November 7, 2016 - Canejo Canyon Ward - Newbury Park Zone

#TractMeet

I FEEL LIKE I WAS JUST DOING THIS YESTERDAY WHAT THE HECK.

Well.

Another week has come and gone. And.... what a week it was! 

Couple of exchanges. And a LOT of tracting. 

Yup. TRACTING. Something I have never had to rely on ever on my mission. But there is nothing else we can do! 

Anyways. Glad to hear about the exciting week! Sure am proud of Hudson and him doing so well with football. Hard work brings about success! 

Monday. So, we had to be in at 7, because of Halloween. And so, we had to end P-Day at 3 to compensate for that. But, we also had to exchange with the Assistants that night. So we did it at 7. Nothing really happened on P-Day. Just had dinner with the Turner family in our ward and handed out candy to little kids. Their street was BUMPING. It was funny being on the other side of the door for once. Should have seen one of the dad's face. It was hilarious. He was shocked to see a Mormon Missionary open the door and give his kids some candy. But, we exchanged after that and I went to Ventura again with Elder Weiss! I have been to Ventura on every exchange with the Assistants. So much fun. We had a movie night after planning and then crashed. 

Tuesday was such an awesome day in Ventura! It was cool, we had the ocean breeze, and nothing really could have beat anything we did that day! Had a few lessons with some of their recent converts and returning less-actives, and contacted a lot of people that day! Actually, it was the closest I have ever been to being attacked by a dog. We went to contact someone at a house, and this house was behind another house, and so as we were knocking, a dog came barreling out of the front house and we turned around and I was ready to kick it square in the face, but it came to a screeching halt and then ran away. It was awesome. We also went and knocked on some apartments, and then got into a 20 minute bash with someone trying to not argue, but argue that we were wrong. We did really well with just testifying and teaching boldly and powerfully. All in all though, it was a really great day! 

On Tuesday night, we got dropped over text by our last investigator...  and so our pool is empty! Wednesday, we spent a long time trying to get everything together for our reports for the Stake leadership for the month of October, and then went out and tracted a little bit and then got to help out the Young Men with some of their Duty to God! It was fun, and we heard about the crazy Game 7 of the World Series! Just a week full of crazy sports stories I guess. 

Thursday we did Weekly Planning and some service for a lady named Anita. Kiiiiinda a hoarder, but she wants to have a lesson sometime soon, so we are trying. Walked around for about 2 hours that night too. No one likes us knocking on their doors after 7, so all we can really do is either have a set appointment or go street contact. 

Friday was District Meeting and Interviews with President Felix, aaaaaand.... Tracting! Yay! We tracted for about two hours that day. Not a ton of success, but it's really all we can do. There isn't really anything for us to work with in the area book, and we are trying to work and work with the members of our ward, so it's really our last ditch effort. 

Saturday I was on an exchange one of my old apartments! I got to go to the Westlake Village Family ward and work with Elder Morgan for a day! It was also a day of contacting the investigators that they had, and we also got to watch the teachers broadcast with Elder Holland. If you haven't watched it, you need to. Such amazing insight on how we can all become more Christlike teachers. Taught a lesson to a man named Steve, one of their investigators, and we were able to help answer some of his concerns about baptism. Let me tell you, I don't think I have ever been as bold with anyone except for maybe Don Bobbs.. It was awesome. Just being able to throw everything aside and ask him what his hang up was!! Hopefully he progresses to baptism soon.

Fast Sunday was great. This ward does something I have never witnessed before! They have the teachers pass around microphones for people who don't want to walk up to the stand. I loved it! Although, it was weird not seeing anyone up there. Tracted some more that day, and yeah. 

No real new investigators yet. But, we are working hard to try and try to find! I got my package sent off last week, so hopefully you get it soon! I sent it to the PO Box. 

Anyways, glad to hear everything is going well! I love you all! Have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Harvey

Oh. We made chicken. And Pumpkin Seeds.

And we found a Christmas Tree.

Chicken (?)

Pumpkin Seeds

October 31, 2016 - Canejo Canyon Ward - Newbury Park Zone

#IWannaKnow #HaveYouEverSeenTheRain? #PSI
​Well.

We almost died this week. But it's chill. Thank goodness for brakes. 

I'll explain real quick. Three lanes. Overpass. We were in the left lane, with a left turn lane coming up. Just driving. Then a lady in the right lane decided to try and make the left turn.... and almost killed us. Very lucky she didn't smash right into our side. God protects His servants! 

So. This new area of mine is amazing. Mom, I am serving in the Canejo Canyon ward in the Newbury Park Zone. This is where I was with Elder Snyder when I was first a Zone Leader, just in the YSA Ward. Now I am in a family ward. Elder Peart and I are pretty much best friends. We have known eachother for a year already, I was his Zone Leader in Newbury Park last time I was here, and we went on an exchange together then too. We have been getting along so well. My new area is pretty wealthy, Newbury Park is only about thirty minutes away from LA with no traffic (an hour and a half away with LA Traffic :P).

It's crazy that it is almost November again.... Time really has flown. But, this week was hectic and we had to do a lot of administrating, beginning of the transfer is usually like that.

