I Hate Dogs!

This week was very spiritually high and pretty suckish at the exact same time. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with the district leader. His name is Elder M, he came to our area and I went to the YSA area with his companion Elder B. Elder B is actually from Rigby, he was surprised that I knew exactly where that was! We went and talked to some people, it was pretty fun! I met a member of their ward who was 18, she was way hot but had a horrible personality so that was a bummer. She is going to BYU-I in the fall I think, I can't remember what her name was though, I think it was Haley, but it could have been Allison...anyways it was a fun day. Im not sure Elder M enjoyed being on a bike though, he didn't look happy when we exchanged back.

 The next two days were just like any other, we went out to try and find some former investigators, talked to some pretty cool people and did some normal missionary work. The crazy stuff happened on Friday and Saturday. N. called us at noon on Friday saying that he wanted to take a break from meeting with us. He has a lot of things on his mind and he needs to sort it out before he can continue, I asked what it was and he avoided the question. My gut feeling is that he ran into some anti Mormon stuff, so it is an easy concern to address. All I really have to do is say "you would not go to a Baptist church if you wanted to learn more about Catholicism" His doctor is a JW and doesn't like Mormons so that's what our assumption is, we are going to try and meet with him Tuesday though.

That same day I went on Exchanges with Elder J our zone leader. He is freaking awesome, we ended up talking until like 130am about anything and everything. We were talking  lot about apostate groups and how I think that if your not going to work than you may as well go home. Both of us actually decided to go on a 40 day fast. It is not a fast from food, it is a fast of fixing yourself. Each of the 40 days you progressively change things, for instance on day 1, Elder L and I will go to bed at 1030 sharp. Day 2, instead of waking up at 630 we will be awake at 629. So you progressively do these things over 40 days. It is going to be a hard 40 days but it wlll be SO worth it!

Saturday we ended our exchange and Elder L and I went to go visit a former investigator. On the teaching record it says to call out to her from the drive way because if we just walk in the gate, her dog will bite us. So we did everything like we were supposed to, we called out and her father came out to meet us, we talked to the Dad for a little while and the dog was banging on the gate trying to get out. I don't know how it happened but I glanced and saw the lock break, and the door slowly open. So I tried to shut the gate before the dog could get out but it was already halfway out. It squeezed out and lunged at me, I don't know how or why but I punched the dog in the face before it got a hold of my leg. So it only scratched me with its teeth instead of really sinking in. I got it off that first time but it lunged at me again but I was able to put my bag in the way and it bit a hole in my bag. By this time the owner had come out and grabbed it and kept apologizing and apologizing. I was only bleeding a little bit so that was ok. They invited us in and both became new investigators. The Dad and the daughter, his name is A and hers is L. They are pretty cool, so that story had a happy ending. I was really out of it that day because I had a huge adrenaline rush while fighting a dog, so I was totally out of it. I wish I could say it was a manly fight, but Im pretty sure I screamed  little bit, Elder Lewis says otherwise but I felt like I was screaming like a little girl. Im really scared of mean dogs ever since Jaleese got a big chunk of her leg bitten off during a family reunion. If I know the dog is nice than Im ok but if it is mean I get nervous. So that experience didn't help my resolve!

 Anyways this week was good, I hope all of you are doing good! The work here is pretty sweet, the members are awesome. A few members from Rosamond came down and took us out to lunch, they are really cool over there! Love you guys, have a good week!

Elder Carper

We call this the core, Elder Cox, Elder Angles, Me, Elder Gillies

 

Diamond Investigator Mode

So I basically have a man crush on our investigator N. We taught him the Plan of Salvation last Friday and he just ate it up. We committed him to be baptized on March 29th. He is absolutely incredible! He straight up has been searching for the truth for years. The whole time he kept asking really really good questions. He understood everything we said and that it "makes complete sense." He is blind and hasn't even read the book of Mormon yet and he knows its true! At the end of the Lesson I asked if he would pray to know specifically if what we told him was true and if he should be baptized. He prayed and asked out loud in front of us and then was quiet for about 5 minutes. I swear even the most vilest of sinner could have felt the spirit in that room, it was just working in him like I have never seen. He finally looked at us and I asked how he felt, he told us that he "felt really good." We are now meeting with him twice a week and he has come to church every time since we found him. He is already trying to share the gospel with his brothers, and his doctors. This guy came prepared for sure, I could probably show him the baptismal font and he would just dive in! Nelson is so freaking awesome!

