Better Planning, More Miracles!!

This past week was great! Tuesday, we went over to Trey and Xavier's house and we read from the Book of Mormon with them. It is still really hard for us to get them motivated to read on their own. Niki and Pamela are pretty good about reading with Xavier, but Trey doesn't really have much of a desire to read so we get some Jolly Ranchers for them when they read. :) 

Wednesday, we went back over to Chris' house who told us that he was going to talk to the boss to see if she wanted to meet with us, I guess she wasn't super stoked because they didn't answer the door. We also went back yesterday and the same thing. Anyway, on a more exciting note, we had the best lesson yet with Paul and Melissa that evening! Our ward mission leader and his wife picked us up and we all went over there. Paul likes when we bring people with us. We were a little hesitant about four of us, but it was the best thing ever. Satan didn't want us all to go because he know what would happen. So get this. We reviewed the first half of the plan and then finished the rest of that lesson. It went really well and Paul said, "I could see how this all makes sense from your perspective." Yes, please. At the close of the lesson, we said, "Really, what it comes down to is not if the Plan of Salvation is true, but rather if the Book of Mormon is true. Does it bring you closer or farther away from God? It's either true or false. It's that simple." We walked them back through the introduction and insisted that they each had their own copy to read from. I asked Paul to go get the copy we gave him a few weeks ago and then Elder Allen gave Melissa her own copy. We had Paul read the first paragraph looking for what the Book of Mormon contains and then asked him if it contains a fullness of the everlasting gospel (and we are claiming that it does), what percent would that be? He was like, "Well, I would hope 100%." Then we said, "So, if it contained a fullness, wouldn't you want to know if the book was true or not?" He said, "Well of course." So, we then had Melissa read in the second to last paragraph to see how we can know. Read, ponder, and Pray. Then I read the last paragraph stating what further knowledge comes when we come to find out that the Book of Mormon is true. Then Brother Small and I bore powerful testimony. The Spirit was strong you guys. Here is the miracle: After that, Paul said, "You know guys, I appreciate all that you have done for us and I like you guys coming into my home and I wish more Christians did what you do. I will read the book." Are you kidding me!?!?!?! This is one who just a couple weeks ago was completely AGAINST the Book of Mormon. Then to top it off, he was saying that Melissa was reading through the entire page of the introduction and then continued over to the three and eight witnesses!!!! Their hearts were softened and I know if it because of all the prayers from you all and also our prayers and fasting. Thank you! We are planning on seeing them again this week and see how their experience has been from their reading. 

Thursday, we had our weekly planning and we have been doing a lot better. It takes us about 3-4 hours to weekly plan. That's a long time, but we have to get into all of the details with everyone we have been entrusted to be stewards over. President actually told the mission that we should be taking that long to plan. If not, we are doing it wrong. My testimony of planning has strengthened so much these past few weeks. When we plan the Lord's way, he blesses us so much more than if we were to try and do it our own way. We have been having so many more member-present lessons and it is all because of our planning. Our mission standard is 5 member-present lessons each week and we were usually like 3 or 4 and this past week we had 10. We are teaching more and our lessons have been more powerful ,in my opinion. 

Friday was sick! We had a really good district meeting on how to respond to an investigator if they do not want to read from the Book of Mormon and then after that the sisters made french toast for us. It was good, but it was no "Mema's French toast." No, it was not even on Mema's level! After that, we went on exchanges with the assistants. They met us at Panera Bread where we were teaching Caitlin, a new investigator. Hence, more blessings. We met Caitlin at Wal-Mart a few months ago and things just didn't work out. She was always super busy with work and then we lost contact but then like 2 weeks ago she was working and she was our cashier and she complimented me on my tie (the flower one that Elder Graves gave me) and I was like, "Wait, I know you!" Then we set up a lesson. So we taught her the restoration on Friday and it went really well then we committed her to be baptized if she knew it was true and she said something really cool. She was like, "Yes! I had a lot of friends get baptized when I was growing up and I was always a little jealous because I wanted to be baptized!" How cool is that? Then we had a lesson with Angel and he told us that he wanted to quit smoking so we are going to try and help him with that. Ryan Barnett came with us to both of those lessons. He is one of the most solid youths in the ward and he has only been a member for just over a year. We had Brother Williams meet us at HEB and then we went over and had a great lesson with Horace. Brother Williams was so bold with him and that is what Horace needs. He is stubborn! 

