Week 16: No more being a teenager...Elder Dusara's birthday

Elder Dusara' s birthday was this past week and he doing a wonderful job in Camarillo as he awaits his visa to New Delhi India.

Camarillo continues to bless me with sunny skies and 85 degrees.  This town is still confusing to me but I'm slowly getting it down. We are blessed to have a 2014 Toyota Corolla to drive around in with AC.  There's a nice outlet mall close by an ill be visiting there today. This Wednesday I'll be going to the LA Temple for my birthday.

My companion and I are learning more and more from each other each and every day. We are starting to see us teach in unity better and better. He has been in this area for 3 months so he knows the streets very well.

We had a lesson over the phone with Joe and it went really well. He understood everything that we had to say. We were able to teach him about temples, baptism, and the second coming. He's off smoking so he's on pace to make his date of August 15th for his baptism. We already started planning out his program.

For service this week we trimmed some bushes and pulled some weeds. Then on Thursday we helped out at the Pioneer party at the stake center by running the concession stand. There was free popcorn, soda, and candy. I was in charge with pouring soda. It was a lot of fun. SERVICE IS FUN!

No pictures to show this week...sorry

Week 15: First week in Camarillo

My new address is 1563 Flynn Rd #5307 Camarillo, CA 93012 My new apartment is really nice. It has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We have a gym on the complex that we walk to every morning. this place was voted #2 best weather in the nation. It's so perfect.

My companion is Elder Snyder and he's from Millad, Idaho. He'd been out for about 1 year now. He's also the district leader. We live in the same apartment as the zone leaders.

My area isn't as big as Templeton but it's more condensed. There's about 60,000 people that live here in Camarillo. I help cover the 2nd and 3rd ward. I'm still trying to figure out the names of the families and separating them into which ward they are in. There's a lot of work to be done here. We are in the "rebuilding stage" of our teaching pool.

I'm still adjusting to this new awesome place. One miracle that happened is we had a less at the church building with an investigator and Brother Bowl was able to be there as well. Joe has a baptismal date for August 15th. We shared the Mormon message "Hope in Gods light", then gave him an overview of the lessons. Finally we showed him the font and what will happen the day of his baptism. His wife and kids were baptized earlier this year. He's a truck driver so he's on the road for 3 weeks at a time. the next time that he will be in town is the day before his baptism.

We did service for a potential investigator by helping him put some panels back in his 2006 Audi A6. I'm excited to hasten the work in this area and to meet the amazing members in both the wards.

The photo below is of elder Dusara with Jerry and Marissa Santiago.  They used to be in our ward here in WA but were visiting family near Camarillo.  Great to see the connection made on Sunday.

Jerry and Marissa Santiago w elder Dusara

Week 14: Elder Dusara gets transferred to Camarillo

So I found out that I'm getting transferred to Camarillo on Tuesday. I hear it's a really pretty area. I'm sad to leave the Templeton ward. I'm excited for a fresh start in a new area. My new companion will be Elder Snyder. He served In Templeton just 4 months ago. I'm sure we will have a lot to talk about.

My companion is getting transferred to the Lompoc area. I'm gonna miss Elder Summers.

Today we are playing basketball with a couple less actives from my ward. Jason Hill and Steven Mosley. They are both awesome people. Jason invited me to come back after the mission to go to Magic Mountain with him. Also Steven in from Tacoma, Washington so we have a lot to talk about. I continue to see that both of them have a growing desire to have the gospel to be a bigger part in their lives. It's just amazing to see the progression that they've made the past month or so. 

Also Elizabeth Cripps got baptized into the Paso 1st ward on Saturday. It was amazing to see because I was one of the missionaries that first started teaching her. She was the definition of a "golden investigator". She had already read through all the lessons before we even taught her. She also blew through the entire Gospel Principles book in a month. I know I'll share her story with everyone I meet because it's truly amazing. Oh and by the way her dad is a baptist minister.

This past week we did service for Cowboy Larry and of course he took us out to eat after. On Friday he celebrated his 80th birthday so I bought him a gift card to in-n-out burger and a card from Duck Dynasty that said " Work hard, Nap hard". He absolutely loved it. Cowboy Larry is going to put that card to use by taking us out for lunch at In-N-Out. 

Templeton, it's been fun, but God be with you until we meet again.

A bday pic with Cowboy Larry

Week 13: City Slicker does more service

Transfers are coming up on the 12th so please don't send anything until I find out if I'm getting transferred. Last week we had a zone activity where we played basketball and ultimate. It was a lot of fun to play sports with the other missionaries. I also went shopping at the Shoe Palace which is basically Champs sports on steroids. I did a little it of some early birthday shopping.

My companion and I are getting a long great. We've had some really good lessons with investigators because of it. 

For service we helped Cowboy Larry pick some plums. He calls me a "city slicker' because I'm not used to this kind of service. But Cowboy was kind enough to give us elders expired milk for our apartment. We threw it away once we got back just to be safe. We also chopped wood at the Masons and washed 3 of their cars. I took a picture with their family because they were kind enough to make me a birthday brownie cake and sing to me. 

We had a less active member come to church with his non-member wife yesterday. The husband was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. Him and I click very well. Plus we are both Seahawks fans We have a dinner and a lesson with them this Wednesday. This couple has so much potential. If I could be here for one more transfer to help teach them I know that I could help them have a better understanding of the gospel.  This was the biggest miracle that I've seen in my entire mission. I can't wait to see where this will go.

The weather this past week has been sunny and 90s. All is well in Templeton.. All is well!

LeBron who?

Early bday treat

Mason family