A Box Full of .......Communism????

Big things are happening this week. We got a baptismal date, my companion is getting transferred to be the next AP, and I gave my testimony at the outgoing fireside, got interviewed by president Mella, and had a teary emotionally draining wonderful week. 

Spiritual: This past week we helped a woman clean out part of her house. It’s a little crazy in there so we started slowly. She was worried because in the past, some others had started to help her clean and she was not there for part of it and she was very worried that a lot of her stuff had been thrown away. We asked if we could just start with one box to see how it would go because we believed that she needed to touch everything that was there to help her through some emotional issues. We walked into the house and looked for what box to grab. It was amazing. I felt like we needed to go to the back room where there were a lot of boxes stacked up and we picked one to give to her. The one that we picked out of 100+ boxes was exactly the one that she needed to see. We brought it back to her and she picked it up and tears came to her eyes. It had pictures of her children from right around the time she joined the church. She hadn’t seen these for 20 years and it was a special experience for her to go through and revisit those memories. That act alone brought her courage that she could make it through the emotionally taxing experience and that the Lord loved her and was very aware of her situation. I know that we were led and guided to pick that particular box. The Lord knows us and uses most times people to bless our lives. 

Funny: Out gospel principles class is a riot. Our ward is super small and there are not a lot of people that come to this class and so sometimes there is more opinion shared than actual gospel principles. For example this last week the ward mission leader started off by singing a song with his guitar. (Although it was a little unorthodox it really brought the spirit in) then we started to talk about the premortal life. Sometimes a tricky subject to bring up with this group. One dear sister started speaking about the plans of the devil. "And what Elder do you think the devils plan is to destroy us all?" I replied "the degeneration of the family and sliding moral values in society is..." "Communism." "Oh. Right. That was my next guess." 

Where I am at: I. Love. My. Mission. I feel so blessed to be here and be serving where I am. I love the work of the Lord. I am so grateful that he has given me a portion of His vineyard to take care of. It’s been a wonderful time to be serving here. It’s so much fun to interact with the people here in San Jose. I love this place. It’s going to be hard for me to leave. I am very happy here. It was a special experience at the fireside last night. I bore my testimony and as I was interacting with the missionaries and members that attended it was sweet to see how many people were there that I had interacted with and had blessed my life and how many people I had truly without feign come to love. It’s been such a blessing to be here. Everything from my interactions with the mission president to the missionaries to the members and non-members. It’s been amazing. I am so excited for the next two weeks. Two new companions (although it’s breaking my heart that Elder Cusworth has to leave) and lots of people still to find and invite. I am so excited. I love the Lord who has blessed me with this opportunity and I am happy to be here. I love you all!

Ammon uses a lot of words like "Its going to be REALLY REALLY hard to come home btw" but luckily that boy knows how to do hard things because like it or not he is coming home August 5th. (Some of us really like it...) He will be speaking at the Murray 28th Ward on Augst 9th at 11:00. The address is 932 W Green Oaks Drive, in Murray.