Season 4 Episode 5: Bunny Hop to Safety

Hello Family & Friends,

This week has been fantastic.

 (I think I say that in nearly every email)

As we were Seeking with Faith, we met a man who was very excited to give us life advice.
The three "Keys to survive" are as follows...
1. Discipline your children (Have consequences and follow through with them)
2. If a bear is running at you, step out of the way
3. If you hear a rattle snake, bunny hop in the direction you came from (Don't turn or run)

So, now everyone is prepared for life. There is no excuse to be bit by a snake anymore!

Anyway, this week we unfortunately had to pause Steve for a bit. That was pretty hard for both Elder Hallsted and I. We will visit him in the future, but not for a little while.

On friday we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. Elder Hallsted and Elder Bailey went to our

area, and I went with Elder Chase to his area. As we were walking around, Elder Chase and I talked a lot about language missions. (He being a chinese speaking Elder) I mentioned how Deaf people are hard to find, but we honestly have more success at randomly running into them than we do actively seeking for them. Sure enough, as we were talking a short respite from our trek, one of our Branch members biked by. I waved him down and we chatted for a bit. It was very funny and very good timing.

Later that evening, as we were about to turn around and walk back to the apartment, we got a call from some visiting friends from China. They asked for help with their English (Elder Chase and Bailey offer weekly Chinese->English classes) and Elder Chase decided to have me lead the class. So yes, I taught Chinese people how to speak English. Now I get to brag about that.
The evening finished well and we talked to a lot of people. It was a really fun exchange and I learned quite a bit.

Sunday was the pinnacle of the week. We met with our Friend Kelly, and also brought along a member with us. Sister Rasmussen was an amazing help to us, and she went above and beyond to help Kelly feel at home when she went to church. Without us asking her, Sister Rasmussen had volunteered to drive Kelly to church, and also asked Kelly to "help take care of her kids" during sacrament meeting. Kelly was elated and readily accepted.

To see Kelly at church, smiling and passing notes with these 2 little girls was so amazing to see. Their interactions were so pure and sweet that my eyes started sweating a little.
We didn't want to interrupt, so we sat 2 rows behind them. When Kelly saw us, she turned around with a huge smile on her face. I couldn't help but think that this is the best work I could be doing right now.

Jesus wants us all to be happy, and have JOY! God is our loving Heavenly Father and wants to support us and give us peace in our lives. We can find this peace by following the example of our Savior and obeying his commandments.


2 Nephi 2:22-25
"22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."


God loves all of his children, and has created a path for us to return to him and be Happy!




Thanks for all the prayers and letters!
-Elder Vance

Season 4 Episode 4: 24 hours with Heaven

Hello Friends & Family,

This week honestly hasn't been too eventful.

We had an exchange with our District leader this week. Elder Hallsted stayed in our area, while I left to do office work with Elder Heaven.

Let me just say, Office work was exceedingly hard. We were studying when we got called in to do "surprise office work". They tasked us with something I have never done before, eating leftover pumpkin pie. I don't know how Elder Heaven does this every day, he must be exhausted.
We also fixed a bike, so I guess we actually did do some work.

However, the best part of the exchange was using a bed that actually fit me. This world is not made for tall people. My regular bed is roughly the same height as me. I either have my head touching the Headboard, or my feet hanging off the edge. Typically I sleep diagonally so that I can fit. The office Elders are blessed to have Queen size beds, which was a welcome break from my norm.

This week we went to another Deaf event (Wednesday). It was a Deaf senior social event, which Elder Hallsted and I have had a bad history with those events. Luckily we didn't get kicked out, but rather invited into the discussion. The way we got in was quite genius on Elder Hallsted's part. He simply asked, "What is the sign for pineapple?" and we jumped right into the circle.
As we talked for a bit, we found out that one of the ladies there had been a co-creator for the ASL program at the MTC.

ASL is still a newer language for missionaries. The ASL work only started 40 years ago, and is still growing today!

Blanca was able to come to church this week, which was a very sweet experience. She came with her Father and Mother in-law. And (to my knowledge) they all enjoyed their time at the ASL branch. There was a member who was able to translate from english to spanish for the Mother, and Elder Hallsted and I were part time translators for Sunday School.
I will readily admit that I am nowhere near fluently using Sign language, but I know enough to get by.
As I Interpreted, I would often look over at the Actual Interpreter (Brother Egbert), who was taking a well deserved break. If I didn't know a sign, I would frantically look over to him and he would show me. There was one point in the lesson where the word "Substances" came up, as I looked over, he smiled and said, "You're on your own for this one!"
I had no idea what to do, and essentially halted the entire class. I was able to fingerspell the word, and catch up to the speaker, but not before many confused looks went towards me.

Blanca should be baptised on Dec. 14th. This should be the first ASL baptism in 3 years. If everything keeps progressing as it has been, it looks like we will be dressing up in white next month!

Other than that, it was a pretty common week. All good things though!!

Thanks for the Letters!
-Elder Vance

Season 4 Episode 3: I looked out the window and what did I see? A chihuahua flying right towards me!

Hello Friends & Family,

So, the Joke in the title is better understood if you sing it to the music of "popcorn popping" (easily the best primary song ever).

This week has been that of many miracles!! And yes, a chihuahua broke through a window this week.
Let me set the stage...

