San Diego, California.

This is our home for 18 months

to two years.

We baptize the way Jesus got baptized.

Oh, I don't swim, man. I didn't know Spanish.

I couldn't talk to these people;

I couldn't understand what these people were saying.

This is the story of eight missionaries who are called to serve.

What you are about to see is real ... What is the Church's stand on tattoos?

I've told you, I won't commit to a date.

No! Not again!

... and unscripted.

Coffee! No coffee?

The missionaries, investigators,

and members in this program are not actors.

Baptism.

The b word. Baptism. What interests you, as far as religion?

Nothing.

How do you feel right now? That was a powerful moment on my mission.

These feelings, you can't describe.

Whoa.

Are you serious?

It was perfect. This is the story of The District.

To be a successful missionary, you need to be humble and teachable. We are all trying to improve.

The purpose should be filtered in your mind all day long. Our missions, they come to an end.

And it's crazy how fast it happens.

Their last six months is their time to shine. They've been trained,

they've practiced, they're experienced. For the first year and a half of my mission, I just loved to go out and get it done,

to work hard,

talk to every single person I saw.

It's got to be the right situation

because if you chase somebody and say, Hey, I want to share a message about Jesus, it's kind of weird.

People will say, Get out of here.

If they are carrying groceries, say,

Hey, can I help you?

That's a good situation.

Experiences they have will create a belief,

and if the experience is

a Mormon missionary chasing them, then that's their belief about Mormon missionaries—

that they chase people and are weird. Elder Bott is a hard worker.

I like to be outside.

I don't like to be indoors.

Anything outside, I love.

I like to eat; it's one of my hobbies. At the start of Elder Hepworth's and my companionship,

we were not used to each other's personalities

because my last companion was very strict. Elder Hepworth is very funny and laughing.

I will kill you. That's my piece, that's my sense,

that's my journal entry for this week.

J. Hepworth.

Read it.

Sister Voyles is such a sincere person;

she has such a big heart, and she loves everyone. I've been out here in the field two months.

I'm not training Sister Voyles; she came pre-trained.

Sister Zaldivar, she is from Utah. She was born in Argentina, and she's amazing.

I made you an egg!

Thanks.

You're the best.

We've been through a lot together.

She's very compassionate, and she doesn't say too much,

but she says enough that I know she cares.

I'm going to be the first sister missionary

assistant to the president.

Sister Voyles is going to be the other AP.

Elder Moreno and Elder Christensen are two really good elders, as well. Elder Moreno is probably one of the goofiest people

I've ever met, but in the best way.

He always has a smile, always got a joke to tell.

But he's focused on his purpose, and

he knows why he's out here. Elder Christensen knows how to listen.

His biggest strength is really focusing in

on the investigator and understanding

what they're saying to him.

What time were we supposed to call the McNamars today? Elder Murray is from Draper, Utah,

and he is really just a fireball.

I told my parents that I wanted to be a blue chair

when I grew up.

I was just kind of a strange child.

But looking back, it just makes me kind of smile.

In my mind, when I wanted to be a blue chair,

I think I was thinking of a nice recliner chair: cushy, can kind of just sit back.

I didn't want to be a red chair, though, but blue.

He has a strong desire to serve the Lord,

and he's just really bold with everyone.

And I love that about him.

Elder Tuituu's my favorite companion.

I feel like I can be myself around him; I can talk to him about what's important to me

and get feedback on how I can be better from him.

Elder Tuituu. He is from Guam. I've known him for a long time.

He is a great missionary and works hard.

He hasn't had as much success as he deserves,

but he's not getting down on that. … you know what I mean?

I don't want to get too committed to one thing.

I'm not ruling anything out, you know? But ...

Well, yeah, I definitely would agree that it's good

to not rule anything out.

I'm just confused. It feels like something

may have happened. Everything that's been going on with me and Elder Tuituu

in the past few months has been hard for me.

My whole mission, it's been pretty easy to get baptisms.

But lately, when we felt like we'd been becoming the best missionaries that we've been on our missions,

at the same time, the baptisms stopped. So, that was an interesting call.

He does not want to meet with us anymore?

He said, I'm not sure if I'm going

to be able to attend anymore.