Oh in other good news my bike broke! There was a really nice bike given to me by another Elder who is apparently freaking rich because he paid $350 for the bike he gave me. I decided that I would use mine until it broke because there is no point in just letting it sit. So I broke it on a dirt road, I was going way too fast and the forks snapped off. It was all dirt so I didn't get hurt too bad, just a couple scrapes! My helmet cracked though, that was cool! So now my bike issues are over! Seriously the Lord is just spoiling me, any stress that I have he fixes it so that I can focus and get to work. I received an email from the last missionary who was here just completely apologizing for leaving the area as bad as he did. I basically told him that I wasn't angry and that he has probably suffered enough with guilt and doesn't need me to chastise him. He wass pretty appreciative of that. I also felt really good knowing that I forgave someone. Lets hope God was serious when he said that Mercy will be shown to the merciful. That's what Im hoping anyways hahaha

I'm super excited for this next week because we are hopefully teaching a family of 7! That will be like a total sick lesson to teach!  Love you guys, I will let yall know how it goes!

Elder Carper

During Trials Come Miracles

I am going to start off with the bad things that have happened this week, so that this story has a happy ending. On Saturday one of the greatest people in the world passed away. I didnt find out until 8am on the following Monday. I didn't email anybody because I wanted to be able to process my thoughts because I knew I would have rambled on about how much I missed him. I sat in the chapel of the stake center for the next two hours begging my Father in Heaven for comfort. I will say that I didn't feel comforted right away. I was absolutely torn apart and I didn't know how I was supposed to handle myself. I got back on the computer at around 10 and just thanked my parents for telling me, I couldn't bring myself to really talk about how I felt so that is why nobody was emailed last week. It was really hard overall to hear about Papa, I had a lot of emails from family telling me to be strong and that he was in a better place. The one that hit the hardest was Grandma's email. All she said was that he really loved me and he would tell the other temple workers that his Grandson was a missionary in California. It was really hard to read everything but I did and I started feeling better. I hope everybody knows that I really did love Papa. He was the one who really taught me how to ski, he would take me up with his ski class and we would ski all day and he would take me home afterwards. He was also the one who took me on my first mountain biking trip. I remember the time when we got to the top I realized that my rear brake didnt work. So I biked down the path behind the temple with only my front brakes. Needless to say I got torn up pretty good! My Grandpa was honestly rock solid, he biked over to our house from Bountiful because he could. He was a hero in my eyes! I remember being so angry with him when he told the family he was going to Micronesia because I missed him so much when he was in Yap. Needless to say I loved my Grandpa a lot. Right after I got off the computer President Wilson called me up and asked how I was doing. I talked to him a little bit about it and he just kept making sure I was ok. It was a pretty cool feeling that President Wilson cared enough to call me personally.

I was told some other things that I would rather not have to share that also was hard to find out. It felt like all these things were laid on top of eachother and I just couldn't function. I was so torn apart that I spent the rest of the day playing basketball to get my mind off of it. I hate basketball, it isn't fun but it was enough to distract me for a little while. I told Heavenly Father that I didnt want to feel anymore, that I just wanted to become a robot that is incapable of feeling anything. Unfortunately, for me the Lord doesnt work like that haha. My week got worse when I fell on my bike tuesday. I hit a pot hole in the dark and flew over the handlebars onto my head. I ruined both my shirt and pants during my fall. I also screwed my bike up in the fall. I gave it to a member who works on bikes. I told me that The front forks are basically crap, he said I can ride it, but he also said that if I fall like that again on my bike, my forks will snap in half and I could be seriously injured. I just got called to a bike area, so you could say Im a little scared! I cut my shoulder up pretty well too so that was great. I dont know why but I am just brutal to my right shoulder haha. Ok, now we can get to the happy part!

