March 21, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad! How are you both? First of all mom, I was tired last week, not sad at all, you've got to stop worrying, I'm doing great, we just had a brutal workout with a member, I could barely move my arms, it was ridiculous. Anyway, ya, things are going great here, I have a few questions about the language, or more specifically the dialects. So mom, you oblivious speak the Palestinian عمية, our الكتاب textbook has the Shami dialect, but it also says Levantine, I thought Levantine was the more Jordanian Dialect which is close to the Palestinian, but Shami is Syrian, so I'm confused. How closely related are the Palestinian and Syrian Dialects, do you know? Because I know that the Syrians substitute the ث for a ش

(لمثال، يتكلمو جوزيف سميش عندما نقرة من المقدمة من الكتاب مورمون it's super funny), 

you don't do that right? And what about the ق they swallow that, do you? You turn the ذ into a ز right? Any other weird thing that Palestinians use? But ya. Umm, also, thanks I got the Al Kitab book, thanks so much, but I understand why it was so cheap, it appears that there are multiple Al Kitab books for learning English... I should have been more specific, my bad. But the one I need is called الكتاب في للتعلم الغة عربية، or something like that, its by a few people, like Christen, Mahmoud, and.. Sorry again, I feel bad, but it would really help with my language. Anyway, ya, sounds good, I'll probably get into the weekly now,

Hi Everyone!  

How are you all doing? Things have been going good here, not too much has happened, we're working with a guy named Koos, he's pretty awesome, we teach him usually at a park near his house, and parks in this area of San Diego are fun, because there are always a ton of homeless people. They're all over El Cajon, rumor has it, that LA gives them free buss tickets here, lol. Anyway, he's usually teach him at nights, and so it's dark too, it's so much fun! But don't worry mom, there are still some people there who aren't homeless. Though we were talking to some semi crazy guy on the street (we meet a lot of those) who was telling us about all the gangs that are apparently in El Cajon, we don't see too much of them, because we work with the Arabs who don't have Gangs, but he was telling us all about how they were all over, and how to recognize them and stuff, it was pretty funny, but they never give us any problems, even when we see them, like I said, we focus on the more Arab populations which tends to be poor, but not have really any crime. So ya, we had Zone Conferences with President, which were awesome, it was such a Spiritual time. So ya, that's about it, love you all, have a good week!

Elder Rosenbalm 

Heres the Journal I want, I don't care about the Color, but this kind of style and size and stuff, and yes, I got my old Journal, the one that I wrote on before, thanks! Love You

March 14, 2017

Hey mom and dad, how are you guys? Things here are great, not too much

going on, so it'll probably be pretty short, I'm also kinda tired, we

did a cross fit workout this morning with a member, he's pretty

ripped, but we got wrecked, but it was fun. Umm, ya, to answer your

questions mom, I have enough Balsalzyde, I'll let you know when I need

more, I'll attach a picture of my Journal, as far as the books go, the

one I need is called Al Kitab الكتاب its super popular, the one that

they use for the BYU Arabic Program, but it's a college textbook, so

it's probably pretty expensive, though on the bright side, I'll

probably use it in college, so I wont have to buy one then, but also,

you can buy them used, so that'll probably be cheaper, also, if its

too expensive, don't worry about it, there's one in this appartment,

so I wont really even need it until I get transferred into English,

which could be next transfer, though if not next transfer, I'll

probably triotrain the new Arabic missionary, so then not for another

two transfers, but then he'd probably use the copy, though we could

share, but I'd probably be easier to buy one. Anyway, ya, thanks for

the tie, I'm excited. And I don't know about multivitamins, I haven't

checked in a while. But anyway, thats that, honestly, I'm feeling

kinda lazy, I don't really want to write the weekly, it just will take

so much work, I'll do double next week, plus not too much happened, we

had zone conference, and that was a ton of fun, but ya, not much

happened. Lastly, dad, I've been thinking have you ever tried inviting

Renett to Church? He's been to activities and those are good, but I

think he'd like Church, you should invite him, it'd be fun (also, I

can totally skype in and teach him if you start teaching him, we have

permission to Skype friends and family, so I could do that, plus he's

arabic, so there's double reason!), anyway, things are still great,

there's great peace and joy in serving the Lord with all your time, I

love it! Love you both,

Elder Rosenbalm

March 7, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad, how are you two? Things are going great here, this

