Conference

How are you guys doing? My week's been great, we taught some awesome lessons and some of our investigators are starting to get really interested. Apparently Elder Mills lost the key to our P.O. box last transfer, so if you want to send letters or packages you should just keep sending them to the mission office so we can pick them up on P-days. What did you guys think of conference? I thought it was superb, there was a lot of stuff in there I really needed to hear

Tuesday we helped one of the members in our ward level some ground next to his patio so he could lay a brick path. He's a cool guy, it was actually kind of fun. Later we visited a Romanian family that wants to learn about the church, but only speaks Romanian and Italian, neither of which are languages we speak in the mission. The Father understands a little bit of Spanish though, so Elder Baker talked to him and we were able to set up a time for the next Tuesday when we can Skype the missionaries in Romania and have them teach the family a lesson. It's cool to see how technology can help us reach people we wouldn't be able to communicate with without it.

Wednesday we did exchanges, so we traded Elder Baker for Elder Phelps. It ended up being a really crazy day, so as far as proselyting all we did was teach one investigator and shared a message with two recent converts. The lesson with the investigator was the first thing we did in the morning. He's a black guy who is blind, and he's awesome. He loves to talk about religion and Jesus, and he knows the Bible really well. He believed that Joseph Smith had a vision, but he doesn't believe that he was a prophet, which doesn't really make sense to me. He wants to continue hearing from us though, so we'll keep working with him. After  we volunteered at this place called Mary's kitchen where we served a meal to a bunch of homeless people. Near the end of that we got a text saying that the son of a member in our ward got in a motorcycle accident and needed a blessing. So we rushed straight to the hospital as soon as we got out of Mary's kitchen. Elder Mills gave him a blessing and they asked if we could go visit his dad and let him know how he was doing, so we went over there and talked to him for a while. After we taught the two recent converts, and it was already time to meet with the other Elders and trade Elder Baker back. Also we watched the Disneyland fireworks while we were waiting for the other companionship to get to the church, so that was cool. 

Thursday we met with a new investigator and he wants to be baptized! He played in the NBA for the trailblazers when he was younger. He's played ball with Dr. J, and he's such a cool dude. He got hit by a car a few months ago, so he's on crutches now because his knee is messed up. We taught him the restoration and he was really excited about the idea of a prophet on the earth today. From there we did apartment checks for most of the day. When we finished apartment checks the APs texted us asking if one of us could go to their apartment because Elder Salyer was feeling sick and they had appointments they needed to go to. We cast lots and the lot fell upon me, so I went to the AP's apartment and studied while Elder Salyer slept. It was actually really nice, I found a lot of scriptures that I think might help our investigator who's blind. 

Friday we had zone conference for most of the day. We talked about more effective planning and how to use Facebook effectively to further the work. The rest of the day we did a lot of finding and contacting. We talked to a guy with a sweet beard who grew up in the church but decided it wasn't really for him. He was pretty close minded, but his wife seemed more open to the message, so we'll see. Near the end of the day we found a gigantic spider that was spinning a web that was probably 4-5 feet in diameter. Elder Mills wanted to catch it and take it with us because he believes in chaos and discomfort. I don't know why you'd want to be closer to that thing than you have to, spiders are the worst. 

Saturday we watched conference, which was fantastic. I think my favorite talks from Saturday were Elder Pingree and Elder Holland. After conference we went over and taught the drunk guy from last week the restoration. He was totally ready for us, he cleaned the apartment, didn't drink any alchohol, and had chairs set up for us. When we first met him I thought he just wanted to bash on the church, but he really wants to learn about the church. We taught him about the restoration and answered a bunch of questions he had. The coolest part came at the end of the lesson though, Elder Mills bookmarked a chapter in the Book of Mormon and invited him to read a chapter, but he was like, "I think I'd prefer to just start from the beginning and read the whole thing if that's okay." And we were like, "Yeah, that's very okay, do that." It was so cool, the Lord really does lead us to people who He has prepared.

Sunday was so great, there were so many awesome talks, I can't even pick a favorite. We watched the first session in the church and the second session with a part active family. They were really cool, their youngest daughter wants to serve a mission. After the afternoon session we ate dinner with some other members and discussed their family mission plan. Then we visited a Samoan family we met last week and taught them the restoration  lesson. The father asked us what we all thought of the Book of Mormon and what it meant to us, so we all shared our testimonies of the Book. It was powerful, and I think it made a big impact on him. He said it sounded like it all was true and he's going to read the Book of Mormon! It was so awesome, the spirit was so strong. 

Today we mostly just did shopping. Elder Baker has a Costco card, so we bought a lot of food. It's been an awesome week. Could you tell me how much is in my bank account? I don't need anything, I just want to keep an eye on how much is in there.