Hey Everyone,
This week went by really fast. Last Tuesday we woke up, went shopping, and were off to San Diego sometime in the morning. The whole zone went to San Diego for 2 reasons. 1) We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday in San Diego and 2) We wanted to go to the temple on our P-day to take advantage of the San Diego temple still being open. We typically go to the temple once a transfer, but since everyone in the valley is far away, we don't get to go at all. The temple is closing next month, and the mission decided to let us go as a last opportunity, as some of these missionaries have not gone to the temple at all or in a long time.
The temple was good! President and Sister Merritt came with us for the session, as did the Temple President and his wife. We went to the 4pm session which was different since we typically always go in the mornings. If it were up to me, we wouldn't have had the session at 4pm, because P-day ends at 6 which didn't give us enough time. After the session finished we realized it was past 6pm and we were late getting back to work. All of the companionships were assigned to work with missionaries in different areas in San Diego for the evening, and then we would spend the night in those missionaries' apartments. Elder Creasy and I went up to Mira Mesa and spent the night in the nicest apartment in the mission. It is on the same level as Marriott hotels and is often referred to as "The Great and Spacious Building" in the mission.
The next morning we had a Zone Conference with Elder Mark Bragg of the Seventy! He is the Area President for the North America Northwest Area, so he is in charge of San Diego, up to Alaska I think. He also gave a talk this past General Conference on Christlike Poise. But the Zone Conference was so good! I learned a lot and the spirit was so strong there. It is so cool to meet different leaders in the church. They are the best kind of people.
We drove home after that, and I think we got home sometime around 5 or 6pm for some missionary work. This week as a whole went by pretty fast, I think because of our trip to San Diego. It felt like a vacation since we were taking long drives and we spent the night in a nice new place (which we don't do) and we really only had Thursday-Monday this week for our missionary efforts. The week just felt different.
Our most progressing friend is still Yolanda. On Thursday we had a lesson with her about temples and we read the Book of Mormon with her. She really likes temples from what we have told her. She said that she knows all of what we are sharing is true and she was crying. She is such a great lady. We are still trying to get her to church, she just doesn't have what she considers 'church clothes' yet and she doesn't want to stand out. We've assured her that it doesn't really matter so much what she wears, and we'd love to have her there, but she wants to get more clothes first. Otherwise she is progressing well and could be baptized fairly soon.
Some of our other friends are ghosting us, or not really progressing. The teaching pool continues to filter through people as we find new ones, and drop old ones that aren't ready. I suppose that it is less of a teaching pool, and more of a teaching river.
For my spiritual thought this week I wanted to share one of the many things that I learned from Zone Conference. Someone asked Elder Bragg about his calling as being a special witness of Christ. He said his calling is somewhat familiar to ours and he shared an analogy with us that I really liked. He compared a testimony and understanding of the gospel to a car driving in the rain. When it is very rainy, our windshield wipers go back and forth to help us have glimpses of the view on the road. When that happens we can see very clearly, but the rain comes back and inhibits our vision. It is similar to the gospel. When we're studying the scriptures or messages, engaging in prayer, attending the temple, etc., the gospel and the truth is so clear and it's amazing! The gospel is so true! But, with the way life is, we forget and get distracted. It is so hard to stay focused in this world, but if we exercise some discipline and continue on the path, it is so worth it!
The gospel is true my friends. It is all so true. Stay on the path and keep the faith! I love you!
- Elder Wride
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