Santa Barbara!

FAMILY!!
 

I'm glad you guys are FINALLY in the new house haha! It sounds like every one is doing great!! I'm getting transferred to Santa Barbara!! I'm STOKED. I have loved serving in Ventura though.. I love it so much here, but the Lord knows what he's doing and I can't wait to see what it will bring. It was a great week to end this transfer and time spent in Ventura! I have been so blessed to serve here and with two wonderful companions.
Sister Morrison taught me so much about what it means to have that genuine love for the people we teach. She's become one of my closest friends.. We're kind of bummed we only served together for one transfer, but I hear my new companion is really great!! Oh and Cris and Morg.. she's a bit older than you ;) hahaha

We had a lesson with Robert this week and taught part of the Gospel Of Jesus Christ with the Overton's. He has been thinking A LOT about his baptism and says he wants to be baptized, no later than the first week of August, but he will continue to pray about it. He's so prepared.. He has such a solid testimony and firm foundation. He attended church yesterday and loved it! Something that I've learned from my time meeting with him is he really has that sincere desire to know if this really is true.. not for educational purposes. He keeps his commitments.. he reads the Book Of Mormon and prays with that real intent. It's been awesome to see how far he has come and how much his faith and humility is affecting my testimony.

We also met with a woman named Pat that the other sister's  had met. She has a lot of health issues and has a hard time walking, but has such an optimistic attitude and always turns to God. She is very interested in what we have to teach and loves visiting with us! She wanted to come to church and bring her grand son as well, but they were not able to make it. Her grandson, Patrick is also very open to hearing what we share as missionaries! She really wants that foundation for him and wants him to have those standards that will keep him safe and close to the Lord!!

We have been meeting with Shirley for a couple weeks now.. she was a referral from Sister Belisle and she is always open to us coming over. Usually we only taught at the doorstep, but this week she let us in and we had the opportunity to teach the whole restoration. She asked a lot of good questions.. We focused a lot on the priesthood and the importance of having that proper authority to baptize. She was a little unsure of it , but we invited her to sincerely pray to know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet..  because she has a hard time with that.

On Saturday we had the opportunity to set up a booth at the Swap Meet they hold at Ventura College. Such an effective way to do missionary work!! We met sooo many wonderful people who were sincerely interested and we had a lesson as well!! 85% of the people only spoke Spanish, but we still made it work haha!

Welll, I have loved serving here in Ventura.. it has changed my life. I can't wait to see what Santa Barbara will bring!! Thank you for all the support and prayers.. I feel them every day. Keep finding ways to draw closer to our Savior.. He loves us and he's in the details of our lives. I love this gospel and I love you guysss!!!

Sister James

This IS the Lord's work!

HEY!!

 I have to give a shout out to my mother!! I no doubt, have the most amazing mom in the world! I LOVE YOU MAMABON :) Talking to you guys was the best!!

 Danni was baptized this week!! The baptism was wonderful and the spirit was incredibly strong. Everything seemed to be emphasized on how baptism is just the beginning.. it prepares us to make further covenants with our heavenly Father. I felt so much Joy seeing Danni make this important decision that will change her life for eternity. Those who spoke also emphasized the importance of doing the work for her family and participating in baptisms for the dead. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to be of service to our family who have passed on.. it binds us to them and to our father in heaven!!

Robert came to the baptism and loved it!! He loved the spirit that he felt and it was great because he had the chance to meet some of the members of our ward.. he is kind of shy and that's part of what has been holding him back, so it was great!! We met with him this week and taught him the Plan Of Salvation. It was such a powerful lesson.. He asked a lot of questions about the spirit world and we talked a bit about temple work for our family members.. he LOVED it. He told us that if his dad were here he would accept the gospel in a heartbeat. We talked about missionary work on the other side.. we told him, "maybe it's your dad who is pushing you to accept this message and be baptized." He thought about it for a second and said, "he probably is." he expressed to us how neat it would be to do this work for his family. He has loved reading the Book of Mormon!! He's already on 1 Nephi 9.. He explained Lehi's dream perfectly.. he couldn't stop talking about how much he loves Nephi and the Book of Mormon. We Invited him to be baptized on June 14th.. At first he was hesitant, but then we talked about how keeping that goal in mind will help him. He then accepted, but told us he wants to come to church and be more involved and be 100% committed!! This lesson was especially powerful. I LOVE sharing this perfect plan of happiness with others.

