However, it's going to be a weird, short one. Because of the change in the
MTC schedule, they've shortened this transfer to five weeks instead of six.
Which also means our missions have been cut down by seven days. 
Hopefully I
can get an extension or something... it's going too fast as is.
Because Friday blew my mind. It shouldn't exist! FRIDAY WAS MY 6 MONTH
MARK!!! NO!!! 
I'm not
quite ready to accept the speed at which it's passing; if it gets any faster
than this, I'll wake up to find myself 80 years old by the end of the month.
At any rate this week had it's ups and downs, but it was overall excellent.
We met a lot with Cami and Josh to keep them excited and ready for the Gift of
the Holy Ghost. They're both doing a lot better. The confirmations were
excellent and the blessings were very very good. It was really cool to help
them progress, and Josh is really turning into a champion.
In other news, we met with Jose this week, and talked a lot about
Missionary work. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to go; and he's not sure if
he'd be able to money-wise. So, I talked about how I got together the funds to
go; in spite of a number of expenses (and unnecessary spending as well.
) and we left
him to read the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon, and asked him to then pray
to find out if he should go. We're still waiting to see what happens, but Elder
Buckmiller and I both know; he's gonna be a GREAT missionary, pretty
soon.
Another awesome story is about CJ; sister Beare's sister. We've been
unable to meet with her for a while now, because she's been ill; but we finally
were able to make it over. And she's been busy. She read all the way through
the Book of Mormon, and through the Doctrine and Covenants up until section 36!
<-- We
could hardly believe our eyes! She didn't understand a whole lot; it was mostly
just burning through it all, but the fact that she's been reading this much is
mind-boggling. We're still working on a way for her to efficiently attend
church; she's rather frail so we'll probably need a wheel-chair, and she's also
mostly deaf, so we must find a way for her to understand the speakers. But, the
Lord will help her find a way anyhow. She's more than ready to be baptized, she
just needs a bit more help getting there.
We ended last week on a truly awesome-possum lesson; we went by to teach
Miguel and Jessica, two contact's we'd only spoken to once. Miguel wasn't
there, but Jessica and her daughter and son were; Anna and Jose. So, we taught the
Plan of Salvation to them, and it was one of the most intense times I've taught
it yet. The spirit was really strong, the mom was even getting a bit emotional,
and her daughter recognized it (which was really really cool!) They accepted a
"soft set" which in missionary speak essentially means "IF you knew this was
true, will you be baptized?" and they committed to read and pray to find that
answer. A cool side note; when we invited them to read, we asked Jose and Anna
if they wanted a copy of the BoM for themselves, and Jose didn't really say
anything but Anna asked if it was in Spanish, because, if it's in Spanish she
can't read it. (So we gave her an English one, which made her happy.) We're
very excited to see where they're going with this!
So, this week is gonna be cool. It'll be sad that Elder Foote is going to
Oxnard and Elder Shurtz is going to Camarillo, but things'll be great! Gotta
go!
Love
Elder Matthew David Clough
