Sunday, August 4, 2013

Week 29 (7/1-7/8)

 Happy belated 4th of July! What a great week it has been. To be in such a wonderful place as California. I have to admit it is growing on me. But I still can't stand the heat. But I'm getting better. Hopefully one day I don't hate the cold! But this week was a lot of fun. Hard work. But fun as usual. 
     Monday evening after many P-day adventures we got to teach the recent convert Kenny and help him feel more prepared to share the gospel. Although it was hard to focus when I could just feel sweat dripping off my face and look over to see Elders Griffits and Mendoza feeling the same way. SO HOT! The one bad thing about this week was that so many people were out of town so we just had to try by a bunch of people to see that they weren't home. 
     Tuesday we had Zone Leader Council in Arcadia with the assistants and our mission President. For most of the meeting we talked about accountability and how our zones don't feel the pressure of being accountable like we do and what we could do to change that. For us it is never fun to stand up in front of President and tell him and the other zones that we didn't reach our zone goal for baptisms... But it was a super good meeting and It is funny to compare english and spanish work to Armenian work. Which is so drastically different. Even though I'm not in the group anymore I still feel like I have to represent them mainly. But after the meeting we got to have dinner with Gina and Forest who are doing super well and I gotta say, even though he is a giant and super goofy, Forest has the biggest heart and really wants to try and do the right things. Hard to explain but he is just a boss. Next we had a lesson with K which turned into Khoa's lesson unfortunately because he just kind of took over. I had forgotten why we just use him as a finding tool. Love him. But he is still a baby in the gospel and needs to let us teach the lessons. But K is doing super good and progressing towards his date in a little less than two weeks. 
     Wednesday we actually got to meet up with the girl from GCC who has stood us up twice already. Unfortunately it was a very short visit to only find she isn't super interested. Oh well. We ended up celebrating Elder Twelves' birthday for lunch and went to this sweet hawaiian burger place which really did a good job at making me want to go surfing. The rest of the day wasn't super special. We had some investigator drop us, we broke our phone, and then at the end of the day we had a one on one lesson with Trea. He is such a family man and just wants to be with his family. He just needs to find an answer to help him know that it is true. Then we found out that Natalie's Grandma has been declining in health and that we needed to go give her a blessing. The next day she was doing better and being able to hold down small amounts of food. 
     Thursday was Zone Training when we got to relay the things we learned in council with President. Elder Mendoza was super nervous because his English. But it went well. Felt like I taught most of it but we got the zone to participate and so that is always good right?  So after our meeting we got the usual Armenian food from the Deli and had Elders Mendoza, Griffitts and Jewel to try Tawn. Which is this Armenian yogurt soda drink. Some people hate it and some love it. I'm not a huge fan of it. first time I drank it I almost gagged. But the expressions on peoples faces when they try it is hilarious and then they spit it out or look like they will be sick. And because it was the 4th, no one was home. So the day really went without much even after that besides In n' out for dinner and it soundling like a war zone in our neighborhood when we got home that night. It was crazy loud. Not sure if they were just fireworks or what but it was something we don't have in Salt Lake! 
     Friday was usual. Had a solid lesson with Anthony to teach him about Patriarchal blessings then had a get together with the ward missionaries from the singles ward and made pizza that Khoa set up. it was a lot of fun actually. We got to start getting to know the ward missionaries which is helpful so they can help us more. Then was weekly planning which helped us realize we are slowing down in how much work we have. Which is never good. We just haven't been able to get into the rhythm of things in the singles ward yet so that is frustrating. Just so different than the group and a regular family ward. But it is good in the fact that it is making me step out of my comfort zone and talking to people more. Not that I don't but I'm still kinda shy sometimes. So that helps! 
     Saturday was a pretty good day. We had an early lesson with Andreas and ended up teaching his mom as well who is still recovering from her back surgery. Still can't understand half of what she says. Mostly because it legit doesn't make sense. We attempted to meet up with K but his friend that was going to drive him bailed/forgot and so he was going to have to take the bus for an hour so we just rescheduled for yesterday after church. We didn't have many member dinners this week so we got to relax a bit at the apartment before heading back out to try more people. We stopped by Trea and Natalies again but ended up they were at the grandmas house so we went there and met the rest of the family who were in town to see their mom/grandma. Which was cool. We invited them to church and found out that Trea's youngest daughter, really wants to learn about the church and come. 
     Sunday was super long. Fast sundays always are but go by super fast... weird. So in the family ward it was awesome. Natalie and Kaylee came to sacrament with little Daniel and they all really liked it. Also they got to see Zach and Sean get confirmed at that time and I was invited to stand in the circle which is always super cool. It was just a really good sunday. Next in singles ward we had four non members show up to church which was crazy and super fun getting everyone involved. And not to mention to have one of them bear their testimonies was awesome. Then there was the linger longer which was delicious and I got to meet more people from the ward before we went and taught K with Pat. He is so ready to be baptized. He shares all these experiences when he feels it and has cool things happen. He's a stud. A stud from Thailand! Then we had to seriously race to dinner all the way downtown LA at the edge of our boundry with a member who we had already canceled on a few weeks ago and they kinda complained so we couldn't be late. But they were super cool. So much food though. i didn't have room for ice cream if that puts it into perspective. Then we had a bomb lesson with Trea and kaylee at their house. Super willing to learn and make the steps to baptism. 

So overall kind of a slow week from the holiday but it was fun. Miss you all. Hope you had a great week! 

Elder DeBry

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