So last Monday, we went on a hike for Pday.  I don’t know how, but I managed to get a really nice case of poison oak!  I swear I didn’t even go off of the trail very much (ha ha), so that has been fun.  I knew what it is and have had it enough to know what to do, so it’s no big deal.  It’s just my face and legs and arms are itchy.  It’ll be gone soon.  So Carpinteria is about the same. 

This week we taught a great lesson with J---.  He is about our only investigator that always welcomes us.  He is 21, loves to read the Bible, is very spiritual, and is one of the deepest thinkers I know.  We have previously taught the restoration and this week we taught the plan of salvation and he agreed with everything perfectly.  He has been struggling a lot with just the meaning of his life, and his relationship with some family members.  He has accepted baptism, but not a date.   We have an appointment with him tomorrow, and are planning to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ using Lehi’s dream.

We randomly ran into one of the members from the Carpinteria ward downtown one day.  As we were talking to him, everyone that passed by he just jumped out and said, “Hey!  Do you know who these guys are?  They’re missionaries and they changed my life, and I know that they can change your life, too!  You should listen to them!”  Ha ha.  He kind of freaked some people out, but it was awesome.  I think every member could learn something from his excitement for sharing the gospel.  We also taught L---- again, and had another great lesson about how we can never fail when sharing the gospel.  She gave us a referral who turned out to not be interested at all, and she felt kind of bad about it, but we assured her with a quote from President Eyring, promising two things to those who share the gospel.  One of them being that even the people who reject us will someday thank us for offering them something that means so much to us.  I can’t remember the whole quote, but it had a positive impact on me, as well.  I was able to just take a step back and say, “You know what?  Regardless of our numbers and all of the people who don’t want to talk to us here in Carpinteria, everyday is a successful day as long as we opened our mouths.  If we didn’t open our mouths at every opportunity, then that is an easy fix for tomorrow.  We can focus on the things we can control, and the Lord will do the rest.

Love,

Elder Parrish