My week!
Monday: Our p-day was pretty good! We got to get our shopping done! And we played tennis at the Cathedral Oaks athletic club. One of the members in the Santa Barbara ward was a professional tennis player, so he showed us how to swing the racket right and how to do all the basics. We played for a few hours there then Elder Jones and I headed to the church to email, and play a little basketball. Our dinner appointment had to cancel because one of the members in the family came down with the Flu that has been going around. They still gave us food though, which was pretty good! The rest of the night we did some of our Area Book work!
Tuesday: Our day today was good! We had interviews with our mission president, and he gave us some new things to try out in finding. He asked me to try to go proselyting in the time frame of 6-9pm. Which the mission culture has been that we try not to tract during that time so we don't bother people, but President mentioned that during that time frame families will most likely be home! Anyway we tried that around 7, and the first door we knocked on, a man opened the door. I asked how he was doing, and he said " *sigh* 2 year old, you know what I mean? Would you guys come by tomorrow a little earlier in the day?" So we agreed and were pretty astonished. We said nothing but got a halfish return appointment. The next day we have exchanges so we are spending time with the other elders in our district.
Wednesday: Today was a pretty good day, Elder Nielson and I were on exchanges in his area which covers the other half of Santa Barbara we don't have. Anyway we visited a lot of member families there and had lunch at Chick-fil-a. We had dinner with one of their members as well. She took us out to In-N-Out. So today was a day full of greasy food. Nothing to crazy happened but we did have a good time talking about funny stories we've had.
Thursday: So today we planned on trying to get in contact with two of our referrals. The first, Elisa, we tried see a few times in the past but she was never home. So this time we tried and she was actually there! She talked to us for a while and told us to drop by next Monday to have a lesson! It was super cool, because if we had waited any longer to see her we wouldn't of caught her at home. The second one was another referral, Allen, that we hadn't made contact with either. But this time we found him. He was just getting home from The Habit right as we were knocking on his door. So we talked to him and set an appointment up with him on Saturday! We are so excited because they are both pretty solid and wanting to learn! We had a solid dinner appointment as well, the spirit was super prevalent and we had a good conversation about the part the spirit plays in everyone's conversion! Overall we had a pretty good day!
Friday: Today was kinda good haha. We had our District Meeting and I was asked to give a discussion on why as missionaries we: Extend Commitments, Promise Blessings, and Bear Testimony. Extending commitments is pretty vital, it is how we gauge and evaluate how comitted our investigators are. We also try to help them keep the commitments they make! Promising blessings is pretty important as well, being able to tell them how the Lord can help us if we obey his teachings. And my favorite one, bearing testimony. I love to be able to share with others my testimony of the Gospel and the Church. How I have been affected by the spirit and all that the Lord has done for me! It truly is a blessing to be able to have amazing experiences and then recognize it comes from God. After that we had a lesson with Steve. He is doing well and making his way back to activity in the Church. He really is diligent and desirous to return! It makes me so happy. We had tried to drop by a few people, none of which were home. We then had a good talk with another member named Stephanie Cook. She is super cool, pretty young. But she is super funny. She isn't able to get to church because she is so busy with work and her son but she loves having us over to talk and have some lessons. I have been able to grow close to a lot of the people here in Santa Barbara, transfers come up in the next 3 weeks. So Im not sure if I will stay for another 6 weeks or not. I would be content either way. But Santa Barbara has become one of my favorite places on earth!
Saturday: Miracle. Thats it for this day..... Actually haha we had a great day. It started out rough because our appointment with Allen fell through, he wasn't home when he said to drop by :(. However we still have faith things will go well with him! :) We also had this amazing experience, so we missed a call from these two sisters down in the LA mission. They were in the Visitor's Center of the Temple there and saw a man that looked as if he was interested in everything. So they greeted him and got know him. They taught him right on the spot, quite a bit. When they mentioned the part about Eternal Families they told us he had teared up. His name is Chris and he is super prepared, and solid! So we hope to go see him soon and teach him. The sisters from the Visitor's Center were just so excited about him and happy we were eager to meet him! We truly are blessed as we are obedient and faithful! So this scripture out of Jeremiah has rang true to me! It's, Jeremiah 17:7
"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is."
I love that because it is so true we are blessed when we put our trust in the Lord, because the Lord really is a massive source of Hope to everyone! I wish many people put there in the world could recognize that as well!
Sunday: Our Sabbath was good! I got to bless the sacrament today which was weird because I haven't done that in a looooong time, but it went well. We had a good day not finding anybody new to teach, but I have found that we can better our teaching skills when it comes to sharing the Gospel. In the book of Alma chapter 18, its tells the story of Ammon serving King Lamoni. Ammon gains the King's trust by serving him, watching over the King's flock of sheep. The King was kind of puzzled at the empathy that Ammon showed for him. Ammon understood the King, so when the King asked if Ammon was the great spirit he replied, with questions asking the King what he knew or understood about God. Here are a few verses from when Ammon teaches King Lamoni:
24 And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?
25 And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.
26 And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?
27 And he said, Yea.
28 And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?
29 And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.
30 And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.
31 And king Lamoni said: Is it above the earth?
32 And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning
Ammon's teaching method works really well, asking questions helps the teacher to understand the student.
-Elder Smith