Veronica has been texting us and she text us on Tuesday and said, "Sisters, I've really been seeing the benefits that come from praying!!" She's never prayed in her life, so it's been amazing to see!! We met with her on Wednesday and she talked about commitment. She brought up that her son is gay and she wants to support him, but really wants to invest herself in the gospel. We had a super powerful lesson on the importance of sincere love and how the gospel is centered on christ like love

Due to the area split, the other sisters will now be meeting with Tony.. :(  I know that they will be able to help him and their testimonies will touch him and help him continue to progress towards baptism and help him quit. This area is so blessed.. The lord's hand is heavily involved and we wouldn't be able to do these things without him. I Absolutely love being a missionary.. so, so much! THIS IS the Lord's work. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

SISTER JAMES

EVERY ONE

FAM AND FRIENDS!

 

We had another great week here in Ventura!  I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Sister Stoker.. This is her last transfer, so she knows what she's doing!  I learned so much from her, especially about what it means to fight to share the gospel. She doesn't give up on any one and is super, super persistent. My exchange goal was to talk to EVERY ONE, no matter what, and as a result we found two new investigators with great interest in the Book of Mormon. Megan and Helen!! We did a lot of finding this week, especially on Sister Morrison's b-day. Our celebration was knocking doors!! Haha. We also met Kevin.. he is the definition of a  Californian.. sponsored surfer,  says gnarly every other word, but he seemed super interested. He had a lot of mormon friends in high school and said he's been offered a book of mormon, but said no. Now he's been thinking a lot about his purpose in life and everything, so we're excited about that!

We also got Danni's baptism organized and she had her interview last night! She is so prepared. Her baptism will be May 10th, so her family can be there. Seth (her BF from the ward) will be baptizing her!!

Robert decided he wants to meet with us again! He explained to us that he wants to be baptized, but he wants to be devoted 100%.. he's really taking it seriously, which is a good sign! This week we talked a bit about the Plan of Salvation.. he loves it because his mom recently passed and expressed that would bring him so much comfort knowing how he can be with his family for eternity. Sister Morrison and were able to share that the gospel and the plan of happiness is not too good to be true.. it's not just something that's nice to think about, but that we truly do have that opportunity to live with our families and our father in heaven. He asked a lot of questions about our life style and why we have certain commandments, such as the word of wisdom. He really, really loves mormon.org and the book of mormon! He expressed to us that he KNOWS Joseph Smith is a prophet.

We met with Tony again! We had a great lesson with the Colvin's from our ward. Brother Colvin was recently baptized and sister Colvin also has dealt with smoking. We have decided to read the Book of Mormon with him to help him better understand. He has that desire to be baptized, he just needs to overcome his smoking. Please keep him in your prayers!

We meet with a lot of less- active members again this week.. and two of them came to church yesterday, which was great!! We also had the opportunity to participate in the mormon helping hands in helping clean up a middle school.. it was a blast.

 

I truly love this work more and more each week and I love the people! I think that's my favorite part.. just hearing peoples stories and how they have come to develop their relationship with Christ .. how they have found their faith in him. Something I'm learning each week is the importance of seeing divine potential in every one and who they can become through the gospel and Christ's perfect atonement. I'm learning how to apply the atonement as a missionary and I'm quickly seeing how that's affecting my relationship with my savior. Sharing the gospel is the BEST.. I wish I took more opportunities to do it back home. You never know who could use your testimony..even if they are a baptized member of the church! Well, I love you all!! Thanks for all the support and encouragement and packages too!!!

 

SISTA JAMES