Hives, Killer Whales and Weapons?

This week Elder Routledge was sick for 3 or 4 days...and then got hives :(

With that being said, he felt he had a good week :-)

Last week, you said in Relief Society they talked about our patriarchal blessings and to read it often. Well I read my Patriarchal blessing that exact morning so that was really cool. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in the apartment because I was really sick but I am feeling better. After I got a little better, I had a really bad reaction to something, so for the last 3 days I have had huge hives all over my body, but I got some medication for it so it's better. 

A toque??
Really?? 

But Thursday is the day I want to talk about. It was the best day of the week. 
We drove up the coast to Santa Barbara for Zone Conference and on the way I saw Killer Whales in the ocean just doing dives. That was really cool. I didn't get any pictures though as my camera was in the trunk (editor's note: Camera in the trunk?? Doesn't he know that his mother LIVES for photos??)

Birthday Boy 

Once there we had a 3 hour session, then lunch (which was pasta), and then a 4 hour session. The first session was President Felix and Sister Felix sharing some new rules for the mission and how we can better ourselves. We then had a session on table manners and how to use forks and stuff, it was very interesting (I'd like to point out that Elder Routledge was taught this sort of thing BEFORE he left for his mission ;-) )

The second session did not feel like 4 hours, it was like a big discussion with 70 missionaries. I also had to bear my testimony in both sessions and I did it so strong. I was not even nervous, I talked slow and was calm. My testimony is so much stronger after walking out of the meeting and I feel I know Jesus Christ so much better. 

Current Day Stripling Warriors
Elders Routledge, Hunt, Clarkson and Hidalgo 

On the drive home, we hit that wonderful California traffic I've have long heard about. The motorcyclists are crazy ! I saw like 10 of them and they just drive in between lanes and apparently it is LEGAL TO DO SO, I AM LIKE WHAT THE HECK! After a 2 hour drive we arrived home safely. 

Sunday we had a potluck after church and that was really good. The investigator family I have been talking about came as well and that was really sweet. 
It is a short letter as I have been sick, but I still gave it my all and tried to get out there and learn stuff, I promise you that. When we make the effort we really do learn so much. 

One more small thing before I go....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM MISS YOU LOVE YOU !!!!!

PS I am learning Spanish :)

These are some of the photos Elder Routledge sent to us this week. Not sure what to make of them, except, I sure hope those weapons are NOT real !! 

And I think I'd much prefer photos of Killer Whales in the ocean lol 

Don't even know what to say...

             

Think these may be fields of fruit

It's almost as big as he is !! 

Service, Investigators...and more Service

So my week was so good ! We have so many amazing investigators !

Monday we played district sports after sending our emails (editors note: mine by the way, was WAY too short!) and then we went to FHE at our Bishop's house. 

On Tuesday we did some service for a family that are a little less active. They were kinda rude, but well, service is service :)
That night we started our first Book of Mormon class for our investigators and it was really good. One of our 16 year old investigators, Veronica, came and loved it. 
Wednesday we had a big service project at the Senior Centre preparing food for a big function they had. We then did some more service for the less active family and this time, both my companion and I were shocked to see how bad they actually were acting. They just don't care about anything, but again, service is service. 

I mentioned earlier the less active man we've been helping. His name is Jared and we have started to teach his non-member girlfriend. She wants to be baptized but she is living with Jared and that's the issue. But I think we have come up with some good solutions and we hope that she will be baptized before April. It looks like that might just happen :)

The new haircut 

On Thursday we had our district meeting and I got a hair cut by another Elder. It's short but I like it lots. We did more service today, picking fruit from one of the member's fruit trees from her backyard. There were oranges, tangerines and grapefruit. 

Cool lizard Elder Routledge found 

The little bugs here are driving me crazy though ! There are so many bugs here in Cali and they like to crawl on humans and bite you. It's so annoying, but I love it. The heat is getting crazy though, like 80's and 90's but summers are like 110 so I hope I am not in Fillmore during the summer (should we tell him we've had -15 weather here??) 

Thursday night we had exchanges, where you get a whole new companion for 24 hours. It was so good. I had Elder Lee. He is so great, I just love him !!

Supper made by Elder Routledge

During our exchange on Friday we did service at the Senior Centre for a few hours preparing food, then they took us out to lunch. I had a heaping plate of strawberry pancakes. (I may need to tell him THIS is why he's gaining weight!). 

