Week 41: Goleta

July 19, 2021

We had a fun day today, got to play some frisbee golf with the district, and I think everyone had fun. Then we went and got some lunch, and went to the church to call families and hang out. I like our district here and I'm looking forward to getting to know all of them better. 

We also just got some awesome news, Benito just accepted the invitation to be baptized! Good stuff, too bad I don't know enough Spanish to do the interview haha.

July 20, 2021

Today we had a lot of meetings, and didn't get to do some finding until about 5:30pm. I guess that's kind of part of the district leader responsibilities. It was good to go finding finally though, and we were able to make some more contacts with people from our Areabook. We talked to Otis, a baptist, but hopefully we'll be able to start teaching him and his family. It felt good to bear testimony and really do everything I could to help people feel the Spirit. 

They want us to keep doing Facebook work, so I hope I can find some better ways to do that, because last time around I wasn't so good at it. But the work will become more and more effective as we go on. 

July 21, 2021

It was an interesting one, had a lot of weird stuff going on. We had to do some work on Elder Hernandez's Visa stuff, and then we went and got some gas. On the way back from the gas station I realized my tag was gone. That was pretty weird because that's never happened before. After a wild goose chase, we eventually found it in the church parking lot, so that was a blessing. We also called a lot of people and set up some lessons, the area should be really busy for the next week or so. 

July 22, 2021

We had a good day, we got to go the mini-gym in the other apartment complex and get a good workout. We then had some really good service with a member's daughter named Christy, she is such a nice lady. She asked if she could take us to lunch with her mom to say thank you, and we had a really good conversation with her. She is really looking for truth and she seems very sincere. We have a lesson set up with her for Tuesday and we're excited for that. Other than that we had a bunch of good stuff going on and had a lot of good contacts. Perry also texted us! He's been out of contact for a while, and so we're glad that we'll be able to keep teaching him. He's a great guy, a little intense sometimes haha. 

I learned this morning that I've lost 25 pounds total since I've been out on the mission. Haven't even been trying to, I've just been eating less food since I've been out.

July 23, 2021

Today we were very busy. We had a bunch of lessons, one of which fell through, but that's ok. We had a lesson with someone named Mateo and he's cool, but he wasn't very open to the message. We're going to go back and try and teach his brother, so hopefully that works out. We also had a cool finding experience with someone named Melinda. She was trying to move a fridge into her truck, and another old guy was helping her, but they definitely needed our help, and we showed up just in time. We were able to set up an appointment with her and we'll teach her later. 

We also got to teach the Najeras, and they are one of the nicest families in existence. They're Catholic, and we sat down with the both of them. We talked about our different beliefs and the similarities and differences between our churches. It's a really cool conversation to have, it's a lot different than a conversation with other Christians. But their minds are not open. There's a quote by Orson Pratt, and it goes "The thing that brings me the most pain is not that the rest of the Christians are blind, but that they're sincere! They're blinded by the way they've been taught by the precepts of men rather than the Holy Ghost." I'm paraphrasing of course, but that's pretty much what he says. It hurts the worst when they're so sincere, and yet still blinded. But sometimes all you can do is pray for them and hope they find it down the road. We do have some more potentials down the road, which I really hope will turn into something productive.

July 24, 2021

We had a busy, but kind of disorganized day. We'll do better tomorrow. But we did a lot of finding and got some more potential teaching opportunities. I learned yesterday that I'm going to do a baptismal interview for someone getting baptized in the other district, because the Zone Leaders have an exchange that day, so that should be fun. I'm a little nervous though. But the other side of Santa Barbara is a really cool place. I'll have to come back around to visit someday.

It's been pretty busy as a district leader, but I really appreciate the time that I get to spend in the scriptures. I also love hearing about other people's perspectives, and their faith, and kind of seeing what they believe and why they believe it. Even praying about other doctrines and religions has strengthened my faith in the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It makes sense that if we want people to open up their minds to our religion, then we can do the same. It's an eye-opening and faith-building experience to hear about other faiths in the mission field. 

July 25, 2021

We had an awesome day today. Perry came to church and brought a friend with him! Perry grew up in kind of a church where they are very vocal and energetic, you know what I mean. But he's awesome, he asks really good questions and he has a real desire for improving him life, which is exactly what the gospel is for. And we're going to start teaching his friend next week. 

After church, we grinded some more contacting, and had some good contacts. It was a great day, and we also got to have a new missionary testimony meeting, so that's always fun.