August 29, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

We got an email on Wednesday, August 24th from Pres. Felix asking us to call him because Jaxon hurt himself.  We called, and were informed that he hurt his ankle again and they were going to see a doctor the next day.  We got to chat a bit with Pres. Felix and asked how Jaxon was doing.  He said he was great - and keeping his spirits up - that he's a great missionary and strives to do his best always.  It's so reassuring to know that he is being looked after and loved :)

#SOMANYMIRACLES

Whaddup.

Hey all. It's me again. The weeks just keep getting shorter and shorter! I seriously can't believe that it's almost been six weeks again.

Anyways. So, as you know, it's been a trying week. But holy, has it ever been a GREAT week! The Lord truly is hastening His work in the Erringer Ward! 

Okay Mom, here's some answers:

1)  how did you hurt it?  Was it on the bike "accident"?

1) I hurt it in another little fall. Not really hurt, as much as I just tweaked it a little bit! 

2) do you still have to bike half of the time?  or have they allotted a car to you?

2) So, now I am not allowed to be on a bike. But, there are no extra cars anywhere. So, we are waiting for our car to be replaced this Wednesday!

3) we were told you will need to go to a specialist...has that appointment been booked?

3) I just saw the specialist. Super awesome miracle happened to allow that to happen, but basically he said I don't have any ligament problems it looks like, but he gave me a cortisone injection in my ankle, and I am going to go and see him again next Tuesday! He isn't sure what's wrong, but hopefully the injection will show what's wrong! If not, I have an MRI approved

4)  Did you still have that air cast?  What did they put on it?

4) I am in a boot again! YAY....

5)  Did you get the parcel? :)  Sorry it was just full of random stuff - hope you got the VISA card okay and you have probably already enjoyed the chocolates :)  Aydan took it down for us.

5) I did git the package! It was a nice boost as I have been in the apartment quite a bit lately. I also changed the address on my card.

Anyways. Let's go through the week shall we?

Nothing really happened on Monday. We had dinner with the Carpenter's, nothing too spectacular. Except I got to go on an exchange with Elder Willis that night! I was mucho excited.

Tuesday started really really well! We were zipping around on our bikes and talking with a ton of people. Then, Julio happened. We were talking with this guy, and I went to get off of my bike to give him a card, and my leg caught my seat and I fell and rolled my ankle! I STILL GAVE HIM THE CARD THOUGH AND INVITED HIM TO INCREASE HIS FAITH. It was great. But that kind of gave me some good incentive to get this darn thing checked out! So we didn't do much the rest of the day!

Wednesday wasn't much of anything really either. We got a blitz approved, and I ended up going with our Zone Leaders for a few hours! It was fun. We taught one of their investigators, Noelle, about the Plan of Salvation. It was a powerhouse of a lesson, and she really loved learning about the Plan God has for each of us! The rest of the day was spent in our apartment.

Thursday morning, President and Sister Felix picked us up and we headed to an orthopedic doctor, who said that he can't really do anything to help and so I needed to go and see a Podiatrist. We did service at the Ford's, and dinner at the Armstrong's! It was fun. Good day, but didn't do much again. Super awesome miracles started happening though. The Zone Leader's burst into our apartment with a phone number on the back of a receipt. They ran into a guy who had just moved into our area from San Francisco, and was interested in meeting with us and such! We haven't been able to get with him yet, but we also figured out that Jason moved. So he's gone! 

Friday. Holy cow. Remember how I said that last District Meeting was the best I've been to? Well, this District Meeting topped that. We learned all about our Purpose and Finding people to teach. I love my District so much, they are all so amazing. The Spirit was so strong, and we learned so much. Had our meeting with Brother Hull, and this time he made us some spam with pineapple. Haha, it was really good! 

Saturday I was able to go to the baptism of the man that I interviewed last week! It was a great meeting, full of the Spirit, and President and Sister Felix even came! It was awesome. On their way home, they stopped for lunch, and a member Podiatrist was at the same place! Prior to this, my appointment was set for Sept 6. But, President talked with him (Dr.Payne) and he got it set up to have me in today! So I went. It was cool! We had a ward activity that night, that was pretty decent. Always fun to see the Ward!

Sunday was great. Elder Alder and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and I talked about Nehemiah. "We are doing a great work and cannot come down!" President Uchtdorf gave a great Conference talk on it. Go look it up! After church we were able to see Hans, our Recent Convert, and taught him the Plan of Salvation and that night we taught Jesse and Harley the rest of the Restoration! It was a great lesson, and we set them with Baptismal dates for October! 

Anyways, it's been a fantastic week. I have loved my trials, and have loved just feeling the Savior's love for my and love for this area! The church really is true, and I know it.

I love you all. I have felt the prayers that have been offered as I have gone through my week, and I am so grateful for all of the prayers sent up to our Father in Heaven in my behalf.

Love you all!

Elder Harvey

Splits for the day...not sure on Elder's names...

