Twas the best of time, Twas the worst of times

aloha everybody!

hope the week went well! we had lots of fun! so i will go ahead and get started then! 

monday- I transferred in, played basketball, that is about it, oh i forgot to mention that Elder Stutzman is a phenomenal basketball player, and is going to play in college, so naturally i got dunked on.. after that we taught 2 less active lessons! !

tuesday- we did lots of walking, and it was pretty hot, lots and lots of hills. we taught this investigator named Gore. That was interesting, he is a very smart logical man. but spiritual questions deserve spiritual answers, so that is a little barrier. Also taught a family who are completely crazy, like one kid bites, the other one has no awareness of personal space, but hey, its pretty funny.

wednesday- it was really really hot, and humid, so my shirt was sticking to me, that was pretty nasty, we just went around and got introduced to people mostly, but we laughed a lot, 

Thursday= we had district meeting, i am a completely normal missionary! no leadership, its fantastic! the APs. were there. Poor guys they are always really tired.

Friday- was planning which was fun, then we had a lesson with this guy who is an eternagator who would be a fantastic member missionary, he tells everybody he meets that unless they go to church then they will go to hell. he says people dont really like that.

Saturday- the stake had a pioneer day party which was pretty fun. I was in a horseshoe tournament. It's not a very exciting sport. and i walked over and said with a completely straight face, ok, im ready, where are the horses, which caused me to get a fifteen minute lecture on horseshoes and its rich history. it was whatever.

and yesterday we went to church and got fed three meals right after then went and visited more members

so we had a pretty full week! I got to share my testimony and make people smile and we are so ready for some miracles! we talked a less active 18 year old, she says she is now agnostic and says that there are no miracles and that when we die we die and the only way to live on is if somebody remembers you, well well my brothers and sisters, there are miracles, and we live after death, i know it to be true and the only way that you can deny that is by leaving the only way you can leave is denying the book of mormon, so good luck.

Love you all! the church is true! 

Have a good week! write missionaries! k bye!

Elder Rollins 

When did you feel the spirit this week? During a lesson with a less active! She asked about he atonement soooo

What did you do to serve someone? Helped move! 

What frustrated you? Not baptizing

Transferred (area #4)

Hey I have no idea what's going on, I got transferred to creekside, my companion is Elder Stutzman who was in the MTC with me. I didn't want to leave Glendora but I don't really have a choice soooooo it's whatever!!

Anyways love you all! Peace out!

Elder Rollins

Creekside Ward in the Hacienda Heights Stake


Love super informative and happy letters like this one!

I Will Survive

Hello friends and family!

this week was interesting, for example we had a fire right behind our apartment last night, that was fun. also i am learning a bunch of island dances, including the haka for the luau we are putting on in moms favorite month, also the boys favorite month, cause school!! hahahahahahahha!!!! oh yea, over here school starts on the 12th! crazy. crazy stuff.

We are having some grand adventures we sure are! for instance on exchanges, with the zone leaders we got called for three service projects followed by a lesson where the mom and the daughter fought the entire time (ironically, our lesson was on love at home... weird.) then after that we went to dinner, and these particular members have what we call the "golden question" this is asking their conversion story, well the zone leader didnt know and he asked, so he sat and listened to the no-joke 2 hour story while me and sister Bell and sister Tilini did the dishes and cleared the table, twas fun. also its a good thing sister Bell didn't ever do drugs, because she took some Benadryl and giggled for the rest of the night, and then being stubborn (probably got it from you Mom) proceeded to BIKE home. I was not happy with them. Lucky for them they lived or i would have killed them.

That was fun stuff. Church was good, there was a farewell, that was a weird feeling, her family was all there and they were all excited, it was fun too see.

Well i guess i better put a spiritual highlight of the week so it doesn't seem like all that we do is have weird lessons, well when we were talking to the mom and the daughter mentioned above, and they were fighting and fighting and we didn't get to say anything for a while until i finally got bold with them and basically told them that if they did not stop fighting then satan would get a complete hold on their hearts and they would fall apart as a family. They were very very quiet, and i proceeded to tell them about that time that mom was tired of Aaron and I fighting so she told me and Aaron to punch each-other in the face and we realized we didn't really want too and we stopped fighting.  Then we committed them to set three goals and to accomplish those goals in two weeks to bring themselves closer to one another and closer to God, they said they would and i said we would get them cookies, because after you correct you are supposed to show an increase of love, but i have no idea how to do that so i made like a buffalo, and winged it. piece of cake.  We will see how that goes.

Now i give that same challenge to all of you. the family is the basic unit that holds this gospel together. so it better be a unified one or else you are wasting your time in this probationary state. so your job for the next two weeks is to set goals, as many as you want to bring yourself closer to God and to your family, that can be as simple as not calling your siblings mean names ever. or not hitting. yada yada. you set the goal. and then you have to do it. and then watch as the spirit comes into your home and your mom doesn't get so aggressive all the time. Just do it!

Well, the church is true! read the book of mormon. a lot. don't starve your spirit. faith has a short shelf life. I love you and God loves you more! peace!!!

Elder Rollins 

Were the mother and daughter investigators? They were members, 

So how are you getting along with your companion?  Is he a dragger or is he good? No, He is good 

Tell me about a time you felt the spirit this week? During a dinner thought. The members even got teary eyed.  

