all that good stuff. Returned missionaries sometimes complain that there is nothing to prepare them for when they return home. I think that they didn't get "it" on their missions. The whole reason the Lord sends us out at 19 years old is so that we can prepare ourselves, for 2 years, for the rest of our lives. And because we are 19 year old kids, it takes us being pulled out of our comfort zone and taken out of everything we know (sports, TV, girls) to be able to be taught by the Lord. So that is why I say prepare now. Don't take yourselves out of everything in the world. But start to cut things down a little bit. Focus more things that matter. "Leave behind GOOD things, for BETTER things." Start to focus on what matters so that when you get to be the Lord's missionary, you learn the lessons he has for you quicker and you can become refined. I guess that's what I would tell them. The Lord has taught me so much in the past year and a half. I cant even begin to think where I would be in my life if I didn't go. If there is any doubt in their mind of going on a mission, slap yourself, and then never have those thoughts again. I wouldn't trade this, the hardest/most difficult/most trying/most humble/most rewarding, time of my life for any college football scholarship/any chance to play professional sports/any chance to become rich and famous. It means the world to me, and if they start to prepare now, it will mean even more to them. (alright, I just stepped off my soap box) I hope that helps.
(Needless, to say, it did help, immensely)
My first interview with President Clayton went great. I talked with him for about 30 minutes ( my longest interview with Pres Donaldson was like 5). He is a great man. Very humble and he told me repeatedly how grateful he was for me and how much he loved me. We talked about life back home and my family, we talked about my mission and the zone, we talked about my future. He promised me that after my mission, he would stay in contact with me. That was nice, something Pres Donaldson promised as well. In my last president's letter, I sent him a heads up about me going home early. We talked about it and he already knew when I was scheduled to go home. He asked when the semester started and I told him the middle of January. He said, "we cant have you miss that. Ill make sure you are released early." So I'm coming home early! I also told him that yall wanted to come out and pick me up out here and he said that he wouldn't trade the experience he had picking up his sons for anything. He then said, "We would love to have your parents here and meet them." So it looks like everything is a go!
July 26, 2011
Well this week we haven't had the most success, but it has been a really rewarding week.
Our week was ok. We had some good experiences. I think this week was more for me than it was for my area...if that makes any sense
On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with an elder and we went on a secret mission. Hahaha. There is an inactive member in his ward that doesn't really like missionaries. His wife is really active so she wanted us to meet with him. So she (the wife) took her husband (the inactive) to the Mormon Battalion and the plan was for me and my comp. to stop by and "accidently run into them". So my comp and I had all the Mormon Battalion sister missionaries working the situation. Then when they came out of the tour we "accidently ran into them" and started talking. To make a long story short, the guy really opened up to us and his wife said the things we told him really opened up his mind and helped him. We will see what happens there. Now, fast forward to yesterday......
THE RODRIGUEZES GOT MARRIED!!!!!!! Yeaaaaahhh! The Andres and Maria finally got married yesterday. They did it at the court house and asked me to be one of the witnesses! Then they showed one of their friends a pic of the temple and they said, "in one year from now, we are getting married there!" It was awesome to hear them say that! Really rewarding
Well that's about it for this week. Not a lot to say. I got the Dallas Cowboy package! It was great that yall took the tour of the stadium--I was jealous! My first week back we are going on a tour of the stadium. I love the shirt and other things. hahaha Tell everyone I said hey. I LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
August 2, 2011
We had a surprise meeting with Elder M. Russell Ballard on Saturday! Turns out that if your daughter is married to the Mission President, you can speak to the mission whenever you want to--if you are an apostle hahah. We had a meeting with him and with all the bishops, stake presidents, and WMLs in our mission...it was AWESOME!!!!! He answered a lot of questions about the work and explained a lot of new things. Then I got to meet him and shake his hand after. He looked at my name and said, "Elder Little......hahaha (chuckle)...God bless you" and patted me on the shoulder hahah. It was pretty cool!
THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!!! I attached the pics to the email. The wife wanted me to baptize her so I got to do that...it was great!!!!
I had to translate again in church on Sunday...this time from Spanish to English. It was our Branch Conference so we had all the stake leaders there and they used translation headsets...it was pretty intense. I could definitely feel the Lord helping me because I couldn't stop and the speakers didn't pause. I had to translate to English as they were speaking in Spanish!
So all in all....it was a pretty great week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Update...
Ross is about 75% of the way through his mission....sometimes that seems so hard to believe, other times I feel like the days drag by. I'm guessing for my parents, the days just seem to drag by!! We all love Tuesdays when we hear from Ross and it's funny to see my parents stare at their phones, repeatedly updating their emails, waiting for that one that says it's from Ross. We love our missionary so much and are so proud of him and his service to the Lord...but we sure do miss him!!
I've posted 3 of his latest emails to my mom below. I always say I'm going to try to do better at keeping this updated but I never do! In Ross's letter this week he mentioned that his new mission President's wife wants to start a blog for the families to read so we'll let you know if that is done and if you're able to access it as well. I'm hoping she gets a blog started, I would love to hear how things are going out there from the mission's point of view!
Ross is very grateful for the letters and gifts he has received from family and friends. I know you may not always get a return letter of thanks and updates, but just know your thoughts and gifts are appreciated. He is so so so busy and recently we've only been getting short notes ourselves on Tuesdays. But Ross ends every letter (to me at least) by saying "tell everybody that I love them" so I'm passing that on to you too. He loves you and is grateful for your love and support. :)
So enjoy reading the emails below and if you feel so inclined, his address is posted to the side and you can write him a quick note...because even if he doesn't write you back, he LOVES to get mail. Such is the life of a missionary I guess!!