weeks been good, we just went on a hike that took up the whole day, so

I don't have a whole lot of time, but thats fine. So hows Rome? You

guys having fun? Italy would be so much fun, and you don't have any of

the kids either, so it's super relaxing right? And a lot less

expensive, sounds like fun! This weeks been pretty awesome, but I'll

get into that in the weekly,

Hi Everyone,

It's been a pretty good week here in San Diego, things are doing

great, lets see, what happened, we'll still seeing Koos, he has a date

for Baptism at the end of this month, we're super excited for him,

he's so awesome! But ya, we've taught him a few times this week,

prepping him for his date, it's coming up quick, we're actually

teaching him tonight. We brought the Priests out on Splits with us on

Saturday, and I taught him with one of our priests, he did a great

job, it was awesome. We're also teaching a few other people, one man

from Egypt, he's been here a while though, and he's still new, so

we'll see where it goes. Ya that's about it for this week, not too

much happened. Have a great week everyone, love you all

Elder Rosenbalm

February 28, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad, how are you both? Things here are awesome as ever,

this week has been a blast, though quick again, trying to remember

what I did the whole week is always so annoying, as Ugway says,

yesterday is history, tomorow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that

is why it is called the present. I love that quote, also it gets me

out of having to remember things. Anyway, sounds like you're all doing

good, I'm glad you're all together for a bit, it must be hard being

apart so much. Dad your recovery's still going well? Also, have fun in

Rome together, Italy sounds like a ton of fun, I'll go there after my

mission some time. Also, mom, quick question, my companions studying

the Levantine dialect, and is confused, how do you conjugate بِد, like

as a verb or a noun or what, he was listening to a recording and I

think they changed. Though this is Ameya, so they probably just do

what they want. Anyway, I'll get into the weekly now,

Hello everyone (see me switching it up? I've said hi for the past

couple months), this weeks been great! We're teaching some pretty

awesome people, I don't remember if I mentioned it last time, but

Sumaya's moving to Nebraska in a couple weeks, so that's sad, I'm

gonna miss her, she's so cool, she has been coming to church every

week since we met her, and that was months ago, she just loves to feel

that Spirit, and has a ton of Faith in the Lord. It'll be tricky with

her not speaking English in Nebraska, but that could be ok, because

then maybe we can skype in! So that'll be fun. She came to a Baptism,

along with one of our other investigators, Koos, it way great! Koos is

a new investigator who is probably the most prepared person I've seen

come, he got here last Saturday night at like 8 PM, came to church

that Sunday at 10, came to the baptism a week later, has met with us

twice so far, (and again tonight), and each time has brought up

baptism, we're probably going to get him a date today, and is

currently reading in Alma. He's so cool! There are just so many good

things happening here, I can't believe how blessed I am to be laboring

in the Lords vineyard, as the closing of the dispensation of the

fullness of time, amidst my Arabic brothers and sisters, I love it!

Anyway, thats mainly it for this week, have a good week everyone!

Elder Rosenbalm

February 21, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad,

How are you guys? I hope that you're recovering well Dad, thats a bit

scary that you had to do the emergency surgery and everything, but I'm

glad that it all went well. Mom, hows life in Utah with all the kids?

