Van Nuys--The Ghetto

Man what a week it's been! We had a really good week this week. It's was transfer week too so we had a lot of missionaries that needed help with their apartments and bikes and luggage and stuff but it all went really smoothly.  Hopefully this next transfer will be a good one for the zone.  Things are slowly starting to get moving here in the zone.  We set a goal of three baptisms for the zone this month, but we haven't had one yet and we are looking at only two for the whole zone going through this month ,but it should be a really good month in April.  We have a lot of dates that should go through.  

That makes me so happy to here that Tim Taylor is the new stake president! I was kind of bummed to hear that President Hall was getting released, but when I heard that is was Tim Taylor I was so happy! He'll do great! It sounds like your doing really well in your calling dad! Same with you mom! 

So we found out who our new mission president is going to be! His name is President Henrie and he is living in Park City right now.  He'll get here on June 29th.  With him coming in there will be over one hundred  missionaries who go home within the transfer before and two transfers after he comes in. So he'll be working with a lot of new missionaries. That also means a lot of missionaries who are staying after the transfer in August will be in leadership, and that means a lot of releases are coming, so I'll probably get released either this upcoming transfer or the one after that, and hopefully I can train for the last couple of transfers of my mission. I still have trained anyone my whole mission and I really want too.

As for the progress of the work in our area, things are moving along really really well.  I am thinking i told you last week that we taught Claudia the word of wisdom. She has been off of coffee ever since then! It has been a miracle for her.  We taught her again this week about keeping the sabbath and she loved it.  At the end of the lesson I gave her a tithing pamphlet to read and she flipped out at us.  She told us that she would not be able to pay tithing, especially with the small amount of money she has.  We taught her and bore testimony to her that God would provide a way for her just like he did with coffee, but she wouldn't have any of it.  Surprisingly, while she was yelling at us both us and our member were really calm and all three of us felt the spirit hard core that this was supposed to happen.  She was angry, but we said a prayer and left.  Needless to say she won't be able to make her baptismal date for this coming week, unless she commits to live it.  She told us before we left that she didn't want to ever talk about it again.  She came to church though on Sunday and wanted to talk to bishop about it. We are going to try and set up an interview for her on Tuesday since that is usually when he is available.  She'll get there eventually.  

Lloyd Tackwell came to church too, and the sacrament meeting this Sunday was very uplifting. We had two recently married byu students speak and it was awesome.  Lloyds date has been dropped as well.  We weren't able to meet with him, and he rescheduled for next Sunday. Yesterday was very stressful. Well it was just the morning that was stressful trying to get our investigators to church.  Shemal and Stacy didn't end up coming because the car seat that they were going to use for their daughter was taken in there roommate’s car.  We had a ride for them worked out and they called us last minute. They were really bummed they couldn't come to church.  They had been looking forward to it all week.  We taught Shemal also three times this week though and he is golden. He really is and he has a strong testimony.  He reads every day and prays individually and with his wife.  He's awesome. We had anoher investigator text us and say that they couldn't come until next week too.  During sacrament meeting though, towards the end of the meeting, I looked to my left and I saw Ali our Muslim friend from Uganda sitting there smiling! He had been there the whole meeting sitting by himself.  Once the meeting was over a lot of people greeted him before we could get to him.  He loved it. We got to him and he told us that he loved the meeting and had been taking notes.  It was so good to see him there. He looked so happy and he stayed for gospel principles.  He loved that too, but after that was done he told me his situation.  He prefaced it by saying, "I beleive it and I like it." He proceeded by telling us that he loves the things we teach and wants to be committed, but right now he is living with his Muslim brothers.  His dad is really rich back in Uganda, and if his dad found out that he was meeting with us and going to church, he would have his brothers kick him out of the house onto the streets.  I told him that since his family situation was being jeopardized by meeting with us that we couldn't teach him anymore until he got his own place and was on his own.  I told him that he is always welcome here and that we'll keep in touch with him.  He agreed and also told us that his brothers think that he is just joking with us when he meets with us and that they think that instead of him being at church, he's out looking for a job.  It's a tricky and sad situation because he is awesome and golden.  I'm happy that we were able to help him see the joy that comes from believing in Christ and now he has a desire to be a part of the church, he just has to wait.  He's awesome and it feels cool to know that you were a part of converting a Muslim. 

The rest of the week has been a lot of finding.  We found six new investigators this week! That was great! We are doing well as a companionship and the zone companionships are doing well for the most part right now.  I hope you all are doing well back home! I love you all! Happy birthday Kelsey! (Sorry I'm late)

Elder Nelson