California Dreamin



Elder Puzey at zone conference and new missionary training.

Hello everyone,  it's already my second week out in the field! Remember my favorite statue from last week? Turns out it's a lot less appealing when you're living it. We had the bikes this week and I am so glad we got the car back tonight. At least it also rained for two days, so it wasn't too hot. To be honest, I actually really enjoyed the rain, but I'm not sure my trainer did.

Besides that, it has been a pretty average week. We found George, who is so elect. He is super engaged in the lessons and already solved a lot of Word of Wisdom problems before we met him. The only problem is, he is going to the Philippines in less than a month to pick up his fiance. He could probably be baptized, but it would have to be perfect with church attendances and lessons.

Besides George, finding has not been fruitful. We've run out of apartments, so its straight house to house knocking mostly. On Saturday I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Evans from Parkway 1st, which was fun. Unfortunately, that area is about the same as mine and we have a lot more "notoriety" there. It also sounds like that day was the most productive in my area, so I missed that.

I also had the sim card, which meant I had to send all the texts and make all of the calls. Fun at first, but I was more than happy to give it back. 

We had zone conference and a training meeting this week, which were pretty good. We had to get up at 5:30 (even though we got there early) and catch a ride for zone conference, but it was pretty good. We also had a big lunch and I got to know a lot more missionaries. The training was really good too, and I felt like I had a lot of questions answered and powerful experiences. That includes hearing "Missionary Work and The Atonement" talk again, which I can't find with audio anywhere else.

For a spiritual thought:

I was in the war chapters most of this week, so it was pretty hard to find some references to missionary work. I found a few, but there was another verse that I really enjoyed in Alma 58:11 

"Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him."

I hope nobody is under siege from their enemies, but there are many other things to ask deliverance from. Certain situations, circumstances, bad habits, or addictions can all have us feeling in bondage or siege. I like how the Lord "assures" us that He will help us, even if it's not immediate deliverance. 

I used to think that this reassignment was something I needed to be delivered from, something that kept me in bondage. There are times or days where I still do feel like that, but I have seen this verse applied to my feelings of that. I have received more peace and faith that missionary work is important and that I am an important part of it. I have learned to love it here and its people. I have more faith that there are people who do want to hear the glad news of the restored gospel. I hope for and have faith that when the time is right, I will be delivered, not from bandage, but to another place where I am needed by the Lord. 

Since scripture study didn't have too much, I also listened to a lot of talks this week. One of my favorites was "Waiting on the Lord" by Elder Holland. It talks a lot about this and helped me a ton.

As I said before, I am really starting to like it here. We've had a lot of member meals, the weather is really good and reminds me of a place I called home for a time. We play pool and basketball ever pday in a familiar gym. My trainer's also making sure I get all of my Spanish practice in with teaching full lessons to Spanish-speaking members all by myself. Unfortunately there's not much feedback. 

Even though it's been a pretty slow week, I'm looking forward to this one and what it may bring.
Ve con Dios,
- Elder Puzey









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