I hope you're both doing well. Things here are awesome, you guys got

that letter from Seth? He was actually one of the very first Arabic

Elders here, actually now that I thing about it, in the world, but

he's been back at BYU for a while, and now TA's for the Arabic class

their, so he's super good at Arabic now, we Skype him into one of our

lessons that we taught over skype, so it was a three way skype, but it

was an awesome lesson. I'll name the guys we taught محمد (Mohammed),

because there's some complications, and it would be super dangerous

for certain people to know where he is, but he's so cool, he was

reading in the Book of Mormon, and new, and old testament every before

we started teaching him, he's so cool. But ya, I'll probably go into

the weekly now,

Hi everyone, hope you're all doing well, San Diego's great! It's a

bright, 71 degrees, the palm trees swaying gently in the breeze (not

exaggerating a thing), its the best! This weeks gone by quickly, but

its more acceptable of a speed, the last couple weeks before seemed

like a day, but this one seemed like a good four, so thats good. This

week was pretty fun, we taught some people, we're still teaching

Sumaya, she's so cool, this week was actually the first time that we

were able to get everyone in the house for one lesson. We've taught

all of them at different times, but never all at once, but this week

we we teaching Sumaya, and then one by one they all trickled in, until

we were teaching Sumaya, her five kids, and two grandkids. So that was

fun, we've taught a few other people, we'll see if they turn into

much. We do a ton of Skype lessens, primarily with Sweden, because

there are so many refugees there, who don't really speak much English

or Swedish, so we help them a lot, there are actually a lot people

there who've been prepared, and are ready for the Gospel, we usually

skype 1-2 lessons a day, though there was one day, when we Skype four

different lessons. So, on Thursday, the scouts had a fundraiser for

their weeklong, and they do it a bit differently here, they hold a

dinner, and then a dessert auction, it was so much fun, the dinner was

good, your average church gathering dinner, it was good, but the

auction got intense. There were multiple bidding wars, that got

ridiculously high, and people just wanted to donate, and were doing it

for fun too, it was hilarious, but those scouts made bank. Today was

transfers, but my companionship stayed the same, so not much change,

which I'm totally happy with, my companions great, and I love being in

Arabic work. Ok, that's about it, have a good week everyone,

Elder Rosenbalm

Ok, so ya, that's about it, I hope you're both doing well, is there

anything that I can do to help you guys? Let me know if there is.

How's Renett doing? Are you still working with him dad? Have you ever

thought about inviting him to church? Anyway, have a good week!

Elder Rosenbalm

February 14, 2017

Hello mom and dad, how are you guys? This week was pretty fun, it's

been flying by though. Like, it seems ridiculous that it's already

been a week, time is just flying, its so much fun though, I love being

on a mission! Mom, as far as medication goes, I have an infusion this

Saturday, its become pretty routine now, we didn't do benedril, but

some other medicine that worked just as well, but doesn't have the

drowsiness, and that worked really well, I'll see if I can do it again

this time, but I don't remember what it's called, lol. Whatever

happens will be fine though. I'm feeling great, like super healthy,

and since I'm healthy, I can see more of what affects me, in just the

little ways. Like for example, mini wheats, their not the best for me,

like, not too bad, and it goes away after like a day, but just a

little. Anyway, that's that, I'll try to add more, but not that much

honestly happens during the week too much, but I'll try.

Hello Everyone!

How are you all? Hope you're doing well, this week was pretty great

for us, being on a mission is so great, I love being out here so much!

