Training, Indexing and Transfers

Well well well...

Another week in the books lets start off with some interesting news from this last week:

I am getting transferred...Yes after 4 weeks of Foothill Ranch Ward I am being moved again. So you know thats fun, going on my fourth area in less than seven months who knows what lies ahead...

I got a Trainers call. Yes I will be Co-Training (So a trio) a brand new missionary or maybe 2 brand new missionaries. So that will be fun, hopefully means I will get to stay in my next area for at least two transfers. 

Oh yeah, got my District Leader cal also! So along with training a brand new missionary I will be leading a district of missionaries...So that should be a fun thing to do. 

So thats all the big news but from my end other than that the week has been going as usual.  I have come to love "Indexing" so mom be happy. There is a senior missionary in our ward who lives here and is an expert at Genealogy. SO once a week we go over and do indexing on Family Search and it is SO MUCH FUN. Love getting to feel a part of helping people find their family, where they come from and what they did. So I will for sure keep up with that during my mission and after. 

At dinner last night I found out some interesting information. So remember how BYU-I did not have a Tech Theater degree and that was one reason i did not want to go there. Well starting in the fall of next year they are introducing a BA in Theatre Arts with a bunch of different emphasis and Tech is one of the emphasis with about 20 classes to go along with it. They revamped their whole department and the whole staff from what I heard I am super excited about the degree. So this is why you never make solid plans before the mission. It all changes anyway. 

Got kicked out of a apartment complex. People really have no idea what the word "Soliciting"  means and when I try to educate them on the definition they get irritated and tell us to leave. Also telling me I cannot visit members of my congregation is irritating as well. So I have decided I am going to study their "No Trespassing" signs and know them better than they do so they cant do anything. I don't like not being able to go places because of a sign.

The ward is super sad to see me go and I am sad to be leaving. It is only four weeks since the last time I packed my bags but it has flown by. Got connected to the ward and my WML Brother Andre told me that the ward improved a lot while I was here and I really helped a lot. He said that I will be good wherever I go so I shall hopefully live up to that. I really really love this ward!

Question posed this morning by a guy we had breakfast with...

Is the Gospel about improving the quality of your life, or is it about being saved by Jesus Christ. I think they are one in the same but he thought the Gospel is only about being saved.

Also note to self: I LEARNED HOW TO SAY SOBCZAK IN POLISH!  and the guy that taught me KNOWS ELDER PETROWSKI WHO SERVED IN POLAND!!!   so this is what he said the name is pronounced So ( like "So What") B (B as in Boat) and Chak (Like "Chalk" Without the "L")

I love you all hope all is going well!

Stay classy. Love you all :)

-- 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

interviews and companions

There is not to much to report on from this last week...

Only big thing is that I had a 30 minute interview with President and Sister Orgill on Thursday that went great!!! They are both amazing and have so much knowledge about the Gospel. I connected with them right off the bat and know that I am supposed to be here in this mission.

Glad to see the family is doing well and glad to see that at least a part of me can participate in the activities. 

My companion is good! I am the official Senior companion and he has just finished being trained so I am "Greenie Busting" Him. It is awesome that he loves to work and loves to see all aspects of "Missionary Work" and not just tracting.

Hope all is going well and that you guys are okay. want you to know that I love you all :) Until next time :)

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

The Mission has Started up!!! and I am moving FORWARD....

Hey hey Family of mine, and the rest of you...:)

So the work out here in Foothill Ranch is moving right along. It has (in the past) had a string of misisonaries not working the area with the numbers to show!   We are picking up and moving forward though through the good graces of the Lord. This last week has seen some funny things happen and some amazing things at the same time which has made this week fly by.

Start off with the cool stuff...

• Sunday Tyler Feist a YM in the ward whose family are amazing missionaries went out with us to teach a lesson with a Former Investigator couple.   They love the missionaries and the sacrifice we make to come out and serve and just are interested in general with the church. We started talking with them just getting to know them and they led the conversation into how are we called as missionaries, who are our leaders, and how are they called?   We answered their questions well and they understood it. They got who apostles are, the revelation behind sending out missionaries and how a new Apostle/Prophet is called. They were pleased with our answers and then the Mrs. brought up a concern of her sons, which was "With all these Christian religions preaching Heaven Hell only in their doctrine". They know good people - and the question is; "just because they dont believe "The Right" way are they are going to hell?  It concerned them and thus presented us with the question. So we answered that from the scriptures with Tyler reading in Corinthians 15:11-13 about the degrees of Heaven. We even talked about JST (Joseph Smith Translation) and they accepted it and didn't bash with us at all. We ended the night with a prayer and set up a lesson for next Sunday at 8:00pm.  Yes we did!!!! -We had just picked up 2 new investigators! It was a really cool experience because looking back on it I can see the Spirit that was there leading the conversation, it wasn't any of us, it was the Spirit. 
  
• We have developed a solid relationship with a guy named Ethan who we found knocking on the wrong house of a referral we could not find. He liked us stopping by and told us to get a hold of him to set up a lesson in the future with him and his family. So that will be awesome if he becomes more interested. 
• Lastly, a member family we had dinner with gave us the name of their next door neighbor who are about as golden as can be. The mom has told them that she wants her and her children to be members. They come to all the activities, daughter is participating in Activity Days and they attened church when people they know are speaking. The problem is the dad is not as sold, which is always the case. I have come to realize on my mission as much as I hate to say it, Women are just way more in tune with the spiritual side of things then men. It is just a gift they have for some reason. So those are the cool stories. The ward is crazy, no bishopric in town on Sunday and everybody else it seems is out of town too. But hey it is July, we cant all be full time missionaries. 

