Email: December 18, 2018 - Did you think I wasn't going to email?

Elders, brothers, sisters, young, old, married or single welcome one and all to Elder Barton's weekly email.

If I could describe this week in one word it would be: WHACK

First of all, let me explain why this is coming in on a Tuesday. Since our mission president is so busy literally every day, he had to schedule our zone interviews on the first Monday of the transfer (yesterday) so our P-day got moved to today. But when Monday rolled around, our mission president woke up sick and didn't want to get us sick, so he canceled our interviews, but our P-day still remained on Tuesday.

Let me tell you knocking on doors on a Monday morning is super ineffective. Literally, nobody was home all day.

Now let's get back to the crazy first week of the transfer.

So, my new companion is Elder Kim and he is from Korea. His call is for Korean speaking, but he is in the English program right now and has been out for 8 months. He is AWESOME. He is funny, hardworking and if there is a Korean, he can talk to them.

I am the senior companion, but I am no longer a district leader. When the zone leaders gave us the transfer news, they told me I would be the district leader. When I got up to the new area the zone leaders here told me that I actually wasn't, so I was very confused. Turns out, I'm not, which is kind of bittersweet, but at least I have free time at night now.

I am in the same zone with Elder Terry again, which is awesome. I love seeing him serve and watching him as a missionary because is he an amazing missionary.

The San Fernando Valley.... what a place. It honestly feels a lot like Utah here, more specifically St. George, but I got a lot of Mapleton vibes in some of these neighborhoods here in Northridge. The best part though, there are actually trees here. All of this put together has been making me a bit homesick, but I'll be ok.

The ward mission leader here in the Northridge ward used to be the first counselor in the San Fernando Mission presidency so he knows what he is doing. The work in Northridge supposedly has been slow lately, but on our second day here, Elder Kim and I found 2 new people to teach and are on track to find 2 more this week.

Cool miracle of the week. On my first day here in Northridge,

the bishop sent us some info for a new move in. So, like good missionaries, Elder Kim and I went to visit so we could report back to the bishop. The person we were looking for wasn't there, but we met the in-home nurse named Lupe. She was willing to hear us out and set a time to go back the next day. So, we went back taught her and now she is a new friend!

So, story time, we live with Northridge YSA elders and we live 1 block away from the CSUN campus. Well apparently, some students on CSUN found some notes in different buildings around campus saying there was going to be a shooting on Dec. 12th (this was also finals week). The night of Dec. 11th we got a call from the APs asking how comfortable we felt. To sum it up, we were told to pack a lunch tomorrow and avoid campus and our apartment as much as possible and to not return until late in the evening. So, we were on edge all day, but fortunately, nothing happened. Probably someone wanted to get out of their final or something.

And finally, as icing on the cake. Our apartment has black mold 👍

This week had been an absolute roller coaster of feelings and emotions. But at the end of the day, everything works out. Elder Kim and I are working hard and having so much fun as we have been doing it. We definitely have our work cut out for us, but I have no doubt that we will measure to the challenges we got.

I have been studying a lot about Jesus Christ and his life and one thing that has stood out to me is the spirit of discernment and how often Jesus Christ was able to discern the thoughts and feelings of others. As a missionary, this is so important for us, and it is something I pray for and strive to have every day. I also got thinking about how we as members can have it, whether it is making a big decision or finding just the right way to minister to our ministering families. It shows how much our Heavenly Father knows us and loves that he will inspire others of his children to know exactly how to help us.

If you are in need of inspiration, ask in your prayers for the spirit of discernment and it will bring new knowledge to your mind

I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic week!

-Elder Barton