Saturday was sweet too! Friday, we had dinner with the Cannons and we asked Westley who just returned from Brazil like 4 weeks ago to come to a lesson with Caitlin the next day and he said, "Of course." He also invited a non-member friend to come! It turns out that Caitlin had to cancel, but we taught Westley's friend Michelette. She came to his homecoming talk and really liked church! We taught the restoration and it was good. She lives outside of our area so we are going to have to pass her off to the other missionaries in Cypress. Later that night, we had a super yummy dinner with Horace and Brother Mason. We went to Horace's house and dropped of our car then rode with him to pick up Brother Mason. He took us all to this really nice seafood restaurant, like really nice!! It was so good! Then we had a lesson with Horace after that and he committed to come to church and he did!!! 

Sunday was great! We had a good ward council meeting and then Horace came to sacrament meeting! He sat with Brother Williams, but had to leave right after the hour to make it to his church as well. We had a dinner with the Clarks and Caroline. Caroline is about to go to school at Utah State and she is going to meet with us on Tuesday with Caitlin. They are about the same age so we thought she would be a good person to come to the lesson. Then we had another mission president's fireside that night. It was so good! Charlie from my Copperfield area was there!!!!! He left really fast after, so I was not able to talk with him but we participated in the choir so I saw him. 

Anyways, we had a great week! There is so much to share and this is just part of it! I hope you all have a great week and know that your prayers are felt. Thank you, and I love you! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​Petey just couldn't get enough of me. He came back with his family and they took us out to lunch! 

The Book of Mormon is the New Covenant

This week was saaaweeet!! On Monday, we went to pick up Spanish Elder Allen who was a travel assistant for the last two weeks of his mission. After we got him we had a nice dinner with the Svedins and they are super missionary-minded! Sister Svedin is going to invite her friend over to hear a lesson from us! Oh yeah, and they gave me a jar of homemade or processed whatever you wanna call it, honey!! I seriously love honey so much it is crazy. I eat it ever day!! After that we went back over to the halfway house place that we were at a few months ago. It's been a while, but I wanted THE Elder AllenS to meet Angel. Turns out Angel said he wants to know all he can about the Book of Mormon! YES PLEASE!! So, we are planning on teaching him again. I'll keep you posted. He came to church yesterday, too! After Angel, we went to go by a referral that we had received that morning. A lady named Eddy wanted requested a Book of Mormon so we brought that to her and set up a return appointment. Super nice lady who Ill talk more about later in this email. Then we had a planning session with Spanish Allen because he is like the master planner in our mission. It was good. There is a lot that Elder Allen and I could use improvement on. 

Tuesday, we went out to dinner with Horace (He is too nice.) and then we had a lesson with him at his house after that and Brother Small came to meet us there. It went well. We actually answered some questions he had from reading in the New Testament. John 14:2 talks about "many mansions" and he was like, "What does this mean??" Uhhh yeah, we would LOVE to answer that!! So we did. We also saw Trey and Xavier that day and we taught them about the importance of daily scripture study (BoM) and daily prayer. 

Wednesday evening, we met with Paul and Melissa and we brought our high counselor over missionary work in the stake with us. We meet with Brother Siddoway weekly, so when we met two Saturdays ago, we asked him to come. We only taught half of the Plan of Salvation because there were a lot of questions and we didn't get started with the lesson until like 15 minutes after we arrived. That is our bad. We let go of the leash. So we taught them up until the Spirit World to leave them on a cliff hanger until next time. Dun dun dunnn.... :) 

Thursday, we went on exchanges with the Windrose Elders. I went with Elder Backstein who is a district leader in our zone. We went on exchanges with all of the district leaders this past week to give them the training on the planning so they can then give the training to each companionship in their districts. We had such a good exchange. I used to not like going on exchanges when I was first out, but now I love them! My least favorite part about exchanges is putting my sheets on the bed. I thoroughly dislike putting sheets on any bed. I don't know why, but there is just nothing appealing about putting sheets on a bed and its just one of those things we have to do. Other than that, we had a blast together. We taught an investigator who will be baptized within two months because she is that solid, then we had one of the best dinners I have had in a while. It was chicken (that fell off the bone) and green beans and mashed potatoes. Mmhmmm! So good. Then we found a new investigator that night while we were tracting! So sick!!

Friday, we went to district meeting and the topic was the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was so good. The Book of Mormon is everything. Period! Everything we have hangs on whether this book of holy scripture is true or not. I love it! I like it when things are simple because I am not the brightest crayon in the box, if ya know what I mean. Heavenly Father made it so simple for His children. He told us how to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and then gives us the further knowledge with it WHEN we find out that it is true. I learned a lot on Friday and we had a stellar role play with how to better introduce the Book of Mormon. I would encourage you all to read the talk "Flooding The Earth With The Book of Mormon" by President Benson in the October 1988 session. Seriously do it! You will love it! 