The rest of the day was beautiful and then that evening we got 3 new investigators, taught 4 lessons and 2 member lessons, did 3 hours of service and then met with the family I talked about last time. 
Everyone in that family wants to be baptized !! (They just want to know a bit more first). The 9 year old boy said he dreams about Jesus and that Jesus tells him he is doing the right thing. The dad, Robert, said he does not have a desire to drink or smoke anymore and the spirit brought him to tears and if you saw this man, you would not think that he would ever cry. The other son is jumping for joy because we invited him to mutual. This whole family is just great !

Scripture Study...and selfies !!

Afterwards, on the way to Ventura, Elder Lee and I had a great talk and the spirit was just great. 

On Sunday, one of the Elders was able to baptize his dad while he was on a business trip. There was an exception made to see his dad so he could baptize him, so I was thinking, get Scott down here so I can baptize him haha. It was so good and it just reminded me of baptizing dad. I am reading 'Our Heritage' and there is a quote by Joseph Smith when his dad is baptized. It says" Praise to my God that I have lived to see my own father baptized into the True Church of Jesus Christ". 

Stay strong and know that I am loving it here and I have never been so happy in my life. Love you all. Muah. Talk to you later. 

Shirt made for Elder Routledge by an investigator

Lessons, Food and Emails

Can you believe I have been out a month tomorrow ? crazy huh. 
The weather here is nothing below 70. It rained yesterday but it was still so warm. It is so nice here and I am learning so much. I just can not believe I am here and I am learning as much as I am. I really have learned the Book of Mormon in such a new way. 
It's so crazy and the food, oh man, it's soo good here !! They have something called Tritip and it's like a certain type of beef but so good. There are fruit trees everywhere and I would stop and pick them but sadly it is a federal offence because that is someone's source of income but man, there are millions of them and that's not a lie! 
And everyone loves seeing us, they wave to us all the time..well most of them do :)

Elders Hidalgo & Clarkson

Typical, silly Elder Routledge

So this week I have some bad news to report :(

I am getting fat, believe it or not. I have gained 12 pounds in 3 weeks and I am starting to get a belly. It's crazy. I don't like it, so I have picked up my workout. 

My week has been busy but pretty boss. We've had many lessons and some new investigators. I learned a lot from my morning reading in Mosiah on Tuesday, so that was cool. There was a knock on our door and holy cow, when I saw who it was I died laughing (No, it was NOT his mother !). It was the Jehovah's Witnesses ! It was so funny because we were each teaching our own doctrine and man, it was great. We bore our testimony (or started to) but they left :) 
I felt bad though, cause we asked them questions about God and they really didn't know the answer. My companion and I were trying to get them to take a Book of Mormon, but they wouldn't.  
Later that night we visited with a Christian man. He does not want to be baptized but he just likes having us over to feed us so that was cool. (hmmm...maybe THIS is why he has gained 12 pounds!!) 

Elder Routledge's desk 

Wednesday was pretty cool. I hit my 3 week mark (3 weeks already?!) and that felt cool. Later that night, I had a very spiritual scripture study that helped me out and I found scriptures in the Bible that talk about the latter days so that was sweet. Otherwise it was a slow day :)

On Thursday we taught 3 lessons with a 91 year old woman. She likes us young men around as she is lonely so we went to visit her. She is pretty cool and we were able to share a small message with her. The young girl we are teaching is progressing but her mom is the challenge. We have not been able to make any progress with the mom, but it is still going pretty good and she still wants to be baptized. We also met with a whole family. I can see the whole family being baptized in a few weeks.  


Friday was good as we taught 2 lessons today. One was with a girl who has the same issues as the other young girl we are teaching. She wants to be baptized but her mom won't let her. Later that night, I had a really good talk with one of my room mates and it was cool because he really helped me. I have had a hard time being away from home and I was feeling pretty homesick and upset but he helped me and I have been feeling much better now. I am doing really good. 

Elder Routledge and Elder Hunt 

On Saturday we had 2 more lessons, 1 with the less active man we've been meeting with and then 1 with a less active family which was really cool. Sunday I had church in a very small ward. The family that we met with earlier in the week came to church so that was sweet. 

