Week 14: Thousand Oaks

January 11, 2021

Today we had another P-day, and we went to another driving range at Sunset Hills Country Club. It was super nice, and we even got some good, free food. After that, we did some Facebook, some member visits, and now we're back again. But there were a few times in one of our lessons tonight where we couldn't stop laughing at something that happened during the Zoom call. And as soon as we ended the call, we exploded into laughter. That kind of laugh that actually hurts, especially keeping it in for 20 minutes. But it's good times and hard work. It's good to be alive!

January 12, 2021

Another uneventful day, we talked to more people than we ever have today, so we are on track to find some more people to teach. Elder Sexton also made some delicious ribs today in his pressure cooker. It was so good, especially for missionary eating. We took a good amount and gave it to Ray, and we'll be teaching him again soon. Other than that, nothing much. I guess we did a late night (9pm) McDonald's run, so that was fun.

January 13, 2021

Today we worked hard again, and we met a born-again who is willing to talk some more. He said to read Ephesians, naturally. But we also talked to a man that said his name was 'Lucifer', and that earth is hell, and religion is a construct to deal with the hard part of life. He also told us that all of it's in our head, and how all churches are false. He also said his name was 'Dava' which he said translates to 'the divine one.'  We got out of there as soon as we could haha. But it's funny how you can still feel a lot of love for those who are wayward. I think a lot of people are just misled, or are too comfortable with their situations, or are scared to seek truth. But my testimony that this is the truth, that I'm not misled, and that I'm not making this up in my head, is growing everyday. 

January 14, 2021

We worked hard today, and we went street contacting, but for some reason there was pretty much no one outside today. But we had a mission-wide Zoom today, and they're having us buy all of our groceries tomorrow because they want us to stay away from commercial areas. Apparently there's a lot of nationwide civil unrest because of the election, but local I think Thousand Oaks is one of the last places that there would be riots. But apparently, it's getting pretty crazy out there, with all of the politics and coronavirus and everything. Makes me glad to be in a little mission bubble haha. 

We talked to Ray again today, and we're trying to help him feel the Spirit but he's pretty enveloped in his homelessness. Also there is a wildfire pretty close to Thousand Oaks, so hopefully we don't get evacuated, that would be kind of annoying.

January 15, 2021

Today was a weird day. We woke up, and then we went and checked out the Sapwi frisbee golf course. We had a district council, which went well, and then we went shopping, because it's just protocol to do your shopping before there might be potential riots and looting. Again, Thousand Oaks is probably the last place that will happen. 

But we also did a role-play with the District Leader, and long story short, we barely got an hour of street contacting in. We ended up doing three hours of Facebook in a row because we didn't have any member visits. I am so tired, and I'm getting to bed on time and exercise and checking all the boxes, so I guess it's unavoidable haha. But it's a good tired.

January 16, 2021

I have an interesting story to tell. So we taught Ray a lesson, and we brought folding chairs with us so we could all sit down, because he's homeless. After the lesson, I was putting the chairs back inside the Corolla, so I put my scriptures on the back, so I could use both of my hands. But silly old me forgot to grab them when I got back in the car and it fell off on Moorpark road, near an intersection. I realized that I had left I on the back when we got back home for diner, so we went looking for it, but we couldn't find it. We just assumed somebody had found it, but on the way back, we decided to check one more time. While we were driving back to the TOHS parking lot, where we met with Ray, we saw what looked like some kind of plastic bag. We drove by it, and we joked like that was my exploded quad, and someone had wrecked it with their car. But we turned around, and lo and behold, there it was. Hardly recognizable, I found the remnants of my 'exploded' quad in the middle of the road. We parked the Corolla and gathered up as much as we could, and I found my Preach My Gospel as well. There was even a park nearby, and a bunch of pages had been blown all across the field by the wind. As I gathered the pages in shock, I was grateful to at least find my patriarchal blessing and my Elder ordination cards. But that was unreal. I had a lot of mileage on that quad, I got it when I also received the Aaronic Priesthood. But hopefully I can get a new one, and it can be clean and new, ad I'll highlight the things that are important to me in the here and now, when I'm at my strongest spiritually that I've ever been. Anyways, long live the quad, even though it will no longer speak as a voice from the dust. 

January 17, 2021

I'm really tired and we've had a pretty weird weekend. Yesterday we lost my quad, and Nevenka sang a song. Today we met someone named Jenay with tattoos, and is a theology major. On Friday, we met 'Lucifer'. But we did have tri-tip steak from Brother Taylor tonight, and that was awesome. We also did a lot of Facebook and not a lot of member visits. But it's crazy we're on week six of the transfer, and that went by really fast.