A New Area & A New Companion!

Well hello everyone!! I am now serving in Magnolia, TX! It is actually about 20 or so miles from my first area, but now we are out in the more rural area. Yee-Haw! I love it. I was called to serve as a Zone Leader and President Mortensen put all Zone Leaders back in companion-ships so my new companion is Elder Lythgoe and he is from Heber! We have Zone Meeting this Friday so I will let you know how it goes. I am so excited! 

So we have so many more investigators in this area as opposed to my last, so we are teaching so much more. We had one investigator Kona come to church yesterday. We were actually asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting too! That was a good way for the ward to get to know a little bit about Elder DeLuca! Elder Lythgoe has been here for like 4 in a half months so they all know him pretty well. We both were asked to speak on gratitude and it was actually somewhat easy for me to talk about because I have been given so much. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much throughout my life, and He continues to do so on my journey out here in Texas! I spoke about my family, friends, the restored gospel, the opportunity to be a missionary, and the Savior's infinite Atonement. These were the items of discussion that I chose to express my thanks for, so thank you all for being so great. 

     

I know my emails have been a lot shorter lately and I really am sorry for that, but I type super slow and we have so much to do! We have a car but we have been biking a lot because we do not have very many miles left for this month. My new area is about 3 or 4 times as big as my last area so when we bike, we bike. We ride quite a bit here and it is so great! 

   

I hope you all have a great week and my new address is:

811 Cloyd Drive #719

Magnolia, TX 77355

Now Bailley can start sending those letters again((: I love you all so much and I hope you all have the best week ever! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

So we rode all the way to where  you see those cars in the distance! We were crusin' down this road! 

It is so nice to have some trees in the area again like the Woodlands! 

This is Elder Lythgoe goofing around. Have a great week you guys!! Sending some love from Texas!!!! 

My Transfer & Mounda's Baptism!

Hello everyone! Elder DeLuca is being transfered!! No more sending
letters here, Buddah!!  ( :

This week was great! We had interviews with President Mortensen this
past Tuesday and he hinted that I was going to be transferred, so I
wasn't surprised when I got the news last night. Copperfield has been
great. We have a great ward with solid members that are always there
to help us. I am going to miss everyone and our clean apartment.....and
the super nice gym.  But I am ready for wherever the Lord wants me to
be!

I had the chance to go on exchanges with the Elders in the district
and that was really nice too. I am going to miss my district so much!
We have the best senior missionaries here too.

So Mounda was baptized!!!! This was such an incredible experience. I
was the one that baptized him and then Elder Bergman confirmed him a
member on Sunday. I feel like Mounda was a large part of the reason I
was sent here to Copperfield. Elder Bergman and I worked really hard
with him and it was such a good learning experience for all of us.
Missionary work is so real. I love my calling so much you guys! You
have no idea!!

I am sorry I do not have time to write more, but know that I had a
great week and I will let you know next week where I landed.

I want my family to know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers.
I love you all so much, and I want you to know that we will see Papi
again. He is in a better place right now and his spirit is still with
us. He lived a great life and we have so many wonderful memories to
look back on with him!

Thank you all for everything you do for Elder DeLuca and all of the
other missionaries throughout the world. Missionary work is great, but
when your family anf friends support you, it is even greater! I love
you all!!

Love,

Elder DeLuca

This is us at the baptism this past Saturday! Sorry there is only one
picture. I will have more for you guys next week!

One Brief Week!

I was busy with all of our spare time today looking for new suits so sorry this is going to be so short. This week was

really sweet though. 

     We were able to meet with Mounda and Charly this week and Mounda is being baptized this Saturday!!!! I will make sure to take a picture with him to post on here. 

     We met with a less-active member this past Saturday and after we shared a message we committed him to come to church and he ended up coming Sunday! This was a miracle. It was so good to see him come to church and he was very engaged in the discussion in gospel principles. 

     One of the my most favorite things to do is sing hymns with investigators during Sacrament Meeting. Yesterday as I sat with Charly and we sang together I felt the Spirit so strong. I love it!! Hymns are really just prayers. D&C 25:12. 

     I am sorry this email is so short but I look forward to sending a more detailed email next week. We have transfers coming up next Tuesday. So, just to be safe, if anyone is going to send anything, please send it no later than tomorrow because I wouldn't want it to come after I was transferred (if I am). Who knows?!

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

Gotta love those selfies! 

Yes I made it to 150! It wasn't easy, but I was seriously thinking of all of you because I said I would do it, and I am a man of my word! I have now lost just over 50lbs. Yes I was fast without the s! I feel so much better now! 

Today we cleaned behind our washer and dryer because that was the only place we haven't cleaned behind. Elder Bergman and I work well together and when we clean! 

I don't know why I love the color purple so much, but I do! Have a great week everyone! 

A Clean Apartment & A Great Week!

Alright, I have to admit right off the bat that I did not make the weight I wanted to. I was shooting to be at 150 today and I was 153. I will get there by next Monday, I promise. However, I did treat myself to some ice cream this week ONLY because we got a free coupon for having a very clean apartment. We have apartment inspections each month and Elder Bergman and I scored a perfect score. No joke you guys, we literally have the cleanest apartment in our entire mission. This is not blasphemy; I have proof! The point system is set up to score you on everything from a 0-4 basis, so the lower your score, the better. We scored a zero on everything! The next apartment that was the cleanest scored a 3 and it was a brand new apartment. Ours is seven years old. So because of this, I ate not the pint, but 3 or 4 bites of the Bluebell ice-cream. I love to be clean, but it is not mine nor Elder Bergman's apartment. It is not even the missions apartment. It is the Lord's apartment and we treat it that way. Some missionaries go and play games and stuff but we seriously clean every P-day and then we shop and email. Ain't nobody got time for playin' games! 

     So, we had Zone Meeting this past Friday and the Zone Leaders asked Elder Bergman and I to speak to the zone on member commitments because we had the most commitments in our whole zone for the month of September. We focused on four things that we need to remember when we leave anyone a commitment:

1. Ask a direct question.

2. Promise people blessings.

3. Bear testimony frequently.

4. FOLLOW UP!!!!

These were the four things that we shared. They are found in Preach My Gospel, Chapter 11 around page 197. I don't have a PMG with me but I am pretty sure it is around that page! We have been being a lot more serious with our members when we leave commitments with them because we want them to know that we mean business! Whenever we commit them to anything, we ask them when an appropriate time would be to follow up and then we right it down in our planners right in front of them. We have really great members here in the Copperfield ward and we are so blessed to serve with them! 

     GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! Wow. I loved conference SO much. I literally took notes from every single person that spoke throughout all of the 5 sessions that I watched. I am not going to tell you a favorite because I really do not have one. There is a reason that the ones who spoke, spoke. I took something from everyone and I know I have so much to work on. I will say that the requirements to be an Apostle found in the book of Acts 1:21-22 are being fulfilled. There is no question in my mind about this. I heard the Lord speaking to me personally through the voice of our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. I cannot deny the things I know to be true. If any of you did not have the opportunity to watch all of the sessions, it would be wise of you to plan for some time to watch them. You will not regret doing that! 

     We also had a great lesson with Mounda this past week and we are helping him prepare for baptism on the 18th of this month! 

    I love you all so so much and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the love and support you all show me. I love being a missionary so much. One of the highlights of my day is when I get dressed and kiss my name-tag before I put it on. It is such a privileged to be out here serving the people of Houston! I love it and I love you!!!!

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​Going to General Conference!!!!

This is our apartment score! I had to cover our phone number so Bailley wasn't tempted to call me(: