So, starting with Monday after I emailed we went and had a lesson with William Baldwin, a less-active guy of 19 in our area. We sat down and had a really cool lesson with him about following the spirit. At the end we agree to all be quiet for 5 mins and write down what we think the spirit was trying to tell us. I swear you could almost see the angles whispering to us in the room it was so powerful. We all felt like we had received some personal revelation that day.
After that we had a lesson with Jason. He was es-communicated for reasons I won't discuss but he really wants to come back. So we've been meeting with him and just reading the BoM while he is working on his stuff. He had a cold that day and was pretty miserable so at the end of the lesson he asked for a blessing, and for me to voice it. I was pretty nervous, it's the first blessing I ever have given. My mind was empty but words seemed to come out of my mouth on their own. I don't even remember really what I said but the power behind it was some amazing. When we ended the blessing Jason was crying and we embraced. It was so amazing!
That Wednesday we went on splits with the Sea Side Elders. We went and visited an other less active member, a small Mexican lady who's name escapes me. Her son was home and he is 18 so it was fine. After talking to her she told us she was going through such a hard time and had dealt with a lot of depression. We told her about blessings of comfort and she immediately consented to have one. As we gave the blessing it felt like there was lightning running up my arms. The spirit was so strong and we knew that we were meant to be there for her. We committed her to come to church with us that week afterwards.
Right after that the phone rang. It was the AP's, they said my name I heard but I didn't know what they were talking about. Elder Olgivie said "He's leaving now?" I flipped out and asked "I GOT MY VISA!?" He smiled and ended the call and said "Nope, you're being ET'd (Emergency Transferred)" So I packed up that hour and we left for Redando.
That is where I met my current companion, Elder Fry. He's a great guy, we get along like brothers and he and I do good work together. He's gluten intolerant which is interesting. Something funny is that he only works out his upper body.... He's really buff up top but has chicken legs. It's pretty funny. We have a car here too but we have super limited miles so we ride bikes about half the time.
Our first appointments were pretty great. We met the Nasimentos, a young recently married convert couple. He's actually from Brazil and we speak a bit in Portuguese and it's super awesome. He also was going to be a pro soccer player for the LA Galaxy but his wife kinda talked him out of it.
Kricket is who we met next. Man is she a Character. She's super direct and says funny things all the time. There's no real way to describe her. She's about 55 and lives with her mom so she can take care of her. They make quite a duo, those two are so funny.
Then there are the Sizemores. They are an elderly couple who joined the church last year after 8 years of investigating! They love us penguins (Kricket's nickname for missionaries) and do almost anything for us. They do our laundry for us and are super awesome. Their garage is always a mess and we are constantly doing service there. It's a running joke in the area by this point. One of these times doing service Ken (Brother Sizemore prefers we call him that) decided to show us his guns. The man has a elephant rife for heaven's sake! He has so many classic guns too! Peacemakers, A Luger and so many more! It's probably the coolest thing ever. He has well over 60 guns.
So that Thursday night we got a text from Pres. Weidman for Elder Fry to set up a meeting with him. So we did and when we got there that funniest thing happened. Pres. Wiedman forgot why he called us down! He just sat across the desk and stared at Elder Fry and said "So what can I help you with........ Oh, wait. I called you here didn't I? I can't think of what for." So we drove home and went through the rich part of Santa Monica and accidentally ran into a model shoot! That was pretty cool and we saw all the multi-million dollar cars you could ever buy there.
So finally Sunday came around and we were surprised to find that the Featherstones had brought an entire family of investigators to church with them! We introduced ourselves and we learned Nina (30-ish), Dominic(13) and Oliver(8) were all looking to join the church. There are more kids but they are not of baptism age. They had just moved from Spain,their home of 8 years, about a year ago.
After church we went and had pancakes at the Featherstone's home and had a lesson with Nina. She apparently had a rough past with her ex-husband but is doing much better now. She had a friend that had a husband that was the same way who was a church member. She said that she impressed by her strength and family despite the difficulties.She was so prepared that she accepted to be baptized in the 27th of Oct! How cool is that?! My first transfer and we already have a baptism! I'm so excited to teach the other 4 lessons and meet her older children.
She has a son that is a pro MMA fighter named Tommy. Her older Daughter is a talented artist. She showed us a couple of her painting and drawings and they were straight up amazing! Dominic can sing like pro and a surfer to boot. I figure he'll be quite the ladies man. Nina herself almost went to the 92' Olympics for freestyle skiing but got an injury in her ankle. Oh, and she sings as good as Dominic..... talented much?
Anyway that's my week. I'd leave you with a spiritual thought but I figure between Nina and those blessings that we have enough here. Can't wait till next week!
Fica doce!
Um no excerito de Deus
Elder Teela
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