Email: October 14, 2019 - "This is a safety issue and they'll have to call the fire department... Let's see how they like that! "

This is a savage comment that our finance manager Elder Hayes told us when we let him know that we weren't getting any gas in our apartment. They wanted to make sure it wasn't leaking and that we weren't getting wrecked by carbon monoxide either. Turns out the mission just forgot to pay the gas bill.

We also talked to a fun guy on the street who knows Danny Trejo, he claims he is bigger than him so he called himself Big Machete.

This week was pretty exciting we did 2 exchanges, had zone conference, and oh, there is a fire (again) going on just north of us.

First the exchange on Wednesday. I went with Elder Jones to the Spanish area for the day, we had district council in the morning, finished my plan in the afternoon and hit the grind in the evening. We set an appointment with a family that used to be taught and had an awesome conversation with a guy named George who was really feeling the spirit as we bore testimony about the restoration. Following that we had 2 lessons where I didn't understand a single word and that was the whole night right there. 

On Friday we had zone conference which was awesome! It was all about continuing discipleship throughout our missions and keeping the Sabbath day holy, super good and relevant stuff for when I get home. The fires also started late Thursday evening so at zone conference they discussed the possibility of evacuation with the zone leaders. I'm staying out here in NoHo (North Hollywood) but some missionaries moved apartments due to smoke. 

We are kind of in a sweet spot here in NoHo. We got the fires to the north and another fire to the south east near east LA, but the smoke hasn't been super bad here. 

On exchanges Saturday with our zone leaders they sent a message that they wanted the missionaries to limit their time outside and to buy mask if possible but, like I said, we are in a sweet spot so we were out all day with no mask on because there was no smoke. 

We had a super eventful day as we were able to get the phone numbers of 6 people and taught 3 people the restoration as they were waiting for the bus. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to grinding like that every day for the rest of my mission. 

That's it for this week. I had a realization that I need to start sending stuff home before it's too late so it's essentially time to start downsizing. 

Lastly, I got my plane ticket this past week. I will be landing at the Salt Lake City airport at 12:52pm Wednesday, November 13th for anyone who would like to be there

Take it easy and enjoy the moments! 

-Elder Barton

Elder Ramirez and I with Big Machete

Good advice from a wall

A random well