Week 51- August 16, 2021

Week 51 McClain Mission Mon, Aug 16, 2021, 9:25 AM to me Hey everybody!! Just finished up with a wild week, some great stuff and some crazy stuff to report. On thursday this week had exchanges with elder Szymanski from McFarland, but for what feels like the first time I actually got to stay in the area for exchanges. We taught a bunch of good lessons early in the week, and we are seeing a bunch of our friends progressing and enjoying reading the Book of Mormon. Our area has been seeing some awesome success! This week we found a few new families to start teaching, which was such a big blessing. Then onFriday, we headed down to Bakersfield for a mission wide conference with Elder Renlund from the quorum of the 12 apostles. It was an incredible experience to learn from him, shake his hand, and feel of the spirit. So special to think he has the same job as Peter, James, John, and ancient apostles to lead the church, and most of all, to be a special witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. He gave multiple talks/presentations about how in order to be a successful missionary, the most important things are our attitude and effort. I think the most memorable thing I heard was this: "enduring to the end is the doing the right thing for a long time." Seems very basic, but great advice as a missionary, and for anyone! It is so important that we just keep pressing forward in doing what is right for as long as we can. Then on Friday night, our friends invited us to a funeral so we could support them. They asked us to give the prayer, and lead us into a small little room. I was really caught off guard when I saw an open casket. That shook me up pretty good for a little while. But then things turned around again when we went and knocked on a Referrals door, and began teaching him! Saturday morning we went to the burial which was pretty sad again, then headed over to brother Terrazas house where he showed us how to make some stew while we talked about missionary work in the ward. He loves to teach us how to cook, and now he is our ward missionary leader. He is a beast! The best part of Saturday was then at night when Alejandra, a member of our ward and one of our best friends in the ward, held a family home evening at her house out in Allensworth. It was incredible. She strung up some lights, invited a bunch of people elder Martinez and I are teaching, planned a message, and made us dinner. Allensworth is one of the most humble places I have ever been, so words could not Express how grateful we are for what she did. The spirit was incredible. A great experience to show me - the joy we feel is little dependent upon our cir circumstance and completely dependent upon our focus. Then Sunday we had a miracle at English church. A kid we had invited to church during the week showed up last second with his older brother and girlfriend, and then we were able to share a message with them after! Then we went and gave some blessings, and finished off the night with dinner with sister Morris. Because of our rule of 3, needing to have a 3rd party Male present, and sister Morris being a single women, we got to bring miguel along which was awesome. We have some incredible members out here. Delano is the best!! Have an awesome week, thanks for reading! Elder Easton Lamborghini at funeral FHE setup