The Spirit is just so strong, and there are so many Spiritual

experiences, so often, it's amazing! But anyway, Arabics actually

going pretty good, I can understand and follow along in lessons pretty

well, (Except when we bring one of our members, who likes going into

super deep doctrine, for a very long time, he's so cool, its awesome,

but I understand nothing when he gets into it), but for most lesson, I

get what's going on, and am starting to contribute based on things I

want to say, and make up there, as apposed to preparing for points

beforehand and teaching those. The progress is slow, but I can't

defiantly see it progressing, and it's really nice because, here in El

Cajon, most of the people are native speakers. So while we don't have

the advantages of having a Church in Arabic (or any church related

language learning materials or anything like that), we do have a lot

of native speakers we can talk to, so thats super nice. We're still

teaching Sumaya, she's defiantly our most solid Investigator right

now, she doesn't speak English, at all, but she's so awesome. She went

to Church on Sunday, and was going to leave after second hour, because

We translate Sacrament, and have a whole Gospel Principles class just

for Arabic Speakers, but nothing for relief society (and when we have

one of our Arabic speaking sisters in the ward there, they can

translate, but they weren't there today), so she was going to leave,

but her kids (well her daughter, and grandson), love primary, so they

asked if they could stay, and of course she said yes, so that was

awesome! Kids are the best. We're teaching a man named Pablo, and he's

not Arabic, or Mexican. Totally white. For a few reasons, we're

teaching him instead of the sisters in our ward, so thats fun. It's

really nice being able to speak with an investigator, he's really cool

though, really looking for something in his life, and of course we all

know what that is! We're still in the beginning steps, but he has some

really good potential. We've taught a few other people, who could be

added, but we'll see. So yesterday and today, we had something called

MTE's (Missionary Training Meetings), where basically, several zones

get together, we get training from the Assistants, President, his

wife, and maybe some Zone Leaders, and then we go on multi-zone

exchanges, and then come back the next day, have some more training

and then leave. It's really fun, this is my second one, last time I

left, and went to a different zone this time, I stayed, and and Elder

from a different Zone joined me here, he's actually one of the four

Arabic Elders, we have four, but only two are in Arabic work at a

time, but anyway, he came here with me, so that was fun. That's about

it, have a good week, love you all!

Elder Rosenbalm

Ok, so thats that. Umm, dad, you said you changed coworkers a few

weeks ago? Are you still working with Rene? Also, you guys were in

Philipeans right? And then Europe? And now Rome? Or was the Rome trip

the Europe trip you talked about a little while ago. Anyway, sounds

fun! Also, mom, one of your parents was Orthodox, the other Catholic

right? Which one was which? And lastly, the books, you sent me Alif

Baa, and that was very useful, but I finished that a while ago, the

one I'm working on now, is called Al Kitab, but there's one here for

all the Arabic Elders, so I don't need it anytime soon. I wont need it

until I get transferred out of Arabic work, that probably wont happen

for a few months atleast. So don't worry about getting it soon. Also,

its a college text book, so it'll be pretty expensive, but you can

probably buy it used, which would be much better priced. But like I

said, no rush at all, whenever is convenient for you. So thats about

all, love you both!

Elder Rosenbalm

February 7, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad, how are you guys? Things are great, here! Mom, my

medicines fine for now, but if I do need more, I'll let you know. I

love my guitar, its really relaxing to play it. I figured out how to

play the David Jones song on it, Chris would be so proud. Lol, I love

it though. So ya, this weeks been great, I'll probably just get into

the weekly

Hi everybody! It's still warm here. It's the greatest, so this weeks

flown by. Like it literally seems like yesterday was last time I

wrote, but some things happened I guess, lets see, we're still

teaching Sumaya, she's doing great, she's taking English Classes,

which will be good, because then she'll understand atleast a little

when people at Church say hi, so that'll be good. Umm, we taught our

Investigator Mohamed, he's awesome, just super busy. He works all day,

and then goes to school at night, so that's hard, but says that he

really wants to learn more, and once he finishes his current job

(building a house), he'll be able to start doing more, like reading

the Scriptures and stuff. But he said the closing prayer! Which is a

huge step for most Muslims (I was considering not telling his

religion, but that would be completely useless because of his name),

and its awesome that he is saying prayers now. It's crazy that it was

the first prayer he ever said in his life, (well correct one anyway),

and I'm really glad to be a part of it. Anyway, thats about it, love

you all!

