Week 21: Morro Bay

March 1, 2021

Start of a new month, and it was a great day. We got to take a drive to the top of our area around Ragged Point, a mini resort with amazing views. We got fish and chips and a burger, which were both extremely overpriced. We also saw the Elephant Seals, and it was pretty cool, they are very weird and fat animals. After the rest of P-day, we went contacting on the Embarcadero. We got 11 contacts in an hour and a half, which is really crazy. We met someone who expressed interest in attending our Church, so hopefully that pans out. 

We also had a very interesting contact with someone named Warren, who taught at BYU and taught about animal genetics and that kind of science on ranches and stuff. He thought it was pretty cool when I told him my dad was on the team that cloned the first mule. Apparently he used to know Elder Holland when he was president of BYU, and he also knew Elder Oaks and President Ezra Taft Benson. That was very surprising and so we got his number, and hopefully we can set up a time to meet. It's a good start to the month, and so I'm excited to keep going. 

March 2, 2021

Today was good, even though I only had about half of my brain working today. For some reason, I just had a rough time focusing or thinking, so hopefully I can get it together tomorrow. 

We had an exchange today, and I went with Elder Overson in our area. He's awesome, his family recently moved to Mapleton, and so we know some of the same people from Spanish Fork. He was companions with someone named Elder Oldham, and I know that I had heard that name somewhere before.

Other that that, we had a lesson fall through, and we did some more contacting, but no one bit. It's funny, sometimes I get numb to the Spirit, and then something happens to take it away, and then I realize I had it all along, even though sometimes I wonder if it's there. Maybe there's a lesson in that.

March 3, 2021

Today was good, even though it was kind of a slow day. We did some service for the Keith's, and they are such nice, friendly people. Hopefully we can help them by teaching them, because we did spend a lot of time serving. But that's not why we do it anyway. 

After that we did some study, and then we went contacting, but didn't really find anybody because it was a pretty overcast day. After that, we did Facebook for two hours because our lesson with the Boyette's fell through. After that, we did a member visit with the Petrillis, and then we called it a day. Back at it again tomorrow. 

March 4, 2021

Today was probably our busiest day yet. We had service with two really nice people, Alex and David. They said they'd love to have us over for dinner, so that would be awesome. After that, we did some studies, and then we had a lesson with two awesome people named Carmen and McKenzie. They don't have a whole lot of doctrinal knowledge, but they have one of the purest loves for Jesus Christ that I have ever seen. Carmen talked about the love she felt for her family and ancestors and she always feels like it's a good, 'healthy' thing to read the Book of Mormon with her daughter. We told her that good feeling comes from God, and He really wants to bless them with the Gospel. We'll have the Relief Society and YW's reach out to them, and I think they could progress really well. 

We also taught Warren, and he has some pretty interesting beliefs, but it's interesting because everything he's saying is like 'deep doctrine' we believe, but just a little bit off. He also brought us cookies and chocolates out of nowhere, so he's a really nice guy, and we're excited to meet with him again. 

We got to meet with Dan and Daniel today, which was great, and we can really help them along and help spiritually nourish them. Daniel's a really cool kid, he's about Gabe's age now, and likes to scooter and play football and stuff like that. Dan and Daniel really are special, there's just things that need to be worked out, and we can have them back on track soon.

After that, we did some Facebook, and then we had a Zone zoom meeting with former-Stake President Kasper, and he brought the Spirit with him. Busy day.

March 5, 2021

We had a good day, we got to go to Atascadero for COC and it was very spiritually uplifting. After that we did some service for a nice lady named Becky, and we'll go back sometime to do some more.

After that we did contacting, but we only found some excessively uninterested people, rather than more people to teach haha. After that we had some dinner, and then we did some Facebook and had a visit with Sister Allen. And she invited us to come to her endowment on May 8th! I hope we can still be here when that time rolls around, because that would be really awesome to be able to go to the temple. Also, getting to drive to Fresno would be fun as well. 

March 6, 2021

Today we had to cancel service, because it was rainy all morning, but it cleared up by noon, so we were still able to teach Warren in the park. He's a really funny guy, and he was telling a lot of jokes that were genuinely funny, but we'll try to get more serious haha. He said he feels like Jesus Christ couldn't be the God of the Old Testament, because there is such a contrast between the wrath of God in the Old Testament and the peace and mercy of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. There are some scriptures in the Old Testament that pretty much prove Christ was the God of the Old Testament, but I didn't have a great answer to why there was kind of a change. But we're having a great time teaching him, so we're excited.

After that, we went contacting at Del Mar Park. Then we went contacting at the Morro Bay Farmers Market, and met another atheist who said we're brainwashed, and that we had no idea what the rest of the world was like or how it worked because we're brainwashed Mormons from Utah and are clueless. Then Elder Strauss told him that he was born in Hawaii, and he's lived in Japan, Sweden, Hawaii, Washington, Washington D.C. and Las Vegas. He was pretty surprised at that, but then he said that if God existed, HE would give an undeniable sign to every living person to believe in Him. Atheists and agnostics misunderstand that it takes faith, and it's always taken faith, and that's what life is about. 

After dinner, we did a bunch of cookie runs to some inactive, and so we're hoping to do some visits with them, so we can get some referrals. That took a while, and one referral who we dropped off some cookies to said that he never asked to meet with missionaries. We think he might have been drunk when he signed up, but it's whatever haha. It was a good day. 

March 7, 2021

Today we went to church again, and we didn't get anyone there in person, but Dan and Daniel got on the Zoom call, so that was awesome. After that, we did some studies, and then we went contacting and found some more unfriendly people. We also found some very interesting characters. We were walking down Morro Bay Main Street, and we stopped to talk to some guys who were hanging out on the corner. One of them started talking about how much he loves God and rattled off a ton of Bible verses. Another guy was definitely high on meth, and was talking to us in a very quiet voice and giving us a thousand-yard stare. When we asked the first guy if he wanted to talk more later, he said "I'm good! But I'll pray with you!" Then he dropped his weed cigarette, jumped up, grabbed our hands, and started praying. Elder Strauss and I didn't know what was going on, so we joined hands too, and kind of made it like a prayer circle. Meanwhile, the meth guy is standing about three feet away, talking complete nonsense to me. After that, meth guy tried talking to us for a good five minutes, while we were trying to hear anything he said. 

Anyway, later in the night, we met with Dan and Daniel, and they are back making progress again, which is awesome. Dan is trying to make time for things now, and so we will hopefully get them on date soon. We also just got transfer calls, and we're both staying for another transfer, which is awesome. I'm excited for another six weeks of hard work and success.