Stripling Soldiers

Here is where the battle will be.

"King Ammoron" and the bishop of the ward
(Bishop Quezada)

Here are the zone leaders, Parrish & Bryson, with
President Felix

The Lamanites

The final battle of the scriptural journey.  The goal was to knock down the cardboard structure while not getting hit by the ball.  This was dodge ball at its finest.  

Down came the structure but as you can see all boxes are not on the floor.

The bishop retaliated by knocking down a lot of the other structure.

Meet the Mormons

President has been doing interviews for 3 weeks now.  It takes 11 days for him to see everyone.  One of the sisters newer in the mission said she has to pray while walking around the room so she won't fall asleep.  We loved it.  She is working hard.

During lunch all of the zone comes and brings a lunch.  We watch Meet the Mormons while having lunch.  We furnished chips and salsa.  We have Thursday and Friday left to have interviews with the Ventura zones and see the movie.  The DVD has to be returned to the Church on Saturday.  It's so neat that we decided it would work to show the movie during lunch at interviews.  They were scheduled September 30 to October 17.  We were told we could keep the DVD until October 18.  What perfect timing.

The missionaries love the movie!

We hope family, friends, and contacts will see it.

MLC 10/7/2014

We have fantastic leaders in the mission.  To thank the zone leaders and sister training leaders, we had breakfast for them at the mission home before going to the mission office for MLC.  It was a little sunny and a beautiful morning.
Sorry you can't see Elders Crandell and Law.

Sister Felix jumped in for a photo moment.

The focus today was on the importance of working with the members.  President Felix handed out a sheet of paper with nine dots.  He asked that all of the dots be connected with 4 straight lines without picking up the pen.  After a little time he gave a hint:  Think outside of the box.  Try it.  The solution is the last picture.  Don't peek until you've tried it.

This is a list of thinking out of the box for ideas that could be done to help hasten the work.

We did an EDPEP (Explain, Demonstrate, Practice, Evaluate, and Practice again.

President Felix talked about being a missionary at all times and in all places.  We were able to watch Elder Robbins' talk from General Conference, "Which way do you face?"

back row:  Lee, Jackson, James, Crandell, Welker, Carter, Watts, Bryson, Eggleston, Teeples, Epps, Schmidt, Snow, Halliday, Hiatt, Taylor, Hegstrom

front row:  Wallace, Atkin, Hall, Law, Toa, Fairbourne, McKinley, Parrish, Miller, Gerber, Fisher, Faletau, Arndt, White, Draney, Smith, Cox

Were you able to figure out how to connect the dots without lifting up your pen?

Stats

We thought you may be interested in the number of missionaries in the mission.
As of October 1, 2014:

243 missionaries

152 elders

91 sisters

of that, there are

118 English speaking elders 

(2 are visa waiters going to Taiwan)

34 Spanish speaking elders

52 English speaking sisters

39 Hermanas

170 English speaking missionaries

73 Spanish speaking missionaries

September Newsletter

Newsletter that was sent to the missionaries-- 

This has been an amazing month in the Great California Ventura Mission.  We had two Zone Conferences within three weeks.  We learned about being a Zion mission, JustServe, expanding our vision, “Yes Sayers”, SOS, and elevating our mission.  Elder and Sister Malm were such a breath of fresh air that helped us commit to serve the Lord.  If we can remember what touched your heart and put it into your daily activities then we can truly be a Zion mission. 

President Spencer W. Kimball shared his thoughts regarding Zion in a 1978 conference talk. 

“As important as it is to have this vision in mind, defining and describing Zion will not bring it about. That can only be done through consistent and concerned daily effort by every single member of the Church. No matter what the cost in toil or sacrifice, we must do it. That is one of my favorite phrases: ‘Do It’. May I suggest three fundamental things we must do if we are to ‘bring again Zion,’ three things for which we who labor for Zion must commit ourselves.

“First, we must eliminate the individual tendency to selfishness that snares the soul, shrinks the heart, and darkens the mind. …

“Second, we must cooperate completely and work in harmony one with the other. There must be unanimity in our decisions and unity in our actions. After pleading with the Saints to ‘let every man esteem his brother as himself’ (D&C 38:24), the Lord concludes his instructions on cooperation in these powerful words:  “‘Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.’ (D&C 38:27.)

“Third, we must lay on the altar and sacrifice whatever is required by the Lord. We begin by offering a ‘broken heart and a contrite spirit.’ We follow this by giving our best effort in our assigned fields of labor and callings. We learn our duty and execute it fully. Finally we consecrate our time, talents, and means as called upon by our file leaders and as prompted by the whisperings of, the Spirit. In the Church, we can give expression to every ability, every righteous desire, every thoughtful impulse. And as we give, we find that ‘sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!’ (Hymns, no. [27].) And in the end, we learn it was no sacrifice at all.”

I invite you to lay aside differences and work together for the good of all “Yes Sayers”.  Turn on your antennas and respond to the SOS signals that you will feel.  Follow the Spirit as you teach and not necessarily the “lesson”.  The Lord will bless us all as we put “both feet in”. 

Enjoy the spirit of General Conference.  Focus on what might help those you know and share it with them. 

We love you and pray for your united success and joy in serving in the Great California Ventura Mission. 

President Dell C. Felix