I found one of those deadly spiders in our garage. Well, they really are not that bad, (well, that makes me feel much better...NOT !!) but my and my other roommate were trying to capture it, but accidentally cut it in half :)

Well, I have to go as time is short. (I have about 20 people emailing me, including Hannah ! That was cool to hear from her. Thank you for your letter mama, it was nice!) I miss you all so much. 
Keep sending me the good news and keep smiling :) :) :)

Love, 

Elder Routledge

Ocean, fruit trees and...spiders?

Apparently there was an issue with the lds server on Monday and because of this many, many moms (and dads) were waiting and waiting (and waiting some more) for emails from their beloved missionaries. 
We were no exception. After checking all day and then most of the evening, and still not receiving anything, I began to get a bit discouraged (and sad !) 
Then suddenly an email arrived !! Yeah !! It contained 5 pictures. Awesome !! But nothing else :-(  No comments, no idea what pictures were about, nothing. 

Finally, on Tuesday morning (5:31am to be exact) the long awaited email arrived!! Here are excerpts from Elder Routledge's first email from California. Enjoy. 

It was really good leaving my district but also hard. After talking to you, though, I was good. I got on the plane to Santa Barbara and went to a really small airport, like ant size small. It was crazy small. (I think the airport might have been a bit smaller than LA lol). 

President and Sister Felix 

We were met at the airport by the Mission President and his wife and they are soo nice. They took us to go to a picnic on the ocean beach. 

Man, it was so cool seeing the ocean. It was soo beautiful and the sounds were amazing. The food here is pretty good. 

Then after the ocean lunch, we went to a really high mountain and saw all of Ventura. It was crazy and the the view was amazing. After we went back to President Felix's house and studied and had a big dinner there and stayed at a members house that night. 

View overlooking Ventura

 

Tuesday was transfers and time to find out where I was going to serve and with who. My companion's name is Elder Hunt and he is 6'6", so really tall, but the tallest elder we have is 7'3" and man was I small beside him. I live in a city called Fillmore and I serve there, Santa Paula and Peru. It's very nice and man, oh man, you can drive for 20-30 miles and all you see are citrus trees. Oranges, lemons, limes and strawberry's as far as you can see, and then in the background is all green mountains. It is so gorgeous. I can not see the ocean, but the view I do see is just as good. 

I live in Fillmore with 2 Spanish Elders. They live upstairs and I live down. 

Oh, your going to hate this. There are poisonous spiders that can kill you with just one bite and they found one in my room, so I tiptoe through the apartment haha (why, oh why did he have to tell me that ??!! Now I have to worry about earthquakes and spiders???) 

Well, I am okay now, but at first I was a little scared. I thought I should give you some scary news and they are about the size of your thumb or bigger, but hey, I am not dead yet haha wink wink (Oh, that boy of mine !!) Our apartment is very clean and pretty nice. 

Elder Routledge and Elder Hunt 

On Wednesday, I did some service at a Senior Centre. It was fun and I got free food out of it. The people were great. They have ghost chili peppers here adnd I am going to eat one. Today we went walking and found a few new investigators and we had a member dinner. Oh man, they reminded me of you guys making all kinds of jokes with us and cracking up the whole time. It was great. 

Thursday I taught a young girl. She is cool and wants to be baptized but she is only 16 and needs her moms permission but she won't say yes and sign the form but we will keep trying. Another guy we are teaching is a less active named Jared. He is so strong and him and I really connected and we are helping him to come back to the church. He is a good dude and he came to Stake conference this weekend.

Looks like a fun bunch of Elders and Sisters 

Friday we went on a blitz, which is when you do a short companion exchange. I rode a bike and talked to 4 people, one took a book of Mormon and the other 3 really listened. Oh, they have donut shops everywhere here, I LOVE IT. 

On Saturday, oh man, we went to our ward mission leader's house. He lives on a huge hill that overlooks the whole valley. It was so nice up there. We had lunch and we saw the view and it was great. This guy has his own shooting range up there and his own mountain. It was a great day. 

There is this really big cow who, from what I've heard, likes to lick cars and chew on car antenna's which is strange. Stake Conference was this weekend and it was a good weekend. My companion was sick this week, so it's been a slower week, but man oh man, it goes by fast! 

Tell everyone back home I love and miss them. Say hi to my boys, yep my boys, Jared, Brandon, Austyn. 

 

yes, that is Elder Routledge in the BACKGROUND