Week 103: Arroyo Vista

September 26, 2022

It was a good Preparation Day, we met at the mall after playing basketball to get some lunch. We ate Mongolia Grill and had fun hanging with everyone. The reason we went to the mall was because our district activity got banned last second. But it all worked out, because we got Mom the souvenir shirt she's been asking for. 

For our evening we did the usual rounds, and was able to talk to some people that are in our Areabook. Tomorrow we have exchanges with the Wildwood Elders, and I'll be going with Elder Anderson.

September 27, 2022

Elder Anderson and I had a great day, our schedule was pretty wide open. So we started out beating the streets, and were able to have a visit with a member we've been trying to contact. A simple blessing from God on a hot day. 

Then we went to get a car wash, and bought a cake for one of the other Elder's friends, because it was her birthday today. We had a lesson with Nadia again today, and we sat inside this time. We asked if she had read her assignment, and she said, "No... I listened to it." Rather than give up when it was hard to understand, she downloaded the Book of Mormon app and listened to it instead. We appreciated that. 

The Ray's took us to dinner tonight to Wood Ranch, a super expensive BBQ place that is highly esteemed and not easily afforded by missionaries.

I was also able to tune in to watch Blake open his mission call, he is going to the Knoxville Tennessee mission, English missionary. Originally-assigned English missionaries rule. 

September 28, 2022

I was with Elder Merling today in the Moorpark Spanish area. We had a good day talking to lots of people and working hard. We ate out for both meals today, so pretty proud of that. We met someone who is actually in our Areabook named Joy. While talking to her, we were also able to talk to her friend Eleazar. And just as we started talking about the Plan of Salvation, one of her friends came in, and was really down because his grandmother had recently died. God absolutely led us into that one. We went through the rest of our day and had a great time. Got to even sit in on some English class. Excited for Zone Conference. 

September 29, 2022

It was Zone Conference today at Wendy Drive. It was good to see Elder Hales and Elder Skinner, they gave a good discussion about accountability. The Carter's gave great counsel about how to teach better, and Hermana Smith and Sister Ormand gave a discussion on the relationship between faith and agency. I learned a lot of really good stuff, and I didn't even need to give a discussion. 

After dinner we had a productive few hours. We made a yellow dot, sent a Spanish referral, and had a member visit with the Hunters. We talked about General Conference and about the blessing that having a prophet on the earth is. Excited to hear from the general authorities. 

September 30, 2022

Most of our day was initially taken up by studies and some other errands we had to run. Our main goal today was to invite people to General Conference so they can experience firsthand how the revelation we receive from our leaders can bless them. We were able to talk to Jeffrey today, he showed us some of his Jesus music, really good stuff. We had good success contacting, we made two yellow dots in about five minutes at one point. I gave Elder George a lot more opportunities to lead out, and he did great, we'll just keep practicing. A good day, going on our last exchange tomorrow. 

October 1, 2022

Today was a really good day. I went with Elder Wilson into our area, and we had a lot of good contacts and were able to talk to many people. We had lunch with the Schimmer's, we grilled some burgers for lunch. Sister Schimmer is such a baller. We didn't watch the General Conference sessions, but we were able to listen in during meals, companionship, or just driving. We had a member visit with the Lorenzen's, and then later the Walker's. We were able to contact Sami and started teaching her. We taught a little about the purpose of life from Alma 34:32. Almost simultaneously, we started teaching our friend Kim from Australia over social media. She was able to watch General Conference, all the way over there. Nadia was also able to watch Conference. A great day with many successes, we were very blessed.

October 2, 2022

I really enjoyed watching General Conference today, the talks given had so much inspiration and direction in them. I'll be reviewing my notes tomorrow so I can remember everything better. I really liked Elder Isaac Morrison's talk. This man has suffered a pretty terrible tragedy, yet he still had such strong faith and a strong relationship with his wife and family. 

We had dinner with the Olsen's, they're fun people. finished off with some Facebook and a mission Zoom reviewing Conference. Week 4 over.