October 28, 2013

Spiritual: This week was awesomely spiritual! It started out with a baptism on Saturday for a lady named Dawn. She wasn't actually our baptism, she was in the Pleasanton 3rd ward and she is super solid. She has cancer and was really struggling for a long time with it and she found the church and her cancer is now in remission. She was so happy to join the church it was really inspiring. The service was very powerful and it was interesting to see how important it is to fully live the law of consecration and give everything away, including your pride, and invite people to a spiritual event you are having. She invited a ton of non-members and there are some very good opportunities in store. The next best spiritual part of my week was Sunday. Holy cow it was so cool! We had a missionary homecoming during Sacrament meeting and we had a less-active member there. The less-active, Alex, is a super cool guy! He is 33 and not married but absolutely loaded! He is rich, buff, ballroom dancer, funny, and just overall a stud. Every time we leave his house we sit in the car and say "Why in the world is he not married??" Super cool guy. He hadn't been to church in a long time and one day we just decided to drop by and invite him. He said yes and came! It was amazing. That night we went to the outgoing fireside for departing missionaries. Wow. These elders have grown so much! It was a contradiction of emotions. It was super intimidating to see so many strong powerful missionaries who were departing super solid in the church, and to know that I will grow to that level if I keep trying and pushing forward, but it also made me realize that two years is really short time to do that in and how little time we actually have and to not waste a moment of it. All in all it was an amazing week.

Funny: This week has been the "Best Week of My Companion’s Mission" as he calls it. He has gone through the ringer and I have had the chance to sit back, chuckle and really serve him and love him with my whole heart. He went to the doctor this week and found out he had excema. It was super funny to be sitting in with my companion while he had to have an examination by a female doctor. hahaha. Last night was a long night for him as well. The plague has hit and he has the stomach flu. I have loved helping him and enjoyed completely making him feel good. I love it. We had a good laugh about our predicament and then moved on. Last night as well the sisters called. They had mixed ammonia and bleach and had created a hazardous gas and had to evacuate the apartment. Oh it was so funny. 

Where I am at: The transfers didn’t change much. There was one sister who is getting transferred from our whole zone. The boundary changes are easy as well. We are still going to be in P2 but we will help P3 as much as needed with anyone that the sisters can’t teach. The sisters are now strictly P3 and will help out in P2. The P3 elders were moved to cover P4 and the P1-4 sisters are now over P1 only. It was a pretty anticlimactic change. It was very nice. Rather dramatic still, but anticlimactic. I feel awesome. I feel like I know my way around the area and have a pretty good hold on how things work. I am really doing very well. We have had a lot of success in finding out what less-actives live in our ward. It’s been a fun little week. My companion and I get along really well. We have figured out what makes each other tick. It’s all going much better. Life is grand! The more I am out here the more I realize how simple the gospel really is but how important that simplicity is. For example, the statement that the church is true is probably the most uttered statement in the church, yet is the foundation for a solid testimony and for a lifelong commitment to live the gospel. It’s incredible how important that is- to a whole people, i.e. Pleasanton, or to a person. i.e.: elder Black. I Know the Church is True. I love it and I live it.