So thats about it, Arabic's coming good, its still super hard, but I'm

getting better. Thanks so much for the news, its super nice, Love You

Both

Elder Rosenbalm

January 31, 2017

Hey Guys, mom, thanks so much for the news! I've heard bits and pieces

of it, but I wasn't sure how reliable it all was, that's so crazy! I

love it! Whether or not you like Trump or what he's doing, you have to

admit, he's making good on his promises. He's not forgetting what he

said, and I think people will remember that. Those who voted for him,

will remember that he didn't balk, but did what he said. I love it!

Anyway, things are great here, not too much happened, it literally

seems like yesterday when I last wrote, times flying. Arabics coming

good, and you should totally teach Andrew and Thomas, there's going to

be a lot more missionary's speaking Arabic, and if they know a lot,

there's a good chance they'll get called Arabic, which is the best

language to be called. As far as motivation, I don't know, maybe pray

for the desire and strength. It is a good thing, and they'll be much

more effective in building God's kingdom, if they have that knowledge,

so God will help. And once they get started, it will be easier.

Totally do it though, and it doesn't have to take too long, or be

hard. So ya, I think I'll get into the weekly now,

Hello Everyone!

How are you? It's a warm 70 degrees here is San Diego, bright blue

skies, palm trees, we're going to go watch seals by the ocean today

for P Day, its a best. Things here are awesome! Arabic is coming along

well, its a hard language, but I'm glad that I get to learn it, its

such a blessing! I'm also lucky, because there are a lot of Arabs

here, so we get to talk with a lot of natives, which helps a lot. As

far as our investigators, we're still teaching Sumaya, we had another

Great lesson with her with our Recent Convert Adam, he's such a good

teacher, it was great. She is still hesitant about being baptized

again, but she is praying to know Gods will, and when she receives

that answer, she will follow it. We're teaching a few other people,

one man named Hassan, he's from Syria, super cool, he's gone a lot at

school though, so that's a challenge. We're also teaching a man named

Mohamed, he's also awesome, but like Hassan, is gone a lot because of

work and school. So thats fun. There was a huge missionary broadcast,

this week, and that was super exciting! It was really cool, because

they had one last year, and it was good, there were talks, and things.

But this one was really interesting, because most of what they did,

was have a council. Basically, all the people from the missionary

executive council (Elder Bednar, Elder Oaks, and Elder Anderson were

the Apostles in it), it was awesome, they played clips of last years

talks, and just talked and discussed them. It was awesome. They

changed a few things, but things here really aren't too much

different, we plan in the mornings for the day now, which is

different. It's still a bit weird, but inspired, so good. That's about

it, love you all

Elder Rosenbalm

January 24, 2017

So this p day has been crazy, we got a new car, had to drive forever,

and a bunch of other stuff, so I don't really have time to write,

sorry! But I'm doing great, love you both, have a good week! Elder

Rosenbalm

January 17, 2017

Hi Mom and Dad! 

 How are both of you, things are great here, just the same, I think I'll get into the weekly now. 

Hello Everyone,

How are each of you? Things are awesome here, we're doing pretty much the same things. It was amazing, we've continued to teach Sumaya, and we brought Adam out to another lesson, it was awesome! He's such a good teacher, and can communicate so much better than we can with her. It's been awesome, he's also been called to be the new Gospel Doctrine teacher for Arabic, so it's going to be a great opportunity for him to grow, and for our investigators to learn from a native recent convert who has an amazing testimony. So both Adam and Sumaya have been doing great, we're teaching someone else named Najwa, she's also Sudanese, but a different region, speaks her language, Arabic, and English, she's very educated, and teaching at a university. She's been on and off investigating for a few years, she's really cool, and has a great faith in Christ, but doesn't really see the need to change much. But she's started reading and praying again, so hopefully she's now ready. We've also started teaching a family from Syria, the fathers name is Mohammed, they're very cool, and very willing to learn and grow. It's still in the beginning stages, but hopefully they'll get far. Anyway, that's about it for me, things are going great, Have a good week!

