ROLLERCOASTER!!!!

Whew... That was a week and a day if I ever saw one.

 

We worked pretty hard this past week.

 

Tuesday we did quite a bit of tracting and the area that we are in is soooooo amazingly diverse. One door is a Buddhist, the next is catholic, next atheist, next anti-Mormon, next ex-Mormon, next anti everything! It's insane. The place is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. then we had a lesson with one of our less active youth, and man... the poor kid. His whole family used to be members of the church but then some decided to become atheist, and others decided to stop going to church. Oy... so the kid is trying to make it out but is being pulled away by his family, and when we asked him what was keeping him from coming to sacrament meeting he said, "Sacrament meeting is about being with family," and then he broke down in tears. It was a rough lesson, but I think we can work on helping him.

 

Wed. Elder Saxton got hit by a car. Wait... scratch that. Reverse it. A car got hit by Elder Saxton. And the punch line is that it was a parked car! It seriously appeared out of nowhere and he just smashed into it. Funny and sad at the same time. Later we had a lesson with a guy who was really hard to teach. He didn't want to listen to learn he was only listening to bring up beliefs that he had that didn't match what we were teaching, and frankly, his were downright lame. I'm sorry but they were.

 

Thursday we almost got dropped by our most progressing investigator. Oy... that was a really rough day. We thankfully were able to talk to her (Kaylee) and address her concerns and salvage that, and then later we had an amazing experience!!! We decided to try knocking an apartment complex and we started with a prayer to be led to those who were prepared to listen to our message, and the first door we knocked let us in and we taught him about the restoration of the gospel and about how God and Jesus Christ appeared to a fourteen year old boy who prayed in faith to know what to do. And it was sooo cool, because the guy we were teaching related so much to Joseph Smith. Awesome!

 

Friday We had a couple more lessons from just knocking on the door and they let us in. Cool!

 

Saturday we had a Tour of the Newport Beach temple grounds! Very cool. And Kaylee, and her mother (who is a member of the church but way inactive) and her grandmother (Member also but not as inactive as mom) Came! WOW! and Kaylee's mom was actually thinking about coming back to church by the end of the tour. The spirit at the temple is so strong. Great stuff.

 

Sunday, was Sunday.

 

Monday, L. Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the seventy came and spoke to the whole mission! VERY cool! He spoke to us when I was at the MTC and then in the November conference too. He's so inspirational.

 

Like I said, this week has been a roller coaster.

 

SO! It is sooo good to hear from all of you. KJ sent me a few messages from face book. It's good to hear from you all and I love you all too!

 

Thank you all for your letters and emails and love and support.

 

I love you all and I think of you often.

 

Be well and happy and all that good stuff.

 

-Elder Barker