 

The good Part :)

As I said before, I did not feel like the Lord answered my prayers that day in the chapel. I felt horrible because of Papa and completely alone and abandoned by the other things. While I was talking with President I told him that once I can get back to work I will be fine, I won't have to think about anything else and I wont be reminded. Tuesday we got to work and then the bike thing happened. I almost laughed because things were just piling on. It slowed me down a lot because of the pain in my head and shoulder but I forced myself to go back to work. I can tell all of you sincerely that I worked harder this week than I have my whole life. I was still frustrated that my prayers weren't answered and I still felt horrible for everything that happened. Here is where I can get to the good part, because it wasn't until Saturday that I found out the Lord blessed me even before I had ever thought to ask him for it. and turned my week into the best of my mission.

When the age change for the Missionaries came, I was still determined to wait a year and go to college. It wasnt until Trevor Obray's call opening that the idea hit me that I needed to go right away. I told my parents that I wanted to go right after school ended. After I began my papers I started to drift off, I had a lot of doubts of whether or not I could handle being away from home, I wanted to delay everything and wait a year. I was really determined to do it but every single time I prayed about it I got the overwhelming feeling that I needed to leave. The feeling of doubts and inadequacy didn't stop, while I was in the MTC I still had wished I waited, I didn't feel like I was ready for it. I always figured the Lord wanted me to serve now because I will have my whole life ahead of me when I get home, now I have begun to think that I needed to be a missionary during these trials. I dont know how I would have handled everything if I wasn't. Being a missionary gave me the strength and the will to push through everything and continue to pray and gain faith. That alone was a blessing.

The day Papa passed away I was given the amazing opportunity to baptize Billie Stocking and witness the baptism of Zach Fernandez. Being able to have been apart of their conversion story made me so happy! That was an incredible reminder of why I came on a mission, to help people come closer with the person that has made my life amazing. They both are so very special and they deserved what they recieved. I was able to confirm Zach a member of the church yesterday in sacrament meeting. That was also an amazing experience, the spirit was so strong in that room and the Ward really got the good spiritual feeling, they are now beginning to come alive in the work. That was another blessing.

One of the biggest and coolest blessings I recieved this week, was that while everyone at home was at Papa's funeral, I was at the LA temple. Which is exactly where I needed to be. This temple trip was so spiritual for me, different from any other one that I have gone. For the first time the whole week I was just happy, I didn't have anything else on my mind but Papa and the Lord. I was irritating the member I was with because I spent a long time in the Celestial room praying and trying to find things to be thankful for instead of dwell on how sad I was. It really was the most amazing experience that I cant describe in its fullness. It was amazing that the rare opportunity I have to attend the temple just happened to fall on a day I was not looking forward to.

The lesson Learned

I think that when something we hold close is lost, we as humans have a tendency to do one of two things. Either they instantly look for other things that are bad and they just feel worse, or they involve Heavenly Father. I think that when we do involve Him, He has a tendency to show us the things we are actually blessed with instead of the trials. Before my mission, I tended to do the first action after a trial. It was really hard to be happy. When these trials came I decided to put my burdens on the Lord. This became the best week of my mission. Being able to look back and instead of seeing all the bad things that happened and only seeing the good in all of it has been an amazing miracle. It has strengthened my testimony exponentially of how my Heavenly Father really knows me, that he has been preparing for this time for a while. I know that he really does love us and that he always fulfills his promise in John 14: 14-20
14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever,

17 Even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

I know that the Lord means it when he says he will comfort us, we may not see it at first, and we may not find comfort right away. I know he always comes to us and will lift us up when we need him. "I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." -Joshua 1:5

There has been another scripture that has been involuntarily filtered through my mind over the past week. I did not know what it was, but I found it and found an amazing sense of relief and comfort in it. The scripture is 2 timothy 4:5-8

5 But awatch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an bevangelist, cmake full proof of thy ministry.
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

When I finally read this It was really hard not to cry, because I knew that Papa was happy, that he lived worthy enough to inherit the celestial kingdom, that he "fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith." He IS truly an amazing man and I am so proud to be his Grandson.