Monday was bittersweet. I said goodbye to the Ford's and the Huse's. Great families, and I loved being with them. I packed for the night, and got ready to say goodbye on Tuesday Morning! 

Tuesday. Transfer Tuesday. Probably the craziest one of my mission. Got to Newbury Park (the checkpoint for the transfer train) and met Elder Peart there. We were then in charge of the checkpoint and the missionaries that are waiting there for their companions. Northbound train started at our checkpoint and headed up to Santa Maria, it was on time. No problems. Southbound train was supposed to arrive at 11:10. However, when they were headed up to Santa Maria in the morning to start, their trailer came unhitched on the freeway halfway through the trip. So, that was no bueno. They got to our checkpoint at 2:30. About three hours late. Once all of that was taken care of, all of the missionaries left to their new areas, except for Elder Campbell (MY ELDER CAMPBELL) and his new companion, Elder Oakey. Their car was dead. Ugh. So, we found jumper cables and got them on their way, and waited for Albert to come pick us up to go and do service for a lady moving into our ward. Anyways, Elder Campbell and Oakey came back, and Elder Oakey forgot his Tiwi card in Santa Barbara. AAARRGGHHHH. Elder Campbell didn't have one, because he's a new missionary, so the Assistants brought him down a card. Helped Jean move. Had dinner with the Gredings. Then Jean insisted on feeding us, so we went out for chinese food. Turns out, Jean is from Vancouver, and her son went to highschool there. I got to nerd out about home. Fantastic day, and Wednesday was even better!

Wednesday we pretty much tried to plan our Zone Goal for this transfer. The mission is focusing on Change Eternity, Plan by the Spirit. So, it's been fun to get a goal together to help the Zone improve! Had dinner with Bishop, whose wife is from.... Alberta. Yup. Nerd out time again. Alberta's a fun one because our whole family is Alberta. She's from....... I can't remember. Raymond? But she knows a Connie Leavitt. Name sounds familiar, but maybe I am crazy. 

Thursday we literally spent all day prepping the Zone Goal. I made planner inserts, and we typed everything out. It was a long day. Had dinner with the Brems, and yeah. Zone Goal is awesome. We are pretty much just trying to help the Zone invite the Spirit more in planning. 

Friday we went to both District Meetings in the Zone, to present the goal. They all loved it, and it's literally just read the assigned scripture each night and invite the Spirit, and then act on your plans. Easy peasy. No one was home today, so we knocked on a whole lot of doors. To no avail. Went full missionary status. Got a Dr. Pepper at a gas station in order to set up a lesson with a potential. You do anything for lessons. 

Saturday was SO COOL. We had a Halloween party going on that night, a trunk or treat (We had a trunk :) ) and members invited so many people to come! We had about five non-member families there, and met one of our Deacon's girlfriends, who we will be teaching on Friday! It was such a cool activity! Members rock.

Sunday was fine too. No one is ever home here. But church was fantastic, the ward is amazing, and everyone is working hard to do missionary work! 

This week I have been focusing on an article I read from LDS.org. I will attach the link. But, the gist is, don't take Christ out of the equation. Don't rely on your own merits, but rely on Christ's. It isn't "Me + More = Christlike" but, it's "Me + Christ = More"

The work is hastening! I love being here. Thanks for the parcel! I found out that we have an apartment number, and that is J. Haha. Number J. Anyways, I will send my parcel to you today, and I need to buy stamps. Is that okay? Should my card work?

Love you all! GREAT JOB ON YOUR PART JAMESON. Oh, and I think Emerson is dating the girl that Elder Bradley is in love with. #slayit

Love,

Elder Harvey

https://www.lds.org/blog/the-perfect-lie?lang=eng

Trunk or Treat

Elder Harvey, Elder Campbell & the Huse Family

Elder Harvey & Elder Peart

October 24, 2016 - Canejo Canyon Ward - Newberry Park Zone

#14/12 #BacktoNewbury #IfLoveIsAnOpenDoorThenIHadNoLoveThisWeek

Dang. 

I guess it's been a big week for the both of us Dad.

Let's start with transfers, shall we?

Well, I have been assigned to serve again as a Zone Leader. And I am going back to where I first started as a Zone Leader! Off I go to Newbury Park! I am beyond excited. My new companion is Elder Peart, who I have been on an exchange with the last time I was ZL, and we are serving in the Conejo Canyon Ward. It'll be a fun transfer, and I am going to love working closely with President Jordan again! 

Dad, congrats on your new calling. You have been prepared by the Lord to be able to raise the bar in that branch, and I know that as you and the rest of the Presidency and Branch Council do that, that you will be even more of an example to the District! I don't know if I ever told you this, but I was pretty sure that if you didn't move from Chilliwack, you were going to be in the Bishopric there anyways. But, I am excited for you! You'll do great :)

So, this week hasn't been the fastest week of my mission. But, we managed to almost complete our Ward List hunt! Monday we went disc golfing with the District, and that was loads of fun! I have grown to love disc golf the past few weeks. It's the only thing I can do. 