Okay, Saturday was so sick. We started out great and ended even better!! We went to a baptismal service for the Magnolia Elders and Sean, Michael, and Jamie were all baptized! They are the family we interviewed like two weeks ago. It was great!!! Then we went back to Eddy's house and we met her husband Robert and her 11-year-old daughter Autumn. It was so good! Okay, so we went back to introduce the Book of Mormon better with the further light and knowledge we received on Friday and to set up a return appointment. Robert had read the first 13 chapters from when we gave Eddy two copies on Monday! Are you kidding me!?! I was like, "Robert, we try to do all we can to have our investigators read that much. Holy cow man! That is AWESOME!!!" Eddy read through the intro and the testimonies as well. We had planned to not be there super long because we want to show our investigators that we can be in and out within 30-45 minutes that way it doesn't seem like a hassle to meet with us. Also, that way we can meet two to three times a week as opposed to seeing them for one hour once a week and then leaving the entire rest of the week for the adversary to be working on them. It was a solid lesson and Eddy started us out with the first paragraph in the introduction then Robert read the second to last paragraph then Autumn read the last and she is such a great reader! Way better than me. It was so good. They said we have one question that we would like an answer to so we said shoot! Robert was like, "What is your guys' belief on hell? Because most of the churches we have gone to say you are either part of this religion or you are going to burn in hell." I was like, "Well, if the only way we were going to heaven was to be following Jesus Christ and doing all that he has asked us to do, most of the world would be hosed. Does that sound like a Loving Heavenly Father? NO WAY!" We were like, "That is a great question and we have the answer for you, but can we please come back and discuss it with you guys because we know this is your weekend and we do not want to take much of your time." Eddy was like, "We are not pressed on time, you guys can stay and we can talk about it?" We said we'd love to stay but we have another appointment that we have to get going to. Cliff hanger baby!! :) Don't worry, we really did have an appointment. Then we went and met with Horace again and actually talked about the Doctrine and Covenants with him. We went finding that night and found another new investigator Chris who was out front working on a bike with his two younger sons. We have a return appointment with him this Wednesday. He said he was going to talk to the boss to make sure its okay. :) We don't want anyone getting into trouble. :) We finished up our night by going over to Julie's house to talk with her about her reading and everything. She said she would come to church and bring Madison. 

Sunday was good! Okay so Preach My Gospel says that if you have a choice about whether to go to Ward Council or visit your investigators to make sure they are coming to church, do the latter. We all know this but for some reason not many missionaries do that here. I don't know about other missions. I'll have to ask my boys that are almost all home now!! Anyways, so we sent Brother Small our ward mission leader a text and told him that we were not going to be at ward council because we were not certain that all of our gators were coming to church. We first went by Julie's and we woke everyone up and the dogs were going crazy, I thought Tim was going to come out and shoot us. He came out and was like pretty nice about. Maybe this is why they don't do it? They don't want to get shot? I dunno. He said Madison came home late and Julie was still in bed so I was like well were are super excited to see them at church and you are more than welcome to come with them! Then we pretty much bounced. We went to Horace's and he said he would not make it this week, but he will next week. Then we went by Trey and Xavier's to ask them and Sister Harthan was not feeling well, so they were not able to come either. I can honestly say we put forth the effort to get them to attend and guess what? Julie and Madison came as well as Angel. It was one of the best Sacrament Meetings they could have attended because the talk on patience from Brother Siddoway was incredible. It totally related to Julie and her family and I knew that, but more importantly she felt that. The Spirit was there. 

I have so much more to say, but I type like a 7-year-old so this is taking a while. I continue to learn so much each week and I absolutely love it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. As we have repented and done better with our planning, the Lord has been pouring out His blessings upon us. Why would He bless us with more people to teach if we do not take care of the ones that He has already entrusted us with? He wouldn't because He is that loving. He wants everyone to have a fair chance to hear and learn about His gospel so He will wait until we or someone is ready to take care of them. I am certain that this work is so real. I know that I came on MY mission to serve and convert others to the gospel, but I am the biggest convert in the process. I am grateful for the restoration of the gospel and for modern prophets and apostles who lead and guide us through this ever-changing world. Hold to the Rod. I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca 

​I love my companion. hahaha!!!! 

He boxes when I work out in the mornings but I had to try them on! 

​I really am a lover and not a fighter. I just love America okay? :) 

Zone Meeting & A Cool "Coincidence"

Hello everyone! We had a great week, but we are going bowling with some elders in our district so I have to hurry today!

Tuesday, we had MLC and received the training for our zone meeting on Friday. It was a long day, but a Spirit filled day. We had dinner with the Snyders then we drove down to Magnolia because the elders there had us interview three baptismal candidates. They are going to be baptized next weekend! 