This has been the most rewarding and spiritually challenging week of my mission, I lost my Grandpa but I gained a greater testimony of my Father in Heaven that I could have never found otherwise. I hope you all didnt get too bored reading this, but I hope you guys know that Im doing well, that I am happy in my mission and that the Lord is really watching over me. I love being a missionary it has brought me the greatest 6 months of my entire life. I love this gospel and the peace and joy it brings people. I am so grateful for my trials, they have helped me come closer to my Heavenly Father.

I hope you all are doing well, and that the Lord can impact your life as greatly as he has in mine. I love all of you and am thankful for all the wonderful letters, emails, and support you show me. I hope to hear from you all soon and hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Taylor Carper

Highs and Lows

I am writing the blog post for Taylor this week.  His email time was spent in shock with news from home.

High:  Taylor had his first baptisms on Saturday, February 22, 2014.  B & Z were baptized.  What a miracle it was since the grandma was on oxygen.  Her sats went down to 60, but she was able to get baptized.  What a great occasion.

Low:  Taylor's grandpa (Scot's Dad) died on the same Saturday.  He was diagnosed with throat cancer right before Thanksgiving.  He was given a treatment plan and pretty good odds to beat it.  He was 90% through his radiation and chemotherapy treatment when the doctor decided he was finished with the treatment.  Poppa had to deal with shingles beside the pain from the treatments and it was time to heal.  He was nourished this whole time through a food tube.  He had a stroke which prompted a MRI.  The MRI revealed that one of the tumors kept spreading during treatment.  The cancer was in his jaw and brain.  We found out on Thursday that he was terminal.  He came home that same day, refused food and water and died Saturday at 7:45 pm.  It was quick, but what Poppa wanted. Taylor found out on Monday (yesterday) by email.

Blessings:  There are too many blessings to list here, but we have been blessed.  While the funeral is in Bountiful on Saturday, Taylor will be going to LA Temple.  What a perfect place to be.  He gets to go to the temple because it is his companion's birthday.  Coincidence?  We know otherwise.  We are so grateful that Poppa didn't suffer any longer than needed.  He lived a great life, and he told us that his parents needed him on the other side. We know that Poppa will help Taylor from the other side.  Scot and I were relieved that we didn't have to worry about how much to tell Taylor because we didn't want to cause worry and distraction for something he couldn't change.  It was easier to just write about what happened realizing that he could deal with it easier then worrying about when Poppa would pass away.  Taylor's mission president and his wife are wonderful and have checked on Taylor and reported to us that he is doing well.

Love,
Elder Carper's Mom

Horse Crap and Painting

This week has been wonderful! Probably one of the best weeks I have had so far! Tuesday, Elder Cox was really really sick. I think he had food poisoning. So on Tuesday we were stuck in the apartment all the day long. Tuesday reminded me a lot of Wednesday, because this time I was the one who was sick. It was wayyyyy too much fun! I was finally able to move Wednesday night. We had an appointment that night with someone who was actually a refferal. The members finally took the opportunity and made an appointment with them and just asked us to show up. It was wonderful! I got to teach without having to find. That was super fun! Thursday was completely filled to the brim with service. We served at a old folks center for like 5 hours and then went and painted a wall for the rest of the day. That was super sick! I forgot how much I enjoyed work! It was nice to take a break from missionary work and do some hard labor! That night was Z and B's interviews, it went decently ok but we had to push their date back 2 days to Saturday the 22nd. Both Elder Cox and I are super excited for it because they are both our first baptisms! Elder Cox has been out for 10 months, I hit my 6 in 2 weeks. It goes to show that fruits will come as long as you are being obedient to the mission rules and working hard! I have been working with B and Z ever since I got here in September and now they are finally ready to make the wonderful covanant of Baptism! :) they have come a long way and I firmly believe they are ready to recieve that blessing and make that covanant! 

Friday was a day like any other, all of our plans fell through and we knocked in Mojavi from 12 to 9 with an half hour break at 6 for dinner. It was a hard and long day but it was very rewarding. Every time that happens, something wonderful follows. Just like last week with our bad day, something wonderful happens at the end of the night that makes up for everything! We had a very spiritual lesson with B and Z. I love feeling the Spirit as I teach, it is the reward in of itself for missionary work.