Elder Hallsted and I had gotten a referral from some of the Hermanas. We decided to go drop by and see if he would like to have the missionary lessons. As per Missionary standard, we are supposed to contact a referred person within 24 Hours of them being referred. We saw that the address was on Donald street, and parked near the end of the road, thinking it was close to the address. To our dismay, the address we were looking for was 3032, and we were closest to 3964. The correct house was roughly 4 blocks away. We decided to walk there anyway, and maybe find some people to talk to along the way. We had gone only about a block when I thought I saw a woman using sign language talking to someone in a car. Because of previous happenings, (lots of people just talk with their hands, not actually using sign language) I brushed it off.

We walked past the car, but I felt like we should turn around. We both agreed and began our trek of 30ft. As we turned, I saw a Chihuahua jump out of the window of the car. I quickly tried to get the man's attention. He saw me frantically waving, I then pointed to his dog (now in the road) and he lurched out of his car.
He then told us, "I can't hear!",
to which we responded (In ASL) "That's okay!! We know sign language!"
His face suddenly turned to that of surprise. After cornering his rather adventurous doggo, we proceeded to introduce ourselves. The woman we saw earlier came out from the store and we met her also. We have a lesson with them tonight at 6!

I know that this was absolutely an answer to our prayers. Finding Deaf friends to teach is very hard. We have tried many strategies to find them, but mostly to no avail. Yet in our efforts to find someone else, we happened across these 2 new friends.
"Coincidence? I think NOT" -Bernie Kropp

Every 2nd Saturday of the month, there is a Deaf event at Tyler Mall. We always enjoy going because that is typically the largest event that we can find people at. Most of the time, the population of this event is college students attempting to learn sign language. The majority being in ASL1 or 2. It is very entertaining to tell people that we have only been learning sign language for 4 months, and watching their reactions. Everyone always assumes we have been learning for at least 3 years. I like to take the compliments every once in a while.

With the large amount of ASL work we did this week, we have even more stories to tell.

One more quick story is when we were visiting our friend Frank. Frank is an older man and, similar to my Dad, (and eldest brother) he enjoys naps throughout the day. We went up to his door, and through the Storm door, and were able to see him asleep in his chair. The only issue was that Frank was Deaf. We had no way of waking him up. We shook the door, tried jumping up and down (to shake the floor) and also yelling. We even tried shining a flashlight through the door, but nothing worked. Our scheduled visit was ruined by the sweet lulls of a nap.

I could share many stories similar to those, but I also do not want to write about them. Because I have already written in my journal, I feel that is good enough.

For P-day today we are going to explore the Historic Mission Inn in Riverside.  I will send pictures is it suppose to be amazing.


Thank you again for the emails!

-Elder Vance

Mission Inn

Mission Inn

Season 4 Episode 2: Bubble Bubble Toil Trouble

Hello Friends & Family,

Happy Halloween!! (I suppose I could have sent that a week earlier so It would come on time)

Halloween is probably a missionaries worst holiday. We were all pulled in from our days to have a pumpkin carving competition for our Zone. Apparently missionaries are hot topics around Halloween, and as such we were told to stay inside after the hour of 5 pm.
It was a rather fun activity!! We carved pumpkins, made caramel apples, and practiced 3 pointers.

This week we had the amazing opportunity to baptize Daniel!! Daniel is very intelligent and always has the best questions. He was practically teaching us by the 3rd lesson.

He also has a very cool "Star Wars" edition of the Bible (which I am jealous of). He studies almost everyday and is a great example to his family!
He already began missionary work immediately following his baptism. As we were changing out of our wet clothes, I overheard a conversation that Daniel had with his Dad, It went like this;
"Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm fine"
"Alright, I'll just be waiting if you need anything"
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you been baptized?"
"Umm, I don't know. Maybe when I was little, but I don't remember it, so I'd say no I haven't been baptized"
"Why not?"










I was so proud of him at that moment! He might not know it, but he is a great example for his family and will continue to do so!!

Another experience came from our ASL friend Josh Ofiu.

We had a short cooking class with him (videos pending) and taught his Girlfriend alot about the Book of Mormon. She is incredibly interested and already has a fantastic background knowledge. Because Josh is extremely Extroverted, he would randomly Facebook Live us cooking, or talking about the Book of Mormon.

Roughly 20 Deaf people had joined the live stream and watched us talk about the Book. They were all interested in what we had to say, and we are contacting 4 of them this week!!
Technology truly is an amazing thing to share the Gospel!!



We also had (in my opinion) a funny experience regarding timing. As we were trying to contact a new friend, we met a Member who helped us find where we were going. As he walked us to the house, we got to know him a bit better and are coming back to visit him soon. After our successful attempt to talk with our friend, we walked back to his house. Another man came out to talk to us. He expressed his worry for us, and advised us to get out of the area at this time of night.
The experience went as follows,
"Y'all shouldn't be here, especially at this time"
*Gunshot from afar off*
"Yup... See, you shouldn't be here"

For anyone who is worrying about that gunshot, don't worry. It is commonplace here. Missionaries are doing their best to stay safe, and have God on their side. But yes, we weren't going to be stupid, so we left to another area.


This week has been fantastic! It is incredible to see the work progressing.




















I'm not sure if I included this in my last email, but something we do as a mission is all the missionaries pray at 4:55 pm (california time). I would invite anyone who is willing to sync their clocks and pray with us for missionary opportunities, and that those who have been prepared to hear our message can find us and vice versa. It has been an amazing experience to have so many people trying to invite others to come unto Christ.

Other than that, it was a pretty standard week.
Thanks again for the emails!
-Elder Vance