Wednesday, we had lunch with Sister Rittman at Chick-Fil-A and Elder Allen was at a new leadership training with Elder Erickson so I was with Elder Hendrickson. We met back up and exchanged back and then Elder Allen and I went to teach Xavier the Restoration. That night we met with Paul and Melissa and Brother Ure Jr. came with us. It was really beneficial to have him there with us because he was able to answer a lot of their questions better than I could. 

Thursday, we had interviews with President Mortensen and mine went really well. I love the council he gives. We went back to our apartment after that and started to finish up our weekly planning that we started Wednesday afternoon. After dinner we went finding in an area where a inactive member lives because we were asked to check up on them and see if they still lived there. We didn't have that much luck with finding anyone new to teach. 

Friday, we had zone meeting and it went really well. The training was on the new area book app with our iPads, planning, door approaches, having hope, and the importance of the Book of Mormon. President committed all of us at MLC on Tuesday to read from the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of our lives. It was so sweet! We saw Brother Mason that afternoon and then had dinner with our Bishop. We felt prompted to go finding in their neighborhood the previous night while planning, so we did just that. It wasn't until we knocked two doors before some guy pulled up and was so rude to us. He told us that we were soliciting and that we needed to leave or he was going to call the cops and all this and that and I really had to be patient because the natural man in me wanted to have a little discussion with him. I told him that we were not soliciting and to go ahead and call the cops but he didn't. We ended up just walking away and I am pretty sure I had steam coming out of my ears. We didn't even have that much time left and we had a lot of planning to do but we decided to go back to another area we were in the previous night to finish tracting a few houses. We parked the car and said a prayer and then went for it. Within 30 seconds we walked into a guy named Joseph and he was a good Christian. We asked him about the foundation of Christ;s church and where are the Apostles and Prophets today? He didn't know, but was very interested. We gave him our number and he said he would call us. We continued on and walked up to a house and a lady was our front and she was super excited to see us! She was so nice! We talked to her for like 5 minutes and came to find out that SHE WAS JOSEPH'S MOTHER! It was so cool!! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was so happy. They were going to try to come to church but didn't make it. We are planning on seeing them this week when her husband is there so please keep them in your prayers. 

Saturday, we saw the Mertes family and it was good to see them! We also taught Xavier and Trey the Plan of Salvation and it went well. 

Well that is the gist of our week. It was good! I love you guys!! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca  

​This is Elder Graves. He is a stud muffin. He gave me a sweet tie too! :) 

This is Elder Allen and I back at the MTC. You could say it was love at first sight. I had so much more hair then! I wanna cry!! 

Same Area, New Companion!

This week went really well! Monday evening we had a bonfire at the Ure's house and Elder Petersen burned a bunch of clothes he didn't want to take home....haha! 

Tuesday, he left me and then I got Elder Allen as a new companion! He is the one that came out with me. We were in the MTC together. We saw Julie that afternoon and had a short little lesson on the Book of Mormon, then we had dinner with the Matthews.

Wednesday, we did our weekly service at TEAM and then we saw the Russell's that afternoon. We then went to meet Julie and Madison at the library and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. It went really well and we had Sister Hughes meet us there to help us teach. We had dinner with the Giffords and then a lesson with Horace right after that. Brother Small, our new ward mission leader came with us to see him. We just read a chapter with him in the Book of Mormon and discussed it. We finished up out night by going to see the Castillo family. It was nice to get Elder Allen introduced to them! 

Thursday, we had our weekly planning and we had a little lunch break and met Sister Rittman at Chick-Fil-A. Yes, please! After that, we went over to help a sister in the ward move out an old washing machine and then move in a new one along with a dryer. Then we went over to see Brother Mason. He is doing well! We went over to the Harthan residence and Orion and Trey were not there because they were on a camping trip, but Orion's little brother Xavier was there and he said that he wants to get baptized! We read through 2 Nephi 31 with him and explained why Christ was baptized and we are going to start teaching him this week! Then we had dinner with the Matthews again! We forgot our meal calendar last week so we didn't have many people signed up.. 

Friday, we had district meeting and then we went over to Sister Hughes' house to mow her lawn for her. She fed us lunch when we got there. :) After that, we met Brother Ure at Lowe's because he was getting some supplies for his house, but he was going to come to a lesson with us. We went to see Lee again and it was a similar visit as last time. He had a few scriptures that he had "questions" about in the Book of Mormon. We addressed them and then just simply asked if he was willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said yes. We are going to go back and check if he has, but if he has not we are not going to continue meeting with him. We had dinner with the Dias family. They are awesome! He turns 80 today and he looks and moves around like he is 60. He made us some cinnamon bread and it is so good. I always look forward to going over there because he has been making us one every time we come over. They are great to us. :) 

Saturday, we has a Fourth of July breakfast/little rodeo thingy at the McLane's. We invited Julie and her family and also Horace. They ALL came!! It was so sweet! Sister McLane is a professional mounted shooter and so she showed us what is was all about. She threw it down! I have a video on my iPad. She hit all of the balloons! It was sweet! We went back to our apartment to do some studies and then some members from one of Elder Allen's old areas came and took us to lunch at Goodsons Cafe. Sound familiar Bailley?? :) It was really good! 

