Misión de Fowers en California, Newport Beach : Faith and Hard Work Precedes the Miracle!

YOUNG MEN~UNITY AND STRENGTH: "Poco a Poco", little by little we see our quorum YM grow in unity and strength, sometimes its been by microscope degrees, but this morning NINE Young Men boarded the buses to attend FSY. It is hard to express how monumental that is. It is truly a miracle! Much of the time our work with them has felt like pushing a boulder uphill. But with the help of the Lord and tenacious, consistent effort, we see them bonding with each others, stepping up in their priesthood duties and showing up more often to church. In many cases they have little parental support, so their determination to return to church is a courageous effort. We learned about FSY in February and began to use it to get into their doors, inviting them to participate in this amazing opportunity. Lots of hard work followed to get them registered, and even preparing them spiritually for the opportunity. One 14 year old young man had only attended few times since he was baptized at as 8. He had NO knowledge of the gospel or the restoration. We taught him all of the missionary lessons to make sure he would understand and could connect to the FSY experience. He has been so open and willing to learn, absorbing everything we have taught him. He has attended church the last two weeks! We pray that the FSY experience will make a difference for each of them.

FSY Launch

Getting on the bus: Fine Young Men (6 of 9)

We continue to provide really meaningful activities for the boys. Last week we had the local fire Chief Dye with some of his firemen come to teach the young men CPR. He also taught them how to operate the heart defibrillators. The boys practiced on the dummies. This is a skill set that was well received.

Local Heros

Captain Dye, CPR Demonstration

Elder Fowers supervising CPR practice!

Baking in the Sun at the Gold Cup

Building Unity and Brotherhood

The Spanish ward bishopric wanted to have a super activity for the Young Men for the summer. So they decided to take them to the semi-final game of the Gold Cup Soccer tournament in San Diego. The US played Panama. We stepped back, stayed home, and let the ward leaders drive this activity. They tailgated in the parking lot with hot dogs and enjoyed the game. The boys are beginning to feel unity in the Priesthood.

VICTORIA'S MIRACLE! We introduced you to Victoria last week. Each time we interact with Victoria or go to her house to help with the clean up, we never fail to invite her back to church, with no success. However last week we were inspired to take Bro. and Sis. Morales with us, he was her former Bishop knew her well. Luci's Journal~As we approached her door she was surprised and delighted to see these old friends. After friendly chatter with her and her nephew Roberto, who is also a member and happened to be visiting, there was a deep, inspired conversation among the Spanish speakers and I just listened. Victoria's inactivity is based on offenses that took place years ago with members. Bro. Morales taught about Jesus on the cross...reminding her of Jesus' words: "Father forgive them for they know not what to do." He looked at her right in the eye and said, "It's time to forgive and return to your covenants with Jesus Christ." The spirit was profound and spoke to all of us. Her and Robert attended church the next Sunday! (There is just no feeling that compares to moment when an inactive member, that you have been been working with for weeks, walks through those chapel doors. You want to stand up and do a happy dance right in the middle of church!)

EFREN'S TEMPLE EXPERIENCE: Efren is a recent convert of three months and received the priesthood three weeks ago. He is 43 years old divorced with 4 children, sharing custody with his x-wife. We met with him to prepare him for his first temple experience. He had never learned about the concept of vicarious baptism. We explained that Christ made a vicarious sacrifice for us, his Atonement for our sins. Something we could not do for ourselves. Would it not be reasonable that we could perform the vicarious act of baptism for those who never had the opportunity. We then went into Family Search and found six deceased ancestors, printed the ordinance cards and prepared the next day to go to the San Diego Temple.

New Convert Night with Efren and Hermanas

Elder Fowers with Efren-first temple experience.

The next day, dressed in white Efren stepped into the baptismal fount in the temple with Sister Navarro representing his deceased grandmother. For the first time Efren used his recently obtained priesthood to perform the ordinance. One could see the emotion in his countenance. He then baptized her twice more for two great aunts. Then Elder Low got into the font and baptized Efren for his father, grandfather and great grandfather. He was very attached to his deceased father. After changing we gathered in the confirmation room and I was the voice for all the confirmations. No one can predict the future, however I know that Efren will never forget this evening in the San Diego Temple where he directly assisted in the gathering of Israel.

ZONE CONFERENCE: We love to attend Zone Conferences! We are quite certain that we learn more than our young missionaries do. Our southern zone conferences include about half of our young missionaries..nearly 100. There is something so powerful about rubbing shoulders with this righteous "Army of Helaman." We are blessed by their faith and determination to gather His children and we get a ring-side seat to watch the action.

Rubbing shoulders with God's Army

Been working on the Young Woman's Camp Book...we get involved in all kinds of projects as we do all we can to support the leaders of this ward.

Princess B.O.O.T. Camp, Cover
drawn by Angelica Lara, talented YSA.

4th of JULY BABYSITTING: Brad and Becky left one day early for their 20th anniversary trip because they were flying standby and that was the day that flights were available. So we drove to Tustin to help the girls celebrate with without their parents. Had a fun day, even if Penny vomited on the way to the parade. Thankfully it was after she got out of our car!