Elder Rosenbalm

So how are both of you? Sounds like there's a lot going on, over there with the deciding whose going where. It's a huge decision, I don't know, there's a lot that goes into it, but the Lord has a plan for each of us, the trick is finding what that is. So I really like the Guitar I bought, it's been really nice being able to play again. Also mom, did you ever send that journal? I never got it. Also, do you know how much an الكتاب book would be? They have one here that I use, and it's really nice, but when I go to English work (which will probably be within the next six months unfortunately) I'll want to keep learning from it. It could be used or whatever it doesn't matter. Ok, thats about it, Love You Both 

- Elder Rosenbalm 

January 10, 2017

Hello everyone, how are you all? It's been another awesome week here
in San Diego, being on a mission, is seriously so amazing. The Spirit
is so abundant all the time and you just feel good. I love it! So this
week, we've continued to work with our three investigator families.
Sumaya, from Sudan, she's so cool. We've been teacher her maybe a
month, and she feels the spirit, and loves it. She's come to Church
every week since we first started teaching her, and just loves coming
and bringing her kids. She speaks Nuba as her first language, which
makes it tough to communicate, and to make communication worse, she
speaks the مصري or Egyptian dialect of Arabic, which makes it even
harder, probably the hardest thing is though, that the Book of Mormon
isn't translated into Nuba, and she cant read Arabic. So that's a
struggle, but it was really awesome, on Sunday, we were in Gospel
Principles (which is in Arabic), and it turns out, that our recent
convert Adam, he got baptized a couple months go, he's Iraqi, but he
lived in Egypt for a little bit, and so he speaks that dialect well,
and so he helped teach that lesson. He is awesome, and a huge help, so
we're actually teaching her again today, with him. I'm really excited,
it should be good. That was the biggest thing that happened this week,
we've taught a few other people, but not much change there. I really
like my new companion Elder Jensen, we're doing great, Have a good
week everyone!
Elder Rosenbalm

January 3, 2017

How are you both? This weeks been great for me, a lot of change, but

change is good! So Elder Hawkes left, and I got a new companion, Elder

Jensen, whose awesome, he was a Zone leader before coming here, we do

things a lot differently, and in my opinion, a lot better, there are

different ways of doing the work, and the way we do things now, in my

opinion, is a lot better than what we did with Elder Hawkes. Also,

he's a lot bigger at speaking the language all the time. Elder Hawkes

really didn't do that, but with Elder Jensen, we'll speak Arabic in

the car, and when we're out doing things, it's great, I love it!

Anyway, I'll just get into the weekly now,

Hello everyone, how are you? This week has been great for me, a lot

of change, but thats good. My trainer went home, he went back a bit

before the transfer because he's going to school, so it was super

crazy, but everything's pretty calm now. My new companions names is

Elder Jensen, he's great, I really like him, and I think that we're

going to get a lot of great work done. So I've seen a lot of

progression in my language skills lately, it's pretty amazing how much

God helps you. Arabic is a hard language, and there would be no way

that I could be where I am without His help. So we've continued to

teach Ibtihal, Sumaya, and Najwa, and their families, it's been

amazing teaching all of them. Sumaya is so great, we were teaching her

on Sunday, and you can tell she feel and knows the Spirit. I've been

thinking a lot this week about the privilege it is to be a missionary.

To wear the name of Christ over my heart every day, and to be His

representative, and to bear His name to the world, it's so great.

Anyway, thats about it, Have a good Week!

Elder Rosenbalm

December 27, 2016

Hey Mom and Dad!