Sunday ,we had church then studies and then we went over to the Dias' house because I bought them some chocolate for his birthday. He loves chocolate.....like more than anyone I know, and he is in good shape! After that we had dinner with who? The Matthews AGAIN!! They fed us three times this week and they were happy to do it! I am so grateful for all of the wonderful members here in this area. They take care of us for sure! After dinner we went by Paul and Melissa who are some potential investigators that we have been trying to meet with for so long and then as we drove by Elder Allen was like wow that is a lot of cactus at that house and then I was like well lets go talk to them and then I pulled into their driveway! He was like, "Are you serious!?!" He didn't know that I knew the people there and then I was like, "This is Paul's house." It was pretty funny! Anyways, we went in and we taught them the restoration lesson and we have a return appointment with them this Wednesday. Their two biggest concerns are that they believe that there was a continuation of priesthood and they claim to believe in the trinity however, they couldn't even explain why. They really don't believe it, they just think they do! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​This is the crew. Bye bye, Petey! 

I think it is safe to say that Elder Allen likes Reese's more than I do! 

A Great Week and a Great Baptism

Okay this is Elder Petersen's last P-Day here, so we have a lot to do and not a lot of time. I am going to apologize in advance for making this really brief! 

Alright, so we went to the temple on Tuesday and President told us to go as districts and be thinking about what we see in the endowment video in regards to faith. It was interesting having that in mind while attending the session. I learned a lot there. One of the most important things I learned was that I need to be in the temple regularly when I return home. Like weekly. I haven't been in almost a year and it was killing me. President Mortensen changed the rules about going and ever since he did that I haven't had the opportunity to go because we have to go either with a recent convert or a less-active member that we reactivated and are taking them back to the temple. Anyways, if you haven't been to the temple in a while and are able to, GO. 

Wednesday, we met with Orion and just went over some of the Laws and Ordinances. Then we met with Julie and Madison Stewart. We went through 1 Nephi 8 with them and it was a solid lesson. They realized that they need to hold to the rod EVERY DAY! It was good. 

Thursday, we picked up Corban Wooldridge and he went to visit Orion and Trey with us. Still just continued in the Laws and Ordinances lesson. Corban had some good insight for them! Then we went over to Horace's house and he took us out to dinner. He is so nice! After dinner we went back to his house and went through 1 Nephi 8 with him as well. He is a big reader so when we asked him if he had read since the last time we came he said "No, not really. I am only on page 81." To which I responded "WHAT!?!?! That is AWESOME Horace!!!!" It is usually like pulling teeth with people when we try to get them to read half of that! He is eager to learn, still just a little hesitant about the restoration of the priesthood. 

Friday, we went and saw Orion and Trey again! So sweet. I wish we could meet with all investigators 3 times a week. It makes a huge difference. We read from the Book of Mormon with them and we also had Corban with us again. He is a stud. Corban said to us in the car, "This is great preparation for my mission." Do you know how much that means to me? I love that. I seriously almost shed a happy tear. Those are the recent converts every missionary wants to be with. ones who are truly converted. I loved that he said that! 

Saturday was the day! We had Orion's baptism at 11:00am that morning. He had so many people there to support him. When they got there, there was a line of people walking in with all of his family that came to be there. It was so sweet. Petey did a nice job with the baptism and the talks were great. T'was a good service! 

Sunday morning, we had ward council and we haven't been there in like 3 weeks due to other meetings and Father's Day. I felt like a less-active member coming back to activity when I walked into ward council. Haha, seriously it was weird not being there for so long. Then we had a great Sacrament Meeting and I confirmed Orion. I always get a little nervous when performing things of great importance like this, especially in front of a crowd of people! I said a silent prayer before I started and then the words just flowed. It was amazing, to me. I know that the Spirit was giving me the very words I needed to say at that particular moment. 

One thing I have learned from being out here on my mission is that I can do hard things. My personal opinion is that we are all are so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. We are literally spirits wrapped in our mortal bodies and our spirits are so much stronger. I know that Heavenly Father will help us with all that we desire in righteousness. I love you guys and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​This is Brother Ure Sr., a.k.a "Grandpa" and I at the temple. He drove us down on Tuesday. He's one of the best men I have ever met. He is so close to the Spirit it is incredible. Love him! 