I've been discouraged with appointments falling

through and investigators not coming to church.

We've got to focus a lot on finding.

That's something we've been really struggling

with so far is just new investigators.

I think the best way to be more effective in finding

is turning to Preach My Gospel

and the front page in the planner

that has the finding ideas.

That's what Elder Tuituu and I did.

We found a lot of ideas that we had never tried before. That sounds good!

Hi. How are you?

Good. And you?

Good, very good.

We haven't had many opportunities

to meet with Leslie lately. That leaves room for her to maybe decide to go

to another church for a while

or to come across unfavorable material.

Since we've had a little break

and we're coming back, starting teaching again,

where are you with everything we left off,

with the Book of Mormon?

How are you feeling towards it all? I do have an issue with a latter-day prophet.

And I'm still always led back to that aspect

that I can pray directly to Jesus Christ and get my answers.

Well, let's go to the scriptures.

I think you bring up a really good point.

We're going to read Amos 3:7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing

but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

So, the Lord has worked in one way the whole time, right?

The prophets, their whole role and their whole purpose

is to point to Christ.

I can't accept the concept.

You feel like what we're telling you

is that we have to go through the prophet to get to God. Yes.

That's not what we're saying.

I get stressed out when I feel like I'm explaining

something clearly and they're not understanding.

I get frustrated!

I think, Why aren't you understanding this?

It's not at all that we are inviting you to follow

Thomas S. Monson;

it's to follow Jesus Christ.

If you want to get to Jesus Christ after He died, you'd have to go talk to Peter or Paul or James,

one of His Apostles.

Would you agree?

Right.

The first few lessons, I was talking too much.

Communication is really important

because if you don't voice what you're feeling after a lesson—

maybe you really feel like he just dominated too much,

and you only got a couple words in.

And the whole time, you're just feeling angry

during that lesson because you feel like

he's not giving you a chance. And you feel like you're feeling impressions;

you have to come out and say that.

So, translation, right now you don't want to read

the Book of Mormon to know if it's true.

No. I feel that I've researched it enough. Okay.

Well, we can only invite you to find out for yourself.

If you don't want to, you don't have to know

for yourself or to read it further.

But we would encourage you to read it and to find out more and to research more because as representatives

of Jesus Christ and His Church,

we are here to tell you, you didn't do your part in reading.

We'll continue to stop by, but meeting

won't benefit you or benefit us. I appreciate your time.

Every time we taught, we felt like something

was missing, and obviously, it was the Spirit.

You can't make anybody believe your message,

but you have to put it out there.

It doesn't mean that you were lacking.

It wasn't the right place at the right time for that person.

I just get frustrated.

It's okay to make mistakes because you're learning

as you go, and it is good to think,

Okay, how can I do better?

What can I work on?

And how can I change it?

You have to be able to voice what you're feeling

and also, in turn, be able to accept when they voice

something to you, and not just,

Well, I'm always right, and you have to conform to me.

But really understand that,

Okay, maybe I could talk more.

We talked about it for a long time one day,

and we've talked a few more times after of how

we can fix it more and be better.

When you talk with your companion,

it works out.

Brother Rodriguez, good to see you.

How are you?

The Rodriguez family was a family that was coming to church.

The husband is a nonmember.

The mom came up to us in church and said,

I need you to work on somebody.

So what's keeping you from joining, yourself,

and being united with your family?

I kind of

believe in my obligations as a Roman Catholic.

If we're rooted in the doctrine of Christ and we love these people,

we're going to ask them questions

to understand their needs.

I've learned that preparing on my mission and

preparing in the morning is needed

to have the Spirit with us that day.

I honestly feel that weekly planning

is just a tad bit too long at times.

He doesn't involve me at times.

I think it would be a little better

if he involved me a little more so I could stay more focused,

instead of him going off and me daydreaming about golf.

It was really, really rewarding.

It was a good week.

There're a lot of good things happening in our area,

new investigators coming out of the woodwork,

and it's just a lot of fun. We came to the conclusion that we're stuck here;

we don't have anything to do.

We're lost.

The ward is good, supportive.

I couldn't ask for anything better.

We felt like we were running into a brick wall over and over again. We tried everything we could think of,

but nothing was happening. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on the 26th of this month?