It was great to see you both on Sunday, how was the rest of you

Christmas? It's to bad that people were sick, that's always hard, but

that does seem to happen a lot. Anyway, ya, when does dad go back to

Kuwait? I'll bet it's a lot warmer back there. Anyway, ya, I'll just

get into the weekly now,

Hello Everyone, Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a great Christmas, and are excited for the New Year,

we had a great Christmas here in San Diego. It was really awesome

because it fell on a Sunday, which, while not being a missionary would

have been maybe not as fun seeing as how Church fell right in the

middle, as a missionary its way for fun seeing as how Church fell

right in the middle! It's funny how simply changing everything about

your life would change the way you view things. But ya, we had

sacrament meeting, and that was awesome, we had eight people there,

which was amazing, we had Ibtihal and her two kids, along with Sumaya

and two of her kids, a new investigator we have named Najwa also came,

and then just out of the blue an old former showed up to Church, it

was so great! But also crazy, but great! I got to skype my family

which was also very fun, seeing them again was nice. We went caroling

both Christmas Eve, and Christmas as a zone. It was so much fun, we

all got together, and then just drove to different peoples

investigators, or less actives, or just anybody who needed a Christmas

boost, and went and caroled to them! That was so much fun. Did you all

see the final video for light the world? It's pretty good, you should

all go watch it, it's kind of sad that the initiative is over, but its

ok. So ya. Najwa the investigator that came to Church, she and her

husband Sebit were formers, but they are interested in learning again,

which is great. They're form Sudan, but have been here a while, so

they speak great English which is nice. Anyway ya, things are going

great here, have a great week everyone!

Elder Rosenbalm

Ok, well that's it, love you both

Elder Rosenbalm

December 13, 2016

Hey Mom and Dad,
How was your week? Mine has been great, we've had a great week here in
Cali, I love being here on my mission, I remember in my blessings that
it was mentioned several times that I would enjoy my mission, and I
have totally felt that, just everyday, it's amazing. Anyway, I'll get
into my bulk now,

Hello everyone, have you all had a great week? Mine here has been
great, we have been able to do a lot. We met with Ibtihal and her
family again, and they have loved coming to Church, and want to keep
coming every week, they're awesome. We've also continued to meet with
Dan and his family, their great too, the main problem is that it's
hard for them to understand the Arabic writing because Arabic is their
second language. Nubian is actually their first, and they can read
that great, and it also doesn't help that a) the Arabic written
language is actually different than the spoken language. It has many
different words, and different conjugations and things, then add to
that the fact that the Book of Mormon is in a super formal version of
the language. We have native Iraqi speakers who have a difficult time
understanding it, because that formal of Arabic is really only written
in religious texts, so if their not familiar with that, its hard. But
he's so awesome, he's trying super hard to read and understand it,
even though he gets basically nothing out of it, he still tries. We're
going to be taking all of them to see the Lights at the San Diego
Temple this Saturday Night, I haven't been yet, but I've heard their
great, so that'll be fun.  We had our ward Christmas breakfast this
past Saturday, we brought them and another Syrian family to that, they
all had a great time, and it was super good. I'm getting better at
Arabic, it's still hard to speak but I can understand a lot more of
what's going on. Anyway, ya, things have been great, it's been an
awesome week, have a good one,
Elder Rosenbalm


So mom, I've been emailing, Dax and Jake, but don't get their bulk,
which I would like, I've told them about it, but nothing so far. I'm
feeling great, as I said, Arabic's coming. It's hard, but I just got
to keep going. I don't feel like I'm learning as fast as I should, but
it's ok. What do you mean the dynamics? In what? Yes, we stop tons of
people on the streets, we usually go street contact for about an hour
a day, the whole mission does it, and that's how we get most of our
investigators, actually, that's how we get almost all of our
investigators, either from us talking to people, or referrals from
other missionary's, who talk to people who talk who speak Arabic. So
we teach everyone who can, including Muslims, and we do have to teach
them a little differently. The mission rules are, that we can't extent
commitments, until they have had a meeting with one of the Mission
Presidency, who basically just make sure that they aren't going back
to the Middle East. But once that has happened, we can start
committing them. We just had that with Ibtihal last week, so we can
start actually asking her to do stuff, instead of just being like:
this is the Book of Mormon, it's a really good book, you can totally
read it if you want, it'll bless your life. But anyway, So my
companion's leaving, and what we're thinking is that an Elder named
Elder Jensen will come back. There are five Arabic Elders right now,
and he's been out of Arabic work the longest, so he'll probably come
back until he goes home in July. What we're thinking is that he'll
come here with me, and then probably train before he leaves, possibly
trio-training someone with me. We'll see. We only study Arabic for an
hour a day, which is quite hard. We have one hour of personal, one of
comp, one of Language, and then one of something called the first
twelve weeks, basically, my training, but that'll end in a few weeks,
and that'll be nice, more time to work. Yes I have a notebook, and am
studying a lot, but I should study more. Umm, so my old Journal, I
left there, but there are some things that I want on their, would you
mind sending it to me? Also, how do you get the brown rings around the
collar off, just bleach? For Christmas, I don't care about whose
there, whatever you want. And I'll get back to you on the time. Love
you both, you're the best parents ever
Elder Rosenbalm