This is Elder Faaso. He is one of the district leaders in our zone. They are in a bike area and he didn't have a helmet so a member bought this for him. It is a legit motorcycle helmet! I thought it was too funny to not get a picture of! 

​I saw Elder Hegemann and French last night at a mission president's fireside. They are both doing really well! That is Fasso in the background. I just noticed that! Haha!

We Are Set for Saturday!

This week went by pretty quick but I'll spill it out for you. Tuesday, we had 3 solid lessons. We had our usual visit with Brother Mason and Elder Petersen shared Helaman 5:12 with him. After that we met with a former investigator and he was prepared to bash with us. Not cool, man. Haha....we taught the restoration and it was a sweet lesson and then he was like, "Well, I have a few questions." And we were like, "Sweet! Lets hear um." He was very slick with how he went about this. He started out in the Doctrine and Covenants 9: 8-9 and he was like, "I love this scripture and as I have studied from the Book of Mormon I have had some questions that contradict my belief of the Bible." He had 3 different scriptures (which I am not going to waste the time to share), all of which were in completely different parts of the book. We addressed his concerns and I could feel the Spirit starting to leave the room and I had a thought to share something. I said, "Listen, there are many questions that we do not have answers to and it is really easy to Google contradictions in the Book of Mormon and see what you can find. If you are sincere with your questions, that is one thing, but what is really comes down to is the promise found in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon. If you read, ponder and pray you WILL receive an answer that it is true and all of these little concerns will not be as big of a deal because you know that the book is true." We kinda left it at that and we left on a good note, but if someone is going to try to bring up some anti with me, I am not about that. At the end of the day, it all comes down to our own personal testimony with the Book of Mormon. That is literally the keystone of our religion. I have told missionaries that have asked me what to do to prepare to make sure first and foremost that you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is crucial for us all. If we do not stand firm in our belief, we cannot withstand the blows that come. I know I couldn't. Missions are tough! If I didn't know what I know, I couldn't do this. But guess what? I am here because I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that it brings me closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that an evil man could not have written this book. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and all that he has done for this world. Oh yeah, and we met with a part member family that evening and it was good. :) 

Wednesday was pretty good! We went to TEAM as usual and then met with Sister Harthan (Orions Grandma) and talked about Orion and how he was doing in regards to his baptism. He was on the high adventure with the young men from the ward all last week. Then we saw the Castillo family and the Morgan and Brenda Mertes! It has seemed like a super long time since we have met with them, but they are doing well and we went over the Restoration as a new member discussion with them at Panera Bread. It was so good to see them. We then met with a brother from the ward who just recently moved back in with his parents so we haven't ever met with him. We had planned to share Alma 7: 11-13 with him and talk about the Atonement, but that changed about halfway through the lesson. He started talking about temptations and how he doesn't believe that we are never tempted above that which we can bear. We shared a few scriptures and did our best to explain to him that we can overcome certain things on our own however, there are things that we NEED the Savior's help with. He kept on saying "Then why do people kill themselves? Obviously they were tempted more than they could handle." He was saying things like that and just wanting to argue so I did a nice job at biting my tongue, to the point to where I thought I was going to bite it OFF! At that point I did my sign language that means "time to go" to Elder Petersen and then we had a prayer and left. We have picked up that sign from the ASL Elders that live above us. It is really helpful when you want to get out of somewhere that could turn ugly. 

