Week 54: Goleta

October 18, 2021

We had a Zone activity up in Solvang this week, and it was super fun. I think most everyone enjoyed it haha. Had a productive preparation day. Afterwards, we got to do a church tour with Anthony, which was awesome. 

We finished off the night with visits to Brother Hyde and Brother Beezly, and the Giroux's. It's always enjoyable to get to know your fellow missionaries better and unwind a little. Healthy for the Spirit. 

October 19, 2021

It was a good day. We started teaching someone named Terry, who shows some good potential if we can keep things focused. We also did some family history for the sole purpose of finding a family member to take to the temple. We found someone named Edwin Michael Beardsley, so that'll be cool to go through for him. 

We talked to a lot of interesting people today, and also got to teach JJ and Jadin. It was really cool getting to teach them, but it was a super long lesson, it went just over an hour. But we made some really good progress with them, and I'm excited to help them keep it going. 

I'm also super excited to go to the temple tomorrow, it's been a long time. 

October 20, 2021

Today we were able to take a trip to the Los Angeles Temple. Once we got through all of the traffic, it was nice to take a step off and walk into a peaceful place. That temple is a really big place. It was incredibly spiritually recharging and it helped me find peace and answers to some of my questions. 

One of the things I thought of while going through the temple is that we are all, myself included, children in our understanding. The Gospel has a lot more to it than we realize sometimes, but God makes it manageable for us through the commandments. That was just one thing I thought of, that the Spirit impressed upon my mind. It was a very spiritually strengthening day, but physically draining. I was completely toast for the rest of the day haha. The temple is truly one of God's greatest blessings on the earth. 

October 21, 2021

We had exchanges with the Assistants today, and I got to learn a lot. Elder Oliphant is a really good elder, and I learned a bunch more about how I can be a better missionary. 

Something we did that I really liked was being able to pray with people on the spot and pray for things they need. We got a lot done in short amounts of time. It was an awesome day, we're spending the night over here at the Assistant's apartment. 

October 22, 2021

Today we drove back from Oxnard, and made it to Santa Barbara's District Council. They talked about some really cool stuff that I needed to hear. Afterwards, we had a really cool miracle. There was someone outside the church named Jaime, who was waiting for the Bishop to show up. He's going through a rough spot, and trying to get back to Portland, Maine. We had just started exchanges, and so Elder Johnson and I thought it would be a good idea to give him a church tour. So we did, and it was a really cool experience, and he even expressed his desire to join our church! So he's going to meet with missionaries now, and work towards baptism. Great way to start an exchange. 

Then we took off so we could try and find some people. Carpinteria is a little bit of a difficult area, but there are a lot of nice people who will talk to missionaries. Elder Johnson is a really good missionary, this is his first transfer in the field, and he's already really good at street contacting. Later that night, we got to teach the Bartholic family, they are some nice people who are huge Braves fans. Then we finished off the night, it was a fun day. 

I have been in some kind of spiritual slump lately, but I think I got some help when I read in 2 Nephi 25. It wasn't what I was reading that helped me out, it was the Spirit I felt as I read the Book of Mormon. It strengthened my testimony. 

October 23, 2021

Today we got to help prepare for a baptism of someone in our ward, a little girl in the Hendrickson family. We had a mega weekly planning session today, because we felt like we needed to just start over with our area and clean-slate our thought process and area focuses. So we needed to do that to have effective days going forward. 

For dinner we were able to visit Sister Tisdel and two of her friends that she had invited over. It was a nice conversation, but they definitely were not having the church thing. Other than that, we just did some good work and found someone named Cecily to teach. Had a couple member visits and finished the night off.

October 24, 2021

Today for church we watched the Primary program. There were some non-members that made it too. We were blessed to have Josh and Donna make it over Zoom. We were able to visit with the Nelson family, and also visit with Dennis about the scriptures and following the Prophet. We're trying to meet with him ofter so we can help him get to the temple. 

We had some finding, and then dinner with the Lee's. Then we went to Ellwood Beach Drive, where we found someone to teach named Adam, who lives with a referral we received. Facebook work seems to be doing even better, because a lot of us missionaries just get referrals sent to us randomly, it's pretty nice. We finished off the night with another member visit with the Whittemore family. 

Good day, Elder Tree makes some really good cookies.