Hey Everyone!
This week it rained. A lot. California needed it but I didn’t
need it. I remember when it rained a lot last year, running back and forth from
the car between visits and referral contacting. I feel for all of the
missionaries who biked during that time of year. When it rains pretty hard we
usually walk and so on those days we don’t get a whole lot done because of how
long it takes to get places and nobody is walking around in the rain either so
we can’t street contact. However, in the middle of Saturday it started to pour.
Luckily we just got where we need to be and so we parked our bikes and walked
with our umbrellas the rest of the day. The ride back home though, that was an
adventure. We don’t have rain guards on our bikes and so the water
flicks up from the back tire and anyway, we just got wrecked, end of story.
That was pretty much our adventure for the week. I’m glad to see the sky clear
again.
Well we have still been doing tons of tracting and it’s
actually going pretty good which is weird to me because normally tracting is
like the least effective thing to do in my book, but not here clearly. We find
lots of people to teach each week and they aren’t super solid but occasionally
one of them is super awesome. For example, we met Chloe last week on exchanges
with Elder Reimer. We shared a quick message and set up and appointment for
next week and got her phone number. This is where most people flake is that return appointment,
but we texted and reminded her and she was really excited to meet with us.
Chloe is 21 and so we will need to pass her off to the YSA
sisters, but that was seriously one of the best lessons ever. She said her best
friend is Mormon and so she was thinking about looking into it and then we
talked to her and so she decided this was her chance. It was a great lesson and
the spirit was really strong the whole time. She is so honest and truly
questioning and has some pretty big and difficult concerns to deal with, but I
think she has a lot of potential. She was even nervous about meeting with us
again because she still felt like she wasn’t sure if this is the path she
wanted to take, she was just kinda interested in checking it out. However, we
think the Book of Mormon is what really made her decide that it would be ok to
meet again. She isn’t sure about a lot of things right now, but I would very
much rather teach someone as sincere as her and struggle through it than just
baptize someone in a couple weeks who isn’t sincere at all. A lot of people in
my first area would say they would be baptized but didn’t really care or didn’t
really know, but Chloe is really wanting to search which makes her better than
those others who just wanted to get baptized to say they did it.
Anyway, that was pretty much it for this week. Sorry
this letter was kinda long! I know that the gospel is true and that we can find
answers to our deepest questions and concerns by reading the Book of Mormon and
I’m so grateful for that book. It has helped me through so many of my own
struggles, trials, concerns, questions, you name it. It is always there when I
need it and I’m so grateful for the Book of Mormon in my life. I hope and pray
that all of you will take the time to read just a little bit each day. Even
just a little bit can make a huge difference. Have a great week everyone!