Hello!
Another week has passed, and I'm already 1/6 of the way done! Crazy how the time flies!
Not a ton happening this week worth sharing. Cynthia and her daughters are still on track to be baptized and although she's still coping with her loss they're all doing awesome!
A woman named April (maybe I already said this) moved up here from Arizona and was about to get baptized down there so hopefully we can meet with her and move towards a baptismal date sometime in December.
It's getting a little chillier, which is nice. MUCH better than the 100 degree stuff that I was dealing with in Rancho, haha. Usually the weather sits anywhere between 50-70 degrees. So for the natives, that's big coat weather while for me... Yeah... I'm still biking in short-sleeves, because this isn't cold at all for me. Either that, or maybe I'm just storing the cold air inside me somewhere so I can ration it out during next summer (Because science).
The ward is shrinking like crazy, and it's quite a poor ward which makes for a different dynamic. We only have about 65 active members every week... Which I guess just means we need to baptize everyone we can!
Today for lunch we ate at Apollo Burger (which is amazing, and if you ever go through California, you've got to stop to eat there. Much burger, very wow) and I had a cool spiritual boost. There was a homeless man sitting next to us who sat down with his food and began to pray over his food. Not vocally, and not with a big motion to make it obvious, in fact I'm pretty sure I was probably the only one who noticed his prayer, but it was fervent. You could see it in his face. It's rare enough to see people pray like that in public, especially a loud burger place, so it was cool and I couldn't help but take a few more glances. The man even got a bit emotional as he prayed, for a solid 5 minutes or so, before finishing, looking up and then eating his food. Elder Smith and I talked to him for a bit and it was amazing how grateful he was for the Lord. He kept saying "The Lord gives me exactly what I need. With the Lord, I never want." This blew me away! This man had been living on the streets for 6 years and all he could talk about was how the Lord kept on providing for him.
Apparently about a year before, he was outback and saw that someone had tipped the giant trash can over so he went to clean it up. A man drove up and said "Get out of here ya bum!" and the man told him he wasn't going to leave until he'd done his good deed of service for the day. So he finished cleaning up the mess. The man was shocked, thinking he was stealing cans or something only to find out he was cleaning up. The man was also the owner and offered him a free meal whenever he wanted to come and do the jobs the other employees didn't want to do like clean the toilets or take out the trash.
That's a little off topic, but I thought it was a really cool story. The point I was getting at is that it showed me how ungrateful I am. I have so many more luxuries than this guy and yet how much thanks do I show to my Father in Heaven? How fervent are my prayers? Usually not nearly as much so as this man! His love for God was so incredible. It truly impacted me.
I have a few other stories, but I don't want to write you all anymore than I already have, but the message I want to close with is that the Church is true. I know it. I love my Heavenly Father a lot and I have so much room to improve. We all do. But we have the knowledge of the fullness of Christ's Gospel, and that will be what brings the most joy in our lives.
I love you all so much. I'm so grateful for all of your support.
Church is true!
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