Thursday was a good day. We had a last minute dinner with the Cannon's. They tell us every time we go over there that if we ever do not have a dinner, call them and they will whip something up quick. I hate to do that to members, but we did because we were going out that night with their son who is about to leave on his mission to Japan. We had a nice dinner and then headed out to get to work. We had three appointments and they ALL fell through. We had planned on attending a young adult worship/bible study that night. We tracted into a guy who was so nice to us and then told us that we could come check out his church the following Thursday and we could meet after. We showed up at 8 and when we got upstairs they had a bunch of food at the back table and people were gathered around talking to each other and the music was bumpin'. I thought I had walked into some sort of a party! We probably look so nerdy to everyone there....hahah!! I just smiled. I was talking to Brandon at the doors so I didn't look too awkward. :) After about 5-10 minutes of me trying to say anything that I could so I didn't have to stand in the back with Elder Petersen and Jordan Cannon they finally announced that it was time to take their seats. Everyone sat down so fast and the only place that was left was the front row, where no one was sitting!! Oh my goodness. I have never felt so out of place my entire life! I just smiled really big and walked right up to the front and we took our seats. Everyone was staring at us, but I really didn't care that much. We started out with a prayer and then we sang some songs. Have you ever been to a non-denominational Christian church? They play like rock music. I don't know about you, but I cannot feel the Spirit when I am jammin' out. After like 20 minutes of me being Bon Jovi, the sermon finally started. It was some younger guy who was reading out of the book of Job. The topic was why does God give us trials. I learned some things that night. First, he never answered the very question that he posed. He danced around it for like 30 minutes by sharing personal stories which were pretty crass when talking about our Father in Heaven. Second, and perhaps the most important, there is so much more that we know as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We literally have answers to everything. Obviously, I myself cannot, but there are members who have so much more knowledge than I do and I can go to them for answers. We can listen to our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and the Apostles and obey their council. We are so blessed as members of the church and the really sad part is that more than half of us take it for granted. Third, I learned that we as missionaries and members of the church literally carry a light with us. People see that and they desire to have it. After the service we felt like movie stars. There were so many people coming up to us asking us questions it was crazy. We talked to a guy that I met back in January at the Lone Star College and he was really excited to come talk to us and he said, "I know a lot about you and your church. I know that you took time out of your evening to come check out our church and I really respect that and because of that, I would like to come see one of your services if that is okay!!" Is it okay?? Dude I'll get you a ride there!! Haha. These two girls came up to us and they asked us if we knew so and so and we were like, "Nope!" and then they asked if we knew some more members and we didn't. Then they asked us if we knew Mr. Mortensen!! I was like, "Uhhhhh, yeah. That is our mission president! How do you know him??" Well it turns out they went to school with one of his daughters that just graduated and one of them was texting her right then and sent a picture of us and sent it to her. It was pretty funny. We thought we were going to get a call from President and have him chastise us for being at another church...haha! No, not really. He actually tells us to go there and offer service. The last thing I learned is that this church has really good fellowship. Most of the leaders came up to us and talked to us. They were genuinely interested in us and that is what people want. They want someone who will listen to their story. They were great about that! They also do really well for what they have. They worship God with the knowledge that they have of Him, and it is much greater that what some of the members of our church do with the knowledge that they have. I liked this church and we met some really great people there.

Friday, we had district meeting and President showed up part way through and he threw it down. He is so inspiring. When talking about our door approaches, he said when you get turned down from someone that you knock into ask yourself "Would you let you in?" That is a sobering thought. It is a pretty big pill to swallow if you know what I mean. After district meeting we went to Subway with our district leader and his companion then elder Petersen and I had exchanges with the assistants. I went to the Woodlands with Elder Louder and Petersen stayed with Elder Barlow in our area. We had a really good exchange and I learned a lot. We practiced door approaches in our companionship study and I felt better about mine. 

Saturday, we saw Orion and we asked his uncle if he wanted to start meeting with us and he said yes. Trey is 11 years old and he is the son of Sister Harthan. He is pretty excited to start talking the lessons. We saw the Castillo family that night and invited them to come to church again after we explained the importance of the Sacrament. We did not see them at church. Sunday was a good day. Happy Fathers Day to all you daddies. We had a dinner with the 1st Counselor of the Young Mens Presidency and it was really good. We started talking a lot about how Orion did on the high adventure and there arose a lot of doubt in me that he may not be ready to be baptized. We then got a ride over to the Ure's house because Brother Clark picked us up on account of us forgetting to get gas on Saturday evening. We didn't want to get gas on Sunday so we relied of the members to help us out. When we got to the Ure's we had a second dinner with them. It looked too good to decline! We were full, but Sister Ure knows how to cook. We had some of the best salmon I have ever tasted, a really good salad with homemade poppy seed dressing, and a home made chocolate pie. Would you turn that down? That's what I thought! So we talked about Orion because the Ure's were on the trip and Brother Ure was just released from being the Ward Mission Leader so he knows a lot about Orion. I don't know why but something just didn't feel right. I thought that if it were possible for us to teach Orion some more before his baptism, then he would be better off in the future when he is on his own. We ended up going over to Bishop's house because he holds keys over the missionary work in the ward. We talked to him for like 30 minutes and decided to go talk to Orion ourselves. We wanted to ask him how he was feeling about his baptism. He first asked if we announced it in priesthoof because he had to leave early. We told him yes and then asked how he was feeling, He said, "Pretty good." We then said, "Pretty good about what?" "To get it over," he replied. "To get what over?" Then he said, "Well, I just really don't like people holding me under the water, so I want to get that part over with." THE TRUTH COMES OUT may I add, (and it always does). He was nervous the entire time about the actual baptism itself. He was worried about the water. We explained that it would be really quick and that he need not worry! We asked him if it something that he really wanted to do and he said, "Yes." We asked if he was feeling any pressure from his grandma or us and he said, "No." After this visit, I felt way better and we both knew that he was sincere. We are going through with it. He is going to be baptized this Saturday!! I want you to know something about me. I will never baptize anyone just to baptize them. That is the last thing I want to do. I am not an overzealous missionary. 

