Monday: Well today went well. We dropped off Elder Reichman's suit at the tailor and then we emailed at the institute building for a while. We also had our district activity at a park where we played volleyball and frisbee and football. We had a good time, then we all went back to the institute building which was pretty cool as well because we saw the other district as well. We played pool and ping pong, finished up some emails and hung out. It was a pretty good day!
Tuesday: We taught a ton today which was awesome!! We had a lesson with Anthony and taught him more about the Restoration of the Gospel and about the Book of Mormon. He had some real genuine questions. We also had a lesson with Christ going over 2 Nephi 31 which is basically all about Baptism, why it's necessary and how we can come closer to our Heavenly Father. We walked around quite a bit talking to people we saw and tried to see a few potentials but couldn't catch any of them home. We did meet up with Dariel and talk to him about the Plan of Salvation for about 5 minutes. We set up an appointment with him as well. We also, also had a lesson with Barb and Dan. We went over the 3rd missionary discussion, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and explained it to Dan and asked him what his take was on it. We had a very productive day today!
Wednesday: Today was long! We did service in the morning for Jeanie building a bench and some chairs for her. I got headbutted by a goat which was pretty cool haha. Then we had lunch and drove all the way down to Camarillo which took from 2:30pm to 5:15pm. Mainly because of traffic on the 101. We went there for an appointment I had and saw a lot of the missionaries serving in that area because they were having their zone conference that day. Then we made the long trip back with stops along the way in Ventura, and Santa Barbara. We got home at around 10:15pm. Super long day but it's all good!
Thursday: Today was pretty good. We picked up Elder Reichman's suit from the tailor and then went to see a few people who weren't home. We had lunch with some of the other Elders in Santa Maria. They fed us lamb meat which tasted okay. We tried to see Anthony but he wasn't home which stunk cause we wanted to teach him the Plan of Salvation this time. Then the rest of the night was dinner at the apartment and helping the other Elders with som and doctrinal questions they've been asked before.
Friday: We had a legit day today! So district meeting was cool, it was all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the 5 main principles of the lesson being Faith in Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. Then we helped out the zone leaders with some zone goal stuff haha. We had a good companionship study and a bit of weekly planning. We had dinner with the Cashmores and had a good time talking about missionary work. Then we handed out a Book of Mormon to a lady working in her truck. She was super receptive! Well we have exchanges with the zone leaders tomorrow so we drove up to Nipomo!
Saturday: Exchanges with Elder Barzee! He's from Mud Lake, Idaho! We served up in Arroyo Grande and parts of the five cities. I have served around him before and was super excited to be able to go on exchanges with him! Our morning started out with a lesson. We taught Shauna, and Anne! Anne has struggles with recognizing God's hand in her life. And Shauna asked questions about why do bad things happen to good people. The lesson was planned to talk more about the Plan of Salvation but we felt prompted to talk about the Spirit and how it influences us in this life. It was a very spiritually uplifting lesson. We had a great talk with them and Anne said that this time that they were taught something finally clicked with her. It was a great experience! We had a short lesson with a lady named Pam about the Bible and some of the stories in that. We invited her to come to church and she accepted with grateful a response. We had dinner with the other Elders on the exchange at a place called Tanner Jack's which is just a steakhouse kinda place. We saw some members and did some work with them. I really enjoyed being around Elder Barzee, he is one of my favorites!
Sunday: The day of rest....... Haha jk. We had a great day at church we tried inviting one of our investigators, Kathryn, before church but she wasn't home. Our meetings today were great and focused on the priesthood and the keys of the priesthood. After church because it went a little long for us due to the coordination meeting we had dinner right after with the Boyd's! They are super nice! We dropped by another investigator of ours but he wasn't home either. But we did get to see Barb and Dan tonight! We left them with the commitment to read 3 Nephi 11. This was an alright week in all. Oh yeah, Happy Father's Day!
- Elder Smith