August 22, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#AskAndYeShallReceive #CloseCall!

Howdy.

Man.

It's definitely been a week. Another fast one, but I have loved this week for sure. We were able to see the fruits come from our labors, and I was able to have my first almost crash! It was awesome. 

Glad to see that you're week has gone well! Dad seemed like he had a good time on the camp! It looked like a beautiful place, but I am sure that it is hard to not have the same organization that was present in BC. Sometimes, you just have to work with what you got. I think that's when the Lord really starts to bless us. I think of my past week, and as we worked with what we had, we received so much more. Kinda like Nephi and his bow. When his steel one broke, he had nothing to work with except for some wood. When the Brother of Jared wanted to have light in his barges, he went and used what was around him! Just a little thought :)

So, the week has been amazing. I'll come out with it already, we found 3 new investigators! The first one came on Tuesday with us trying to go by a less-active we had heard about living on Appleton, and so we went to go contact them! As soon as we got to the house, the Elders who gave us the lead called us to see if we had gone by. And I said, "We are right outside the house, we'll call you after we knock." So, clearly the hand of the Lord was in this one. We approach the door, and it swings open! A man is standing there, and asks "Are you Jesus people?" Of course, we answer affirmatively. He then comes out, and ends up asking where our church is, what time services start, and if we could get him a ride next Sunday. So, we sat down on his driveway for about half an hour and taught him the first half of the Restoration! He is looking for guidance in his life. He like JUST got off of the streets about a week ago, and is getting himself sober and clean! Elder Willis and I are going back tomorrow. I am really loving life here though. We had dinner that night with the Ford's, a great family. They are the ones that run a cake business, and we ended up helping them again on Thursday! That was a blast. One of my favorite families for sure. Right before that, we stopped a guy on the street, ended up speaking only Spanish, so I was able to show off my rudimentary Spanish skills to Elder Alder. He was impressed. Let's just say, I have picked up a thing or two :)

I went on exchanges with Elder Liddiard on Wednesday, and that Elder is just a ball of energy and puns. It was a really fun day, and we were able to go around and talk with everyone we met! One incident comes to mind. We were walking down a street, and we hear someone call out "HEY! OVER HERE!" So, we turn around and it's this guy on his porch. So, we go over and he asks for a picture, so we give him one of our cards. He likes it, and then goes on to tell us about his visits from Jesus. He then goes on to talk about when God called him to be the beginning, and how he had a dream where God told him he could create anything, so he created Whales. But, God got angry because he ended up making dirty whales, and God only likes pretty whales. Yeah, so pretty much this was my conversation of the week. Loved it! We ate at the same lady's house, Nancy, that fed us moldy corn. Thank goodness I didn't have any repercussions from that! But we had a really good dinner actually. Except for big green lumps in the rice. But we picked it out :)

Thursday we helped the Ford's out, and we did Weekly Planning. Weekly Planning was great! We have set some really great goals to be able to find more and more people to teach. School started up again this past week, so we were unable to visit that family of five referral. It just didn't feel like the right time for some reason. This is the week for it though, we both feel that. Anyways, we set a goal to increase our faith as a companionship! This week, we are going to knock on 10 unknown doors every day. This will help us be able to talk with more people, and to stretch ourselves. I love being with Elder Alder. He has been a great help to me being able to learn and grow, and I have been able to remember the huge impact that Elder Leavitt had on my mission. 

Friday was the most spiritual District Meeting I have ever been to. I was really happy with it! We had a great meeting on the importance of the Restoration in our finding and teaching, and were able to talk about how important it is to refer quickly to the message of the Restoration! We had our Ward Mission Meeting afterwards, and as we pulled out of the church on our bikes, I started to lose control! It was terrifyingly exhilarating. My bike started going into the road, and then I straightened it, then it went the other way, then I started flailing my legs to stop myself from moving, and then I TOTALLY LANDED IT. Didn't even fall. Pretty proud of myself for that one, although my pedal slammed into my right calf, and so that gave me a good charlie horse. And the next day I spent a couple hours icing up, but it's all good in the hood! That night we started teaching Hans Euler. Really confusing situation about him, but I won't bore you with that. He was baptized about a week ago and now we are teaching him the new member lessons. Doesn't seem to remember too much about the lessons, so we are starting real fresh with him! 

Saturday was a great day too. We went out and played Disc Golf with a potential investigator named Ed. He is a super nice guy, and we are hoping to start teaching him soon. Iced for a little bit, and then we went for dinner with Brother Spencer! He is a funny guy. I am glazing over all of this because I had a pretty cool milestone that day too. Right after dinner, I was able to conduct my first Baptismal Interview. This man's name is Bryan! He is 27 years old, and has been very much prepared by the Lord. He has taken the lessons for about a month and a half, and didn't know that God existed until about three months ago. Very wise and amazing person, and I am excited to attend his baptism on Saturday! 

