So this week Elder Miller and I received word that we are both staying in Salinas. Yay! We messed with the Andrewsens by calling them and telling them we were both leaving and they were putting in sisters. Elder Miller and I had a good laugh...
This week was an excellent week. We got 21/20 lessons, 150/140 contacts, and 46/40 referral requests. The zone goal this week was asking for 40 refferals. The only bold word in preach by gospel comes in the phrase "Ask for referrals from everyone!" We really took that to heart this week. It is interesting that when you try to contact people on the street, when you talk about them they are shut down, but when you ask for a referral, they are almost instantly nicer. People don't seem to see themselves as changing, but a message about Christ for someone else is a good thing. Just interesting how that works. We received a few from investigators. They weren't much more then pleasant interactions and dropping off a Book of Mormon, but we are already seeing the blessings unfold from asking more and more people.
This week we picked up another part member family. We set a baptismal date of February 3rd with the mother and the 8 year old son. Rescue test at work. The father was a less active and the family's info was given to us by the ward council. It's great how that works.
Well, my first two transfers are over. I am off the training plan, and now only need to do 1 hour of companion study everyday instead of 2 (not that we get to do much anyway, since driving to greenfield and seaside every week and occasionally San Jose kills lots of time.) This transfer should be a good one. We will probably be able to have a few baptisms in it too.
Today we are going trail running in Mt Toro park. I'm excited. It has been warm here too. Thanks for the chex mix. It got finished today.
Hope all is well,
-Elder James Richards