Saturday was hard as well, we went and gave more service for the same family that I talked about last week, the super crazy one! Luckily there wasn't any drama going on, but the Dad had us muck the horse pens. Do any of you know what Mucking is? I didnt until we mucked for 3 hours on Saturday. Mucking is when you shovel out the crap the horse lays down. This horse has been living in its own crap for 2 weeks, and it got to the point where it had combined with the dirt and so we had to dig up the entire thing. It was about 15 by 30 feet big. So that was wonderful, and I threw away those shoes because we couldnt take them in the house.

The numbers for this week were all zeroes, that makes it sound like it wasnt a good week but it was wonderful. Here is why: Yesterday, the First counselor in our stake came to our ward. He came up to my companion and I and asked how our week went. We both said that it went ok but it was hard because we were both sick, and we just keep knocking doors all the day long and had to deal with a lot of crap, literally . He then asked us how we knew we were blessed. I had no idea how to answer! He went on and said this: (not verbatim)  "If you are being completely obedient, so much so that you can pray guiltless, knowing you did everything you can, then you will never have a bad week. Missionaries too often judge their weeks, and attitudes by the results of the work. More often than not missionaries get discouraged because they think they arent being obedient or working hard enough. So the next time you have a bad week, look back at how obedient you were, and if you were exactly obedient, than you will realize that you had a wonderful week because the Lord is proud of you." I havent ever done that the 6 months I have been here, so It is time to start! This week has been absolutely WONDERFUL :) Im praying that this next week is even better! Love you all, hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Taylor Carper

Penguins and Apostles

I can't believe I forgot to post this email from Taylor.  It is from January 20th.  It is an interesting one.......

 

So this week has been very very interesting!! I figured out that I am staying in Rosamond for another transfer. So I will be here for 6 months! I was really relieved because we have 3 baptisms in February! Some weird things have happened this week, on wednesday we had to drive 45 minutes down to Palmdale to fix our car. We were there all freaking day! It took them 2 hours just to find the problem, and then another 4 to fix it. Guess what the problem was, the brakes. I wanted to tell them just sell me the parts and I will get it done in 30 minutes. Unfortunately missionaries aren't allowed to work on cars :( So ya we were there for like 6 hours. It wasnt the greatest day of my life.

Friday, we had to go to Mojavi for district meeting. It was really funny because we stopped at subway on the way back, while we were there, a party bus from USC stopped as well. Of course there were a lot of crazy people, but one of the girls that were with them came and asked me if I was a Mormon. Once she figured it out, she yelled out that we were Mormon missionaries and so a bunch of people came up to us and asked us a bunch of questions. Among them of course, was do we enjoy being virgins, do we want any alcohol, how many wives do we have, what is Kolob etc. They ended up asking us if they had hit all of the stereotypes yet and we told them they werent even close. While we were talking to them (with most of them being wasted) one of the main girls offered me a beer cup, I took it and dumped it out on a plant, gave it back to her and said "you will thank me for that someday." Either she knew it was a good thing, or she was just too drunk to care because she didnt get mad or say anything! The only one who got mad was a little 5:2 pothead dressed in a penguin onesie. He was freaking out about penguin parties or something but he was really funny.

Saturday we had an adult session of Stake Conference, I loved it! They passed around papers of refferal sheets. We only got like 5 refferals but still, its more than I have gotten all three transfers being here. On sunday, it was a regional stake conference. It was televised straight from Salt Lake. President Eyring, and Neil L Anderson of the 12 spoke. I love President Eyring, he is my very favorite speaker. He talked specifically about rescuing family members who have fallen away from the gospel. I love hearing his talks because for some reason, his always make me feel the spirit, with ever talk he has given, there has always been something that I personally needed to hear! 

Our day yesterday took a turn for the weird as we were asked to come over and dedicate a home that was apparently haunted by an evil little ginger girl. The Bishop had to come with us of course because it is his authority. It was weird because we had to do a lot of research on if spirits can actually take the form of children. The conclusion is that they can, and so if you ever see a legitament spirit, and it is a child. It is almost always an evil spirit, because good ones take the form of their perfect bodies. The reason why we start small and grow up, is so that our bodies can grow into our spirits. Pretty crazy huh! Anyways, this week was good, I had a lot of fun. Elder Cox and I will be here for another transfer, so I will be here for sure until March. Unless I get emergency transferred...which would never happen unless I was crazy apostate or dying. Neither of which is likely to happen so Im good!

