Hey guys,
Yo, it's been a while since I sent a weekly, or really responded
to emails in general. But yes, I'm alive. There's been a lot happening since I
last sent an email. I wasn't able to write last week cause we were really busy.
We spent p-day on the beach. Probably the windiest beach I've ever been to. We're
not allowed to swim but it was still a lot of fun. We found a washed up
jellyfish on the shore so that was cool.
There was this lady who referred herself to the missionaries
because she wanted to learn how to pray. We video-called her and told her about
the Book of Mormon and dropped it off at her house with a chapter to read in
it. It took a while to get back into contact with her because she works all the
time and is super busy. But a few days later we went by her house and talked to
her in person along with her daughter. She told us she had been reading the
Book of Mormon everyday and showed us where she was. She had started from the
beginning of the book and was in 1 Nephi 17 or something! She said the book was
super great but it was a bit confusing to her, so she reads the chapters
multiple times. She told us about Lehi's vision and 100% understood it! She had
already accepted the book as the word of God. I've never seen that happen so
quickly! But even crazier, we went by her house again a week later because we
could never get into contact with her. She let us in her house and apologized,
but said she brings the book to her work and reads it during her break. She was
in the Book of Jarom. Me and my companions had a hard time responding because
we were all visibly astounded! No other investigator has ever read that much in
such a short amount of time. She related the book to all the crazy things that were
happening today, and her daughter wanted a book in English, so we gave her one
as well.
So that’s one thing that happens a lot in this area - The
parents only speak to us in Spanish, but they understand English. And the kids
speak to us only in English, so it's back and forth, and we all get a little
confused sometimes. It hurts my brain!
I went on an exchange to a ‘bike area’, so that was the
first time I felt like a REAL missionary as we rode bikes around Santa Rosa.
But it was also an English area so I had a really hard time teaching because I
wasn’t use to teaching in English. It felt so weird. But we met some guy named
Andrew that went on and on about ‘the illuminati’ and other conspiracies. The
missionaries I was with told me that’s kind of what they get in this area.
Maybe that’s just California, I
don't know yet. Haven’t been here long enough.
Today is actually transfers but there weren't any changes
with my companions. I am still with Elder Hakanson and Elder Wells. But one of
the other Elders that live in our apartment was just called as a 3rd AP, so
we're all super excited for him. We have 2 sets of trio missionaries in our
apartment. 6 missionaries total! It’s crazy!
I'm gonna be honest, I have a hard time writing emails
because I have no idea what to say, so I have a ton of pictures to end it.
Elder Dyal
Elder Wells and Elder Dyal
Elder Dyal and Elder Hakanson
In the church foyer
Riding a bike on exchanges
Found a raccoon
(Alex's spirit animal, LOL!)
With an investigator
Riding to the beach on P-day
California Beach!
With Elder Hale on the beach
(He was Scott Cherry's companion in the Peru Iquitos Mission)
Having fun on the beach with the district
Now, onto a service project
Whoa! A machete!
Service project and working hard
