Week 69 Commitment

Monday 2/20/2017

We finished packing up the apartment then waited for Elder Westover/Jones to come pick some stuff out. We started to get a barrage of calls and texts from the Tongan Elders wanting the keys to the apartment. They got the apartment we closed. We dropped some final things off to the new areas. We stopped by the mission office to get the keys swapped. Then we met up at Joe's. I got with Elder Hugie and Elder Wright stayed with us till his companion was able to meet him. We went to Hometown for Elder Meyers going away lunch. We went to the church and Elder Hugie and I picked up Elder Sparto and Nelson. We dropped off our extra car, then went to Pday activity. The night consisted of helping Elders finish exchanges, unpacking and then Joe's again. (Joe's ice is a regular stop now since it is right across the street from our apartment and it is free) 

Tuesday  

In the morning we went out to go and see some people no one seemed to be home.  We hit Joe's for lunch. Then went back out to find for the rest of the day we went to see a referral but as we were walking Elder Hugie realized he didn't have the keys, we arrived at the car. We found the car was running. I guess we could call that a miracle that it wasn't stolen on a busy street of the shady city of Anaheim. We visited Glenn, he is a riot he has a grenade in a gun safe held closed with painters tape so he is pretty cool. He really likes Dr Phil and Judge Judy. We did some more finding till dinner with the Jensens. We had ward council. Which ended the night. 

Wednesday 

We started the day with helping a family move into the ward. After the move we went back grabbed some lunch and headed to the mission office. Elder Hugie had to go to the district leader meeting so during that I went with Elder Russell/Haynie/Cortez to Mary's kitchen we went back and all of the district leaders were good so we headed to Placentia and eventually all of our companions got there, then we headed back to our areas. We tried some people before we had dinner with the John's. They had a hamster and snake which we had to see of course. After dinner we did some finding and helped Elder Thomas/Sami move a washer. 

Thursday 

In the morning we had district meeting. We picked up Elder Sparto/Dodd. Everyone got there and there was carpet cleaning going on. So we had to change buildings. We stopped by Taco Bell to get some breakfast on the way to the other building. We talked about working with younger people of our wards. They are able to use social media and it is a great benefit. We hit Joe's again before dropping off Elder Sparto/Dodd. We did some finding and picked up dinner from Jeremiah. We gave Jeremiah a blessing before we left then invited him to share his testimony on social media. We were able to see Brother Valencia with the Bishop and we did a stop smoking program with him. 

Friday 

In the morning we got a call after studies, we gave Elder Sparto/Dodd a ride to the mission home. After we went to lunch at Red Robin with the Tongan Elders, we ate about 30 baskets of fries. We went back after and did our weekly planning and Brother Hernandez got us Hong Kong express. We went out and did some finding we met Antonio and taught him the restoration he was fairly accepting. We stopped by Joe's at the end of the night Elders Thomas/Sami and Nelson/Park were there. 

Saturday 

In the morning after studies we went out finding. We were able to see a few people we hit Joe's for lunch. After lunch we continued our finding we had dinner with Bishop Gonzalez at a Mexican place. After dinner we were able to see Jesse and we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We worked on him keeping commitments and set a date for him to work towards. 

Sunday 

In the morning we had church it is in an interesting order, Sacrament meeting is last. We went back and had a small lunch. We had dinner with the Irving family. After dinner we had a pass off lesson cancel. We finished the night stopping by Glenn's to see why he didn't come to church. 

Commitment 

It is interesting to see how when our investigators keep the commitments we extend they change. We invite them to do the simple things that build their faith. As they build their faith it brings them the desire to repent or change. This in turn brings their conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Conversion brings a change into a new creature. 

Mosiah 27:25–26

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;

26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

Repentance sometimes isn't comfortable 

We had dinner with one of the ward leaders this week. After our meal we shared a message with them. After I felt to invite them to start having daily family scripture study and prayer. I had no idea they weren't having it. So I invited them, with some apparent discomfort they committed to start. Repentance isn't painless, we have to undergo some discomfort to feel the joy it brings. 

Love Elder Caleb S. Bailey