Honestly, I can't really remember a lot of what happened this week. But the gist is: a lot of closed doors. Since we were focusing on the Ward List so much, we met a lot of people who weren't very happy to see us! But, I think I have noticed a talent developing (Mom talked about if you use them, they are loosed!), and that is to talk down contentious situations. A lot of people started out yelling at us and not being happy at all, but once I calmly related with them and talked WITH them, they calmed down and realized we were just servants of the Lord trying to do what's right. It was great. Our Ward Council is very appreciative of what we have been able to do though.

I have been so glad to serve in such an amazing ward. Honestly, I have seen a lot of similarities between Erringer and Chilliwack 2nd. I feel at home here, and have gained some of my closest friends while serving here. Not only that, but I feel like I have grown here far more than anywhere else I have served. I have learned more and more about myself and my sacred responsibility not only as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ, but as a Son of God. I have come closer to my Savior on the bad days, and stayed close to my Savior on the good days! I have been able to learn the scriptures more and more, and I have been able to find my motivation: Bring Souls unto Christ. I love this ward, and I have loved seeing the growth happen not only in the area, but in myself as well. 

We had a good District Meeting on the Book of Mormon answering questions of the soul. What did we do? Played Jeopardy of course! I should have taken a freaking picture, but I am an idiot. Anyways, we learned that there are so many different scriptures that can answer so many different questions about any doctrine of the church! It was a fun activity. 

On Saturday we helped the Spanish Elders set up for their talent show with their branch, and we ended up singing the Star-Spangled Banner with them for their act. That was fun! 

But yeah. Not much else happened. We have been trying to get in contact with people, but to no avail. I am excited for the experience awaiting me at:

Elder Jaxon Harvey

1520 Pachino Circle, Apartment J 

Newbury Park CA, 91320

Love you guys. Oh, Mom, would you be offended if I sent my mini scriptures home? I don't really use them anymore, and I want to send a package home.

Oh and Emerson... Jacob 6:12

Love,

Elder Harvey

PS- I am related to 28 US Presidents. #Vote4Jaxon

The Hulls

Repair Job

October 17, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#IThoughtTaxiDriversAreSupposedToMakeMoney #FoodComa

AHDHFHHJGJGKJLFJLEJJHDHKVFBHV

FINALLY.

You have no idea how excited I am.

IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME. 

MSN is gonna be a freaking MISSIONARY. 

IN MEXICO.

That is just so freaking awesome. 

Congrats bro. You'll do great. Don't get too overwhelmed with the language. I have a brand new Spanish Elder in my District, and he is doing great just learning the language. You'll do great things in Mexico. Also, Mom, the Mexico MTC isn't super sketchy really. Elder Hiltscher said it was really fun, but it's definitely going to be a culture shock! And he gets to leave a few days after his birthday.... just like me! 

Well, that was super exciting. I have been waiting all week to hear about that! I couldn't watch the video, but I will save it onto my camera and watch it later! Oh, and I did buy a blender... 14 bucks! It's awesome. 

Well, the weeks been an average one. Nothing too amazing, just hard-nosed missionary work! We knocked off about 24 names on our ward list, which was awesome! Went on a couple of exchanges too, including Elder Rosenlof's last exchange of his mission! 

But, first of all, on Monday we all went to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library! It's really the only fun thing to do in Simi, and it was actually really cool! All about Reagan's life and what he did as President. I didn't know that someone attempted to assassinate him, so that was a cool part of the exhibit! I will attach pictures though. 

Tuesday we were going to see a bunch of people from our ward list, but that all changed when the other Elders had the never-ending problem of....... a flat tire. It took all day to fix. It was pretty annoying actually, but we fought through it. I read in Luke 6 this morning about just doing good for anyone and everyone, no matter what they do to you, and the Spirit let me know that I have been doing a good job with that! 

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Mata, which meant I was living with Elder Alder for a day! Yaya! It was awesome to be with him. We had a great time. Elder Mata and I taught two less-actives and two of their investigators. It was an extremely fun day. Oh yeah, we also had two dinners. One with their investigators and another member, which was just hamburgers, but the other at a restaurant with a Spanish family, and I think I had the best dinner of my mission. I WAS ON FIRE. I don't know what happened, but I was just on a roll. I felt like Robin Williams doing stand-up. It was just joke after joke after joke. I was proud of myself. 

Thursday we did service for Brother Huse! At Stake Conference yesterday, he was called as a member of the high council! He is going to be awesome at it. Probably one of my favorite members that I have met on my mission. Then, we did Weekly Planning and we drove people around and dealt with some problems some more. Kinda annoying again, but I know I am doing the right thing. Helping my fellow Elders :) 

Friday we had an excellent Zone Meeting on working with the Ward Councils more effectively and on having more of a positive attitude! I loved being able to learn about how I can have more of a positive attitude towards negative things that may happen. I think I have done a good job so far, but it's always a great refresher to have! We did some service with the Ford's, and then did an early exchange at five (due to Stake Conference weekend) and Elder Rosenlof and I went to a Taipan place (the place where they cook the food in front of you and almost burn you to death with onions) and it was so good. I loved it. Never been to a place like that! 

