Monday, March 2, 2015

Awesome week!


First things first.

Rain, clouds, wind and SNOW! I literally can't... Before everyone freaks
out, it was just in the mountains, but it was the first thing I saw
when I rolled out of bed Sunday morning. I literally freaked out and
screamed. Hermana Miller thought something was dying. There are
pictures though, no worries. It had been so long since I had seen snow
though, it was a really exciting event!
SNOOOOWWWW! (Okay, so there is like none of it, but when you're in
Southern California, you take what you can get!)

Ojai is crazy awesome. I can't handle it. We have seen so many crazy
miracles this week. Our investigator F. FINALLY accepted a
baptismal date. This has only been coming for about 3 transfers. He
has been able to be clean for about 3-4 months now, and has been
progressing incredibly, but he would not accept baptism. He thought
that his baptism in another church was enough, and he didn't need to
change. This week we went over, and pulled out the Gospel of Jesus
Christ pamphlet, and he said, oh yeah, the baptism one. (We had tried
to go over it a couple times. It didn't really end very well.) We
talked a lot about baptism, and how that by doing it with the
Priesthood Authority he would be making a covenant with God. He sat
there for a while, and then said, well, then I think I need to be
baptized. WHAT?! I was trying to act cool, but I probably looked like
an idiot. I was so happy! He accepted March 28th as a date, and we are
SO excited to work towards that date with him. Talk about a 180 flip.
It is incredible. One of our other crazy miracles this week was with a
random phone call we got Monday night. The man calling identified
himself as a member who lives in Salt Lake, but who used to live in
Ojai many years ago. He told us one of his friends who lives here had
told him he wanted to go church, and learn more. He gave us his
number, and we called Tuesday morning. The man said he was for sure
interested, and we set up an appointment for Saturday. We went by
Saturday morning with one of our ward missionaries. It was such an
incredible lesson. He really does want to learn more, and said he
wants to "figure out whats the truth in this life. I don't want to
have to be searching after I am dead and gone. I want to know now."
Incredible. We talked a little about the Restoration, and the BOM and
he is going to read this week. We talked about church, and he said he
had only two concerns. 1) "Do I have to wear a real tie, or can I wear
a Bolo tie? The whole tie thing just isn't me." and 2) "Can I ride my
motorcycle to church?" He is a riot. He had plans yesterday, but is
planning to come next week. He and the ward missionary hit it off, and
we are excited to work with them to help him progress. Such a crazy
miracle. We saw so many others this week as well, from Less Actives
coming back into town, and us being able to help them, to working with
members, and everything it was such an awesome week. Sorry this is
forever long, it has just been one of those weeks. I love it!
The forever cutie, and amazing cook, la Hermana S.

We were able to have a lot of different service opportunities this
week. It was great. One of the neatest has been with a Less Active who
just got back into town after being gone for over a month. While she
was gone her roommate and close friend passed away,
and she has had a hard time coping with that. We were able to go over
a few times this week though, and help her move his things out of the
house, do some yard work, and to visit and bring words of consolation.
Last night, we really felt impressed that we should go over and visit
her, knowing how her week had been. We stopped by and one of the first
things she said is that we were an answer to her prayers. She had been
wanting to call, but felt like she didn't want to be a burden, since
we had spent so much time helping her that week. She had prayed,
however, that if we had any time, maybe we could stop by, and there we
were. Such a cool experience. When we follow the promptings of the
Spirit, we will ALWAYS be where we need to be.

I have been reminded so much this week of Ether 12:18:
"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their
faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God."
We washed, sanded, and painted all of these in under 2 hours. Impressive, right?

We have been able to see first hand that as we remind ourselves whose
work we are doing, we really do see miracles. This week has been so
crazy, and I know it is because we as a companionship have been trying
to put more focus on the Savior. It's awesome. (I feel like I have
said that a lot in this email. It's because it really is just that
awesome.)

As week 6 of this transfer comes, I am really hoping my time here in
Ojai isn't done. We will have to see what happens, though. I just love
this place so much! I love you all, and hope you can have an awesome,
miracle filled week as well!
A beautiful day in Ojai

Just another view from our morning hike. (Okay, walk, but hike makes
it sound cooler, okay?)

Love ya!


Hermana Courtney Miller

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