Another busy week here in California City, and it's the best week so far.
Tuesday was a good day! Also kinda funky, but good. We got to meet a cool lady who told us that she saw some other elders riding bikes earlier (the spanish elders.) Then we had a great lesson with Nicole, where she told us how she saw some elders on bikes that crashed and she almost ran over them (the spanish elders.) Then, when we were talking to a member, she mentioned how she saw elders riding bikes, which is weird since we all have cars (guess who.) Then before dinner, we get a text from the aforementioned elders: "yeah sorry, we're in Tehachapi at the doctor for elder so-and-so, he crashed on his bike, so we can't make it to dinner." How much happened in one day to these elders??
Oh, and we also met a bomb dude named James who ordered a bible online so that he could give it to his wife because they're fighting and she... wants a bible?? I dunno. We're gonna give them a family proclamation too, though.
Wednesday we worked a whole bunch! Stumbled into a pretty ghetto part of town, tried to contact some people, and then realized our GPS(borrowed from a member) said "(street name) DO NOT GO DOWN THIS STREET" oh goodness, what happened on this street to make the GPS say that?? I know someone just changed the name on the GPS, but still! Also we had dinner with the Bishop, which was neat.
Thursday we planned. I've written that 50+ times now. Planning is actually not so bad when we do it right. When we have people to plan for it's great. We just have to get lots of people to plan for first.
Friday we had district meeting and exchanges out in North Edwards. What a different town that it. You can't even drink the water. We did a bunch of service, including filling water jugs for a guy who'd had back surgery. Lots of sympathy for those people (shout out to my mom.) We also got to visit with some less-active families and set up lots of appointments for service in the coming week. Well, for the elders there. Not for us. Elder Chamberlain and his companion for the day found a family for us to teach though! I'm so excited :)
We got up super early Saturday morning to help move a bunch of wood and take down a tree. The tree was mostly down, it was just the main trunk and the roots. A member brought a backhoe to help out (where did he get it????) which made the work go pretty fast. It made me think of a gospel application as well- that backhoe had the power to rip the tree out of the ground all by itself. We couldn't have done it with all the people we had- we didn't have the time or tools. But we did have to be there to help guide the backhoe and hack away at roots with an ax and chainsaw, otherwise they wouldn't get cleaned up. God doesn't interfere with everything in our life, He won't clean up all the little details for us, but He does have all the power- He can and will take care of all the big stuff we couldn't possibly do. We just need to be hacking away at what we can.
Sometimes all the problems and things we need to deal with as missionaries seem so big. I mean, that happens to everyone, with everything, but still. I think about Nephi though- he got to the promised land, had to run from his brothers, establish a new nation with cities, keep the people worshipping the proper God in the proper way, provide for his family and teach them to provide for their families, and so on. So many problems! But somehow they all still got done. And he built a temple. And they did missionary work (or tried to.) In comparison, we don't have as much to do. How could one do so many things?? With the power of God, of course. Nephi did as he was asked, and he was not left alone with the results of that. God didn't get him int trouble to leave him there- every time Nephi came up to a challenge, God was there to help him through it. Like Moses, he was made strong enough to accomplish superhuman feats- like doing all of those many things and still beginning the most important book of scripture we have today. God knew Nephi could do more than build a bow or build a boat- they were just preparatory steps to building the beginnings of a nation. Our trials are like that. There's always another one, and it always seems harder than the last, but God is always there to help us through them- "His arm is stretched out still." Because of that, we'll be made mighty, even to the accomplishing of all the incredible works God might want us to do- parting a sea, calling down fire from heaven, or something as simple as saying the right thing at the right time. We just have to do our little part.
Oops, really long spiritual thought. I guess that means I'm doing good. Thanks for all your support!
Elder Adams
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