Doors and Trainings

This week has been great.  On Tuesday, we had MLC.  Elder Boyce and I led a training on finding people and we involved many of the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders.  We put a bunch of our black socks in a crate and inside of one of them we put a white sock representing a prepared person.  We had a volunteer try to find the white sock.  The missionaries seemed to like the demo.  We went on exchanges that evening.  We taught a Buddhist who thinks everything is God.  It was a good day!

We did a booth the next day at Ventura College.  We found a few people that were really interested.  That was really fun.

On Thursday or Friday night we (Elder Boyce and I) got the door slammed in our face the hardest either of us ever had!  We were trying to find a less active member.  We knocked on the door at about 7:30pm.  A big, white guy answered.  He didn't even let us get a word in before he cussed us out and called us Jehovah's.  Then he slammed the door so hard that I felt it in my face.  Yikes.  We just walked away.

Speaking of Jehovah Witnesses, we met one today at the store who wanted to bash with us.  She was an older lady riding one of those scooters.  She stared asking us questions that were meant to catch us.  She told us that we needed to study up more.  We just offered to help and then went on our way when she declined.  I haven't run into many of those people on my mission.

Tonight we met a couple who don't believe there is such a thing as true happiness.  We assured them that there is.  Their opinion made us sad for them.

Yesterday we had the weirdest door approach.  We were trying to find a less-active member of the church.  When we walked up to the house, the door was open and the TV was on.  We knocked and a lady walked up to the door.  We asked if the less active person lived there and she said, "no," and told us rudely to take this person off the list.  She then walked away and another lady answered the door. She said they were watching the Oscars and wanted us to go away.  Out of the blue, an older lady came to the door with a platter of Hostess treats (Twinkies, Ding Dongs, etc).  She gave us a treat, took a pamphlet and said good-bye all before we knew what was happening. . . Yeah.

We just had a zone activity where we learned life skills like budgeting (the missionaries have $135 to spend a month on things they need), cooking, medical help, communication, public speaking, and car maintenance. They were also taught how to maintain their vacuum cleaner and scrub the bathtub.  That was pretty fun.  Elder Boyce and I helped Elder Stewart, an older office missionary, with teaching the missionaries about what is under the hood of a car, how to change a tire, and how to jump a car.  We had three of those activities this week.  We saw all the missionaries and we loved it.  We have such a good mission.  The missionaries here really are fantastic.  We could be more bold in opening our mouths and knowing how to work with the members, but I trust our missionaries.

President has asked that we record the number of people we contact in a day. A contact is someone that we talk with on the street and we make an effort to share something with that person or get their name.  President wants us to have at least 50 contacts in a week.  The purpose is to find more people.

Car Maintenance Training

Elder Ruby showing the missionaries how to change a tire.

Elder Ruby showing how to safely use jumper cables.

I have gained a testimony of following the direction from our leaders. As we have contacted everyone we could, I have felt the Spirit direct my words more than I have before. We heard from almost all the zone leaders today that those with high contact numbers also found more new investigators. Go figure.

This transfer, I feel like I have been the best missionary I ever have been.  I have been less hard on myself.  Elder Boyce has really helped me.  I am learning to trust Christ and have confidence that I am doing His work.  That understanding has relieved a lot of unneeded stress.