And the rest of the weekend was pretty much just trying to contact more and more people, which we accomplished! We found a potential yesterday named Winston. I decided we should walk around the area we were in a little bit, and Elder Campbell didn't really agree, but did it anyways. I felt like we should talk to a guy around the corner who was in his front lawn, and as we were getting closer, he turned around and went inside. Dangit, right? Not this time though. I really needed to talk with him, so we knocked on the door and he was busy then, but wants us to come back on Saturday! So that was cool! That night too, Brother Hull came with us to go see the Pard's! It was an awesome visit, where Brother Hull challenged Brother Pard to come back to church. He did it in such a loving and caring manner, and I was so happy he was there. 

Well, that's been our week! No luck with Emerson and his family yet, but we are trying! 

My ankles doing well, and the car is doing well too! We did get some rain the past couple of days, and I do think I will be getting transferred next week! Training is fun, but it's super hard at the same time. You do all you can to help this Elder out, and a lot of it goes unappreciated. But, things are just going great :) I love the area I serve in, and I love the people I serve with. I really couldn't be any luckier. I know this gospel is true. Dad, I fixed my shoe with some goop and something called Sugru.... I think. But it looks pretty good! 

Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Harvey 

Air Force One

A Beam hat was actually used in the World's Trade Center in New York

Piece of the Berlin wall

Elder Harvey 4 President (Ronald Regan Library)

Air Force 1 (Ronald Regan Library)

Piece from World Trade Center collapse

October 10, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#FourthFloorLastDoor

*Insert classic greeting here*

Oh ye of little faith. I fixed my shoe. Boom. 

It's like, not even noticeable either. You may all bow down to me. Just kidding. I'm a humble servant of the Lord.

HOWDY. 

This week has been freaking awesome! I did the math, and I went on my fiftieth exchange on Saturday! So many. But it's really been a fun week. We saw a few really neat experiences, and tried our hardest to be as diligent as possible, and not being everyone's taxi driver. 

Dad. I need to answer these questions before I forget. So, I would love short sleeve shirts. The long sleeve that was sent with the garments was good size, except the sleeves were too short. But, my neck size is about the same. Which is 18 1/2, now that Elder Hiltscher just choked me out looking for it. But, I picked up a super sweet jacket this week from a member, so short sleeves will be fine. The winter is not even a factor here.  I don't think I really need anything else. I've got some new shoe polish, but don't really have an applicator. Maybe a shoe polish kit would be helpful. And some piano music shtuff? If you want, go on deseret book website and just send things to my address. I will be here for another two weeks :) Oh, I am trying to be way more healthier. So, I was wondering if I could buy a blender? Make some smoothies and junk. I need to stop being fat.

Sounds like you all had a super fun week! I miss the weekends where Kevin and Amanda came to visit. Those were always so much fun. Mom, no Canadians in our ward, and our dinner calendar has been kinda scarce lately. But that's okay! We don't have any dinners this week until Wednesday. So I will be eating.... something! Yup, I am not sure yet. But I will celebrate thanksgiving! 

So, Monday night was really neat. We were out and about after our dinner, and we were just going to visit a LA in our ward that we haven't seen in awhile, and I parked about four blocks away on accident, thinking that they lived right around the corner. So, we were walking back to our car, and then we felt like we should just walk the four blocks..............uphill............ Good gosh it was torture. But, it was good at the same time. It was about 8:15 at night (sidenote here. I don't know if I have ever shared this with you, but California goes to bed when the lights shut off. It's super annoying, but 8pm is referred to as "Hate O'clock") and we were getting close to where these people lived. I knew there was a reason for us to be walking on this street, there had to be! So, I started to pray that someone would be placed in our path. Then, we saw a man walking his dogs. So, we start talking with him, and 20 minutes later we gave this man, Joe, a Book of Mormon, our phone number, and we got his phone number! He seemed semi-interested, and as we introduced the Book of Mormon and invited him to read, and as we testified of the truthfulness of it and how it could bring him closer to Jesus Christ, the Spirit bore witness. It was an awesome feeling! We have tried once to make contact, to no avail, but will be trying again soon! We went and talked with the Pard's for a little bit, learned that we were on earthquake watch, and then went home! 

Tuesday was funnish. We had a follow up training meeting in Oxnard that we had to go to from 1-4. So that took up pretty much the entire day. Learned a lot about how I can be a better trainer and example to my District! It was a great and edifying meeting. 

Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder 'Iongi. It was fantastic! We played disc golf with a couple of members, and then went to work. Oh yeah, in the morning our car died..... Funny how you talked about car problems Mom! But, we got jumped. All good. We talked with a lot of people throughout the day! And had a bunch of fun while doing it. 