See you guys, hope to hear from you all soon!

Elder Carper

Hard Work is a Great Plan

This past week has been pretty routine! Tuesday was an especially weird day, this week I resolved to just get out and work. So I took the PMG promise and just went to work. I basically forced my companion to work with me all day, we took a half hour lunch and dinner break but other than that we were out knocking doors all day long. We ran into a woman named N, I dont really understand why, but when people see missionaries, they automatically begin to unload everything bad that has ever happened to them on us. As if we are going to make it all better, Nicole, the wonderful daughter of God she is, spent 2 hours venting, crying and swearing about how her husband is abusive, she ruined her life to drugs, she hates her daughter and her dog and her chairs. 2 hours straight she was just talking about how her life is falling apart. In the end she wasnt interested in hearing the gospel, she just wanted to vent. She expected us to make everything better for her, all I said was that we cannot better her situation, but we can teach her how to work through it and involve her loving heavenly father. Oh and the entire time it was windy and raining, and she was alone in the house so we couldnt go inside, so we were freezing. It was fun. Then we went over to our favorite investigators, B and Z. They are awesome! It was hard though, because Z had a misplaced idea that he had a "deal with God." He thought that God was ok with him smoking and drinking still as long as he is trying to be good. We finally gave him an ultimatum and made sure he knew what he was getting himself into. He finally agreed to be 100% sober with his baptism and for the rest of his life. We were really worried going into the lesson but the spirit was there and it ended up being really good! 

Wednesday was very uneventful, we were out knocking all day. One cool thing that happened was I ran into D, he is that super awesome deaf dude who thought we were J-dubs. I taught him a very simplified version of the restoration in ASL and he then said that he wasnt very interested. He just liked that I could sign. That was a bummer but the rest of the day was good. One thing that I love about being on a mission is that without fail, every single day, if it was a very long and hard day, if plans fell through, people slammed the door in your face and nobody wants to listen, the Lord always rewards you that night with a spiritual experience. Ours was that night with Sister L (aka Mommy #2). We talked to them for about 2 hours about temples, she then asked us to give her a priesthood blessing for her to quit smoking. She wants to go to the temple, and so does her husband. The spirit was really strong in that lesson, and Im very thankful to have been apart of that. 

Friday was a really good day, we had ZTM at 10. First, we had a training from President Wilson, who of course gave us a big lecture on obedience and the importance, I was really happy because I figured out that I was doing things agaisnt the rules without even knowing it. So now I can change it and be happy! Sister Wilson totally chastized us on working. Her thing was that we need to work smarter not harder. We have been trying to do just that but it is near impossible for us to get our members involved. We have had 1 member refferal and after they gave us the refferal they didnt want any part in fellowshipping because they didnt want to lose their friendship. We told them that it is a commandment as well as a reward in of itself but that hasn't grabbed hold yet. We are continuing to talk to the Bishop and ward missionaires, which by the way, we have 6. I only knew about 2 up until yesterday, but we are just trying to get everyone involved and it is super frusterating, because knocking doors all day long is no fun at all. Especially in white neighborhoods, white people are so mean. Hispanics will actually talk to you for a bit and then turn you down.

Saturday was very uncomfortable, we gave service to a family called the Sheldons. They are an extremely messed up family. They have 4 kids that are all in Juvy or in foster care. They are also super loaded so they insisted they take us out to lunch, in which the whole time, the husband is complaining about how he hates his kids. How 3 of his kids tried to kill his wife, how his oldest stabbed him and he broke her arm or some freaky thing. The whole time I was just like "I freaking love Utah." You dont get all the crazy messed up things out here in Utah. People are usually nice, out here they are scary, and kind of crazy...Anyways it really strengthened my love for my family and the place I lived. California is nice and all but there are just way too many problems out here, like gang violence specifically is a huge one in rosamond. The gangsters love us though, they will literally do anything for us. So that is a plus! 

I hope all of you have a wonderful week and an even better Valentines day! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Elder Carper