Week 5 in Moorpark:
Monday: Miracle Monday! So today started off like really every other day. Waking up and following the schedule, then we shopped and emailed at the church a little bit. Elder Cambell and I had a lesson scheduled for today at 11 am. So we went there and brought a member along but they weren't able to meet with us at that time. We reschedule for later this week. Kinda bummed from that we go out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, it was delicious! Haha After that we walked around the T.O mall and checked things out a bit. Then we played basketball and got a good workout there. We had dinner with our Bishop and went along with him after the dinner to Laura's, our recent convert, and gave her a blessing. She had a little spill down her steps and hurt her back. Overall we were actually kind of discouraged even though the day was a P-day and okay. In the night we had a lesson scheduled from last week with this couple we met last week. Eric and Martha. We went in a bit unfaithful but the Lord rebuked us haha. We taught them the Restoration and a lot of what the church does. At first Eric didn't seem too interested but by the end he was smiling and invited us back. Martha was pretty friendly and accepting the whole time. The entire visit, or should I say, ministry to them went rather well. We had a good conversation and we formed a good base to a friendship that will hopefully grow. One of the things that I was able to bear testimony was Eternal Families and how God has blessed us with families here on earth. So I was adopted and recently I found out my DNA results which was pretty exciting. But my family that I was able to be sealed with in the Idaho Falls Temple, for time and all eternity mean absolutely everything to me. I straight up told Martha and Eric tonight that I knew that I was not the most pleasant to raise haha but my parents continued to support and love me, along with my two exemplary brothers , and my sister who is one of my best friends. I really know that I was sealed to this family for a reason because God sent me here to learn and grow and help my family as well. That is the key to our life here on earth, second to Christ and the doctrine and Gospel he has given us. But families, God is our Father, we are all brothers and sisters. We are one big family! I love my family, and I am so grateful for them and all that they do for me.
Tuesday: Zone Conference today! President and Sister Nakken came to T.O and gave us new information regarding Facebook usage. But also the importance of staying in tune with the spirit so that we can always minister to those we feel prompted to. It was a great meeting! After that we had dinner with the Downs family. We also got to go see Laura and see how she was doing. Today was a really good day overall.
Wednesday: Today was pretty good overall. Elder Pilling, who is from Okotoks, Canada, and I were on exchanges. He is super funny! He even convinced me to go on a cruise after the mission haha. (I have a fear that cruise ships will sink.) Umm during the entire day we just worked by tracting and finding people to teach. We had 2 unplanned lessons, and 1 lesson with a lady that is being re-baptized. The 2 unplanned lessons were good. One was with a man named Ray that had very similar beliefs but didn't understand when the authority of God was taken from the earth. The other lesson was with Bobby, a former investigator that we read out of the Book of Mormon with. The day was really fun! Elder Pilling is super cool!
Thursday: Weekly planning day!! We studied and planned and weekly planned for the last week in the transfer!! It felt like yesterday that we just started! It went super fast! Then we went out and Elder Goodman and my companion decided to go on a mini exchange to do some service while Elder Pilling and I were back together for about 2 hours. We gave away two copies of the Book of Mormon, and talked to 10 people! It was a very productive 2 hours haha. Then I was back with Elder Campbell and we went and talked with a guy who was very interested in us trying to convince him that God exists. We simply fulfilled our purpose by inviting him to find out for himself, along with a few other points we told him about. Then unfortunately we had to go in early because I have caught the bug. Throwing up is no fun at all.
Friday: Sick day.. :( Today has been very boring but I was able to do a lot of studies today. Hyrum Smith, not the brother of Joseph but the first mission president of the Great California Ventura Mission, gave a talk at BYU about the Apostasy Timeline. Throughout the talk he gives many historical dates in time that help us see why the Restoration of the Gospel needed to happen in 1820. It was super good, so I was able to listen to that talk and make my own timeline that I can look back to every day to figure out any questions I have regarding the Timeline. Besides the sickness, it has been pretty good spiritually! Other than that, recently it has been a little difficult trying to stay happy. A lot of random things happen and sometimes it's just so hard. But life is never supposed to be easy. So I will continue to work through it.
Saturday: Well I spent half the day in again but since around 5 I have been feeling a lot better. When I started feeling better we went out and had dinner at a potential investigator's house. We were there for a while. But they are some of the coolest people! His name is Dean, and he has a super good friend named 'Bobo'. But we had a great time there! After that we headed home!
Sunday: Fast Sunday! Hardest day of every month haha. But we had a super good fast and testimony meeting, many of our members have rock solid testimonies that they share with their friends or co workers. So Sunday was awesome. We then dropped by the Henshaw's and taught their three grandchildren the Restoration of the Gospel. And they fed us a marvelous dinner! We talked with some members and followed up with some other members about a commitment we left with them. They may have forgotten haha but they promised to get it done! Great day today though!
- Elder Smith
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