Yeah!

Would there be a time when we could meet

and share this activity with you and your family

and let you see the joys that come from it?

It's not something I'm interested in.

Cool temperature, relatively.

So, I can't complain, really. It's good to see you. Alydia is going really well.

She is living at a member's house, and she, I think,

is really loving living there and being Brittany's

roommate because they're best friends.

Every time I was around her, I just felt good, and I felt like I should do the right thing.

Look, I've been marking.

Her father passed away when she was 10 years old,

and as a result, her main interest in the Church

is the fact that we can be together forever.

If I'm hearing you right, these scriptures

really spoke to you.

They really told you something that you needed to hear.

That's how I feel when I read them.

Do you know the first step that our Father in Heaven

asks us to do to be worthy? What?

It's baptism.

It is to follow the example of Jesus Christ

and to be baptized.

And after baptism, we're promised the Holy Ghost. That feeling that you have, that good feeling

that drives you to do what's right,

that's the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday, at last night's lesson,

I got a really good feeling in my heart, and I'm getting that feeling again.

So that makes me think that this

is the right path for me.

Alydia, will you follow the example

of Jesus Christ and be baptized? Sorry, that clock.

I really want to.

I've been thinking about that for a while,

and I really would like to.

So hopefully, once these lessons are over,

if that is something that I still want to do,

which I don't know why it wouldn't be,

and it's something that's life-changing,

as well as ... I would like my mom to support me. She doesn't know I've been taking

these lessons or that I'm interested in this,

so I definitely want to talk to her and prepare her for it.

We promise that when the time comes,

you will be ready

and that you will be excited for that day.

Okay. When we talk about the lesson afterwards,

we think of those points in the lesson that, Okay,

where did it go bad? Where did it go good?

And by tracking that and then practicing

in companionship study, we learn how to recognize

that earlier and faster.

Fabian!

The Robles family was a referral from the ward.

Teddy Robles, he's been less-active

for most of his life.

He married Amor; she's a nonmember.

They said it's hard to get in because

there's a gate around the house,

and they never open the gate.

We stopped by to visit them.

The gate was still closed, but Nayeli

had just sneaked outside of the house.

But it was perfect.

I don't know how else we would have been able

to get in. We called out, Nayeli, hi! And then the mom came out, and she let us in.

Well, today we're going to talk about some of the things

that Heavenly Father has asked us to do.

We actually broke the ice right away.

For some little thing, we were already laughing.

But in the beginning, most of the men missionaries were really stiff.

I remember when we first visited you, you said you wanted your kids

to have good values and good morals.

That's true.

Do you feel like what you've been learning has given your kids what they need?

Yes. I truly do.

Because I know if I start him,

then she's going to see it, but obviously,

he's going to see it in me first.

I know that's true, and I know that one person

really can make a difference and

that you two really will make the difference

for your family.

It's true.

You're doing a good thing.

It's only the beginning.

Yeah.

Heavenly Father loves you so much.

Yes, yeah.

I know it's going to be hard.

But this is the time for us to have this commitment with ourselves first, but more importantly, with God.

It was perfect because then that same lesson,

we committed Fabian and Amor to be baptized,

and she accepted.

Before that, she was just thinking of it

for Fabian, but she wanted to be an example

to him, as well.

And it's been a miracle.

How are you doing?

Good. How are you?

Doing well.

Good to see you, too.

How're you doing, Josh?

Have you been thinking about your baptism?

Yeah, I have.

What are you thinking?

That I want to. So you're excited for Saturday?

Not this Saturday.

But for a Saturday, yes, I am excited.

Why are you not excited for this Saturday?

I don't know; I just don't want to feel rushed.

We've been pushing with Alydia for the 26th because

we feel that she is ready for baptism.

I want to be able to say, like you two,

I know this is true.

I don't want to get baptized and

a couple months later or a year later say,

Oh, I don't really want to do this LDS thing anymore, so whatever.

We can all get on our knees, and you can ask our Father

in Heaven if the 26th is the time you should be baptized

and if this is true. I don't really want to do that in front of everyone.

The motives behind trying to get her to the 26th

were more of me personally trying to drag her,

not draw her to the 26th.