6 months in the book! Easy as scoring a try from the 5 meter line. The mission is going quick and bringing miracles. I can tell everything is changing and only hope I can hold on and remember. The Irvine mission has started!!!

• OH I totally forgot one more cool thing:

We had a "Mission Kick-off" conference the other day where we got to meet the missionaries from Anaheim and President and Sister Orgill. They are so funny and completely different than President and Sister Cook.  This will take some adjusting!!!   They have that "Islander Swag" so to say. And I mean how could you not, after serving at the PCC (Pacific Cultural Center) for 12 years. The PCC Traveling dance promo team has made a deal with President Orgill that anytime they come to the states to do a promo tour they will always stop in his mission somewhere to do a show. So for the next 18 months I might get to see the PCC people a lot which i am super excited for and all the members are exstatic about. We told our members this and they were like "That will be perfect to get non members to!"




Deep Thought:
Does Faith precede hope?  hope precede faith?   or do they work in harmony in each other? through all my studies on Faith and Hope I cannot find a defining answer to settle this for me, only close one for me is Hebrews 11:1.... FEEDBACK and / or CONVERSATION is a good thing ?!?!?!


So there we go, another week in the books and in the memory. Time goes quickly when you stay invested and stay consecrated. I love you guys so much, thank you for all of the things you have done for me since starting the mission. We will all be blessed for this great sacrifice. 

Stay amazing and stay classy, the Lord is always there if you just ask:) Until next time!:) 

Love you all :) 

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014

Love it when Families drop by!!!

Even just in messages!!

we love getting know those who serve and know Elder Sobczak!

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with Family and Friends.  -brodsky

It's a 4th of July Weekend of just that all over the world FAMILY AND FRIENDS:

Six Month Mission Served 18 Month Mission Called to Serve

March 2013 

6 Months
Jan 2nd - July 2nd
What they see at home!

Six months in the bag just like that. Oh man that is crazy to say. This past week has been super crazy and wild and hectic but it has already been a week into the new mission and it's July!!!??? Where is all the time going? 

I am currently serving in the Foothill Ranch Ward in the Rancho Santa Margarita Stake in the California Irvine Mission. Yes I know that it is a mouthfull to say. The area I am in is another area in need of fixing. I feel like that has been my calling out here so far. Help in getting the area organized and give it a specific direction for future missionaries and then -- ok -- we will transfer you! Hopefully it doesnt stay like that forever, but it has been nice cause for sure I have learned and I know exactly what needs to be done and how it needs to be done by now, of course as I heed the Spirits direction!!!  Every Area does have it's own needs!

My companion is Elder Darian Bosely from Mesa Arizona. He has just finished being trained so I am what they call "Greenie Busting" him. Basically the companion after your trainer is called that. They are suppose to break you of the bad habits your trainer gave you and help you see multiple ways of doing missionary work. The sad part though is that we will most likely be companions only until July 23rd which is our next transfer. 

http://www.lds.org/church/news/nea-cn-mission-president-assignments-2013

Speaking of that let me give you a break down of what has happened in the past week with starting as we start a new mission:

If you stayed in "Irvine" as a Carlsbad missionary you are on a 9 week transfer.

If you got transfered to "Irvine" a week ago you are only in a 4 week transfer. 

What that means in simple terms is that my mission got cut an additional three-four weeks short. So counting the week from when they shortened the MTC time I've lost I think 4-5 weeks off of my mission which sucks big time. Time was already going too quick.

We have a mission wide conference this Thursday the 4th of July from 10:30-2:00 getting to meet our new Mission Presidency. I just checked my other email to talk to President Orgill and he said on the 23rd of this month 30 missionaries will be joining our mission with lots more to come in the coming months. So this mission is about to blow up number wise.

The Newport Temple is in my mission. Hopefully this means I can attend the temple more.

HOT HOT HOT in my new area!!!!

All in all this is going to be the best time ever. President Orgill was President of the PCC in Hawaii so that should be fun and he is living in my stake so I will be seeing him around while I am here. I had it confirmed to me the other day that this is where I need to be. The Lord knew this mission was going to be made and I needed to be out in January even though I needed to serve in this mission. Missionary work is changing, it will never be the same again.

I love you all and I am so thankful for all the help you guys provide to me. Stay classy and keep the faith. The Gospel is true and that is all that is need to know. Have a great week and will talk next week :)

Deep thought:

I was studying the word "Order" the other day to best help the area because the area book was in no way "ordered". I got reminded of my study of Ordinance and how Ordinance went back to old Latin - into what? "Order". So think of it, being organized, having order is an "Ordinance of God".   Ponder this verse in Doctrine and Covenants 132:8 Behold, mine house is a house of ^aorder, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion. Without the order of the Church, Order of the Temple, Order of the Priesthood, no body would be saved. To be organized in itself is a saving ordinance. That is why we need to be organized and have order even in temporal matters because that is a reflection of our spiritual conversion to the Gospel. Hopefully that makes sense.

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-June 2013

California, Irvine, USA

July 2013-December 2014