This is His work!

Hi guys!

I can't believe its March? Time is a crazy thing! I hope everyone is doing well! Camarillo is such an amazing area and we've had a great week this past week! A lot of miracles and learning experiences.

Update on our investigators: Eduardo is back from the Philippines! He doesn't quite understand the concept of setting up specific appointments with us and the importance of the lessons in preparing him for the baptism.. he comes to church every week and loves it. He wants to be baptized and we tried to set him with a date, but he wants to take care of some medical needs first. He put it this way.. " I have two surgeries.. then I will swim." haha! He has such a pure heart and desire, so we will continue to work with him and help him understand.

The Gomez family will be moving :( They are staying in Camarillo, but will be in a different ward! Brother Gomez is disappointed that sister's won't be teaching them because sister Gomez seems to connect with them better, as well as his 3 daughter's, the Lord has a plan for them and the message we share is the same wherever we go! We are still teaching them every week, but sister Gomez will not read and pray to know for herself.. she just does not have the desire at this time. We have faith that she'll be ready, just not at this time. I don't know if I have mentioned already, but the girls want to be baptized.. I have never met such a tight-knit family. They make every decision together and they don't want to "leave mom behind."

Heather is doing great! They were out of town this weekend, but we are in daily contact with her. Heather has skipped around and read different chapters in the Book of Mormon, so when we met this week, we decided to start from the beginning with a question/desire she had. Her desire was "Happiness and peace for her children." We read 1 Nephi 1 and 2 and showed how the Book of Mormon can relate and be applied to any question or situation before us.. It truly is a record saved for our day. Everyone should try this!

It's amazing to see someone allow the spirit to work in them like she does.. She just beams when she learns about the gospel and is so eager to learn what Heavenly Father would have her do to gain happiness in her life.

We also met with our new investigator, Mike! He's a former, who's investigated before and come to church on and off for a year or two. He rents a room from a member and is good friend's with a member of our stake presidency. He LOVES the church, especially the emphasis on family.. he had a lot of questions and opened up a lot about the concerns that he has. He said that he has a lot of doubt in his heart and that he feels like there is a block between him and God. In his words, he had a fairly easy life until about 5 years ago. He went through a divorce.. he is an only child and both his parents passed away and he lost his job. He told us that he's honestly felt angry with God and doesn't understand what he did to deserve all these challenges in his life. We really focused on prayer with him.. and talked about our mission theme of "putting both feet in". If he really wants to come to know truth, he will have to engage himself in scripture study and prayer and really open his heart.

After meeting with him, I read a talk given by president Eyring titled " Where is the pavilion?" He says, "many of us in moments of anguish feel that God is far from us, the pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God, but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes, we are covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make him inaccessible."

God is always reaching out his hand, whether our pavilion be doubt or anger, we remove it by aligning our will with his. It's interesting how everything connected this week.. We also did service for an active member. She's there every week, fulfills her calling, but opened up to us about the concerns she has.. (Missionary work isn't all about non-members), This member is very logical in her thinking.. she's a very deep thinker. We talked about the natural man being different for everyone.. it's not necessarily what we always make it out to be. For her and some, the natural man can be someone who has a hard time with faith and wants to understand and analyze everything. I've been thinking about this a lot this past week.. Heavenly Father didn't design his plan in a way that we can understand everything in this life. That's where faith comes in.  We are here on earth to grow, learn, and be tested because this is a time to prepare to meet God. It's not easy, but we have to nourish and exercise that particle of faith. God cares about or questions and the things we don't understand.. but hold on to the things you KNOW for sure and press forward with faith.. God isn't far from us. Take the moments in your life where you have received impressions and confirmations of truth and allow those to overpower your doubts.

I know this gospel is true.. I know that our father in heaven knows each one of us and loves us perfectly. This is his work!

Love,

Sister James

thugs!