Bleh

What another great week in the West Hills ward. . . . Ok it wasn't that great, but it wasn't bad, just kind of bleh ya know?  This week was a little slower than usual, but it was alright.  We had some interesting times as always and frustrations with the ward as always, but what do ya do?  You keep on working!  I've found that just going out and talking to people makes everything better.  I love it!  We would spend about an hour or two a day calling members to try and get them to come out with us and we didn't get one this week.  We were a little flustered to say the least.  Almost all of our appointments fell through every day this week as well.  It was fun.  I guess that's what I get for praying for and working on patience and humility.  Like I always say though, we did everything we could.  I know the Lord is with us in this work and that everything goes according to his will.  That's part of humility.  It's not about what happens on the outside, but about what you change inside yourself to accept the will of the Lord and be happy with it, no matter what it is.  Humility is happiness.  That is what I've been studying and working on for the last two weeks in Preach My Gospel.  I could go on and on about it.  Anyways, that's so awesome that your studying Preach My Gospel mom!  It's so great and the principles in that book can be applied to any aspect of life.  Everyone needs to study it in depth!  Do it!  You will be blessed!  A prophet has said so! 

All right enough of my ranting, I'll tell you what happened this week.  Not too much happened this week actually.  We did service on Wednesday for Bro. Cobb.  We helped him clean out his garage which was a mess.  We were there for 5 hours!  The problem is... its still a mess, but its clean to him so I guess we did something!  Bro. Cobb is such an interesting guy.  I think I've told you his story before, but he's a landscaper and makes, buys and sells knives and swords and bows for a living.  it's pretty sweet.  He offered to teach us fencing classes, which would be so cool, but we don't have time.  The garage was just filled with junk that we moved out and then put back in, just more organized.  It took him so long to figure out what he wanted and didn't want.  It was good though.  He needed it.  What he really needs is home teachers.  Problem is that nobody does home teaching in this ward!  I love this ward though.  They really are great. They're just too comfortable.  That's the problem.  How can anyone become better or progress if they're comfortable?  They can't, and that's a fact!  Progression takes time and pain and sacrifice and it doesn't seem like the ward gets that.  It's ok though.  All I can do is love them and serve, and that's what I'm doing, and I will continue to do it!  Every single less active we teach needs fellowship from the ward though!  We've had a couple come to church, but they're still not coming regularly.  We just have to keep teaching them and building their testimonies.  Ok Ok, seriously, I'm done with my ranting.  Next thing that happened this week.  We taught our investigator Jane Choy again this week just like every week.  I think I've told you about her, but I'll tell you again.  The only thing that is stopping her from being baptized is coming to church.  She's confined to a wheel chair and doesn't have transportation to and from church.  We're working on getting Access (a non emergency medical transport) to come and pick her up.  She's paralyzed from the waste down and is on oxygen.  That'll be an interesting baptism.  She knows everything is true, she just needs to come to church.  We also taught a part member family this week.  The Bulman family.  Brian Bulman is the nonmember and is friends with all the major members of the ward.  He goes mountain biking with Bishop all the time.  We taught him the restoration and he agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon.  He's such an awesome guy and he's going to make a great member some day.  I'll be here for that day!  We also taught this black man in his 40's named Aaron.  He's super cool.  He's been searching for truth since he was 7.  He knows the bible really well and just wants to follow God.  He's super gangsta and produces music for a living.  Pretty sweet.  We also taught this man named Caeser.  He's got 3 kids and we found him last week.  He thought we were J-dubs (Jehovvahs Witnesses) and wanted to learn more about them, but he realized that we were Mormon and told us he wanted to learn more about us!  We taught him and the lesson was solid.  Matthew relapsed again this week.  We gave him a blessing yesterday.  We made a schedule for the day with him and told him that if he followed it, he wouldn't relapse.  He called us this morning and he hasn't been following it.  He's going to die from this if he doesn't stop, and he knows it.  He knows what to do and we tell him to do it, but he doesn't.  Marrissa came to church again with her son!  She is so awesome!  She canceled our lesson with us this week, but she came to church!  She's been reading and praying too!  She's our most progressing investigator right now. 

Well that's it.  Good things happened, and some not so good things happened, but it's all in the hands of the Lord!  We're finding and teaching and doing all we can and leaving the things that we can't control up to the Lord.  All is well!  I can't wait to talk to ya'll next week!  I don't know an exact time for skyping yet, but we're probably going to do it at 1:00 or 1:30.  Maybe 2:00?  Hopefully that's ok.  I love ya!  Bye! 

Elder Nelson

P.S. Happy Birthday Lindsy!!!!!!