Happy 4th!

Hellllloooo everyone! Hope the 4th was great! We had an awesome ward

picnic in the morning, which included Hermana Eames getting smashed

with a couple of water balloons. It was priceless. We had to be in by

7 that night, which was a bummer, but if you stood on the bed on the

third floor of our apartment, you could see the fireworks at Port

Hueneme. So I was happy. (Okay, I was acting like a five year old, but

that is a different story.)

#MURICA

Oxnard is great. We focused a lot on Less Actives this week, and saw a

lot of success with that. Bishop has asked us to really focus on

helping and strengthening the members, and so that will be a focus

this week. Most of our investigators were out of town or really busy

for the fourth, and the few that weren't moved out of our area this

week. These kind of weeks happen, but we are excited to hit the ground

running again this week. I am so grateful for the chance to serve here

in Oxnard, though. It is such an awesome area. The people here are so

open to our message, and are so willing to listen. It is great. Even

the people that we talk to on the street are generally willing to at

least hear some of our message, and for that I am so grateful. It has

been a good week for growing and learning more about how to most

effectively work in this area. The majority of our members live with

non-members, or have close friends who are interested in learning

more, so as we go forward working with members this week, we are

excited to see what is to come.

This week I have been studying a lot about enduring, and strength. I

think as missionaries we all have weeks where it would be easier to

just "not" or to just live under our potential, but that is not what

Heavenly Father wants us to do. I was able to find a lot of strength

in the scriptures, and Jesus The Christ this week that has helped me

to persevere, and keep going with more strength than I had before. As

I have studied more about the final days of Christ's life, and about

what he went through, I have found so much more strength and had an

increased desire to be my best every day. I am excited for the

upcoming weeks, and what they have to bring. I know we will see

miracles. They aren't always tangible, but they are always there.

I love being a missionary. I love this work. I love California.

Life is good.

Stay awesome.

Hermana Courtney Miller