I feel like a fake if I don't start the Adventures in the CLAM posts with this, and I forgot to in this letter. So you're getting it here.
Hello one and all!
Also, the last paragraph of this post is so interesting to me. It definitely caught my attention. It's a seemingly random call to repentance. But I think it is important, because times of crisis like the one described in the post can bring us closer to God. They can be great opportunities. Sometimes we need to be reminded that wherever we are right now is exactly the right place to repent and try to come unto our Savior. So there's a friendly reminder. I invite you all to ponder that, because I definitely will.
Enjoy!
Hello one and all!
Also, the last paragraph of this post is so interesting to me. It definitely caught my attention. It's a seemingly random call to repentance. But I think it is important, because times of crisis like the one described in the post can bring us closer to God. They can be great opportunities. Sometimes we need to be reminded that wherever we are right now is exactly the right place to repent and try to come unto our Savior. So there's a friendly reminder. I invite you all to ponder that, because I definitely will.
Enjoy!
LA LOVE:
We had the tragic privilege of witnessing a bunch of our senior missionaries leave the CLAM. It's just not safe with the virus for them to be here right now. They are hoping to come back soon though.
While we were at the mission office Sister Powers and I were having a discussion about signs of the Second Coming of Christ. We've spent a lot of time at the mission office this week so we even got to talk to President and Hermana about it. Hermana said that for people without the gift of the Holy Ghost need signs of the Second Coming that they can understand, so that's why things like the earthquake in Salt Lake City happen. President also told us that the year of the Second Coming there will be no harvest and no rainbow. We talked about scriptures that state the signs of the Second Coming--such as Doctrine and Covenants 45:34, which describes an illness that will cover all the land, better known as the corona virus. We also discussed Amos 3:14, which describes Angel Moroni's trumpet falling from the Salt Lake City temple. We spent time trying to figure out what Amos 3:15 means too. I have my ideas.
I want you guys to understand how obsessed I am with Saints, the new history of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Creative nonfiction has become an increasingly popular genre, and the new written history of the Church is written in that beautiful style. It has turned me into a reader again; I can't put it down. I love narratives and I love learning about the Church!
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day we deep cleaned our apartment to save us from the virus and had lunch with the Redondo sisters.
We had the start of a new transfer. The start of a new transfer always feels great, even though I was in the same area and the same companion. We're ready for a new transfer!
On Tuesday we went on our first shopping trip since the corona virus really exploded. It honestly wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but it was still pretty wild.
We had the first district council of the transfer! We talked about how to give our friends a Sabbath worship experience because they aren't able to go to church anymore.
One night while we were visiting with John and Nataly, John gave us a news update about how the county of Los Angeles was going to be on lockdown. In panic, realizing we may be trapped in our apartment for a few weeks, we went on a late night shopping trip. We still weren't sure whether or not this was actually real. When we got home, we saw a text in our zone chat telling us that there would be a mission-wide meeting over video call with President Cordon. Uh-oh. Well the meeting finally came and President said we've probably been hearing a lot of news, but he was going to tell us everything we needed to know. The Los Angeles county was in fact not on lockdown or quarantine, but we are given a Safer at Home order, with very specific guidelines for public and private gatherings. This means we still can go outside. However, the following day the mission was going to stay in their apartments so we could see how the public reacted. All appointments would be over the phone.
The next day was our first day staying in the apartment. In the later part of the day, we got word from President that the mission would be staying in until further notice. It seems LA is taking the order pretty seriously. Missionaries will be teaching online until we are told otherwise. Because that is true, you might be seeing a lot of missionaries posting on social media. If you do, feel free to interact with our posts! We would love to share cool gospel insights together, and especially get the gospel to those that are looking for it.
Due to a midcycle that is coming up, I ended up going on an exchange last-minute with Sister Powers from Redondo! She is being midcycled out of the Palos Verdes zone. We thought that would be happening this upcoming week. However, yesterday we were told that President was still trying to figure out the transfer, so Sister Powers and I will be together for a full week. We spent the night in the Redondo area, but will be spending the rest of the week in Palos Verdes.
FRIENDS:
Craig has been reading the Book of Mormon and taking notes! We talked a lot about faith and Jesus Christ's divine mission. Jesus is of course the reason any of what we've been teaching Craig about is possible. We introduced the gospel of Christ to Craig. ANd get this, Craig has been sharing his testimony of the Plan of Salvation with others!
We met with Gerardo, someone we met in a grocery store. What we didn't know about Gerardo is he is the pastor at his church, at least as far as I understand, that or he's just really involved in it. Anyway, Gerardo definitely thought that he was the one teaching us. It was pretty spicy and I learned a lot about his belief. We got to share our hot take on things as well and I think we got him pondering. Honestly it was a pretty shocking lesson haha but he is willing to meet with us again. We're going to refer him to missionaries who speak his native language so he can understand better.
We met with the K. family! They are so awesome and sweet. We love them. We taught them about the nature of the Godhead and each individual Being's role in that unit.
We got to have lunch with Lucy and her friend Nadene, Tatiana's mom! It was great to see them. We talked about the ways we can get in tune with God and hear Him.
We finally got to meet with Arista! We talked about the priesthood and how that relates to general conference coming up.
We taught John and Nataly about repentance and decided to make goals together, because repentance is all about getting better every day! (See "We Can do Better and Be Better" by President Russell M. Nelson)
We talked to a guy named Fred. He was happy to hear from us! He has met with missionaries in the past and is very involved in his religion, a strong believer in Jesus Christ. It was cool to get to hear Sister Hopkins talking with him about the history of our Church!