Sunday was a great day at church, followed by a bunch of studying and being able to go to the Lee's for dinner! After dinner, we had an appointment with Jesse and Vanessa Neal, a less-active part-member family! Jesse wants to be baptized, and wants to be able to baptize his daughter, Harley. So we did some How To Begin Teaching, and then we were able to teach some of the Restoration! They loved it, and we are seeing them again on Sunday! Two more investigators!

That's pretty much it on my end. The Lord's hand has definitely been in my life this week. I definitely know that after we do all that we can, the Lord then magnifies what we have done. He loves us, and He only wants the best for us!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harvey

August 19 - Letter from Brother Hull :)

We received this letter from the current Mission Leader in the Ward Jaxon is serving in.  It was a nice surprise and we are so grateful for members reaching out to our family.  I have to remember to do that more for the missionaries in our area - I know how much I appreciate it and I'm sure their mom's would to.  So...when you see a missionary - take a picture and send it to their mom's or send a quick note!! :)

Dear Harvey Family,

I am Bro. Hull, the ward mission leader of the Erringer Ward where your son is currently serving part of his mission and would just like to thank you for sharing him with us. 

Elder Harvey is doing a great job in his missionary efforts in our ward.  He is working with one of the strongest "greenies" that I have had the pleasure of working with. Your son has been extremely beneficial to Elder Alder, giving him the finishing touches that will help him to be a very successful missionary.  Together, this companionship, has caught the attention of our Bishop.  They are working hard to reactivate the less active and to increase our teaching pool.  Your son has a great personality, is a hard worker and has a good sense of humor.  Today after our weekly correlation meeting I opened up a new package of Oreo cookies, 36 count.  I ate three and I think the other 33 went to quick for me to keep track of which of the companionship ate the rest...I've never seen a package of Oreos vaporize before. . 

We are treating your son like we would like our missionaries to be treated and want you to know that we love having your son working in our ward.

Sincerely George Hull

August 15, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#Grand #Theft #Auto

Aaaaaayo!

Haha. So, this email subject could worry some people I guess. But, don't be worried. Everything is fine. I will explain later :)

It's been an interesting week. A week where it has been a ton of fun to be adjusting to District Leader life again! But, I liked hearing about your week! I am glad that you and Dad could get away and celebrate your anniversary! Sorry to hear that Hudson didn't have as good of a time at YLC! Wish it could have been better! How is Emerson doing with his Mission stuff? Oh, to answer your question, that would be really really awesome to be released by President McKenzie. That's really the only part I would really like. Being able to report back to my home stake and ward... It would be fantastic. I am unsure about my return date, so you can call the mission office and figure all of that out if you want. I am pretty sure I leave on the 4th though. (We are going to BC for a family reunion next summer and trying to figure out how to co-ordinate everything...having Jaxon return to BC could be an option...but not sure if it's a reality...still figuring things out)

Anyways, I am sure you are all just dying to hear about my week. Well, it's been very weird. But, we have been working hard! Monday was a good day, we had dinner that night with the Wilson's, and they invited some others over to eat with us, including a less-active member of the ward! So that was great! We also organized ourselves. I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but we are planning to see every member of our ward that is on our ward list! So, we have been able to hit 31 of them this week. Pretty awesome! 

Tuesday was a busy day. We had plans made, but then we needed to go and do some emergency service at one of the Zone Leaders Recent Converts house, because the Zone Leaders were in Oxnard at MLC. So we went and helped out there, and we also were able to visit three families that evening! The Hull's, who we committed to giving a Book of Mormon out. The Armstrong's, who we committed to inviting people over for dinner with us. And the Alvord's, who we committed to inviting some of their friends to having dinner with them! It was great. Got home, and learned that the Elders that we live with got rear-ended that night really badly, and that we were out of a car for a little while... I packed up real quick, and headed to the Spanish area for an exchange with Elder Mata!

Wednesday was a day where we were driving the Simi 4th Elders around so that they could figure out some things with the accident they got into. That was most of our day, but then we were able to meet with a Less-Active lady named Nancy. We had a lesson with her, and she fed us dinner! It was an interesting dinner. She fed us moldy corn on the cob. Except.... I didn't notice the mold on mine. SO I ATE IT. And we noticed that the corn was moldy AFTER. Ugh. But, I was okay! 

Thursday was a little annoying. We did Weekly Planning, and our toilet was getting fixed, so the drywall guy came to patch everything up in the bathroom. He was going in and out a lot, so we had to be there with him, so he didn't lock himself out. He was there from 11-1, and then went on a TWO AND A HALF HOUR lunch break! Annoooooooying. We then were able to meet with our Bishop and talk about invitations with him and his wife! 

Friday was Zone Meeting. We talked about Real Intent and Repentance! It was a great meeting, as usual. I gave a talk on commitment, and it went well! We then had coordination with our WML, and we met with some more members! Had dinner with the Halladay's! They are so awesome. Everyone in the ward seem to be working with someone, we just need to be able to have the members invite! 

