First of all, let me just say, that being a missionary is AWESOME! There are so many blessings that the Lord bestows upon us, and we are not even always fully aware of what He does. This week, however, we are fully aware of what he's done. He has helped Lily progress through the midst of trials and hardships.
Lily has an aunt that is not exactly fond of our Church. We presume that she has been asking Lily a lot of controversial questions about our beliefs (Mary-Virgin birth, Jesus suffered in Garden or on Cross, etc.) because Lily, out-of-the-blue asked us those things. In our last lesson with her, we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and afterwards Lily told us about how her mom is OK with her being baptized because she knows that Lily has the right to be a member of any church that she wants, however she is a little disappointed about how soon Lily has decided to join. Lily is determined to press forward regardless of what her family thinks, and be baptized on August 10th. Her biggest concern is whether or not her family will join the church.
We had an Investigator Fireside provided by the Ventura Stake Presidency last night, and both Lily and Fernando attended. Lily brought up her desire for her family to get baptized, and the ward and those that were there explained that she will be an example of righteousness in her family. A member told her that when she joined the church, her father was very against it. But after 30 years of her being in the church, he now respects the church. Lily was comforted by their stories and she knows what she needs to do. Fernando has been doing well too. He has changed so much from when we first met him. He doesn't feel ready to receive the Priesthood, but he's going to Young Men's and I bet he'll get it soon. Oh, Lily and Fernando are both 16 by the way. Lily's baptism will be a perfect way to end the transfer.
This morning, the district went to the top of some hills by the ocean here in Ventura, and we all saw the famous San Buenaventura Cross. Today we decided to have a little more "relaxed" p-day and so we are doing some tourist activities, going to the mall, playing a light game of dodgeball, fun stuff.
There's been some BEAUTIFUL sunsets here, so I've got a few pictures of that...we were also riding our bikes and came across a squashed opossum in the road...haha, just random things.
One of our investigators, Bud, is a 74 year-old man and he's a Seventh-Day Adventist. He invited us into his home Friday night and he has an AWESOME game room. He had so many arcade games, pool table, mini bowling alley, just some cool stuff. He also had a jukebox and some speakers from the 50's in his house. It was pretty cool.
I can't believe that this week is the last week of the transfer, and that it's been 14 months since I've left! Wow...I'll talk to you all next week!
Elder Harper
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