Week 92: Oxnard

July 11, 2022

We started the day with some basketball, and had some good exercise that way. Then Elder Davies was able to get a haircut by AnnaMarie, she's super cool. She told us about a lady she used to work for who would drown squirrels after she trapped them in her yard. Kind of a funny story, traumatic for some. 

For laundry we have to run back and forth from one of the vacant missionary apartments, so we drove a bunch. We got to play wiffle ball for our district activity; had some fun together. After the office staff meeting and dinner, we had a lesson with Eiko and another lesson with Paul. Both went well. Neither of them speak English as their first language, so it forces us to teach very simply and clearly, kind of a blessing. We had a member visit with the Vick's as well, and a Zoom call with the Zone Leaders. We've been very busy with our discussion for Zone Conference, hopefully we can pinpoint what we're looking for by tomorrow. 

July 12, 2022

We drove up to San Luis Obispo today for Zone Conference. didn't realize how tired I was until I got in the backseat and couldn't stay awake for most of the drive there. Everything went according to plan, and Elder Davies and I gave our discussion on becoming unified with our members. President and Sister Carter also gave good discussions, about conversion to Jesus Christ. It was fun getting to see the missionaries, and getting to meet some new missionaries. After some more sleeping on the drive back, we had some dinner and jumped into it, even though our brains were no longer in working condition, and our bodies were fatigued. But we had a good night, got stuff done. Ready for Zone Conference round 2 tomorrow. 

July 13, 2022

Zone Conference round 2. This time it was here in Oxnard at the Mission Office. It was interesting to see the differences between the first and the second times through, and I'm sure tomorrow will be a little different as well. It was fun to see more of the missionaries, the ones we've been serving around more. 

The only really eventful thing that happened afterwards was a lesson with Charlie. Every time we meet with him, he seems more and more exactly like the person we're looking for. Seeking change, seeking truth, has real intent, understands the scriptures, and has the desire to be baptized soon. It's good to be alive. I've changed in that I really like socializing with people and missionaries now. 

July 14, 2022

Last Zone Conference today in Thousand Oaks, so we're all done for the transfer. We are very blessed to be able to see all the missionaries and take our traveling act around the mission. The lunches we had were all really good as well. 

Luckily, we got back at a pretty reasonable time, so we still had a lot of time to get some stuff done. We took some kid's clothes that our members donated and gave them to our friend Isaiah, and he was very grateful. Just another reason the Church is amazing. 

I've been dead tired recently, but hopefully soon I'll be caught up with some sleep now that Zone Conferences are over. Or at least as caught up as a missionary can be. 

July 15, 2022

The main event today was that we went on exchanges with the Ventura Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Holmstead into the Ojai area, and Elder Davies went with Elder Walker into our area. It was a really good day, it's a very different area from Oxnard. We did some service for a Sister De La Cruz, shoveling some horse manure. Haven't felt that close to home for a while. Afterwards, we had a lot of stop by's to do, and had a lot of member work to do. At the end of the night we got some Ojai Bliss, a frozen yogurt place members that own it serve you for free. A great day, always love going on exchanges with Elder Holmstead.

July 16, 2022

On exchanges again today, I went with Elder Schultz into the Pleasant Valley area, and Elder Davies went with Elder Ward into our area. A great day on all accounts, we started teaching an awesome lady named Onica, who has been having a really hard time. We prayed with her, and she was feeling a little better afterwards. We did a bunch of yellow dot contacting and really put in the work. Even got to have Toppers for lunch and dinner, at a member party. Really good day, and I am beat. 

July 17, 2022

It was a great day to be back in Oxnard. We thought at first that we didn't get anybody to church, but we later learned that Eiko, one of our friends, went to the Santa Clara ward without us confirming. We had forgotten that we invited her, so she went on her own. 

We gave two blessings today, one to Sister Labinpuno and one to a Brother Donahue. Brother Donahue has some health issues, and I'm grateful to be a worthy priesthood holder to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. 

After some personal study, we had a lot of lessons and to-do's. As we were visiting members that we didn't recognize, we ran into the Barker's. Brother Barker is not a member, and he's very elderly, but we are going to give them our best shot. We had dinner with the Gamble's, a nice picnic dinner at the park. Then we visited Viri, as we taught the Plan of Salvation, she said she already believed the things we were teaching her. We also talked about how things are familiar to us sometimes because we have already learned them in the pre-earth life. For the rest of the night, we had short stop by with Alan and Susanna, and then finished off our night with Facebook and calling people. 

I learned yesterday that Elder Hales is going to be joining me here soon, it's going to be a blast. He may be my last companion, and I think he's really going to like being in Oxnard.