Hi mom,
This week was super busy. We don't really have any investigators we're working with right now, but there are some members that the Wards asked us to help with, so we spent some time doing that, but it was really hard to plan them in, so for the most part we just walked around our area and talked to a lot of people.
We actually got to go on two exchanges this week. On Tuesday we had one with Elder Elder and Elder Gonzalez. Elder Elder came here and Elder Tyus went over there. It was super cool. We ran by to jovens (teenagers) in the ward and asked them if they could help us with the work. One was from an active family who just moved in. His dad was a bishop in their old ward, so we thought this was going to be an easy yes, but he said "no" without even a thought and I'm pretty sure he didn't even give it a second thought after. The other is a less active member who we've been working with as a companionship for a while. I didn't have to much hope, but he was totally down and even asked us if he could come out with us on Thursday. It was so SWEET. God knows more then we do.
Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elder Houmand came here and Elder Tyus went over there with Elder Wall. It was a pretty sweet exchange. We didn't teach anything, but we picked up some cool Referrals for the English sisters. At the end of the exchange, Elder Houmand lost his pin of Insulin, so we ran to their apartment in Pacoima and then went home to finish the day with planning. Also, by this day, Elder Tyus and Elder Deyholos had managed to eat everyone of the starbursts you sent me.
Thursday was sweet. We did weakly planning, which is boring and yet cool at the same time. We got so much revelation from that it's not even funny. We started by praying and asking for guidance and then God took over and we knew what He wanted for our area this week. We then had dinner with a Less Active Family who moved into the branch last December, but we didn't know about them until this last week. After dinner, we went down to the Family History Center in Valencia to have a Family History Night. No one showed up for it, but I got to talk to an actor about how [to] become one, I learned a lot from him and I hope to put it all into practice here soon, but I can wait until I get home and out of College. Let's just say I have notes on the conversation. We then went to teach an English class in the Peach Land building (that's where the other branch in the district meets). It was fantastic.
Friday we had Zone Conference. It was so cool. The best part was that it reinforced that we're doing God's will in our area. We then ran to the apartment to take care of some medical needs and then we went to an apartment complex and started knocking around. It was cool, We found a lot of potential investigators and will be focused on knocking the whole complex. There's a lot of doors to knock.
Elder Blanding third from the right
Saturday was the 4th of July!! We spent all day in the complex we knocked on Friday and at a party some English members threw for the day. It was a good party, but we were only there for an hour before we left to knock some more. EVERYONE, if you go to a ward activity, find someone you don't know (Especially if you know all the members in your ward) and TALK TO THEM. Get to know them and be their friend. There was this one investigator who's on the point of baptism and if we hadn't been there, he probably would have left because NO ONE ELSE TALKED WITH HIM. I think five people asked who he was, heard he was an investigator who was going to be baptized and then left him alone to talk to there friends. Please don't do this, it's not good and doesn't help anyone, especially the investigator.
Sunday was very humbling for me. I learned that God is in the details of our lives. We were in Gospel Principles and Elder Tuys got the impression to check up on the Hermanas B*and S*. So we left and gave them a call. They didn't answer, so we started for their apartment to make sure everything was good. We got there and Hermana S* asks us for a blessing and so we gave her one. I thought the branch had asked me to play the hymns for sacrament, so I was pretty nervous, and I got mixed up with the time and, I'm ashamed to say, rather abruptly said we had to go. I was a whole hour early and when we got there found out that the branch had actually asked a English member to play, and she could play the Organ as well, so I wasn't needed. Needless to say, I felt really bad and couldn't help but beat my self up a little for how quick I was to leave.
After that we ran around and got food for the hermanas and then some dinner for ourselves and then we called it a night so Elder Tyus could make his calls to the other companionships and be ready for the Zone Leaders. It was a fun week.
RETURN AND REPORT,
weight loss, 185 lbs or nothing! at least I didn't gain
Spanish, I've stopped counting, It really depends on the day.
With Love,
Elder Michael Blanding.
P.s. please keep our finding in your prayers. We're trying to send Elder Tyus off with a bang of 400 conversations in his last week on the mission.
"Go big, then go home" -me on Thursday.