Week 27:  Six-months Done  [January 29, 2018]

This week has been one of the most eventful ones yet! 

Tuesday we had a walk day, which is where we are not allowed to use vehicles until 5:00. It was pretty good. We talked to one guy who seemed interested, but he doesn't live in our area. He said that he sees missionaries all the time though and that he would talk to them. 

Wednesday we went to a library out in Goleta to help one of the members set up his new phone. He told us the wrong library though so we rescheduled to meet the next day. We ended up going by some members in Goleta instead. We went by a lot of potentials and one of them said we could come back this next week. We also went by a less active family and had a fun/awkward visit. Mainly just because it would go from being a lively conversation, to a awkward silence. 

Thursday we went to the correct library to meet our member friend, but for some reason he didn't show up (we found out why on Sunday - the phone ran through the washer). We also got to go to a baptism for someone named Heather in the evening. 

Friday was my 6 month mark! It's crazy to think that I've been here for half a year! We ended up doing a lot of service We started at one school moving desks and then went to an elementary school and raked woodchips and moved sandbags. After this the day was mostly over. We had our district meeting, then went out to Subway with some other elders that came out with me. We went to another baptisim for someone in the YSA named Lili. We then went and celebrated our 6 month mark with the other elders that came out with me. We had some Martinelli's and I may have gotten a little hyper from it. 

Saturday was super busy. We started by having a lesson with Dennis, a former investigator who has interest in meeting with us again. We then ran over to meet with our investigator Kristian. We taught him the plan of salvation, mainly focusing on agency and what we need to do to get to the highest degree of glory. We met with a less active named Peter and read the Book of Mormon with him. We tried by a potential, but with no luck. We met with Art and we shared some scriptures with him. We got transfer calls. Crazy news! We're both being whitewashed out! I'll be heading up to Templeton and Elder Richards will be going to Thousand Oaks. I feel like I haven't spent enough time here in Santa Barbara (definitely when compared to my time in Simi). But I hear Templeton is great. 

Sunday we had a stake conference broadcast. It was pretty good. Elder Christofferson spoke and gave a good talk. We went to say goodbye to a few people. Our ward is not very happy that we're being whitewashed. This is the third time that this ward has been whitewashed in the last 6 months! When we said goodbye to Kristian I had a few embarrassing moments. As we were leaving I opened the door to leave and it turned out to be a bedroom door. I also almost ran into his car . We went by another family to say goodbye and we were just talking in the car for a bit before we got out, and in that time the family got in the car and left. 

That's pretty much it! Hope you all had a great week as well!

Elder Jason Riches