This week was great. We have been trying our best to strive for the standards of excellence with the key indicators, specific lessons and things that our planner outlines for us to teach that we set weekly and daily goals for.  (President Castro gives us a standard of excellence that he feels we are capable of.)  At first the standards seemed insanely impossible and exaggerated. but as we just work hard and do our best, I can tell the difference it makes in our success, and just in the confidence that we know we are using our time efficiently and not wasting a minute of the Lord's time. We have plans to set a few baptismal dates this week, specifically with one woman named L---. We are really excited for her.

 

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Robison on Wednesday, and that was an awesome experience.  We went to Isla Vista on the campus of UCSB.  ENGLISH speaking :) Elder Robison is from Montana and likes to ski.  He was home-schooled, so he didnt play any sports, but he is surprisingly a really normal cool guy for being home-schooled.  I look up to him so much, and he taught me a lot through out the day. It's weird-he reminds me exactly of Mitch, and looks like him too.  There were a bunch of times throughout the day when I had to do a double-take, because it felt like Mitch and I were walking talking and teaching together. Haha, kind of weird.  

 

Our day on exchanges was full of miracles. The very first person we stopped to talk to and declare on the street, we ended up teaching him the Restoration right there on the sidewalk. He was a baseball player, and looks like Mike K. He started crying when he saw the picture in the pamphlet of Jesus with his hands on the apostles.  It was kind of weird to see a 20-something year-old cool college kid just start crying like that in the streets of Isla Vista.  But I guess that is what the Spirit can do to a person. :)  Then, after we told him about the First Vision, he said he believes it is true, and said that no body could make that up. We invited him to be baptized, and he said yes.  I was like, "What the heck, that was so easy!" and Elder Robison said, "Trust me, they don't all go that good.

After that, we went to a lesson with a girl named S---. We taught her the restoration in the Institute building. I still can't believe how prepared she was. She read the entire book of First Nephi, including the Introduction and Testimony of the Three Witnesses the day before, and looked up basically all of our beliefs online. After everything we taught, she just kept saying, "Yeah, that makes so much sense!" She said she will pray and ask to know if this is true, and I invited her to be baptized.  She said "I definitely want to get baptized!"  After she left, I felt pretty positive that Elder Robison just got members that he paid to act like random people for the day, but Elder Robison was just as confused as I was. Haha.  We don't know why everything went so well, but it did.  We went 2 for 2 on baptismal challenges and acceptances and it was so easy, but it was nothing that we did. The rest of the day was full of more miracles.  And we got invited to play beer pong with a fraternity, too, so that was funny.  I learned basically two things.  1- I want to be a missionary just like Elder Robison, and 2- I love English.

 

The Spanish is going rough.  Everyone says I'm really good, but I'm not stupid, I know they're just being nice.  No one's gonna tell me that my Spanish is bad.  I bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday in Spanish, and I feel like I can talk ok, but I still can't understand what they say, especially when they ask me questions specifically.  There are 2 Spanish-speaking sisters in our branch, too, two white girls.  I asked them how long it took them to feel comfortable with the language, and they both said 6 months.... sheesh.

 

Mom, they forward packages or send them with zone leaders on their rounds.  And I get to go to the temple on Wednesday!