Saturday morning. Remember the Elders who got rear ended? Well, they woke up that morning.... Aaaaaand their bikes were gone.... Sigh. Those Elders had a bad week. We spent the morning trying to help them out. We were doing some phone work, calling some people on our list, and then we got a call back from Sister Athmer. She went on to tell us about her Sister who had just passed away, and then invited us over to help her that afternoon! So, we did, and it was a great visit! Even better? SHE CAME TO CHURCH! It was awesome! Had dinner with the Huse's, and and they gave us a referral. Who is this referral? Well... It's a family. Of five. They haven't been home all weekend, but you sure as heck better believe we will be contacting them like crazy until we get in.

And, that was pretty much my week. I am loving it out here, and Elder Alder and I are getting along great! I haven't been able to call the Visa people yet, but I will do that! As for anything else I need, I wouldn't complain to have some Gatorade powder :) Or anything else! 

I love you all. Thank you so much for your prayers! I am feeling them work through me. We will be having tons of miracles this week!

Love,

Elder Harvey

Contact List...lots of work to do!

August 8, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#StartingFromTheBottom #Finduntilyoufind #Andthenfindsomemore

Heyooooo

Alrighty. This week has been a pretty interesting one. I love my new area, love being on a bike, but the only difficult thing is coming into an area where NOTHING is going on. And so, we are working to build up a ward! 

I have very much enjoyed this first week. As you will see in the pictures, my new companion is just like me. It's weird. 

But, about the Visa card, I didn't order a new one..... But, mine is starting to break! So I am happy they sent a new one! Interesting though. Could you send that to me? Also, my bike was only 160 dollars. Bought it from one of the missionaries going home last week, and it came with pretty much everything. Although, I forgot my bike pump at the apartment. I should be able to get that back though tomorrow. Don't need much of anything else! 

A little more about my companion. So, I am follow-up training him. Which means I am his second companion, and this is his second transfer! So it's really interesting. I have never been with this young of a missionary, and it's TONS of fun. Just being able to recognize a lot of the things I have gotten into the habit of doing while he just doesn't understand. It's awesome. I am in another four man apartment too, where there is a brand new missionary and a missionary who has been out for six months! I am starting to become old in this mission! It's crazy.

I am loving biking around. Our area isn't bad, pretty flat with a few hills. But it is awesome because it is so easy to just stop and talk with people. The past couple days we have had the car, and it isn't nearly as effective as having the bikes! My ward is pretty cool. It is a PUNY ward. There were less than 50 people at Sacrament yesterday. It's crazy. But the Bishop is very into missionary work. It's so cool! We have some ideas for the ward that I got from a training I went to on Thursday.

So, Monday was neat...ish. Just a typical Monday before transfers. We went out to ice cream after our P-Day was done with Kelli and Brigette, and Kelli dropped us! Sorry Sisters! And then we moved bikes around so that transfers in the morning would be more smooth.

Tuesday was transfer day! It was frustrating. The Elder that was in charge of the checkpoint didn't show up on time at all, and no one else showed up on time either, so the train ended up being late. Anywho, I got picked up by Elder Alder, and we drove home and went to work! We visited with our WML, Brother Hull, and he made us malts. First time I had that! But we talked about some things and then went out and biked around a bunch. Met the Petersen family, who then took us out to dinner to a place called Red's! It was good. 

Wednesday was our first full day together! We biked around and talked with people a ton, just trying to find and find and find! Did I mention that our area has absolutely ZERO people that we are teaching. No Less-active, investigators, nothing. So we are desperately trying to find find FIIIIIND! So, we tried our best this day, but it didn't work out. No one interested yet! That night we had a District Leader Council, trying to figure out the goal for our Zone to work towards this transfer. That was great! We are working on building our faith even more and trying to find and teach the elect. 

On Thursday I went down to Oxnard to participate in a training with all of the other leaders in the mission! It was awesome. My entire district from Santa Barbara were leaders there! :) We had a presentation given by the Thousand Oaks Fourth Ward, about how to help members to invite their friends. And then President Felix spoke with all of the District Leaders specifically about how to fulfill their assignment. It was awesome! Something that we took back to our ward for sure. We are trying very hard to help members to become inviting machines! It'll be good for the ward. Elder Alder and I then did Weekly Planning, mostly planning about how we can find!!!!! Did I mention we NEED TO FIND PEOPLE TO TEACH.

Friday was my first District Meeting that I organized in awhile! I loved it. We talked a lot about invitations, and I brought back the presentation we were shown on Thursday. We had our meeting with Brother Hull, and introduced the one pager, something that helps members track their invitations that they extend! He loved it. We also want to try and get a church tour going. But then the rest of our day was spent trying to find. Same with Saturday. FIIIINDING. That's all that matters right now.

Sunday was a good day at church. Like I said, our ward is small. Probably the smallest congregation I have ever sat in! I helped bless the Sacrament, and bore my testimony as well! And then after church, we WENT FINDING. And we also did a lot of phone work, trying to set up appointments with members during the week.

