Nigerian Parade and many Lawndale Miracles! ZJ

Hello Family,

This week was awesome I thought I would first start off by talking
about the area I am serving in LAWNDALE!!
So the Lawndale Ward is split into two areas, this is probably the
smallest area I have ever served in, but we have two areas and there
is Lawndale 1st where the Sisters in the ward serve and then we are in
Lawndale 2nd. Our area consists of some really cool people though. So
this last week I didn't get to see much of all the area, but I
definitely got a glimpse of every part as we would drive around. We
hung around the north eastern part most of the time this week on a
street called Chadron which is like the if you want to talk to a lot
of people go to Chadron. Elder Cowley says he didn't ever go there
last transfer because he would always go with his other companions.
That's the area really it's pretty much a neighborhood that we work in
also we have El Camino College in our area and it's about two blocks
from our apartment that we stay at. Pretty rad!
Kind of a run down of the week.
Monday
I was still with Elder Dayley we kind of ran around figuring some
stuff out and then we just hung around San Pedro and such we didn't
really do much for P-day that day, but we did go to afterwards a FHE
at a members house and we had M and her granddaughter M show
up which was awesome they are doing great M was a bit said that I
was leaving, but it's alright she is getting some good Elders to help
her out. Elder Dayley said he will make sure if M is getting
baptized to have me come and see. Also C was there and he is doing
really well he bore his testimony is FHE which was awesome. I really
am missing the Pacific Ward, but I do believe I had served what I
needed to in that ward so it was good to have that confirmation. I am
definitely going back to that ward and staying the night on Brother
F's boat. His son is going on May 26th to the Philippines which
will be great. I can take his place haha JK I am going to visit them
again.
Tuesday
Today was transfers I came to the Artesia Building and got with my new
old companion. We helped a bit with the departing and new
missionaries. Funny transition, it's like a hospital you see those who
passed away and then those who barley came into this world.
Interesting thought!
We then went around like crazy getting bikes and other stuff for
missionaries so our Tuesday was pretty full then we had a scripture
study at the Church which was fun. We just have it for investigators
to come, mostly to show them that we read from both the Book of Mormon
and the Bible. So that was fun. There is a member at the ward called
Wilma Jean and she is really cool. She brought her son which was
awesome and he had some good questions, we didn't get to see him after
that, but hopefully we will be able to. That was our Tuesday!
Wednesday
Our Wednesday was really good, first real full day in the area. It was
fun we tried a few people, I met this lady named A and she was
pretty cool she is from the Ivory Coast and there is a member of the
Bishopric who speaks French and she speaks French so we are trying to
get that connection. That was cool.
Later on that day we went and saw a Baptismal date named Bishop (Yes
his actually name is Bishop) and we talked with him and tried to read
the Book of Mormon with him. He kept going off on tangents about the
Gospel and he kept talking about random stuff so we ended up just
inviting him to read it. We will see what we can do to help him haha.
That was Wednesday!
Thursday we had weekly planning and other stuff so not very
interesting. So I won't talk much about it.
Friday we had District Meeting which was fun, we have some great
missionaries in the zone that are ready to work hard. After District
Meeting we went and had Lunch then after Lunch we had a little mini
exchange so we could transition some investigators to the Spanish
Speaking Elders so I went with Elder Urbina and we (he) talked with
people in Spanish haha My Spanish is not good, I probably could have
taken more advantage of it, but my desire to learn it faded away... I
can understand a little bit of Spanish, but can't really speak it
well. It was fun to catch up with Elder Urbina he was my zone leader
for a little bit when I was Inglewood.
After that we tried a few more people. Elder Cowley and I tried
potentials on Chadron and he has been there so many times he knows all
the potentials.
We were about to be done for the night, but we went over to a secret
apartment complex because it is hidden from the street. We went in and
we tried some inspired door knocks and then Elder Cowley felt
impressed to try a door and we ended up talking to a kid named A
and he was pretty interested and met with missionaries before, but
then we found out that he was a former investigator in the plans that
had information that was off so we were able to actually find him
which is awesome! That was a cool miracle that ended our night.
Saturday was pretty good too. We had a few appointments that happened
we met with a less active guy who is struggling with a internal
struggle with forgiving himself and so we are trying to find some way
to help him. He has a good heart though he definitely feels bad about
those things, but always we need to repent and forgive ourselves so we
don't run ourselves in the ground. I love him though he has a good
sense of humor and he takes care of his mom who has a hard time
speaking. It was a good appointment we talked about repentance and he
said he will try to forgive himself he said he definitely has repented
of a lot of things it's just forgiving himself is the issue.
After that we tried some potentials we met this one lady who was out
talking to some friends and she is an investigator so we walked by
then came back to talk to her when she was done, she is really
interested in learning why we need the Book of Mormon, but she is
really busy with tests and stuff that she helps with so she is really
busy right now. We actually have a lot of people to teach, but they
are just super busy it's crazy.
After that we went and tried a potential, but they were not home so we
went and Elder Cowley just decided to knock on another potentials door
and they were home, but to add on to that miracle a new guy was there
who just moved there from Nigeria three weeks ago so that was cool. He
asked us about what we do and we told him and he asked where our
Church was and Elder Cowley gave him a card and he said, "Are you
inviting me to Church?" And we said, "Yeah if you want to come this
soon!" He said, " Ok we will try to come!" So that was cool, then I
will transition to Sunday because that was our last visit.
Sunday the guy I just barley talked about, the other potential
investigator we were looking for and their friend came to Church and
loved it. Found it very interesting. That was a hug miracle they came
in late and they had the coolest clothes on because they are from
Nigeria and it was awesome to see them.
After Church later on we stopped by to see if we could answer any
questions for them and the potential we were looking for J said she
didn't have any questions she said, "I'm good with your Church, it's
good!" We were like wooooooow that was fast haha. That was the fastest
I have ever seen someone come to Church and actually believe it's
good! We will be meeting with them more.
Also after Church we tried a lady named Andria and she has been a
little closed off and Elder Cowley said he hasn't known her struggle
so we thought we would talk about prayer and as we were talking about
it the spirit prompted us to read the Lords Prayer and we ended up
finding out that she has been having struggles forgiving others which
has been a big break through it was really cool to see the spirit work
through us like that.
That was our week though. I love this area it is super cool and I
noticed it seems like a little neighborhood we talk with people and
some reject p, but they seem to have respect for you because you live
around this area and so it's really cool to see that. I was pretty
impressed I haven't served in an area quite like that.
Also my cooking skills are getting better Elder Cowley and I have been
cooking food by ourselves this last week and it had all been gourmet
it's pretty impressive you'd be pleased. Haha I'm serious though.😎
Well that's all I got I will send this picture to you all it's a bit
dark, but I'd think you'd like to know who my companion is, but it's
also kind of hard to see our faces, but here it is.