So Monday was crazy but not at the same time. The first part of the morning consisted of just moving all my stuff, helping Elder Dicus pack up the remainder of his things and seeing him off with Elder Twelves. Then started my companionship with Elder Bangerter. Ohhh he is quite the character and we are already friends talking about how after the mish I will be invited to go boating with him and his family and that I simply must try his mom's home made giant Belgian waffles. So after I was basically settled the rest of P-day went on without much stress or to do. We were going to go over to Chuck Stapel's house/workshop to finish up the knives that Elder Tovey and Bangerter started (Chuck makes knives for a living. Awesome ones. Like the type that are in movies. For example. The Disney worlds that have the swords in the stone, yep. All made by him. Hopefully I'll get one). That evening we had a member dinner. It was just like eating back at home with a very americanized roast. To my surprise though we had a few Armenian contacts on the street that invited us to come back and visit. I guess I'll still be doing Armenian work afterall!
Tuesday was very busy as well. We had a lesson flake on us after we already had a almost less active member come drive up from Hollywood. So we just had a lesson with him instead. He was a super cool guy who works on movie productions and such. By the time the kid actually showed up we had to leave for Arcadia to pick up some new missionaries for the rest of the day. We got two. Elder Su from Taiwan and Elder Maybe from Sandy Utah. Fortunately for the first part of the evening we were able to stay together for the appointments with us four. But later in the evening after a dinner with the bishop of the family ward, we had to split up to cover the lessons. So Elder Maybe and I went off to try and navigate. I never realized how small of an area that Elder Dicus and I covered for the time we were together. So lets just say most of the night was driving around, being lost and not sure where we were downtown LA. In those times I just wanted my iphone again! "Siri, I'm lost. Help!...Recalculating." So finally we called in some directions and found our way into the area where some people lived... who weren't even home. Elder Maybe was a good sport though and he wasn't complaining that we were just driving around. But it just kind of turned out to be a dud of a night unfortunately.
Wednesday morning we dropped the missionaries off in Arcadia again and went off to GCC for the afternoon. Gotta love being able to just astound people on that campus. Unannounced to them that I can understand what they say when they talk about us running a religious booth. Very funny and cool to see their reactions when I join in on their conversations. After a few hours we had to split again for two lessons that were about to happen at the same time. i went with the recent convert Khoa and Bangerter went with one of the Senior missionaries who run the institute. Our lesson went pretty well. It is difficult to teach in English again. things get so complicated. But the guy we were meeting with wanted an answer last sunday so we addressed that and he said he was leaning more towards the church that he grew up in because he didn't feel a bucket of warm fuzzies to come over him to show him the way. But after some good explanation and personal experience from us two he understood it will take time to receive the answer he wants and hopes to find through meeting with us. The rest of the evening consisted more of trying by members in particular areas to become more acquainted with the families and individuals in our wards. Neither Elder Bangerter or I really know anyone in the ward so we need to change that to get work done. For dinner we had a member feed us green pasta and some steak! It is some south american dish and it was pretty good. the sauce was a spinich sort of thing and turned out pretty good! Too bad I didn't take a picture.
Thursday was District meeting. Our district is big now that our zone got rid of one district an made it only two. We have a new Sister and a new Elder who is awaiting a visa to Brazil. Odd to not be with Elder Dicus. We met up with Melinda later that day. We picked her up as an investigator in the singles ward since there is now an Armenian speaking missionary working in the ward! She is doing really well. Just has to come to church and read consistently. That night was full of lessons. First was with Trea and Natalie. She is a less active coming back in light of her new baby boy Daniel. Trea is just like my old investigator Mike in the fact he doesn't like to be talked serious to and he has a very short attention span in regards to being taught a lesson. But I really connected with him and we were able to set a date with him to be baptized on June 30. But we know it will take a lot to get him there. Next lesson was Forest and Gina. Gina is the Bulgarian girlfriend and Forest the 6'8" member from Hawaii. She is doing awesome and we have a solid date with her on June 9.
Friday busier than usual. We met with one of our other investigators Ervin who is Armenian but speaks good enough English to talk to him that way. And yes he is a typical Armenian business man who just wants to make money and he talks a lot and doesn't really want to listen. He tried to tell us that he isn't going to read anymore but we convinced him other wise that he needs to. Following that we had a lesson with this kid names Wells who has been to basiclaly all the religions. He knows his stuff pretty well and asks some pretty deep stuff. He is kinda spacy but he is really interested in finding out what is real because he is finding out that some things just don't make sense in other churches. Finally we had a dinner with my recent convert Anthony who is doing awesome and is flying through the scriptures and is getting ready to receive the priesthood. He is just a stud and is super funny.
Saturday we had our second annual free car wash! But it wasn't quite as successful even though we still got 4 tours of the church building. The afternoon we decided to organize the area a little more to make it easier to split up the people we visit in areas. Nothing too interesting happened. We made dinner ourselves consisting of refried beans, pasta roni, chicken, and canned fruit. Delicious :) We got kind of distracted visiting people and went on an investigation on what this massive cathedral looking building was in Glendale. Found out it was part of Forest Lawn which is a super nice cemetery and the building was a mausoleum. Which is seriously MASSIVE. the whole place is beautiful and you can just imagine it takes more than just an arm and a leg to be buried on the grounds. But we got some great pictures from that. After we got back on track we visited this less active family whose kids haven't been baptized. They are an awesome familiy and the older daughter hasn't even been baptized and she is 17! We set up something with them in the next few weeks so we will see where that goes.
Sunday was different that is for sure. We had a meeting with the stake presidency as Zone leaders and our mission president was there and we gave a report on the zone and baptisms and such and got to give input on things and hear all the official business that goes on with the stake. it was awesome to be there. I felt important sitting around that big conference table. Then we had to rush off to 2nd ward church where Gina and our 7th ward investigator, Chris, came. It was awesome. And sure enough as my first sunday they introduced me and on top of that I taught the gospel principles lesson. With not much time inbetween we then had to attend the 7th ward meetings. It was a little mixed up because Owen could only stay for an hour so we went to another ward sacrament before he left. And then Elder bangerter and i had to go teach another gospel principles lesson. just so busy!! It was weird being in a singles ward. I'm just used to at most 30 ish people in the chapel and they all are basically shorter than me. After a busy day at church we had a dinner with another member who was really helpful in telling us some people that we could visit and stuff to get to know people better. After yesterday I definitely needed a P-day.
So that is my week. Not too much but enough to keep me busy. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder DeBry
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