Green is Growing

It happened. My wildest dream came true on my mission! I did “bear a man child in the wilderness!” (Just in case you were wanting the scriptural interpretation I am in fact whitewash training.) Yay!!!! This is so much fun to start out in an area and have it run just the way we want it to and do the things that we like. This is a stellar ward and there is so much potential here. Elder Giles is a STUD missionary and a hard worker. This whitewash thing has been a little tough during the first parts, but thanks goodness for personal revelation and following the Spirit! There have been miracles happening due to our faith and the Lord’s mercy. It’s been a spiritually transforming week so far. Due to the fact that I have really had to rely on the Lord for everything so far. It’s been amazing. I have really loved the work. It’s been hard. It’s been hot. It’s been full of crazies and I have loved it. 

Spiritual: Coming into this area was a whole crazy adventure. We came into the area and on the board was a list of names that the other elders had been working with, a pile of papers on the desk, and a whole lot of work to be done. We really didn’t have much to work with. With a brand new missionary at my side and the feeling that the Lord was with us we took off to give an accounting to the Lord for the ward. We are in the process of visiting every single member of the ward and seeing if they are active or not, angry or subdued. We went to go visit a less active that lives a fair ways away from our apartment. We visited the LA and she was definitely not very interested in talking to us. I handed Elder Giles the ward list and the map (his third day here) and told him to find someone to visit and that I was going to talk to a lady over yonder. I contacted the lady who said that she did not in fact need any help moving and that she was perfectly capable, but she did accept a copy of the Book of Mormon and make a commitment to read it and pray about it. Successful contact. I talked to Elder Giles and asked him where we were going. He told me and then we took off on the bikes. (Full bike area yay!) I unfortunately got the house number wrong and so when we went over there he pulled into the right driveway while I was in the wrong one. He told me to come over this was the right one so I was in the process of turning the bike around when out of nowhere a voice from the sky said "Hey! What are you doing?" It was slightly accusatory so I was a little freaked out. But being the friendly missionary that we need to be I told the voice that we were missionaries looking for a friend in our congregation. At that time I saw where the voice was coming from. The blinds of the house right in front of me. He told us that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon in Santa Cruz and that He had lost his copy and would like another one. I had just given my last one away. NOOOOOO!!!!!!! So we set a return appointment with him to come back and give him the book. Awesome! What a miracle! But it gets better. That night we called him up and asked if we could come over and give him the book the next day. He said yes then proceeded to tell us how that same day (Saturday) he was channel surfing with his roommate and found the BYU channel. He told the roommate to go look it up what it was and by golly it was from the church! He then sat down with his roommate and WATCHED the Saturday session of GENERAL CONFERENCE. Boom. It doesn’t get much better than that. He called us and told us that the guy with the last name of Holland was really really passionate when he talks and he really liked his talk. Wow. What a miracle. We met with him yesterday and watched the last session of conference with him. He went through a lot as a kid and had a hard life. He is now trying to be an earnest seeker of truth. We know that if he reads and prays he will definitely find the truth here. It was such a mercy for the Lord to give us someone to teach. Many many miracles came from that small interaction. The ward has started to trust us because we found someone to teach, Elder Giles finally got some real teaching experience, and many many more tender mercies. The work of the Lord will go forth. It takes a lot of work, tears, and heartfelt prayer but the Lord blesses us for obedience. It’s been amazing.

Funny: We meet lots of crazies here. Lots of them. From the talking to herself roller-skate lady at 8:30 at night, to the crazy old people in the reflective vests. We met Jean the other night who was a referral from a guy working on his car in his yard. We asked if there was anyone who might need some help in their yard and he told us that Jean needed "lots of help." so we asked. She opened the door and she told us that we were absolutely Gorgeous. She asked if we were on TV. We said that we were not. She asked us this three times that visit. We just smiled and said thank you. We told her she was wonderful and shared a short message. She didn’t accept the message or the offer for service so we said that we had to go and made a hasty retreat. Oh, the city is a different animal.

Where I am at: Elder Giles is a stud! He is a good missionary and a good guy. It’s really amazing to be here in the mission and doing the work. I love this ward already and am having quite the adventure serving here. It’s really fun being here where most of the guys in our ward are working for LinkedIn, Apple, or IBM. Super cool guys! Conference was incredible. Some common themes I noticed were: Follow the Prophet, Take the Sacrament and make it meaningful, the Atonement, and what it entails have faith in Jesus Christ. I love this conference. We all need to take the challenge that the prophet gave to make Christ the center of our life. I love you all and you are in my thoughts and prayers.