Chapter 12: Into Foreign Lands
- Amber Prior
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
June 9, 2025
Weeks in the mission: 16
Companion: Elder Winter
Area: Corona
Ward: Del Rey
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Hello friends and family! Welcome to Chapter 12 of Elder Prior's mission! This week was great. We saw a lot of fruits from our labors.
I have reached the end of my first (full) transfer here in the California Riverside Mission. And we just received news this morning regarding if we're staying or leaving.
I found out that I am leaving Corona. I know not where I go next nor who I will be companions with; they are going to reveal it to us when we are all at the mission home.
Elder Winter is also leaving, so that means we'll make lots of notes for the missionaries who are replacing us in our area. That also means that I'm going to have a second trainer! I wonder who it's going to be.
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Prayer request
Will you please include the following friends of ours in your prayers?
- Nachita Contreras. She is a very sweet old lady who has a mountain of faith. She never learned how to read or write because she's from Mexico and always worked herself to the bone since she was 11 in order to make a living. She felt the Spirit when we testified of the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized. It looks like there's going to be some obstacles of getting her to church, so please pray that means will be provided so she can come to church and fulfill the requirements to be baptized.
- Juan Pablo. He is a great guy and ready for the gospel. He is from Colombia and spoke with missionaries there. Pray that he'll have the diligence to read from the Book of Mormon each day and to pray to draw closer to Heavenly Father. Please pray that he will also make it to church next week, because he didn't come yesterday.
- Otis Salinas. Please continue to pray for him so he can know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He comes to church and sports night each week and loves the community. Pray that he'll develop the desire to inherit the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
Thank you so much for the prayers you've given!!! It is bringing miracles into this area!!! I've seen your faithful prayers be fulfilled in Manuel. He is filled with light and joy, and it makes me so happy to see him in contrast to how unhappy he was when I first met him when I came into the mission.
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Daily Events
️Monday
A great P-day! It was pretty normal. I wrote my email, cleaned, studied, called my family at the stake center, played volleyball with the zone, and practiced the piano for about 2 hours. I'm getting better!
We saw some absolute miracles tonight as we went out to find people. We found some amazing friends that are so ready, one after the other! First, there's a mom with her 2 kids. Her name is Lucy Delacruz. She was very receptive and down to learn more! Her kids were just the sweetest.
Not long after, we had a miracle happen. We stopped by a friend's apartment we hadn't seen in a while to find out if they were interested. They didn't answer the door. But we heard the door behind us crack open. We said hello and asked if they'd like to hear a special message about Jesus Christ. They invited us right in and they were the coolest people! We got the contact info for the guy, whose name was Juan Pablo. They had been talking to missionaries in Columbia, but they had moved here and hadn't spoken since. They said they'd love to come closer to Christ.
️Tuesday
Zone-wide exchanges were today! Elder Buchanan came to my area and we worked real hard. He didn't speak a lick of English, but that didn't stop him from doing all the best he could and giving his all. We handed out at least 5 Book of Mormons today, which was great. We can't just hand out books willy-nilly. We've gotta teach someone about what it is, and then they gotta accept it and be open to our message. Which is much less than you would think.
We stopped by our friend Manuel who was baptized last week, and he is doing amazing! We both teared up because of the amazing changes we saw in him. There was a light in his life. He was begging us for Hermano Caro's number so we gave it to him. I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more of him now. I think he'll be alright after I leave Corona.
️Wednesday
Today was AP exchanges! Elders Young, Roche, and Freed came to our area to work with the missionaries and see how everything is going. I got to work with Elder Roche from 4:30 until 9:00. He is an incredible disciple of Chirst. I got the chance to exerience what it's like being companions with a consecrated and focused missionary.
Elder Roche had heard of my "Camino de Santiago" journey, so he asked me a bit more about my story and what it was like. So I told him basically my whole journey towards becoming a missionary.
I'm approaching the end of my first transfer. It's almost here. Next Monday, I'll find out if I'm staying or going.
️Thursday
As concerning today, so many miracles were manifested. I saw the Spirit touch the hearts of many different people, several times. Jesus, Nachita, Juan, Enrique, etc. This message I carry as a missionary has so much importance. I am so honored to be a part of this work before Christ comes again.
️Friday
We weren't able to find a WHOLE lot of people, but we found a good few. We biked past this house with a bigger front yard. It looked kinda private. But I had a feeling that we should knock there, so we did. Nobody answered. But just as we were about to leave, an older man opened the door and asked us in a polite manner what we were doing here. We told him we were missionaries and had a message about Jesus Christ. He said he was really sick and it took him a lot to get out of bed, and needed to get back. But we gave him a card and he said "Thank you for what you do. The world needs more people like you."
So even though we didn't get his contact, it was a nice interaction and maybe the Spirit will make something out of it.
We also passed by Manuel again today. You could visibly see the change in him. He's so much happier now. We found him standing outside, playing an accordion with a massive smile on his face. And he's so eager to come to church each week!
️Saturday
The highlight of today? Probably when we had dinner with Hermano Caro. It was his daughter's birthday party. But another one of his kids started wailing in pain. She had somehow hurt her tailbone while jumping around in the bouncy house. We had some consecrated oil, though, and gave it to Hermano Caro and Hermano Hernandez. They were able to give her a priesthood blessing before they took off to the hospital.
(We saw her the very next day walking around just fine, so the blessing worked! It was awesome to see.)
️Sunday
The last full day of the transfer. Tomorrow morning, I find out if I'm staying or leaving. It's 50/50. Most people think I'll stay. We'll see tomorrow, though!
Today was a grind. We had a lesson with Nachita and read more from the Book of Mormon with her. Well, she actually can't read, so it was more like we read the Book of Mormon out loud TO her. We talked more about her baptismal date and what she has to do to get there.
We were also able to get in contact with the Recna family again, after a while of not hearing from them! They are just really bad at responding to messages or calls over the phone. We went by their place one more time to see if we could see them. They were home and they let us right in! We gave them a Book of Mormon and a Bible.
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Spiritual thought
In my scripture studies this week, I read t through Jacob 5. The allegory of the vineyard. For the first time, I understood all of what it meant, and it's just miraculous how much God works and labors for His children. The Book of Mormon Student Manual I referred to really enlightened my understanding. It made things much clearer. It also is one of the coolest parts
Jacob 5 also helped me see things a bit more from the bigger picture. Kind of the way God sees things. In the allegory, God is the Lord of the vineyard. The fruits are the works and glory of His children.
I invite you to read Jacob 5 along with the Student Manual, and it'll make so much sense. You'll understand the way God works a bit more and the spiritual history of the world since the beginning.
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