We've Got Missionary Spirit!

Hey! So ya, Laguna Beach is like the best place on earth. I could definitely see myself living here! 

I will give you the skinny on our ward. There are like 500 members but only 200-300 active which is not to bad. the most insane thing is the fact that a fair number of converts into the church come from the youth inviting in their friends. My mission pres told me I am in the most mission oriented ward -- probably in the whole church. In our ward council meeting I was shocked at how much the ward cares about helping bring back the less actives and fellowshipping the recent converts. Our ward mission leader, Brother Dunning is like the best human being ever!!! We sat down with him and just figured out the best way to help all of our investigators. 

We have 3 progressing investigators, Alexis, Don, Zach and Morgan (brother and sister to a recent convert, Michelle). Alexis is super close to being baptized. She reads the BOM a lot and loves it. She was a big Bible person and loves the plan of salvation. Our last lesson with her went amazing! She had a bit of a problem with the concept of there being a modern prophet cause she felt that it's scary having one person that we follow and not God. But we explained that even though the prophet is at the top of our church, Christ is still the leader. She went into the bishop's office this week and hopfully he will clear up any last fears that she has with being baptized.

Don will be baptized soon. He has a daughter who is dying of cancer and he is waiting for her to die before he goes through with it. He loves the church and he wants us to give his daughter a blessing....YIKES. Like that is going to be the hardest thing in the world, bless someone who knows that she is going to die.

And Zach and Morgan are a crazy long story.

My companion Elder Hancock is way cool. He is a very good teacher. I am his 5th trainee so he has been around the block. He's from Gilbert, Arizona and he is a huge ASU fan. Also he has been out for a year and a half. We don't do a whole lot of door to door but every now and then we go out and do street contacting which is scary and kinda fun. We meet so many cool people and we also get super shot down. So that just sucks.

Our apartment is a casita that one of the members owns and it is tiny. It's a one room kitchenette and bathroom place (it does have a fireplace so that's like awesome). But ya everything is going awesome. I am loving the work and am really enjoying reading the BoM. I am in Alma right now and it is awesome. I haven't had much time to take pictures but I will send some home next week. You will be blown away by the sunsets out here.

Well, till next week I love you all and keep praying for our investigators.

Some pics from the California Irvine Mission Facebook Page