Holy cow that is so crazy about Camden. That blows my mind. That makes me so sad. My prayers are going to the Taylor family. Holy cow.
This week! :
Monday: Today we walked out on the ocean. There is a concrete pathway that leads out past the harbor out over the ocean. Its always pretty fun! Elder Jones and I went shopping in downtown state street. There are quite a few good stores there. We were able to buy some clothing at a gift shop! We got our necessities done, grocery shopping, laundry, and lunch. Then we headed to the stake center to have our district activity. We played sports like basketball, volleyball, frisbee, soccer, and football. We spent about 2 and a half hours there, then we had our dinner appointment. The family we ate with is really cool, the father is a super good cinematographer. He has done a lot of documentaries about certain subjects and other cool videos. He and his wife have three young kids, all of which are really funny! One of the things that has been on my mind recently is peace. Peace in the world is not where it should be, we hear of all the wars and other things that diminishes the peace we all long to have. Where do we turn to for peace? Easy. Go straight to the 'Prince of Peace', Jesus Christ. Peace not only in the world, but within our families, personal relationships, and all other areas can be strengthened through Christ and his example. The Atonement that He performed was incredible and we can utilize it in our lives, as we have a change of heart to want to be better.
Tuesday: We woke up early this morning to play basketball with some members at the church building. But I didn't play because I had a stomach ache. When we got home from that I immediately felt nauseous. So we spent today in the apartment, while I threw up a few times and tried to rest the sickness away.
Wednesday: Today was another sick day in the apartment, we spent the day cleaning and doing some studying. The YSA ward members do a sports night where members and non members play basketball, and about 85% of the people there are non members, so it is a really good way to find people to teach, anyway Elder Jones really loves basketball so we went so he could play while I watched and chatted with a few people who weren't members. During my studies today I came across a scripture that has a lot of meaning. In the book of John chapter 11 it talks about the story of Lazarus being risen from the dead. Anyway Christ's perfect love is exemplified in this story very well. We know that Lazarus had passed away, and Mary and Martha his sisters were very grieved by this. In verse 21 Martha says to Jesus "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." But she goes on to say that she knows that she will be able to see him again in the resurrection. Soon Mary greets Jesus and says the same thing that Martha did. As we know, Jesus then raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus so much as it is said in verse 5. In verse 35 it says: "Jesus wept" Jesus wept because of his love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He, being a perfect example, wept. I know that Jesus would have wept if it was us in this story. Put your name where it says Mary, Martha, or Lazarus. Jesus loves us all, because he knows us all perfectly. Having performed the Atonement, and taking upon him the sins of the world, Jesus knows and loves us each individually. I know this to be true through constant prayer and study and feeling the love that comes from God, and Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost.
Thursday: So today started of pretty good, in the morning we played basketball with members again. However, this particular morning was better because one of the members gave me a pair of basketball shoes. These shoes once belonged to BYU basketball top scorer, Tyler Haws. So that was pretty cool. The rest of the day was a bit slow though, we had our planning session where we plan the upcoming week out for our investigators and other appointments we have. And what we will focus on next week. We also did some work transferring our area book from paper to our phones again. Afterwards we started dropping by people. We met with this member who hasn't been to church in a while due to health. She is in her 70's, and I have grown pretty close to her, she reminds me a bit of my grandma! Ha Anyway we had a good chat with her. She always loves it when the missionaries visit her. We tried to see some other people but they weren't home, so that was disappointing. Our dinner appointment took us to a restaurant called Chuck's it was a hawaiian styled restaurant. The food was really good! We finished the night playing basketball with a bunch of people who weren't members and I feel like as we continue to do that we may be able to start teaching some of them. Today I have had the chance to reflect on obedience. And how, obviously the Savior was a perfect example of that. In many ways, He always obeys Heavenly Father. In the Book of Mormon, there is a man by the name of Lehi, who obeyed Heavenly Father's commandments and his family was blessed for Lehi's obedience. It has motivated me to be more obedient to Heavenly Father, and to all the rules and regulations life has for me.
Friday: Today was an overall good day! We had a lesson in the morning with one of our less active members who is really working hard to come back to church. His name is Steve, we had a good talk with him about repentance. We had our district meeting and had a good message there. I was able to give a talk on Obedience. I shared a few scriptures from the Book of Mormon, and one from the Bible; 1 Nephi 2:3, 1 Nephi 3:7, and John 14:15. The scripture in John is great, its plain and simple, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" that is one of the ways we can show our love to God, by being obedient to the commandments and to all the teachings and principles that we learn. After our district meeting we had the chance to have a lesson with our investigator Rachel. She is really cool and faithful. We taught her about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. You could feel the spirit so strongly in that lesson, it was awesome because she told us that what she learned is pretty intriguing, we hope to see her at church this Sunday as well!! When we finished that lesson we had the chance to go see some of the people that were referred to us to go visit. And we talked with one man by the name of Rob, he was referred to us by some of our members. He was really friendly and welcoming, and he wanted us to call him to set up an appointment to have a lesson. We also were able to drop by a member who is going in for surgery next Tuesday. Her name is Meredith, she is an amazing lady! She is so caring and loving towards the missionaries. Anyway we had the opportunity to give her a blessing. She was so grateful, I hope that everything goes well with her surgery! We had dinner with a member and her friend who wasn't a member. It was really cool, the man that wasn't a member was pretty old but he had a cool story. He moved from Wisconsin with about 400 people to Santa Barbara in the 70's. He was also an auto mechanic and he had the opportunity to work on Indy racecars and NASCAR vehicles as well. While working on some of the cars he got to meet a few famous names like Mario Andretti and others. He was really cool. We finished the night with an exchanging of companions. I got Elder Powell and Elder Jones went with Elder Nielson.
Saturday: Today was a great day! We had a good morning during studies and planning for the day. We were able to go out and work. Elder Powell is a very skilled missionary when it comes to being bold and fearless haha. Anyway we went by a few people who we were looking to start teaching but none of them were home. So, we started knocking on doors around the people we planned to see. We eventually ran into two different people, both of which accepted a Book of Mormon and were willing to be open to having us back to teach a lesson. That was really cool! We also were able to do some service for one of our older members, she is 92 but acts as if she is in her 20's! She is funny, her name is Lora Christian. She was moving things from her storage unit to her house and asked for our help. After that she took us out to lunch. Elder Powell taught me a lot about how to be more bold, and less fearing when it comes to talking to random people. In 3 Nephi 5: 13 it teaches us as members of the church to be bold when sharing the Gospel!
Sunday: Today was great, we got to attend church and partake pf the sacrament. It always gives me a warm comforting feeling whenever I do take the sacrament. We also learned a lot about the Final Judgement in our Gospel Principles class. And the Elder's Quorum lesson was great, we all got to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and where we would be without it. We went to our Bishop's house for dinner and had a good discussion about missionary work and finding new ways to start teaching people. The bishop here in this ward is really cool. He is a well known jaw surgeon here in Santa Barbara, his name is Michael Gunson. His scripture knowledge is amazing, he knows so much about the meanings and principles in both the Bible and Book of Mormon. We finished our day with putting the last of our Area Book onto our phones. I just want to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon and how it has helped change my life for the better. I know while growing up I didn't really care for church or about the Book of Mormon. I never read it, until I got to my senior year of high school when I actually decided that I should find out for myself what I have been learning about growing up. When I actually read the Book of Mormon I came to know of its truthfulness and the joy and happiness it can bring into our lives when I prayed to God and asked if it was true. Not only do I have a firm testimony of it, I want others to gain a testimony as well. I know of the blessings it brings to us as we study from it along with the Bible.
-Elder Smith