December 6, 2016

So, guess what? It was really weird, both your emails got deleted, it

don't even know what happened, but they got deleted along with some

other ones, so that's not fun, would you mind sending them again (you

could just go into your sent messages and hit forward, and then put me

in again). Thanks, so since I don't know what you guys asked, I guess

I'll just get straight into the group email

Hello everyone, hope that you've all had a great week, ours here has

been awesome. We've continued to tach Ibtihal and her family, they

came to church again, which was great, and both the kids have wanted

to come to the YM/YM activities, tonight is caroling and stuff, so

hopefully they'll both get to go to that. We've also been teaching an

investigator named Dan, along with his family. They're from Sudan,

which is fun, it makes it a bit difficult to communicate, (well for my

companion to communicate) with them, because they speak a different

dialect of Arabic. Similar to Egyptian, but not quite the same, and my

companion mainly speaks Iraqi, because everyone here speaks the Iraqi

dialect (although more and more Syrians are coming which is changing

the demographic a bit, a lot of the Iraqi's (at least a lot of the

more established Iraqi's the ones that have been here a while) are

actually Christian, there is a high population of Christian Iraqi's

that come here (although that's started to change too, more and more

Iraqi Muslims are coming), but almost all of the Syrians coming are

Muslim, and it's actually causing a lot of tension between them, some

conflict and stuff). Anyway, the dialect is different, but there is a

man in our ward, actually he's our ward Mission leader, Brother

Garvin, he's white, but he went to BYU, and did the Arabic program

there, and he speaks the Egyptian dialect a bit, so together it works

out pretty well. Anyway, we were over there teaching him, and his

Syrian Muslim friend was along too, so we taught both of them, and

gave his friend a Book of Mormon in Arabic and stuff, it was really

cool. My Arabic is coming along nicely, it's super annoying that I'm

not fluent yet, seeing as how I've been out a whole eight weeks (ish),

but I'm progressing, and the Lord is helping me, but I have seen a lot

of growth. I'm a lot better at understand, formulating things is still

hard, especially with my very limited vocabulary, but it's coming.

Anyway, hope you all have a great week,

Elder Rosenbalm

Ok, so thats that. So, called in last minute to teach the youth in

Church, and then yesterday we were teaching a kind of Less Active

member (it's complicated), but anyway, it was so much fun, because I

got to teach (on Sunday I was alone, which was awesome. I really had

forgotten how much I love to teach. It is seriously one of the most

rewarding things I can do, and really about anything, but the Gospel

even better. Its been kind of hard honestly not being able to really

teach, like, yes, I can but in, and within the next couple weeks, I'll

be able probably to teach a lesson, but not like I can in English. I

kind of miss being able to just speak, and it's easy. But it's good,

because I would much rather be speaking Arabic than English, I love

it, and I will hopefully be able to get there by the time I leave,

thats my goal, to be able to Speak Arabic, without having to even

think about it. It'll be hard, but I want that, keep that in your

prayers. Anyway, Love you Both

Elder Rosenbalm