Another great week here in California City, probably the best one yet! Nah, it's for sure the best one.
Tuesday we worked a bunch! It's one of those ordinary days where you try hard, and not a lot happens, but it's alright in the end because you tried hard, and as long as you have a good attitude, you'll like it more the next time.
On Wednesday we were just about to leave, when someone knocked on our door! Surprise, it's the Jehovah's witnesses! It was... surreal? I mean we knock on people's doors all the time, but to have someone knock on ours was very different. We also got to meet with Nicole again, and she opened up about some of her worries with coming to church, so we can address those now. She also shared some bomb spiritual experiences she's had while living the word of wisdom, which is real neat.
Thursday we had zone conference down in Lancaster! Having to drive so dang far made it seem like a real big event, which was neat. We learned a whole bunch about a lot of things, but focused a lot on the importance of daily planning and companion study, which were things Elder Chamberlain and I were already trying to improve on. We got back in town really late and had to hurry out to the base for dinner, so we didn't have time to do anything else that day :/
Friday we had district meeting!... at our house. All the churches in our area were being deep-cleaned, and the district leader's apartment is too small, so we all met here. It was an adventure! It gave us another good excuse to clean, haha.
Saturday we had an Incredible Miracle. Seriously, it was so cool. We did morning planning that morning and set a goal of three new investigators. Where are we finding three? not sure but we'll see what happens. The Spirit said to. So we go out to an area we were going to go to earlier in the week (but that's where the JWs were), we're walking and trying to talk with people, all we got was one guy who wanted to bash with us. Dang. We're walking along the main street and this guy pulls over "Hey do you have an extra Bible?" sort of? So we gave him a Book of Mormon and went to his house. He'd just lost his father and his girl is pregnant and he's trying to get closer to God because he's been turning his life around. Hey! We help with that! So we got to teach him and his wife(?) about the Plan of Salvation. There's two, right there! I'm seriously so happy, I know what kind of a difference covenants can make to their family. We also got to meet with Nicole again and set her with a really solid baptism date- November 11! (as a side note we might have to change that, that's the week of stake conference. This isn't even the first time this has happened to me!)
We got Nicole to church! We got her a ride and rode with them out there, and she had a great time. She really hit it off with a recent convert who happens to be best friends with her aunt. Small town. When we got back we went to have a lesson with some people that Elder Chamberlain and Elder McEntire picked up on exchanges. I felt like such a missionary, sitting on the arm of a beat-up couch and teaching the restoration to a bunch of black kids. The mission is so funny like that- we have these moments that are like "THIS is the mission." and are just so darn satisfying.
God is real and loves us, and because of that, He wants us to know He is there. He leaves breadcrumbs everywhere! Just look at the history of His people- without Him even revealing the Plan of Salvation, it's a constant theme. Adam left his home, the garden of Eden, and his goal was to come back into God's presence. Abraham left his home and was tried so that he could receive blessings from the Lord and inherit a promised land. Jacob left his home to find a wife, have a family, and then comes back to be reconciled with his brother and receive his inheritance. Joseph is sold from his home, but comes off much better for it, and his descendants receive that inheritance. The Israelites were led from their bondage into a promised land, and their whole history is one of being scattered and leaving so they can later be gathered home under the banner of God. Everything points to that great, grand theme of creation- we left our heavenly home to come here, to be tested and tried and proved fit for our inheritance, and our goal is come back to that home, to be with our Father again. In all of these examples, somehow the power of God was manifest, and in our own lives it takes the great atoning power of Christ for us to return home. I imagine for those righteous ones, judgement day will not be stressful, but the greatest homecoming one can envision. I hope I will be able to live up to that, and I love the opportunity to show others the way here in the mission.
Thanks for all your support everyone!
Elder Adams
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