And like we've always said, the first step

to all of that is baptism.

Yes, the b word. Baptism.

Here we go! Dennis, with the faith that you have,

will you put your trust in God to be baptized on October 5?

I've told you, I won't commit to a date.

We had a rough week last week; we struggled to find and teach people.

It was a very trying week. I knew there was something the Lord wanted me to learn.

I didn't know what that was,

but I knew that I could find it in Preach My Gospel and the scriptures.

One thing I came across in my personal study ...

That's what I've learned so far on my mission, is definitely to be more humble,

because the more humble you are,

the more the Lord is willing to help you understand

why these baptisms aren't happening and

what obstacles are stopping that.

The more you're humble, the more the Spirit's

going to teach you and let you learn a lesson for yourself.

… that we may be humble enough

to follow the promptings we receive.

Horus ...

Brother Rodriguez, good to see you, my friend!

Last Friday, we had a visit with Brother Rodriguez, and the impression came to have a testimony meeting.

I know that the Church is true because it's made

a positive impact on my life.

And what about you, Ryan?

It's not something that I think; it really is something that I know for sure. Brother Rodriguez, your children have powerful

testimonies and powerful experiences in the gospel.

If you don't mind me asking, have you prayed

and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true

or if this religion is true?

Actually, no, I didn't actually pray yet.

We need to invite them to do something

with what we are teaching them

or else it's not going to stay with them.

Brother Rodriguez, I can promise you that

if you do pray sincerely, and you ask God,

that you'll have just as powerful a conviction

as your children do and as your wife does in the gospel.

Have that confidence

that God will answer your prayer.

I know He will.

Yes.

Previously, I think I would have been a little upset—

We didn't get a chance to share that;

we can't check it off the teaching record.

But now it's not about that at all.

It's about, what does Brother Rodriguez

need to make these steps to get closer to Christ?

Keeping records and writing down what you've taught

when it's late and you're tired and you want to go to bed

isn't something that's fun to do.

But it makes all the difference in the world for the next missionaries because it's so frustrating

when there's nothing in there.

Father, as we go and teach Alydia,

we ask Thee to bless us with Thy Spirit ...

I don't know her concern.

Honestly, we have been praying, and we're fasting

to find that out.

I'll have to cancel; I'm busy.

You're busy?

I'm just kidding!

Oh, you scared me.

Come on in!

I realized that I was focusing too much

on getting them to baptism, not necessarily

how they got to baptism.

I've thought back on the previous meetings we've had, and we're not perfect teachers. So again, anytime during the lesson,

if something doesn't make sense, talk to us.

Okay. It's so important to us that you know these things

so that you can have a correct understanding

of what our Father in Heaven wants for you.

We really tried hard to listen for the Spirit

and just take a step back, relax, and analyze before we plowed on and started speaking.

I feel like since we first met to now, your faith has grown a lot.

What do you think?

Yeah, I think so. Why do you think that?

I don't know. Before I wasn't really sure

of anything, and I had a lot of doubts.

And now I just have one or two maybe.

Well, what doubts?

You said you have one or two doubts.

Well, okay.

Could you explain a little more?

I guess I'll tell it.

So, I'm dating this guy, and he is LDS, and obviously,

I'm not.

So I just want to make sure that I'm doing this for me

and not to be with him or anything.

Well, we really appreciate you bringing that out.

Yeah. Seriously.

Really, the whole point of us being here

is to help you.

It's not about us,

and Okay, we just like to drag people to get baptized. We're really here—

I thought that's what you were trying to do to me.

No. Not true. No.

We're really here to focus on you and what you need, what reservations you have that are keeping you

from partaking of baptism.

With that said, why do you want to be baptized?

I think that it will be a better life

for me than my past.

And it will definitely make me a better person. And you know that these things are true because why?

I don't know; I just get this feeling, and

I know that it's true.

When you say you get this feeling,

what is that feeling?

Describe that.

I get kind of emotional when I talk about it,

and I just get this feeling in my heart.

I don't know; it kind of tingles a little, and I just get that feeling whenever

I talk about it or think about this.

Now, okay.

Let me think of how I want to phrase this.

I've never understood the whole silence thing.

