Email: November 19, 2018 - "He in that wolverine stance"

Welcome to those who actually read this. This week was full of some major tender mercies and blessings. Oh, and Elder Mora, while on a split with a member, got threatened by a gun and pepper spray.

To start, here in Lawndale we have struggling to find for a long time now. We have been praying hard and working to find people, but nobody wanted to meet. Well, this past week we were able to find some new people to teach thanks to the Spanish sisters. They have sent 4 people our way and we were able to find one through our own efforts and hopefully another tonight. It feels amazing to have a teaching pool again.

Also, this week I got a sneak peek at some major changes coming to our mission in a couple of weeks. It's going to be crazy.

Also, this week we have moved our studies to the library. It's been a good change. You get some strange people every now and then but that's alright. The biggest struggle is falling asleep. They have some comfy chairs and when the sun hits you it's hard to stay awake 😂

Storytime: On Saturday night we were at our church building syncing our area books when suddenly a car alarm starts going off. I didn't think much of it because I thought it was down the street or something. Turns out the car was in the church parking lot. It belonged to a member of the Spanish congregation, but we didn't know that at the time.

Next thing we know a local couple shows up at the gate to the church and starts telling us that we need to shut the car up or they are going to call the police (they were nice about it though). We had no idea what to do (it had been going for 40 minutes by this point and from what the locals told us it's been going off non-stop every night for a while now) so we call the bishop and he calls the Spanish bishop. We wanted to make sure things got resolved, but it was also 9:15 and we had to get home. So, we left and when we got to church the next day the van was gone. No idea what happened to it

Storytime #2: So, at our sacrament meeting (we have sacrament for 3rd hour) as we were listening to the primary children sing, some members were walking their kids in the hall as some parents do. As they were walking down one of the hallways a rock comes sailing through the glass door at the end of the hall. As they looked, they were able to see a guy riding off on his bike. So, they go and tell one of the bishop’s counselors in the middle of sacrament and he hustles off the stand to check everything out.

Cops show up later. I don't know if they found the guy yet, but we do have a big sheet of wood covering the broken glass. After talking to the ward members, apparently, it's not the first time it's happened.

Just as always, we ended our week by visiting the Mckinzie's and following up on the MMTC. We arrived a bit early because they always make food. Next thing we know the YSA sisters show up, the McCoy's show up and Sister Canale shows up. It felt like family home evening in all honesty. Brother Mckinzie (he was the only guy there besides us) was whipping up food on the grill, everyone was talking and laughing, and then we gave our MMTC training. It left us spiritually filled as always, and it was such an awesome experience to have with them. Most of the pictures this week are us with them.

What I learned this week is there is always an opportunity to serve someone. We often view service opportunities as these big projects when that just isn't the case. Service opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, it just takes a willing heart and mind to recognize and act on them.

And for those concerned, my ankle is doing much better.

-Elder Barton