Thursday was some Weekly Planning. Got some work done after that, and then went to a baptism! It was the Platamonie family. Super neat story. The ones who were baptized on Thursday were the parents, Cheryl and Russell. Their kids had been baptized a long time beforehand, and now they were finally following suit! It was an incredibly spiritual experience, and they are both just so excited to be engaged in the Gospel! Afterwards, it was about 8:35, and I made a resolution that we were going out to work those last 25 minutes! Elder Campbell was less than excited to do it, but we went anyways. We went pretty close to our apartment, and I felt like I should take two lefts in a row! Once I got on the street after the second left, the Spirit told me that there was a potential that we were to go see, and that I had the information down in my planner. So I looked, and it was a man named..... Emerson. We walked up to his house, and knocked on the door. By now, it's about 8:45. His wife answered, and we start talking about their family and they had five kids, and I make the connection that I grew up in the same kind of family, but that now I had an adopted brother! That sparked an awesome conversation. Turns out, they are foster parents, and they really wanted to get their kids into a spiritual setting! Exchanged phone numbers, and they said that they wanted us over on Wednesday! Super neat experience again, right at the end of the day. #FourthFloorLastDoor!

We had a great District Meeting on Friday. All about working more effectively with the members! I loved it. Learned a lot about how I can be closer with the members and work more effectively to receive referrals! 

Saturday was my fiftieth exchange. Who with? The Ohio. Elder Hiltscher! It was a really great day. He is a new Elder, and is Spanish. So, we had studies until 1pm.... Sheeeeesh. We saw a really awkward middle school party. And got told that someone wasn't interested in Mormonism, but will become a Mormon when she dies. Heh. 

Well, that's pretty much my week! Nothing else really happened on Sunday. But everything is going really well! I love this talk I read yesterday from Elder L. Tom Perry. He relates an experience from his son:

"I came home one evening to find him practicing the Fosbury flop in our basement. He had set up two makeshift standards by stacking chairs, and he was jumping over a broomstick set on the chairs, using a sofa to cushion his landing. It was very clear to me that the sofa would not hold up under such treatment, so I called a halt to his indoor high-jumping. Instead, I invited him to go with me to a sporting-goods store, where we purchased some foam padding to use for landing and high-jumping standards so he could move the activity out of doors.

After experimenting with the Fosbury flop, Lee decided to return to the western-roll technique that he had used previously. Still, through the end of the summer into the fall, he practiced high-jumping for many hours in our backyard.

One evening as I returned home from work, I found Lee practicing his jumping. I asked, “How high is the bar?”

He said, “Five feet, eight inches.”

“Why that height?”

He answered, “You must clear that height to qualify for the state track meet.”

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“I can clear it every time. I haven’t missed.”

My reply: “Let’s raise the bar and see how well you do then.”

He replied, “Then I might miss.”

I queried, “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?”

So we started moving the bar up to five feet, ten inches; then to six feet; and so on, as he sought to improve. Lee became a better high jumper because he was not content with just clearing the minimum standard. He learned that even if it meant missing, he wanted to keep raising the bar to become the best high jumper he was capable of becoming."

Dang, right? Another favorite quote from it:

"The bar was raised by the leaders of the Church, and now the minimum standard for participating in missionary work is absolute moral worthiness; physical health and strength; intellectual, social, and emotional development. In every high-jumping competition there is a minimum height at which the competition starts. The high jumper cannot ask to start at a lower height. In the same way, you should not expect the standards to be lowered to allow you to serve a mission. If you want to be a missionary, you must be able to clear the minimum standards.
But once you reach those minimum standards, shouldn’t you try to keep raising the bar? I ask you the same question I asked my son many years ago: “If you don’t raise the bar, how will you ever know your potential?” My challenge to you is to recognize that a minimum standard exists—and you must reach it to serve as a full-time missionary—but don’t stop there. The greatest generation of missionaries will not reach its full potential unless it keeps raising the bar."

Emerson, raise the bar. Everyone needs to raise the bar. I had a thought while reading this. The bar NEEDS to get higher. Every time we raise the bar, we get close and close to perfection. Think about how it will be at the Judgement....BAR!? Will the height be set at five feet, eight inches? Probably not. It will be set at a CELESTIAL HEIGHT. And we need to work harder and harder to get there.

I love you guys! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Harvey

October 3, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#GlorifiedBabysitter #ChristmasInOctober

Holy cow.

Wasn't that just an incredible weekend? I am still trying to just soak everything in. 

For you guys, you had General Conference Saturday/Sunday. For us, we had a Zone Conference on Friday as well, and Elder Campbell and I have a follow-up training meeting in Oxnard tomorrow. So, a TON of meetings, and a lot of spiritual uplifting and love coming from our Heavenly Father! I love it. 

So, I hate the crying gene I have. I am super proud of Hudson first off! He is doing so well, and I am so glad to see the progress he has made since our backyard almost two years ago! Also glad to  hear that the Lions beat the RedBlacks. Go Leos! Mom, my shoes are fine. I actually would love to buy some shoe goo for my Docs. They got a tear in the leather on the side from the plastic of my orthotic ripping through (I have new orthotics now though, so I will fix up my shoe and everything will be honky dory :) ). Highly recommend those shoes though! They held up really well, and my Rockport pair isn't doing too shabby as a replacement. Although, he might not need the waterproof ones if he's coming to California! ;)

So, the weekend of course has been riddled with a bunch of conferences and meetings, so not much was able to happen over the weekend, and we didn't really teach a single lesson this week. On Tuesday, our car was getting some work done on the body and things were supposed to be finished in two or three hours. We gave it to them at 8am, and didn't get it back until 3:30......... So, that sucked. Especially since I have that handicap and NEED the car to be effective. So, yeah. Things were no bueno that day. After we got the car, we saw a few people and things were going really well! But, then the other Elders got a flat tire. So, we went and helped them out and then went to dinner with the Ford's! It was a better day than last Tuesday, and then I started my exchange with Elder Endicott.