Love,
Hillary
I've posted 3 of his latest emails to my mom below. I always say I'm going to try to do better at keeping this updated but I never do! In Ross's letter this week he mentioned that his new mission President's wife wants to start a blog for the families to read so we'll let you know if that is done and if you're able to access it as well. I'm hoping she gets a blog started, I would love to hear how things are going out there from the mission's point of view!
Ross is very grateful for the letters and gifts he has received from family and friends. I know you may not always get a return letter of thanks and updates, but just know your thoughts and gifts are appreciated. He is so so so busy and recently we've only been getting short notes ourselves on Tuesdays. But Ross ends every letter (to me at least) by saying "tell everybody that I love them" so I'm passing that on to you too. He loves you and is grateful for your love and support. :)
So enjoy reading the emails below and if you feel so inclined, his address is posted to the side and you can write him a quick note...because even if he doesn't write you back, he LOVES to get mail. Such is the life of a missionary I guess!!
Love,
Hillary
Letter from June 21, 2011
June 21, 2011
Hey...tough week....but it refined me and things are getting better
Ninety percent of our teaching is in Spanish. The only person we teach in English is a 19 yr old girl but even then, her boyfriend doesn't speak English so we have to talk to him in Spanish. But yeah, everything is in Spanish. My area is just like something you would see in Mexico.
Well like I said this week was like the refiners fire. I'll relate it to sports. Remember the beginning of my senior year and I lost, what I like to call, my "swagger"? I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore? I just hit rock bottom? That is what happened this week.
Our investigators buffed us, we didn't really accomplish anything, and we had one investigator tell us they didn't want to be baptized anymore. So yeah.....I was humbled. On Friday night, after the night was over, I got on my knees and prayed. For awhile. Then I realized something. I realized that I was trying to do it all by myself. I was trying to do things my way. And the work of the Lord can't be done only by man. Its impossible. You have to be guided by the Lord in order to succeed. These things I was going through was a humbling process. The Lord was helping me realize that I couldn't do it on my own. I needed his help.
So Saturday it was a little better, but it was still the same kind of thing. Sunday was good. We only had 1 investigator show up, but then something happened to turn it all around. Sunday School was just finishing and President Lopez came and asked me if I could translate for the high councilor. I smiled and said, "You want me to translate?" What was going through my head was , "I have trouble translating what I want to say, there is no way that I can translate what someone else is trying to say." He smiled and shook his head, "si". I looked back at him and said, "Si, si quiere". He must have seen the look of doubt on my face and he put his hand on my shoulder said, "Si te puedes." He had confidence in me, but I had 0 confidence in myself. I remember looking around and thinking, "there are tons of people here who are fluent in both languages, why can't they do it?" So Sacrament meeting started and I prayed hard during the sacrament. I prayed for the Lord to help me, to put the words in my mouth, and to give me confidence in myself. So he was the first speaker and we started and it went great. I made a couple of mistakes but I was able to keep up with him and translate without a lot of long pauses or missed words. Wow. It was a powerful spiritual experience! I sat back down and then I just opened up my heart to the Lord for helping me get my "swagger" back.
Yesterday was great. We had some good lessons and our WML asked a lady straight up, "so..why haven't you been baptized yet? Do you want blessings?" The lord humbled me and now things are getting a lot better! It is amazing to see the Lord work in other people's lives but it is even more amazing when you see it in your own lives!
Well that's about it! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!
Ross
Hey...tough week....but it refined me and things are getting better
Ninety percent of our teaching is in Spanish. The only person we teach in English is a 19 yr old girl but even then, her boyfriend doesn't speak English so we have to talk to him in Spanish. But yeah, everything is in Spanish. My area is just like something you would see in Mexico.
Well like I said this week was like the refiners fire. I'll relate it to sports. Remember the beginning of my senior year and I lost, what I like to call, my "swagger"? I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore? I just hit rock bottom? That is what happened this week.
Our investigators buffed us, we didn't really accomplish anything, and we had one investigator tell us they didn't want to be baptized anymore. So yeah.....I was humbled. On Friday night, after the night was over, I got on my knees and prayed. For awhile. Then I realized something. I realized that I was trying to do it all by myself. I was trying to do things my way. And the work of the Lord can't be done only by man. Its impossible. You have to be guided by the Lord in order to succeed. These things I was going through was a humbling process. The Lord was helping me realize that I couldn't do it on my own. I needed his help.
So Saturday it was a little better, but it was still the same kind of thing. Sunday was good. We only had 1 investigator show up, but then something happened to turn it all around. Sunday School was just finishing and President Lopez came and asked me if I could translate for the high councilor. I smiled and said, "You want me to translate?" What was going through my head was , "I have trouble translating what I want to say, there is no way that I can translate what someone else is trying to say." He smiled and shook his head, "si". I looked back at him and said, "Si, si quiere". He must have seen the look of doubt on my face and he put his hand on my shoulder said, "Si te puedes." He had confidence in me, but I had 0 confidence in myself. I remember looking around and thinking, "there are tons of people here who are fluent in both languages, why can't they do it?" So Sacrament meeting started and I prayed hard during the sacrament. I prayed for the Lord to help me, to put the words in my mouth, and to give me confidence in myself. So he was the first speaker and we started and it went great. I made a couple of mistakes but I was able to keep up with him and translate without a lot of long pauses or missed words. Wow. It was a powerful spiritual experience! I sat back down and then I just opened up my heart to the Lord for helping me get my "swagger" back.
Yesterday was great. We had some good lessons and our WML asked a lady straight up, "so..why haven't you been baptized yet? Do you want blessings?" The lord humbled me and now things are getting a lot better! It is amazing to see the Lord work in other people's lives but it is even more amazing when you see it in your own lives!
Well that's about it! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!
Ross
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