Overall, this area will be a trial of my faith. But, I have felt very strongly this entire week that we will be able to find a family of five while I am here. This ward is going to get drop kicked into shape! I am excited for what lies in store, and am excited to exercise my faith to FIND! 

Ooh, I am allowed to listen to EFY. I would love to have the new songs! And it sounds like everything is going well for all of you! Have an amazing week, and don't forget to trust in the LORD!

Love,

Elder Harvey

Bryan:  Strategy......start with the less actives. They will actually bring investigators more than the regulars. Why is the ward so small. Seems odd in California. Is it a small town?

Jaxon:  We have a pretty small area. And the Less-actives are a good idea! We are working on the ward list this week. Get this though. 70% of the households in our ward are without a Melchizedek Priesthood holder. Isn't that CRAZY?

Elder Harvey & his new bike

Elder Harvey and Elder Alder

August 1, 2016 - Westlake YSA Ward - Thousand Oaks Zone

#PresidentFelixROCKSTHEBOATHARDCORE #12/10 #TourDeSimi

HOLY COW.

SO.

THE PAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN C R A Z Y.

GaH.

First off though. Dad, I am sending you a letter. So go check the Post office sometime this week. It will get there faster than it would get home. Also, I loved hearing about Aydan and Hudson's experiences at EFY! It brought back memories of when I was at EFY, and my first real encounters with the Spirit. I loved Aydan's stories that she shared. I don't know Clayton Williams, I don't think. If you have a picture of him, I might be able to tell!

Sounds like you all had a great week. I have too! It hasn't been the easiest week, a lot of appointments falling through, and a lot of door knocking. Monday was great though. It was the first FHE with the Bishopric, and I was excited for this one! We had a church tour, where members could invite their friends! It was so much fun. We had 4 different rooms, all of which had Bishop, the Relief Society President, the Elders Quorum President, and the Missionaries. Naturally, we were in the font room! It was awesome, being able to present things about missionary work and baptism. There were only two non-members who came, but it was a great night nonetheless!

On Tuesday, we had 5 set appointments. And they were supposed to be really solid set appointments. However, only one of them panned out. We went to the college that morning too, and had no success. I love going to the college, but people just don't want anything to do with us! Silly peeps. Anyways, our appointment with Kelli kept, and we were able to teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! She liked it, but we aren't too sure how interested she is in progressing in the gospel. Anyways, we went to frisbee, which was great, and yeah. That's pretty much all that happened there!

Wednesday was killer. I think we knocked about 70 doors, with no luck at all!  Definitely a rough day, but that's all good! We had a great institute class on faith, and were able to talk with some of the members there! 

Thursday wasn't much of anything either. We had our Weekly Planning Session, and then tried to see more people. Nothing really panned out either. We had a lesson with Veronica at night though, and it was great! Had a member come, one of her good friends, and we taught about the Book of Mormon a little more in depth. She committed to reading it more, and it was awesome! Definitely a spirit filled lesson. 

Friday was a great District Meeting on Our Purpose as Missionaries. It was great. We had some more of our lessons fall through, and went on with our day, trying to see more and more people!  But, we didn't have any luck. That night was when anyone who's leadership assignment was going to change would get a call, and we got a call from President Felix. Previous to this call, all Zone Leaders and the Assistants were serving in YSA Wards. However, President informed us about some changes. Zone Leaders and the Assistants are now serving in family wards, and Sisters are replacing them! Also, he informed me of an assignment change for me. He has asked that I follow-up train and that I serve as a District Leader again! Super excited! I got my transfer call the next day, and I will be serving in the Erringer Ward with Elder Alder! And... the big news is, I am in a car share area! So, one day I will have the car, and the next day.... BIKES. Yup. Good bye belly! I was very irresponsible with the money I had, so I had to take 200$ out of my credit card so I can buy a bike. 

Saturday wasn't the greatest either. We had another couple of appointments fall through, but we did meet with Allison! She taught us about the Restoration, and she did an awesome job! I loved it! We went to a very irreverent baptismal service, and then we played some basketball with the ward! That night, we had transfer calls. So we had to call everyone in the Zone and tell them where they are going and stuff. That's always fun!

Sunday was great. We said goodbye to the ward, and after church we were able to go out to Malibu and have dinner with our Ward Mission Leader. I will send you some pictures next week. It was really fun to go out there one last time, and then we went and visited with Allison and Enrico, our Elders Quorum President. 

Tonight, we are going to be seeing everyone else at FHE! Should be a good time!

Elder Parkinson was great, and I thought we were getting along just fine! We had a good companionship, and I felt like I was improving a ton. However, I just saw a glimpse of his email to his family. Appears he didn't like me. But, he didn't communicate that very well. Anyways, I had a great transfer, I loved all of it, and I loved being his companion! 