Well that is pretty much our week. We have some Sister missionaries from our zone that came here to email and they were like, "Is that your email home?? It is so long!" Haha.....it takes me so long to type, but I want you all to know all of the little details! Hopefully, I am not annoying. I want to send my love and prayers out to the Rasch family. I love you and I do not know or understand what you are going through, but I know Heavenly Father does. I know I love you guys and I have been praying for you. I know that we all can receive a tremendous amount of comfort through our Savior. Congratulations Jaden for serving a serving a full-time and honorable mission. I look forward to seeing you in January. I love you guys and I love my family. I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​I am going to miss this guy next week. Sorry for another lame picture! We have been too busy to be taking pictures. :) 

Elder Stone and Elder Rock! We are going to pass these around the different families in the ward and, for the week they have one, they have to share their missionary experiences with us. They belong to our ward mission leader, Brother Small! 

Bill is Coming!

As I am sure some of you have heard, the tropical storm 'Bill' is coming our way. I don't really know how bad it is, but I have faith that we will be safe. We have a sufficient amount of water and food that will not go bad and we just filled up on gas so we will be fine! Don't worry about us! 

Tuesday morning, we were able to go help out at SOS since we have had something come up the past 3 weeks. We were supposed to go on exchanges with Magnolia 1 but Elder Chatwin was not feeling good as he was passing a kidney stone so we postponed that. We went and visited Brother Mason that afternoon and talked to him about the prophet Joseph Smith. After that we went finding without much luck, and the appointments we had that night canceled. That is just part of missionary work! It ain't all fun and games! 

Wednesday, we helped out at TEAM again and then after that we went to the temple because Petey (Elder Petersen) was asked to do a temple ground tour this past Sunday. They role-played going through the script and then we went and had our alignment done on our car. We went to see Orion that evening and guess what!?! He set a date!! Fasting and all of those prayers were answered. The date we set is for June 27th. His grandma was there and she was the one that was master teaching him and made him realize that he just needed to go ahead and go through with it. We are feeling good about it, but not 100% sure if Orion REALLY wants it. We will see. 

Thursday was sweet even though we had a bunch of appointments lined up throughout the day and 4 out of the 5 appointments bailed on us. We used that spare time to stop by Orion and teach him the 10 commandments. After Orion, we had dinner with Horace, the older gentleman that we knocked into last week. We went over and he grilled us some burgers and he had me cut up some tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce. Guess what? I actually eat tomatoes, onions and pickles now!! For those of you that know me well, this is cray. I used to thoroughly dislike all of the above. I like them now, though!! Horace is such a nice guy. He told us to come by if we ever needed somewhere to go. After dinner we taught him the restoration. He said that he didn't have any issues with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but there is some hang up that we aren't quite able to pinpoint, so we are going to keep going over and find it!  He has expressed interest in attending church too! We are excited. After that, we went and met with a less active member named Kirk. We talked to him about prayer and he felt more confident in praying and when we left, he closed us with a prayer.  

Friday, we saw Orion again with Ryan Hiatt and went over the first few commandments in the commandments lesson. It went pretty well and even though he seemed a little bit hesitant with his baptism, his grandma was able to help him overcome some of those concerns. 

Saturday, we saw Rick and Corban for a little bit. Corban was getting ready to go on high adventure so we didn't stay too long. It was really good to see them though. We then went to see Horace again and we brought Ryan Barnett with us. We read from the Book of Mormon with him because he hadn't read since we were there on Thursday. Later that evening we had dinner with the Smalls and we asked Brother Small if he was our new ward mission leader and he said the he would have to be sustained before he could give us an answer, so we knew then that he was! HE is awesome. Brother Ure was called to be the stake young men's counselor. We are going to miss working closely with him. We went to the Castillo's house after dinner and Brother and Sister Small came with us. We invited them to come to church again, but they didn't come. 

Sunday was a good day. We had stake coorelation with the new stake presidency and President Mortensen. It was a good meeting. I always come out of those meetings feeling full of the Spirit. The Spirit is matter. After dinner that evening we went to the temple for the ground tours. Petey was the one doing one of the tours and I was the shepherd making sure everyone was getting to where they needed to go. He did a nice job. There were 5 tours and 301 people showed up! They are really successful! 

Well, this past week was pretty good and we have an exciting one coming our way. Thanks for all the love! I love you guys and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder DeLuca

​Elder Chatwin went home two weeks early for school and left this week. I'm gonna miss him!! 

Here are Petey and I at the temple last night! 

So I started running consistently again. I have to get rid of some of that extra love I have! I have just been doing 3 miles every morning. It is crazy how fast you lose your endurance! Sweat like a pig to look like a fox!