Smith & Jones

So I contemplated whether or not I should start a weekly email, and I decided I should so that I can remember cool experiences and so that I could share them with everyone!

This week:

Monday: We had P-Day and we were super busy driving around Santa Barbara trying to different places to see members one last time for Elder Goodman. For our p-day activity we hung out at "trunky park" it got its name because of its location. Also, the term 'Trunky' means that you are really wanting to go home, you are literally living out of your trunk or suitcase. The park is right next to an airport so you see planes take off right above you and the thought of you being on that plane home is always in your mind. We played sports and signed shout outs, which is sort of like a end of the transfer yearbook signing haha. 

Tuesday: Elder Goodman and I drove to the Stake center in sadness, Elder Goodman was then transferred out of Santa Babylon, err I mean Santa Barbara and sent down south to Moorpark, which is kinda Thousand Oaks area. I got to stay here in SB for a third transfer which is roughly about 4 and a half months.  I awaited the arrival of my new companion Elder Jones! I know, the two most common names haha. His first name is Cooper, which is funny because that's my cousin's name as well. Elder Jones got here in SB and we waited at the Stake center for an hour or two, because I had not yet received my "Tiwi" card. This card allows me to drive the mission vehicles. Its like a card you scan on a little box in the car that identifies who is driving the vehicle. So I waited for that card until about 6pm! From 10-6, Elder Jones and I were stranded. In that time, my companion and I got to know eachother better. He is from South Jordan, Utah, he has a pretty big family, and we also found commonalities in our interests like music and sports. I think ill have a good time here with him. We were able to have dinner at a members house, whose family is pretty wild! Haha Their kids are pretty awesome, there is 6 of them total and they are all really young. We shared with them the importance of prophets and what they do for us in Jacob 4:6.

Wednesday: We started the day off with giving a member a blessing, and filling out our goals for this ward in the month of February. We did a little work, transferring our area book from paper to our phones. After that we dropped by a few Less Active members and Potential Investigators, but no one was home. We had dinner with a member at a restaurant called The Habit, its a fast food chain that started in the Santa Barbara area, in a town named Goleta, and has grown pretty big. Then we had a multiward youth activity. An MTC night, so that all the youth could prepare themselves for missions. It was pretty fun, we got to teach them how to tie a tie, or iron our shirts, or fix a tire on a bike. We ended the night with a spiritual message from a brand new missionary that just arrived. He shared the scripture Ether 12:27, and how the Lord can truly make weak things become strong if we just put our trust in him.

Thursday: We had a good start to the day with early morning basketball. We played with members and other missionaries. We also did our weekly planning session where we plan out the next week for our investigators and what to teach them. This part usually takes a few hours to complete. We then went by some people who were referred to us. One of which was a woman by the name of Virginia. We got a text saying she referred herself to get missionary pamphlets and it lists her address and number as well. As we approach her door we see that there is a lockbox on the handle as if the apartment was for sale or something. We knocked and no answer, then we decided to call the number that was listed, and as soon as we hit dial it turned out her number was disconnected. So we were a little confused and spooked about this. Besides that, we set up an appointment with a lady named Rachel. She is super nice and spiritual. Her faith and spirit is so strong. She enjoys our company and likes talking about the "good word". We then met with a member, Brother Dave Diaz, for dinner at a little mexican restaurant on the coastline. We could see and smell the ocean, it was great! We finished our day visiting a member, named Stephanie Cook. She is really fun to talk to, she gives out nicknames to all the missionaries that visit her. My nickname, turned out to be 'Laffy Taffy' just because of my "giggly personality" haha. We also talked about the scriptures and had a good message. We all together read in the Book of Mormon, out of the book of Alma, chapter 41. This chapter talks about how in the next life we will have a restoration of our souls to our bodies. But, whatever our life, and mindset was during our life on earth will continue to be that way in the life hereafter. So if we were evil here, we will still have that evil there, that means we need to do all that we can here on Earth, in this life to repent and follow the Lord. Because as it is written, "Wickedness never was happiness".

Friday: In the morning we had a lesson with a member named Steve. He is super friendly and funny! He always has to mention that I look exactly like one of his old friends from his childhood. But he talked a lot about his life and everything thats going on. We had a good chat and taught him a little as well. We then had our district meeting and got to know everybody a bit better. Then we had to drive the other elders around for a bit, which was okay. We also dropped by a few people we are hoping to start teaching! But... no one was home, thats okay we will keep trying by. We had a dinner with a member family and they fed us tacos y ensalada, y salsa. Elder Jones and I ended the night with a Jelly Belly jellybean eating contest. Whoever randomly picked either the capuccino one or the black liquorice one lost. It went back and force many times. We both ate so many before I finally grabbed the liquorice one, oh well!

Saturday: The day we get ready for Sunday. We did lots and lots of service in Montecito cleaning up some of the aftermath of the fire and the mudslides that hit recently. We helped out at an elementary school and the YMCA that was hit. Nothing too crazy but just cleaning up the yards and doing a lot of different things. That took a little while, around 2 we did more service helping set up for a wedding at the church building which took us until pur dinner at 5. Elder Jones and I putdid ourselves with some chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-a! We then went back to the church after the wedding and helped clean everything up! We celebrated the YSA sister's 9 month mark with McDonald's McFlurries. Today was filled with service and junk food haha.

Sunday: We had a good fast and testimony meeting in church today. Many members bore their testimonies about how Christ is the savior of the world and how much he has done for us. It was great! After church Elder Jones and I did some phone contacting, calling people who were taught in the past by missionaries. We ended up talking to a lady named Emma for about 10 minutes. She talked to us about her situation and about other random things... needless to say, she is a little interesting. She isn't in Santa Barbara at the moment because she doesn't have a home. So she told us she really loves Jesus and said she had a strong testimony of him and all he has done for her. We then had a member feed us some amazing mexican food! Homemade empanadas and pulled pork with street tacos, it was delicious! We also drove around trying to see some members who were less active in the church. One man named, Chris, talked to us for a bit and told us he wanted us over for hamburgers sometime next week, that was pretty cool! One of the scriptures that I have learned about today was Job 14:7. Its cool, because it gives us good imagery to use while we read, it is teaching us that no matter what happens to those who may become lost to the truthfulness of the Gospel, even just "scent" of the spirit can cause the testimony to grow once more.

Sorry this is so long, there is so much to put into these emails, I will try to shorten and summarize the experiences a bit! I hope all is well with everyone! Stay Safe!

-Elder Smith

Doing service after the Montecito Mudslides

Ocean Fog of Santa Barbara

One of the best districts out there!