I hope you all have an amazing week. I will send you my address next week. I am excited for my new area, but very sad to leave this one. I am excited to find those souls that Heavenly Father has been preparing out in Simi though! 

Here goes nothing!

NEW ADDRESS:

Elder Jaxon Harvey

1135 Fitzgerald Road - Apartment C

Simi Valley, CA 93065

Love,

Elder Harvey

July 25, 2016 - Westlake YSA Ward - Thousand Oaks Zone

#BishopricSwaaaaap! #AssistantExchangeNumbaTwo

Yo.

Sigh. This week has flown by again. Why does that always happen??? No matter what, weeks just FLY. AND IT'S THE LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER ALREADY. Dang. This week was fun! We worked really hard, and found 6 or 7 potential investigators. It's been a good week, that was capped off by an exchange with the Assistants on Saturday!

Glad to hear how your week went! I do have to correct one thing though... You're defeating the purpose of PokemonGo!!!! YOU NEED TO GO WALKING. Driving around isn't the purpose! ;) (we started playing Pokemon Go...but there's no Poke-stops near our house so we have to drive...or walk for 4 hours)

Glad that Aydan and Lachlyn had a great time at girls camp! Also, what the heck are those Elders doing! You always teach the Restoration if there is a potential investigator at a dinner! ALWAYS. There is nothing that can compare in any of the lessons than feeling the Spirit during the recitation of the First Vision! (Emerson had some friends over for dinner the same night we had the Missionaries here...although we had a nice visit and a short "lesson" Jaxon was surprised that they didn't teach the First Vision discussion)

Anyways. The week has been a great one! Monday night we had a FHE at Brother Caldwell's house, a member of the bishopric. We have one of these activities once every month, called a Bishopric Lesson! It's a ton of fun, and this time it was on Prioritizing and Time Management! Loved it. Played some air hockey with our Ward Mission Leader too, and wrecked him :)

Tuesday we hit up the campus again. We found this guy named James, he knows a lot of members who are on missions now, and he came up to us and said that he wanted to come to church! He didn't show, but that was probably for the better. It was a confusing Sacrament Meeting. Anyways, talked with him, and then we were approached by some lady who works for the college and told us we needed to sign a permission slip to be able to come onto campus and call her every time we come to contact people..... So that was interesting. We signed the paper, and yeah. Then, we talked with a guy named Arry, one of our members friends! He was a bit annoying, but fun to talk to. The conversation started by him telling us that 'shrooms are scientifically proven to give humans the strongest spiritual feelings... And then he went on to bash on us. We got out of the situation pretty quickly, but it was still funny! We had a few appointments fall through during the day, and then had dinner with Jade and Josh, the couple that took us to the temple! It was a good visit with them. That night, we also had a lesson with Veronica! A new investigator! She loved hearing about the Restoration, and she really wants to clear up her schedule on Sundays in order to come to church! Super spiritual lesson though, she was really excited to read the Book of Mormon! 

Wednesday we went up to the campus again. Not as eventful as Tuesday though. And then we had a lesson with Madisen, a Less-Active! We taught about the Sabbath Day. It was a good lesson, but she didn't come to church :( Had institute that night too! All about how important the scriptures are! It was awesome. 

Thursday we did FoodShare, which was really boring this time. Not a lot of people came! Then we had a District Leader Council with our District Leaders, and then did our Weekly Planning! Not much happened after that, just trying to see people to no avail!

Friday was a great District Meeting on faith! I played piano for it. Butchered the closing hymn, but I have memorized Be Still, My Soul now! I played that one pretty well! Elder Parkinson and I led an EDPEP on referring quickly to the Restoration, and it went well! Really important principle though. It's important to connect with people, yes. But it is also very important to not waste anytime and refer to our unique message to the world! I love it, and have been working on it for a while! We did our Zone Evaluations after lunch, and then had an awesome lesson with Kelli! We taught about the Plan of Salvation and Baptism, and she seemed to really like it! We are seeing her again tomorrow. Then, we rushed over to the Stake Center and exchanged with the Assistants! I was with Elder Gibb in Ventura. That night, a less-active wanted to meet with us so we went to his house and talked with him about repentance! It was great. Got yelled at by some drunk guy on our way out, and then went home and planned a great Saturday!

On Saturday, we didn't have a very successful morning. Tried to track down a referral, and were unable to. We met this lady, Veronica, after lunch though! She was nice, and going through a very tough time. She wanted to meet with missionaries, and so we gave her information to the missionaries that worked in her area! We then went to the beach and set up a booth. I loved it! We talked with a ton of people, and I always love when people come up to us and tell us how wrong we are. It can be pretty entertaining, but we met a few really good people there! We went around trying to see people for the rest of the day, talking with people on the streets, and having some appointments fall through. But, it was a great exchange. Elder Gibb is a great Elder, and I was really happy to be with him for the day!