Wednesday went really well! We tried to get as much work done as possible. They have been working heavily with trying to locate and teach all of the Less-Actives in their ward, so, we hit that super hard with the car! On the other hand, Elder Campbell and 'Iongi were on bikes (Oh yeah, Elder Campbell bought my bike! :) ) and it was Elder Campbell's first time on the mission, and he had some problems. A lot of flat tires, his peddles fell off, and yeah. We helped them out too with all of that. But, it was a fairly good day! I liked it a lot. Exchanges are always so much fun! 

Thursday we did Weekly Planning and tried seeing more and more people, but to no avail.

And then the wave of meetings hit HARD. Zone Conference was amazing, as usual. We watched "Which Way Do You Face?" By Elder Lynn G. Robbins (He spoke yesterday) and talked a lot about our commitment to missionary work and, most importantly, to the Savior! Then we watched President Uchtdorf's talk from the women's session about faith. I loved the story he used about the missionaries in Germany knocking on all of the doors in the apartment complex, and they didn't find success until the fourth floor, last door. It helped me to see for myself how important it is to push myself, to reach higher each and every day. I want to adopt that as my motto: "Fourth floor, Last Door." Then, we talked about invitations and commitments. 

And then, of course, General Conference weekend! Saturday was just SO DANG GOOD! I loved how the theme of the first two sessions was missionary work. I AM biased about that, I know, but it was just so cool to see how the Apostles that spoke that day talked so much about the gathering of scattered Israel and about how the members of the church and the missionaries could do better in working together to bring to pass the gathering! We are all working together to put the puzzle together, we just have to be willing to ask for help! 

Sunday was amazing as well. I loved Elder Yamashita too. "Boys- Be ambitious! Be ambitious in Christ!" AH. So many good talks. I am so excited to study them all in preparation for NEXT conference. Which, sadly, will be the last one of my mission. Gah. 

But yeah. Elder Campbell and I are doing great. He is so much fun to be around and so easy to train. We had a good talk yesterday about some things, and we've been so busy with helping everyone else this week that I have been neglecting him and his feelings, which I am working on changing and being able to be more open with each other in our companionship! It was an interesting quote from President Felix three weeks ago at our training meeting. He said that they did a study on returned missionaries a few years after they had come home, and they asked who was the most influential person of their life, and the top answer was their Trainer! So, I want to be that. I want to be the best first companion I can possibly be. 

The Gospel is true. I loved Elder Ballard's talk about "Where will you go?" There really is no where else to go if you want Christ's church. If you desire to have all of the elements and all of the blessings that the biblical prophets and disciples of Christ had, then you will be wise to look no further than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And I can testify of that to anyone that wants to disagree. The fact of the matter is, people need to come to know of these truths on their own. I can't force anyone to make any decision, as President Uchtdorf said, that is one of the things faith can't do. But, I can give everyone the opportunity to return to the strait and narrow, to return to the true fold, to come back to the Good Shepherd. That's the message, that's the truth.

I love you all, and I hope you have an amazing week! My biased prediction is that Emerson will be serving in the California Ventura Mission, but I will make an actual prediction. I think he will be called to serve in Australia. :) Throw some shrimp on the Barby there eh! 

Love,

Elder Harvey

Here's some more of the crew, including Elder Mata and Elder Hiltscher (picture below)

Oh, and if you want to see some members of our ward and what our chapel looks like, click this link and watch the video! https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-02-04-fasting-simi-valley-widow?lang=eng

September 26, 2016- Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#PickinItUp

Howdy!

This week has been an off week. It happens, but as I have liked to say as of late, it's not about what you did yesterday, but about what you do tomorrow. We haven't been as diligent and hardworking as we ought to be, but we have made some really great goals to move forward and become better and better missionaries.

Sounds like home life is going well! First off, congrats to Mom for getting that job! That's AWESOME! The Lord really does bless us, and I am so grateful for that amazing blessing that you have received. Second, Hudson. GREAT JOB. Dad told me your stats from your game on Friday. THREE TOUCHDOWNS?!?!?! That's freaking awesome. I am so proud of you! AND your Ravens beat my Jags. Which sucks, but you can't win every game! Although, I don't even know if Jacksonville has won a single game this year....... Sad to hear about President McKenzie's son. Please send him my condolences and support! I don't have his email. 