I want you all to know there is nothing to be afraid of. As a favorite song of mine, "Let Us All Press On", says:
"If we do what's right we have no need to fear,
For the Lord, our helper, will ever be near."
I am not worried about the work I have to do. This is just one of the devil's devices to try to stop the work of the Lord, but it's not going to work. Our Father in Heaven has prepared a way for us to get out of it. I'm a servant of the Lord, and that makes me stronger than the devil. We all are. Never forget that.
And remember, "this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." (Alma 34:32. Give that chapter a read.)
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
We had the tragic privilege of witnessing a bunch of our senior missionaries leave the CLAM. It's just not safe with the virus for them to be here right now. They are hoping to come back soon though.
While we were at the mission office Sister Powers and I were having a discussion about signs of the Second Coming of Christ. We've spent a lot of time at the mission office this week so we even got to talk to President and Hermana about it. Hermana said that for people without the gift of the Holy Ghost need signs of the Second Coming that they can understand, so that's why things like the earthquake in Salt Lake City happen. President also told us that the year of the Second Coming there will be no harvest and no rainbow. We talked about scriptures that state the signs of the Second Coming--such as Doctrine and Covenants 45:34, which describes an illness that will cover all the land, better known as the corona virus. We also discussed Amos 3:14, which describes Angel Moroni's trumpet falling from the Salt Lake City temple. We spent time trying to figure out what Amos 3:15 means too. I have my ideas.
I want you guys to understand how obsessed I am with Saints, the new history of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Creative nonfiction has become an increasingly popular genre, and the new written history of the Church is written in that beautiful style. It has turned me into a reader again; I can't put it down. I love narratives and I love learning about the Church!
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day we deep cleaned our apartment to save us from the virus and had lunch with the Redondo sisters.
We had the start of a new transfer. The start of a new transfer always feels great, even though I was in the same area and the same companion. We're ready for a new transfer!
On Tuesday we went on our first shopping trip since the corona virus really exploded. It honestly wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but it was still pretty wild.
We had the first district council of the transfer! We talked about how to give our friends a Sabbath worship experience because they aren't able to go to church anymore.
One night while we were visiting with John and Nataly, John gave us a news update about how the county of Los Angeles was going to be on lockdown. In panic, realizing we may be trapped in our apartment for a few weeks, we went on a late night shopping trip. We still weren't sure whether or not this was actually real. When we got home, we saw a text in our zone chat telling us that there would be a mission-wide meeting over video call with President Cordon. Uh-oh. Well the meeting finally came and President said we've probably been hearing a lot of news, but he was going to tell us everything we needed to know. The Los Angeles county was in fact not on lockdown or quarantine, but we are given a Safer at Home order, with very specific guidelines for public and private gatherings. This means we still can go outside. However, the following day the mission was going to stay in their apartments so we could see how the public reacted. All appointments would be over the phone.
The next day was our first day staying in the apartment. In the later part of the day, we got word from President that the mission would be staying in until further notice. It seems LA is taking the order pretty seriously. Missionaries will be teaching online until we are told otherwise. Because that is true, you might be seeing a lot of missionaries posting on social media. If you do, feel free to interact with our posts! We would love to share cool gospel insights together, and especially get the gospel to those that are looking for it.
Due to a midcycle that is coming up, I ended up going on an exchange last-minute with Sister Powers from Redondo! She is being midcycled out of the Palos Verdes zone. We thought that would be happening this upcoming week. However, yesterday we were told that President was still trying to figure out the transfer, so Sister Powers and I will be together for a full week. We spent the night in the Redondo area, but will be spending the rest of the week in Palos Verdes.
FRIENDS:
Craig has been reading the Book of Mormon and taking notes! We talked a lot about faith and Jesus Christ's divine mission. Jesus is of course the reason any of what we've been teaching Craig about is possible. We introduced the gospel of Christ to Craig. ANd get this, Craig has been sharing his testimony of the Plan of Salvation with others!
We met with Gerardo, someone we met in a grocery store. What we didn't know about Gerardo is he is the pastor at his church, at least as far as I understand, that or he's just really involved in it. Anyway, Gerardo definitely thought that he was the one teaching us. It was pretty spicy and I learned a lot about his belief. We got to share our hot take on things as well and I think we got him pondering. Honestly it was a pretty shocking lesson haha but he is willing to meet with us again. We're going to refer him to missionaries who speak his native language so he can understand better.
We met with the K. family! They are so awesome and sweet. We love them. We taught them about the nature of the Godhead and each individual Being's role in that unit.
We got to have lunch with Lucy and her friend Nadene, Tatiana's mom! It was great to see them. We talked about the ways we can get in tune with God and hear Him.
We finally got to meet with Arista! We talked about the priesthood and how that relates to general conference coming up.
We taught John and Nataly about repentance and decided to make goals together, because repentance is all about getting better every day! (See "We Can do Better and Be Better" by President Russell M. Nelson)
We talked to a guy named Fred. He was happy to hear from us! He has met with missionaries in the past and is very involved in his religion, a strong believer in Jesus Christ. It was cool to get to hear Sister Hopkins talking with him about the history of our Church!
I want you all to know there is nothing to be afraid of. As a favorite song of mine, "Let Us All Press On", says:
"If we do what's right we have no need to fear,
For the Lord, our helper, will ever be near."
I am not worried about the work I have to do. This is just one of the devil's devices to try to stop the work of the Lord, but it's not going to work. Our Father in Heaven has prepared a way for us to get out of it. I'm a servant of the Lord, and that makes me stronger than the devil. We all are. Never forget that.
And remember, "this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." (Alma 34:32. Give that chapter a read.)
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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