Sunday was awesome. Our Bishopric was changed! Which wasn't awesome. But is at the same time! Our new Bishop's name is Bishop Montague, and he is absolutely awesome! We had a few appointments fall through that night, but we were able to invite a lot of people to our church tour that we are having tonight! Hopefully some people actually show up! It will be fun! 

Well, that was my week. Nothing too fun and exciting, but we are chugging along! Next week I will have transfer news for you! The church is true, never forget it! Keep going, and always hold onto your testimonies! 

Love you!!

Elder Harvey

Picture of me and Elder Gibb, and Elder Parkinson and I chilling like villains.

Elder Harvey & Elder Gibb

Elder Parkinson and Elder Harvey

July 18, 2016 - Westlake YSA Ward - Thousand Oaks Zone

#TheWeekMyLifeWentDownTheToilet #PokemonGO

Hey!

Okay. This week has been a highlight of the transfer for sure! We had MLC, went to the temple, had interviews with President and Sister Felix, had an awesome Zone Meeting, and went on exchanges with Elder Ruby! Busy busy week, and it definitely went by way too fast!

So, P-Day. We had just bought this new toilet scrubber, and we were waiting for our laundry to finish up, and so we decided to do some more cleaning in our apartment. I went to the bathroom, to clean up a bit there. We had just bought a toilet scrubber too, so I was scrubbing the toilet with it... when the head of the scrubber broke off... and went down the toilet.  Ugh. So, we called our apartment Elder in the office, and he told us to flush it 50 times, to hopefully have the head go through the system. So, we did. FIFTY TIMES. It was painful. But, we thought all was well after that. Go to the bathroom Tuesday morning, nope. Didn't work. Long story short, we needed a brand new toilet! Yeah. I am sooooooo dumb. Rest of the day was mediocre. 

Tuesday was a day. We had MLC, and learned more about member missionary work and about becoming better leaders. Very inspiring. The thing I loved the most was the Assistants telling us that there is no more comfort zone as leadership in our Mission. No more of it. We need to stretch ourselves, and I took comfort in knowing that I have been stretching myself more and more as my weeks go on! Went to Frisbee that night, and then planned our Zone Meeting!

The temple was fantastic on Wednesday. The same members took us down as last month. The ones that got engaged the night they took us. They are getting married on the 6th of August! Exciting! But, it was a great session. I learned a lot about myself and again had my goals and vision for myself ratified in the House of the Lord. I also learned that I need to give up for good all of the worldly things I have been holding on to. As Spencer Larsen taught me in Sunday School, "let go of the banana!" Oh, and I SAW ELDER HUBBARD THERE! I was so excited. I hadn't seen him in forever! The rest of the day was great. We had a lesson with a less active member of the ward about the Book of Mormon, and then had Institute! Learned about repentance and forgiveness! Kyle was sleeping when we got to his house to have our lesson, and so the member we brought offered to take us out to dinner! Fun day.

Thursday. We had to set up a room for President Felix to do his interviews in, and he ended up going to a different building than we went to... So that was awkward. We had changed the location of it, and some communication problems happened I guess. But it was fine! Interviews went well. I sure do love President and Sister Felix. They are just so loving and great. And after interviews, we went and taught this former investigator named Alonso, and he became a new investigator! It was awesome! He didn't come to church though, but that's okay. We are going to see him tonight! Then, we had dinner with a member and her non-member friend, taught the Restoration, and she became a new investigator as well! Great day. Adding to that teaching pool!!!

Friday was kinda rough. No one was really home, and yeah. But, Zone Meeting was super awesome! Very spiritual, and very inspiring! I was able to give a talk on the Book of Mormon being YOUR story, all about how the Book of Mormon is for us, written for our day. Just like Dad said, it is a book that can prepare us for the Coming of Christ! I loved it. The Book of Mormon is SO TRUE. 

Sunday, we had church, which was great as usual! Learned about Christlike Attributes and about the temple! And then after church, had lunch with Elder Snyder and Elder Davis, and then went and saw Alex! Another former. His brother is in Zimbabwe on his mission, and we taught him, and he is a new investigator as well! It was awesome. Three new investigators this week! The Lord is mindful of our situations, and since we have been patiently working, we found the people God has been preparing!

Thanks for your emails. I miss the Pageant, next year we will have to go! I want to do a church history tour as well. That would be awesome! I love you all. Have an amazing week! 

Love, Elder Harvey

Elder Parkinson & Elder Harvey
Los Angeles LDS Temple

July 11, 2016 - Westlake YSA Ward - Thousand Oaks Zone

#ELECT

​HEY

So. This week has been up, then down, then up! First though. Lemme explain the package.... I totally spaced it and forgot to write a letter to go with it! The socks are for Emerson. Some Elder gave me 4 bags of socks.... and I didn't need them all. So, basically, you don't need to buy as much socks for your mission! The tennis balls and reflectors are things I have been collecting. I somehow manage to find a tennis ball in every area I go to. And more often than not, they tend to be on the first day I am in the area! The scarf was made for me my first night in the mission field, and the knives I wanted to keep! Other than that, I can't remember what else I sent. 

