Week 31: Solvang

May 10, 2021

Today was a good, busy day, and we were able to get a lot done. We got haircuts, got a ton of bargains on food, and even got to go on an hike. 

After Preparation Day, we were able to talk to our friend Shane. The only thing was, he had his friend on speakerphone and his friend just wanted to bash us. So after talking about "don't add or take away" and the Trinity, then it came down to "Everything we're saying rests on the Book of Mormon, so read it and pray about it." That's honestly what it come down to, on the Book of Mormon. If people were to honestly seek for truth and find out it's true, that would solve a lot of confusion out there. But we had a good rest of the day, the grind continues. 

May 11, 2021

Today we had a Zone Conference in Santa Maria, with the SLO, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria Zones. I was able to see the missionaries up in Morro Bay, and Dan and Daniel and Tony fell off date, just like when we whitewashed, haha. But it's no fault of their own, that's just how it rolls. But it was a good Zone Conference, got to see a lot of friends from past transfers. Something I liked was how President talked about the joy that missionary work brings, and how we can literally just ask God to help us have joy while we do this. 

Other than that, we had a lesson with Ray. We also got some dinner from Josh, the less active we found at the park with his wife. He said they were wondering what to do as their kids grow up, and then we showed up at that park and talked to them. So they might be trying to get back into church, which is awesome. A nice miracle. 

May 12, 2021

We had a good, busy day today. First we did some quick service, and then we had an awesome lesson with Sheri, she's doing so well. We talked about her testimony, and she believes that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. So all she needs now is to fully live the Word of Wisdom, and figure something out with her boyfriend Dan. He literally gets mad at her when she doesn't chew tobacco and doesn't drink beer. So something needs to happen with him. 

We also had a lot of good finding today, we placed a Book of Mormon and got someone's number. We did have Michelle cancel our lesson though, but hopefully we can set something up again soon. But yeah, this ward continues to be great, we are getting a lot of support from them. It's awesome when our friends' main friends in the church are members instead of missionaries. That goes a long way. 

May 13, 2021

Today we had some good studies, and then we had an exchange with Elder Overson and Elder Bloomer. I went with Elder Bloomer to Lompoc to speak Spanish. He's a sweet missionary, we had a good time, but as usual, I'm not very fluent in Spanish yet. We got to ride bikes, which is fun, and also had a couple of lessons in Spanish. We also had some ribs for dinner to top it all off, exchanges are always a fun time. 

May 14, 2021

Had a good day today, had some studies and then went to the burger joint near our place for lunch. We did a ton of street and park contacting today, we must've been outside for about five hours today. We had a couple of lessons cancel, so that contributed to it. It's good work, and the best feeling is when you can say that you literally could not have tried any harder to share the Gospel. I've been trying to get better and better at not holding anything back when I contact, because I hate when I chicken out of contacts. But when we were dot-knocking today, we met a really nice Catholic guy named Gino, but he wasn't interested. He was just a very nice guy who brought us into his home and we talked a little bit. But it's another sad case of someone not being able to believe in the Book of Mormon because they don't have enough "evidence", archaeological especially. I read a verse in 1 Corinthians 12:3, where Paul says that: "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Our evidence must be from God, not of man. That's something I've learned out here recently. 

May 15, 2021

Today we had a productive day. When we were street contacting today, we talked to someone named Maria who was a really nice artist, and who was excited to get a Book of Mormon. When we talked with her we felt impressed to bring up the Book of Mormon, and she said she used to love when Elders came by in the past and read to her, but she said she was disappointed because they never gave her her own book. So we were more than happy to oblige. That was a great miracle, I'm excited to tell her more about it. 

We also had a dinner with the Johnson's. It felt like a sin today to eat like I did, for lunch I had a Spam sandwich with some Ice Cream afterwards, and then for dinner with the Johnson's we had Ebelskivers and sausages, and then I ate some leftovers from that afterwards. Elder Peterson and I have made a goal to eat a little healthier this next week so we don't die of heart disease before the transfer is over. 

May 16, 2021

Had a good day, got to have Ray at church, but didn't get anyone else there. After studies, we had some street and park contacting, but we weren't able to find anybody. It wasn't a very good week in terms of finding people, but we are hoping to turn that around. We had dinner at the Haws', and I'm thankful for that. 

This transfer has been going by very fast, I think because we have really been putting in the work. But I am continually trying to be patient in the Lord's timing, with the work in this area and the work on myself. But I'm liking the work, it brings the Spirit into my life like I've never felt before, which is such a blessing. I've been grateful for the time to work on my own soul while searching for others to teach. I have a lot of things to work on, but I have faith that through Jesus Christ, I will get there.