I just want to say something, and I'm like,

Let's get this done. Let's do this fast, fast, fast!

You know.

And that's one thing, like I said before,

Elder Christensen has taught me a lot.

What you're describing is the Holy Ghost,

and the role of the Holy Ghost is to testify to us of truth. We finally developed a good teaching pattern

with each other, and we've had to balance out how much we speak.

And that's really come along

as we've just practiced with each other in companion study. Heaven forbid, this person, right now, it was over.

Would you still know that these things are true? Yeah.

Somebody who listens to my feelings and my thoughts, doesn't judge, and asks me questions

about what I think, that's a good missionary.

So, do you believe that the gospel was restored

through the Prophet Joseph Smith?

I'm not sure.

Have you prayed to know if he was a prophet or not?

No, I honestly haven't really thought about that till now. Well, in order for you to know that for yourself,

tonight will you pray to know if Joseph Smith

was a prophet and that through him the Church was restored?

Yeah, I will.

And I promise you that if you do,

you'll be able to receive an answer.

It was important that she was doing a lot of the talking

and that she was letting us know how she feels. That way, when we continue to talk,

the Spirit's there, and she feels like we're there

for her and we're not there to give her a message.

I just wasn't expecting what happened to actually happen.

I didn't either.

That was completely by the Spirit.

No complaints, no complaints.

One hundred percent.

Two hundred percent by the Spirit, even.

We were going through our area book,

and we were looking for people we could go and contact. We came across one that said Ming Han.

He went to Salt Lake and to the visitors' center.

There were some forms to fill out some info.

But I just thought, Okay, whatever.

You know?

But later on, some people really called.

And I was like, Wow.

They were totally serious.

How's your day going, man?

Good, good.

Teaching Ming, it's a little bit different because he doesn't have that solid Christian background.

The first time I met them, I felt like they were more like a salesperson, like they had another purpose besides talking about God.

Well, that'd be nice if Christ was in the room, Ming, and He was teaching you everything

that you needed to do, right?

I'd be freaked out.

Yeah, I guess you'd be all nervous.

I was born in a place called Tianjin.

I don't know now, but at that time, China had no religions.

Teachers always told us there's no God,

nothing, only you. So, someone, obviously, who's doing something

in the name of Christ needs to have His authority to do that

or else it's not by His authority.

For permission?

Permission. Yeah.

Permission, yes.

Exactly.

If we don't have His authority,

it's not by His permission.

Okay, what are you thinking?

Go ahead.

I don't have it straight yet.

Oh, no, we don't want to move on till you understand.

I mean, this is for you, not for us.

It feels like they try too hard.

I don't really understand. They're just confusing me.

What do you think?

Did that help him?

Yeah! I've made a lot of mistakes, but in turn, I've learned a lot.

And that's the missionary I am today

because of those mistakes and what I've learned.

Sister Voyles had a recent tragedy in the family.

She had a brother pass away,

and that's a devastating thing. Being missionaries, it's hard enough to be away from your family, let alone have one of them pass away. I've prayed more than I ever have in my whole life,

and that's been very meaningful because I have

things that I desperately, desperately need.

I need to be able to function today.

And I have to be able to leave that to the Lord

because I can't do a thing about it.

Seeing her and how she reacted to that situation was a testimony-builder to me that this is where

we're supposed to be, and no matter what happens, this is where we need to be.

Everything that she's had to go through, with her brother passing away—she's amazing.

She's such a good example. Some people might use it as an excuse to not live up to their potential,

but she doesn't.

She never did.

Theodore Robles, by the authority

of the Melchizedek Priesthood,

we lay our hands upon thy head to ordain you a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Amen.

Thank you!

Papa!

Thank you.

Thank you for your support.

And I know it's not going to be easy,

but here I go! Thank you.

How did you feel about yesterday, Brother Robles?

It's a little scary.

But I see everybody around me,

and they're really supportive,

so that actually makes it easier.

I want to be a part of this community because

these girls show me a different perspective.

Yes, it took me 15 years to understand. But now, let me tell you, I'm not going to leave.

Sister Tui, could you read verses 8 and 9?

Eight. Sure.

And now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God,

and to be called his people,

and are willing to bear one another's burdens,

that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn

with those that mourn; yea, and comfort

those that stand in need of comfort ...