So, sounds like a fun week you had! Sadly, I totally forgot to take some pictures of me and biking. Sorry :( I wish I had! But, I was really sweaty. Probably didn't want to see that. I did not burn a shirt on hump day, but I will soon! I will take a video of that when I figure it out! 

So, the fourth of July was a ton of fun! No one was home after P-Day. But for P-Day, we had our Zone Activity! We bought a watermelon and organized a scavenger hunt for everyone to do in one of our church buildings! It was great! Everyone seemed to have an awesome time, and we were able to get closer as a Zone! Then, that night, we went to see some people, but everyone was out. And so we were walking down this street, and a jeep pulls up alongside us and it was a member with three of her non-member friends! It was hilarious, because she lives in one of Elder Parkinson's old Wards, and he couldn't remember her! But, we went by and saw Brigette (the member) on Thursday, and invited her to invite one of her friends to have dinner with us! AND SHE DID IT! So, we are having dinner with her and Kelli on Thursday! Going to be awesome! Then, we went in for the rest of the night, and I attempted to make poutine. It wasn't very good. Didn't really have the right ingredients, and so I tried my best. But, that's okay!

Tuesday we went up to the college for a little bit and talked with some people. No return appointments or phone numbers, but it is good to just get out and contact people! We didn't have much happen after that. Just went around and tried to see people. Played Frisbee with the ward after our correlation meeting, and yeah! That night, Miguel dropped us over text. So, our teaching pool was completely empty. Nada. No one. So, we went full finding mode. 

Wednesday was a good day! We went to the college again. Same results. Then we had lunch with a member, shared a good meal and talked about missionary work. We have been trying really hard to become equally yoked with the members, and so we have been meeting with all of them and sharing a great personalized message on receiving answers through the Book of Mormon! Hasn't resulted in quite what we were expecting though. No referrals yet, but we saw miracles! Anyways, we had lunch with Nate, then went and ended up giving the father of a less-active in our ward a blessing. Went by some people, had dinner, went to a little bit of institute, and then had an awesome lesson with Allison! It was the last of the new member lessons, and we taught about Enduring to the End! Good experience. 

Thursday! We had weekly planning. But, weekly planning got interrupted by lunch with Jayson! Always good to eat with him and exchange info about the ward. Basically, for the rest of the day, all of our appointments got cancelled. No one was out on the streets. Nothing. That was a rough night, but we made it through! 

Friday we had an awesome District Meeting on Faith, and finding the faith to find the elect! Very uplifting. That morning, we did an activity where we identified all of the former investigators in our area book, and planned to see as many of them as possible during the day! It was a good activity, and we saw little immediate success from it! But, we had four AWESOME member lessons that day, and felt that we were getting closer and closer to a referral. All of the members keep referring us to other members of the ward. So, eventually, we will find someone that has a friend they are working with! 

Saturday was a DAY. I was on exchanges with Elder Oakey, in my area. So, we went to WORK. In the morning, went by some more formers and ended up talking to a ton of people! It was great. Then, in the afternoon, had all of our appointments cancel, so we went up to Moorpark, taught a less active about faith in Ether 12! We got a text from the Sisters in Moorpark the night before about a YSA man who they talked to that day, and told us he was interested in us coming by! So, we went and saw Kyle. At first, his mom came out and told us that they weren't interested. But then she made the mistake of offering us a drink. As she went to get us something, I ended up stalling her a little longer, until Kyle came to the door! He came right out as his mom said "Oh, you want to talk to them???" We taught him the Restoration. It was a powerful message, the Spirit was very present. Asked him if he thought Joseph Smith could be a prophet. HE SAID HE ALREADY KNOWS THAT HE IS. Asked him if he thought the Book of Mormon could be the word of God. HE SAID HE ALREADY KNOWS THAT IT IS. WHAAAAAAAAAT. He said the closing prayer. Didn't come to church, but we will be seeing him on Wednesday!

Sunday was good too. We had church, and then dinner with Jacob Chun. Great guy, going through his own personal struggles, but is trying to fight it! Then, we had another little message with Allison. She wasn't feeling too good, and so we decided to meet with her! It was great. Talked about Doctrine and Covenants 6 a little bit: 

" 22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

 23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?

 24 And now, behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things which no man knoweth have you not received a witness?"

Great week in store for us too! We have MLC tomorrow, and then going to the temple on Wednesday, and then interviews on Thursday, and Zone Meeting on Friday! Should be a great week, and hopefully we will have a lot more investigators by the end of the week! This area is catching fire!!! The elect are definitely out there! 

Hey, I love you guys! I hope you all have a fantastic week, and know I love you! Keep going, and I hope you all listened to Dad's talk! Realizing our won potential is pivotal to becoming who God wants us to become! 

Love,

Elder Harvey

Attempt at Poutine