I love Camarillo!

Family and friends!

 

I LOVE CAMARILLO! I absolutely love this area and the people. Sister Brown and I have already seen a lot of miracles in our short time together.. There are so many members here and they are so willing to share their testimonies of the gospel and willing to fellowship! The area is so different from Santa Barbara.. it's very family oriented, there are a lot of young families and people aren't, .. insane haha!  It's crazy going from a district of 16 missionaries to 8 missionaries.. we are the only sisters in our zone, and oh Elder Mckinley is one of my zone leaders! Pretty funny! We've met a lot of great families and potential investigators also people are very receptive and willing to listen.. it's a blessing! A member in our ward gave us 7 referrals and one of them is a young family that is actually searching for a church! Another one of the referrals (a guy named John) gave us ideas for service opportunities, which was something we had been praying for. We had the opportunity to do service for a less-active member of our ward this week, a sister Ashcraft. She's been really busy with her work and everything else going on, but she made it to church yesterday and the general women's meeting with her twin girls!

 

We're also teaching Enrique.. he's been taking the lessons for about six months and is preparing to be baptized! We had a lesson with him on temples and eternal families! He is so pure in heart and so prepared. We invited him to pray about baptism and a specific date and will continue to help him prepare. It was neat to hear how important his family is to him and to testify that he will be with his children for eternity and that these covenants he is making are so important. This week he will be teaching us a lesson, so we're really excited to see where he's at with everything and hear his perspective of the gospel. We've also been working with a lot of part-member families, one of them being the Gomez family. Sister Brown and I were able to catch sister Gomez this week and sit down and just talk with her about her concerns and where she's it with the gospel.. it was really good. She told us that she needs time and she wants to "REALLY feel it deep within her heart." She came to the women's meeting with her three daughter's and the members of our ward were so great at inviting and fellowshipping her!

 

This week we have interviews and we get to watch "Meet the Mormons" Which I'm super excited for!! I'm really looking forward to General conference! The general women's meeting was so amazing! I was reminded of how important my covenants are, and that I should always remember them and that being a covenant keeper will affect my posterity and my family. President Ucthdorf's talk reminded me my value as a daughter of God and that I am loved "Today and always." I loved how he focused on the joy that comes when keeping the commandments of the Lord and that he really does know what is best for us.. he knows us better than we know ourselves! I've been praying and thinking of questions that I have as we approach conference this weekend and I'm really focusing on how I can allow the spirit to fill my mouth and trust in the spirit more fully. I know that the Lord will provide me with the answers and counsel that I need to be a better servant of His. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to hear the words of our dear prophet.. I know that if we prepare spiritually, we will receive personal revelation that is perfectly tailored to our needs. I love this work and I love my savior! This is the work of the Lord and he loves us today and ALWAYS :)

 

Sister James

Diving on the 101

Sister Brown and Sister James

Camarillo district