So, like I said, this week has been a slower one, but this next one is prepped to be a great one. Despite our laziness, we ended up finding three new investigators, which is just the three kids from the family we are teaching. But, I am SUPER excited for General Conference this weekend. I have felt that this conference will be one of the most important for me to listen to, so I am preparing myself to come with ears to hear. I am almost finished studying every conference talk from last conference too! Only have Elder Holland's talk left.

Monday night we met with Ricky, the Indian man who came to church a few times. We taught him the Restoration, and set him with a baptismal date of October 22nd! It was an awesome lesson. There's kind-of a language barrier with him, so it was difficult to teach him simply, but he is really interested in being baptized! We gave him a Hindi Book of Mormon, and he has read it every day since! He is doing so well, but we found out that he lives in another ward, so we had to pass him off to those Elders, which happened yesterday. Hopefully he gets baptized on the 22nd! 

Tuesday was a day where all of our appointments pretty much fell through except for dinner. And then the other Elders we lived with got a flat, and everyone else was busy, so we had to pick them up, and we don't have a bike rack on our car..... So, we had fun with that. Made two trips. And then drove them around a lot and got them situated with the flat tire. By the time that was finished, it was like 5:30, and our dinner was at 6:30. So, we tried by some people to no avail and then headed to dinner! 

Wednesday we got some work done! We went out and tried to see a lot of people on our Ward List, and we saw 8 different families! It was awesome. Had dinner and then went and saw the Bishop. Had a nice meeting with him, and he really appreciates what we are doing with the Ward List! We have been able to see 124/233 People on the list. So, we seem to be making some solid progress! :)

Thursday we did some Weekly Planning, and then went by some people again. Drove the other Elders around a bit, and then saw a referral from some other Elders, that turned out to be out of our area, so we set up an appointment and sent it to the appropriate Elders! 

Friday we had a great Zone Meeting! It was all about being better missionaries and more committed to the Gospel and to preaching the Gospel! I really enjoyed it. Set some personal goals for myself! We had a great correlation meeting with Brother Hull, and we made a plan to do a 30 Day Fast/Church Tour to help further the work here in our area. Brother Hull loved it and we presented it to the PEC on Sunday, and they loved it as well! We are going to have the church tour/dinner on November 18th, and a 30 Day Fast leading up to that. It will be great! So, we typed up a sheet to give to all of the Ward Leaders, and then had an exchange with the Zone Leaders! Oh, we also had a dinner with the Mordues, who actually KNEW WHAT CORNER GAS WAS. THEY WERE QUOTING IT ALL NIGHT!!!!! It was amazing. Tender mercies are everywhere. 

Saturday was a great day with Elder Willis and Elder Anglin, a mini-missionary. We started off the day with a baptism! Those Elders had been teaching this girl named Dani, and I did the interview last Sunday. It was a huge baptism, at least 70 people were there. and at least 70% of that were youth. It was awesome! We had a lesson with an excommunicated member that night, and then exchanged back! It was a fun day. I loved it. 

Sunday was also a great day. We had a great time at church, Marissa and Stanley came with their family! We taught them about the Plan of Salvation after church. It went really well. As soon as this divorce gets finalized and everything and they get married, they will be super ready for baptism! Oh, and they need to live the Word of Wisdom, but that'll be good for them I think. 

But yeah. That was the week! Jesse has been super busy, but we are hoping to see him on Tuesday. Should be getting a new investigator on Tuesday as well, named AP. Things are looking to pick up and I am excited for what this next week holds in store! 

General Conference will be such an amazing opportunity for us to hear from the prophet of the Lord. 

Love,

Elder Harvey

 Elder Campbell, Elder 'Iongi, and Elder Endicott

Bionic Boot

September 19, 2016 - Erringer Ward - Simi Valley Zone

#Elect

Howdy.

Elder Harvey here. Again. I never know how to open these dang emails. Except for saying that this week has been really really good. One of the best weeks I have had on my mission. This whole training thing is a blast, and I am just loving the area I am in! We have been teaching a lot this week, found my family of five (more on that in just a minute) and I absolutely love the ward I am serving in. Oh, and yes Dad, I am still a District Leader! I am loving it though. Makes the calling a lot more interesting :)

So, I am going to skip Monday. Not much happened, just a typical Monday before transfers. A lot of running around. We had dinner with the Huse family, my absolute favorite family here! The husband, Dan, served in Vancouver actually! And, even better than that, HE SERVED IN ABBOTSFORD. So cool. He knows Bob Murley! I found that out my first day here, but have always forgotten to mention it! He also knows the Irwins, and other older families. But, we had a great last night together, Elder Alder and I. He lives only a couple of blocks away, so I still see him pretty often, but he was definitey my favorite companion.

Tuesday morning was agonizing. I had to wait....and wait.... and wait... JUST TO LEAVE THE APARTMENT. We didn't have anything to do, so it was quite boring. But, we finally made our way up to the Mission Office in Oxnard, and had a lunch with all of the new missionaries, trainers, and even got to see some of the missionaries that were returning home! I got to say goodbye to Elder Dorius, one of my very good friends, and he was also my first Zone Leader. Anyways, lunch was good, and then we started our training meeting! It was good, reminded me a lot of the transfer meetings we used to have. Which was nice, I really miss those meetings. We got split off from the trainees at first, had some instruction from the Assistants, Elders Weiss and Summers, and President Felix, and then went in to get introduced to our companions! I was super excited, and I got the biggest missionary there! His name is Elder Campbell. Love him to death. He is from Blackfoot, Idaho, just like Elder Leavitt! Actually, Elder Campbell played football with Elder Leavitt's brother! Cool little connection. So, we met, got some more training, took pictures, and headed home! We had dinner that night with the Armstrong's, and went shopping and unpacked and all of that fun stuff. It was a good night. 

