Service Brings Blessings

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day, and a

wonderful week in general. It was a great week here in Ojai.

We won't talk about how many outtakes it took to get one picture with

both of us in the air! (Valentine's socks courtesy of Mom.)

Mom's sidenote-Don't know why her socks look orange.  They are black, with pink hearts.

Casual Valentines day pictures. The "all black" look was necessary.

Ojai is such a quirky little town. I love it so much. So many crazy

hippies. It is awesome! I wish I could capture all of it in pictures

and words, but they will never do this town justice.

The style, the trees, the mountains. Ojai can really grow on you.

 Ojai, CA, everyone.

A lot of our investigators have been really sick lately, which has

made it hard. S. is still doing great. There is still more

waiting to be done, but there is progress on that front, something we

haven't seen for a while. Hopefully things will move along more

quickly now! This week, we were also able to have an INCREDIBLE member

present lesson with our investigator M.A. and one of the new ward

missionaries, Sister P, for short. M.A. can have a really hard time

comprehending things some times, but Sister P was able to go in there,

and help her understand so much, from Prophets to the Plan of

Salvation. It was such an incredible lesson, and M.A. was so engaged

and happy to be learning. It was an incredible experience. I hope that

with more member help we will be able to help her progress. Other than

that, though, Ojai is still Ojai. It is such a weird quirky little

place. I love it so much!

One thing we did have a lot of this week was service! We were able to

help investigators, members, and potential investigators with all

kinds of things this week. Sometimes, it felt a bit like spinning

wheels, but it is worth it. On a day where, without us planning it, we

had felt like we spent our whole day doing service, I felt

discouraged, and like we weren't going to help anyone progress that

way. I went home and picked up and old journal, and the paper that

President gave us when they first announced the service program fell

out. It talked about how Christ served, and if we were his hands,

should we not do the same? It made me realize that we are really

making a difference, and that this is what the Lord wants us to be

doing. Service is really a blessing to the people, and the

missionaries.

The things you find on peoples doorsteps. Hope they are okay we took

a picture with it! Some opportunities just can't be passed up!

Last week, the Ventura Stake center looked like a scene straight out

of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Still slightly scared for my life.

I love this work. I love Ojai. Time is going way too fast if you ask me.

I can not BELIVE it is already week 4 of this transfer! What

happened?? MAKE IT STOP!

Anyway, I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

Hermana Courtney Miller.