Week 33: Solvang

May 24, 2021

Had a fun preparation day, got to get a lot done, and even took a trip to the Elverhoj museum. Got to unwind, play some piano, and get our car fixed. While we were finding, we decided to stop and pray again, because we weren't sure where to go. After we prayed, we both though of someplace called Gay Drive in Buellton. So we went there, and couldn't find anybody to talk to, until the very end when we talked to a hispanic guy named Chilo who said we could come back later. He is a referral for the Spanish Elders, so that's still good, but I hope we can find someone that we can teach here in Santa Ynez Valley.

May 25, 2021

Today we took a drive to Goleta and got our second COVID vaccine, so now Elder Peterson is all suited up and ready to go to Tahiti as soon as they'll let him. We had a pretty slow day, we weren't able to find many people to talk to until the very end when we were dot-knocking. We were looking for somebody named Selene, but she moved out and someone named Ali lived there. She's a nice lady, she just moved from Washington, she has a really heavy Russian accent, and she has met with missionaries before and is willing to come to church. 

We had another lesson with Ray, and it went better than any other lesson we've had with him. We brought Brother Johnson, and his testimony helped a lot. The Spirit was there, even though Ray doesn't think he feels it, but if he keeps it up, he will soon enough. It's the last little bit of my faith that God pulls through for me, and thankfully that helps my faith grow. 

May 26, 2021

We had a very interesting day. Elder Peterson felt pretty sick, so after some studies, some contacting, and lunch, he checked his temperature, and it was 104 degrees. So we called Nurse Jones, and she said that he needed to sleep and that we should be done for the day. So while Elder Peterson took a 3 1/2 hour nap, I was trying not to go crazy. I did chores, read from all the standard works and read talks, and I realized that I could not do quarantine missionary work. If being cooped in for 3 1/2 hours made me go crazy, I definitely would have a hard time doing it 24/7. 

We had a lesson with Sheri before all this happened, and it went very well. Thankfully, she's done with listening to the Calvary church radio station, because they were talking trash on Joseph Smith and said that Jesus is gay. Pretty messed up, hopefully that isn't the widespread belief among Calvary, because that's what some might call a "damnable heresy." Interesting day, but still a good day.

May 27, 2021

Today was nice and productive, Elder Peterson was feeling better, and so we were able to get back to full speed. We got a lot of contacting in, and reset our phones, but it blocked a bunch of apps, so it's kind of funny. But it was a good, regular day, didn't do anything too out of the ordinary. It's already the end of the transfer, super crazy. Sometimes it's just a grind and sometimes you find people to talk to, sometimes you don't. We were able to talk to some people today though, it was a good day.

May 28, 2021

Today we had a good district council, and I really enjoyed the Panda Express we got after. We had some good studies and then had some finding. Talked to as many people as we could, but we weren't able to find anybody to teach. But we met some nice people, and narrowly avoided a bash haha. I keep thinking of a phrase by Alma in Chapter 32 of his book, in verse 35. He says "Is this not real?" It is a short and powerful statement that gets the point of the gospel across. It's all very real truth that people think is fake. And they can even know it for a fact, beyond a simple belief, they can know it as surely as the sky is blue. Alma 32 tells us how. But it's so sad when they won't even give this truth a chance. But it's worth it when we have people who are open to the truth, like Sheri.

May 29, 2021

Today was busy and kind of weird. We did service twice and we  hope to start teaching one of them soon. We had an awesome lunch with Brother Millet, and we gave a blessing today to his daughter's significant other. He's an awesome, spiritual, old man. 

We went finding today, and had no success, we were hardly able to talk to anyone the entire day. We've been in kind of a rut lately, I hope we can get out of it soon. We were also able to teach Ali today. She keeps talking about us finding her a husband, but we're hoping to shift her focus to the gospel for now. The husband and temple marriage can always come later.

May 30, 2021

Today was the last day of the transfer, that went by really fast. Elder Peterson and I both gave talks on missionary work today in sacrament meeting, and I think we did pretty well. Hopefully we inspired some members to keep up the work, just like they've been doing. 

We had a good lesson with Ray later on, and I think if he can just get past some of his doubts, then it's just a matter of time. We also got transfer news, and Elder Peterson and I are staying for another transfer. I'm actually super glad, because Elder Peterson is awesome and now we get to keep our rhythm going. I really like this place and the members, and I'm pretty excited for another month and a half here. Although it's going to get really hot here, we'll be spending the first half of the summer here.