Wednesday though. That was a booked day. We introduced Elder Campbell to the Hull's, had a council with the Zone Leaders and the other District Leader about our Zone Goal for this transfer, and then went and helped Brother Huse paint his doors! Had dinner with some members. It was funny, we were waiting at this restaurant for the couple to show up, and another member from a different ward came and offered to buy our dinner for the four of us! Super sweet. It was with the Darley's, and the husband loves hockey and the wife actually just started doing LuLaRoe! Went out and tried to see some people, did some inspired knocking and such, and ended up talking with a guy named Steve for about 40 minutes. Not insanely interested in the Gospel, but loves being kind to the missionaries. That night during planning we were able to set up a lesson with Jesse for the next morning, and that morning with the Hull's, we got permission to teach a couple that we weren't allowed to teach in the past the next day as well! So we had a bomb Thursday planned out!

So, our lesson with Jesse went super well. We taught about the Plan of Salvation (he actually taught it himself. It was sweet. These lessons are super easy when someone has already taken them like four times!) and the Sabbath Day. The Sabbath is hard for Jesse to live right now. He is starting up a plumbing business, and it seems that when everything is going up and he is going to be able to come to church, something happens and just goes completely downhill. But, he has come to church many times before, and I think he knows how important it is to live the Sabbath Day as much as he can. It's a tough situation because he can't just drop the business and let his family suffer for it, and he has to work Sunday's in order to keep the business going! So, we have the go-ahead to baptize him. He understands the doctrine behind the Sabbath, so everything will be golden! We did our Weekly Planning, and then had our lesson with Marissa and Stanley! There's a complicated divorce situation going on there, and so we can't set them with a baptismal date until a divorce happens, and then they can't be baptized until Stanley and her get married, so it's kinda complicated. But it will work out! We were asked to teach the Law of Chastity, and so we did! It went well, and they became our two new investigators!

Friday we had our first District Meeting of the transfer, and it went really well! We learned about invitations, and then the Zone Leaders introduced our Zone Goal for this transfer! We are really focusing on the baptismal invitation, and so we are trying to invite someone to work towards baptism every day! And yesterday, as part of the goal, we all fasted to know how may people we could have set with a date in two weeks, and our goal is four! Exciting times. We had district lunch afterwards, and then tried by some more people to no avail, and then planned out a solid Saturday!

We got a call Saturday morning from Brother Huse, and he needed help putting up his greenhouse! So we were able to go over there and help him out. After that, we went out to work and saw the Vasquez family. It was cool, because I took a wrong turn, and then the thought came to my mind that a family on the ward list lived on the street I was now on, and so we just went by and saw them! We only got to talk with the husband, and shared about temples and eternal families, and invited him back to church! We will see how that one goes. Went by some more people, and then got a text around 5:30 from Jesse, and he wanted us to come by that night and teach him! So we got to go by and teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was fantastic! Then we went for a late dinner with Jayson Andersen (he was in the YSA ward I was in) and his girlfriend who lives in the ward! It is awesome to be able to see him so much. 

And finally Sunday. Church was pretty good, and I was able to conduct a baptismal interview for a 16 year old girl named Dani right after! She was awesome. Super prepared, and very excited to be baptized on Saturday! After that, we had another lesson with Marissa and Stanley, figured out that we were going to start teaching three of their kids as well, this time teaching the Restoration to just the two of them! And let me tell you, this was one of the most powerful and spiritual Restoration lessons I have ever been a part of. The Spirit was so strong. As I shared my conversion story to the Book of Mormon, and talked about how it helped me to know why I needed to go on a mission, I felt the spirit strongly testify to me that THIS was the family of five I had been praying for. That these were people I was sent to individually touch and bless. Stupid crying gene hit me hardcore too. But it was an amazing lesson! Then we had a very awesome General Priesthood Meeting for the Stake. I will attach a link to the video they shared. One of my favorite Mormon Messages about Canada :) 

And that's my week! The Lord is working wonders. He really is. I am in awe as He guides me to where I need to be exactly when I need to be there. I am not doing anything special, just following the Spirit when I feel it's guidance and opening my mouth! He is filling it. He is preparing the people to hear this glorious message of Restoration. And I am able to stand here and watch it unfold right before my eyes. This Church is true. The work truly is rolling forth. Nothing will stop it, nothing will hinder it, and Zion in her beauty will continue to rise!

I am glad to hear about Emerson's mission papers being submitted. And excited to hear that Zoe is serving in Winnipeg! 

Love you all!

Elder Harvey

Elder Campbell & Elder Harvey