The Biggest Church Building Ever

 Hola hola a todos!! Happy (late) Halloween!

This last week has been so good! One highlight was definitely MLC. The Spirit is always so strong there. One thing we talked a lot about was member-involvement with our friends. It's amazing how big of a difference it makes when we're teaching someone and we have members who join us in lessons or who help them feel welcome at church. All I can say is, after my mission I sure hope I'm always the member that's reaching out to help the missionaries and people learning about the church. I have so much respect for the members who sacrifice a lot of their time for us

Right after MLC, I had a half-day exchange with the Sisters in Thousand Oaks, Sister Adams and Sister Hatch. I haven't done any trio exchanges before but it was SO fun! I just got to be their third-wheel. Haha jk but it did feel funny sitting in the back of their car as we drove around. I felt like their little kid or something. We did a lot of door-knocking (people in Thousand Oaks have cooool Halloween decor btw), and we also walked around a park for a while to talk to people. ALSO I got to eat Cafe Rio, and the workers there always give the missionaries a discount. ALSO ALSO, the church building there is MASSIVE. Like two stories, two chapels, and an elevator kind of massive.

One of the friends we started teaching this week is named Jose Luis! We had two amazing lessons with him! He has so much faith and wants to get closer to God. As a missionary, it's so special for me to get to see people seek God out so deliberately. He took an uber to get to both of our lessons at the Church. He shared some of his past with us, and we had several new members in the visit who shared AMAZING testimonies about when they joined the Church. They had to sacrifice a lot to be baptized. It's such a privilege to hear these people's stories. 

Halloween was fun!! Pretty normal day for us. Hermana Crawford and I made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! I kinda dressed up as Dorothy, but we're not supposed to dress up for Halloween so it was only an indoor costume for a few minutes and then I had to change my hairstyle when we went outside. I never wear two braids so the costume was too obvious haha. The rest of the day I dressed up as a missionary.

Another friend who we're teaching right now is named Juan Velasquez, and he is SO cool! He was a referral from social media! He came to church a few Sundays ago but then left out of town, so we've been having video call lessons with him. We finally got to have another lesson with him in-person on Halloween! We had to work hard to get that lesson to happen haha. We thought he was planning to meet us at the church, but then last-second he told us he didn't have a car and could walk to us, but it would be an hour. So we told him we'd drive to meet up with him. Long story short, after a few wrong meet-up locations, we finally ended up having a short lesson in the Planet Fitness parking lot. It wasn't the most ideal meeting place, but we felt so much peace as we testified in that little lesson! I walked away from it smiling so big. And huge thanks to Sister Brown, a member from our ward who drove all over town with us to get to that lesson.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

Today I just want to share a scripture that I love!

2 Nephi 29:7-8

7. Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

8. Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I know that God gives us more of His word because He loves us, and I know that He is still a God of miracles!

My invitation for you all is to read from the Book of Mormon every day this week, and to spend a little extra time in it than normal! It will bless your life so much!

I love all of you!

-Hermana DeMordaunt