I really noticed with all of you last week

when my brother passed away,

all of you were right there

the whole time.

You already mourn with those that mourn.

You comforted me when I needed it.

It's not hard to try to comfort you because

you showed us your side, your family,

and it actually showed us a sincerity.

When they spoke to us, they weren't lecturing to us.

They were saying, Hey, you know what? We also have problems.

You know, my family has these problems too.

There are things in my life that I don't always like to share—things that are really hard

to share sometimes.

My brother's death is something that I've kept

very, very close to me, and it's something

I've tried to keep sacred.

I knew that they would appreciate it,

and I knew that it was something they needed to hear.

We were wondering the other day, why us?

What was special about us?

We don't see ourselves special in any way.

He's known you since before you came to this earth.

He knows and sees things that you can't see.

I think a lot of times in this life we just think,

just maybe, that we're not good enough.

Heavenly Father knows us, and He loves us so much.

I know that for you, too. He knows you, and so we ask why us?

Well, Heavenly Father knows why.

I feel like tomorrow I will be reborn again

because now I'm accepting God in my life.

You live nearby, correct? Yes

And what is your address? Sometimes as a missionary, you do everything

you possibly can to have a baptism.

You are constantly reevaluating yourself, constantly trying to find things you can improve on,

trying to go the extra mile to just help someone to be baptized,

but it doesn't happen.

From the Conference Center at Temple Square

in Salt Lake City, this is the 179th Semiannual General Conference.

Alydia this weekend is going with the Richter family up to Salt Lake to watch general conference.

She thought, herself, that would have been a pivotal

moment, just to really make it or break it for her.

Yeah, you can put your money on the prophet.

So you guys will come down those stairs.

Okay.

And I'll be standing here? We've helped them grow; we've grown with them. And all that love just grows together.

We love them so much. They're so special.

I was all bubbly inside, you know?

It was just, whoa!

And it wasn't even like, I have a baptism!

It was, Amor and Fabian are getting baptized!

It was, Yea!

As a father, I'm hoping the example I'm giving him—

that he can actually follow my footsteps too.

These feelings, you can't describe.

There's no words you can actually put to these

feelings because it just fills you up completely. It just envelops you.

Before Amor went into the baptismal font,

when she just started crying,

that part was so powerful. The Spirit was so strong, and I was just so happy.

In that moment, I just felt something warm inside me.

And I only remember that I said,

My dear Heavenly Father, I'm in Your hands now.

I can walk through now. Amen.

It was a feeling of real happiness that you can't contain.

It spread with everybody that was there. Do you want me to do it again?

No.

Perfect! Very good! That was a wonderful experience that I will never forget.

Never, never, never.

And now I can say I am a child of God.

How do you feel?

I feel happy; I feel ...

It's overwhelming.

… overwhelmed.

Yeah. It's too much—

too much for one day.

No, no.

Too much happiness.

Just think about one year from now. Yeah.

We'll be here.

I know that Heavenly Father is proud

of all of His missionaries.

And I feel His love;

I feel that He's proud of me as a missionary, and I feel that He loves me.

He's just so happy that we're helping people

return again to live with Him.

It's so important.

This life is not the only life.

I know it.

I know my brother's still here. And there's a point in everyone's life where

you have to have God because you have nothing else.

And our job as missionaries is to make sure

that when that point comes, that they know

that God is right there.

There was no one who could go with me to where I went.

And there's no one who fully knows

what I went through but God.

It's not easy; life isn't easy. But if you have God, it's possible.

And it's not just possible, but it's fulfilling.

Up next on The District:

I have cancer.

Right now it feels helpless to live in this world.

How do you feel about baptism?

Sister Voyles, she'll yell at me.

She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true.

This is what you're searching for.

We're not trying to tear down your faith

or saying that you're lost. My brother's terrified of you guys—

Cult! Cult!

It wasn't completely valid.

Do you believe that God can help you quit smoking, Ming?

Father, please help me live through this;

I don't even know why I have cancer. I believe it's true, what the book says.

The baptismal service started,

and there was no one there.

My big concern is all your little rules.

I feel like I've come to know my Heavenly Father more. I don't think you know Jesus.