You mentioned 3 services  that you did this week what were they?  2 moves and house spring cleaning for a member who had surgery  

Josh I am doing MTC with the boys and I need to know how much money you get to spend on food a month? About 60$

Do the members feed you both lunch and dinner?  Just dinner, every once in a while lunch

We got these pictures from Sister Bell.  She labeled them Monkeys. 

Kind Californian II

We got this picture of Elder Rollins and  Elder Hernandez as well as Sister Bell and Sister Tilini.  It is so wonderful to have people send us random photographs!

bad week, nuff said

so, this week was rough, as the dog says and today we are doing deep cleaning and volleyball, so i have no time to write, but let me tell you, its hot. send me a bunch of questions and i will answer
them.

Elder Rollins

What was the lowest point of your week? Everything fell through so no lessons

What was the best point of your week? Church was great with good lessons!

How did you serve someone? We helped some one with a move

When did you feel the spirit? Church and district meeting

When did you laugh this week? All day every day! I'm funny.

How did you brighten someones day? We played basketball with some kids and we helped a lady pack groceries

What are you supposed to be learning from this? Live laugh love

How is your new bike working? It's great!

What is the temperature there? Too hot

What did you do for the 4th of July? Nothing really, had a barbecue.  No fireworks cuz fire danger and drought

Did you do any teaching at all? Not really

How is the new ward? Great!!

Tell me about a member that you like. The Vanwoercams are awesome! They are a young family and it's loud at their house

Is there anything you need? No

What should we pray for so that you can have a better week? Just pray for the missionaries!

What are you deep cleaning? My apartment

Why would you ever tell your mother that volleyball is more important than writing to her? Cause I'm awesome! 

Love you all! Church is true!

Kind Californian

We got this picture of Elder Rollins and Elder Hernandez at lunch with a member.
The caption read Elder Rollins making Fry sauce?

Letter from Sister Bell

This is a letter from Sister Bell who is serving in Glendora in the same ward as Josh.  She also happens to be one of my YW from here in the home ward!  

Hey momma Kelli!!! I just wanted to thank you for raising a son worthy to go on a mission because he really is making a huge difference for me and everyone he comes into contact with! He is an amazing missionary and friend, thank you for raising him the way that you did. I really appreciate it. He definitely makes bad days good and good days awesome. Thank you so much!!!! I love you so much! Have a great
week!
Rach Bell :)

We are in the Glendora, la Vern zone. I love the new area yes it is a richer zone. Yea the people are pretty mean but it's good. My new companion is amazing!!!!! I love her so much!!!! We work really hard and have a lot of fun! It's awesome!!!!! We are known as the struggle bus zone or areas of the mission we all ride it daily. It's probably the hardest part of the mission from what I've heard at least in getting people to teach. But it's good. 

Summer is Hot!

helllooooo!

Yesterday was interviews so that's the reason for the late update, sorry.

anyway this past week was decent we had an adventure that's for sure,  we had a good p-day, we went bowling and i did horrible, everybody was  making fun of me, but tha'ts because basically every time i went the ball went into the gutter, it was embarrassing, we had time for one last game, and i threw seven strikes that game and whooped everybody, pretty sad actually. i just told everyone "i am not left handed!"

Tuesday was a lot of service, every Tuesday we water trees and then after that we went and cut trees down for 2 hours, so lots of service. other than that we found out our one and only investigator is moving, so yet again we are back to square one. yayyy! we also had a lesson with a less active who is ca razy.

Wednesday was alright we biked up the big hill and rode around knocking on peoples doors in blistering heat nobody answered but we are going to make millions on a new diet we discovered, we call it the "sweatsomuchyousweatfat dieting program"

the rest of the week nothing exciting happened except we are planning a luau for the youth, and we are going to be the ones teaching the dances, so we have to learn the dances, its sorta fun! yep, this white guy is going to do the haka, mmhmm.

anyway hope you all had a fantabulous week!

oh yea and just one more thing i saw something that made me sad, there were three kids and one of them was getting straight up bullied, and he was taking it like it was normal. nobody should have to do that. its a good thing i had parents to make sure i never went too far, because this was like slapping and punching in the face.

There is a God, and we are His children, all of us, every single one. and every time we hit or call names or be rude, we are doing that to Christ as well. we all need to keep that in mind, especially me.

love you all!

Church is True!

peace out.

Elder Rollins


Are you tracting in this area?  No, knocking with a name.
When is the luau?  August 8 
Did you get your hump day package?  Yep.  The notes were funny! Food is good, lights are going to be the only
thing we get to see this Fourth of July!
Did you celebrate your hump day?   Yes, sorta, I got a donut
What have you learned in the first half of your mission?  I have finally learned what I am doing, survive, be happy, invite others to come unto Christ!
Do you love the people yet?  Do you love your mission? Most of the time, Yes  It's an acquired taste, but it's better than the world, and I get free dinners. And every girls crazy bout a sharp dressed man!  haha And without it, I don't know what would happen to my brothers and cousins if I had made it look like no big deal and not come out, plus I know more about the scriptures than I ever thought I would!  I also have a greater understanding of the Atonement.  Read D&C 31:3-13 to understand how I feel about my mission.

Happy Birthday 'Murica sorry for the creepy angle.