Well, this week in Newark was great. We taught the mission standard of 20 lessons. We lead the zone, as far as lessons are concerned. We also had an investigator in church, and he brought his nephew along as well, which was cool. We have lots of great things happening this week too. Later today we have an appointment with a girl that is a referral from a member. The member has his mission call to Vancouver Canada, and so all his friends are curious. He said he has been working on getting us a few more referrals too. That is exciting, since we are in desperate need of new investigators. The two we have are doing well, but we need to find some more people to teach. With a few potentials, we seem to be doing well.
Elder Howard and I are doing great. It's been easy since we already knew each other, we didn't have to have the hesitant period when companions don't know each other. I'm really trying to learn the area, but I still get lost. The roads aren't as confusing as Salinas though! That city was built on a circle...
The struggle here now lies in helping my district to be more obedient. Fremont has never had a history of being very obedient. It started when the stake switched into our mission from the Oakland mission in about '09. The Oakland mission president put the dregs of the mission in Fremont, and the Zone's missionary efforts have been struggling ever since. In Salinas, and really the whole Monterey zone, obedience was easy because all the missionaries did it. I never knew anything else. But up here, I have to really work at it, and be a good example for others. If this district can just be tighter about the rules, they can do really well.
We're still working hard. Hopefully, this week will be even better than the last week.
Thanks for all the letters are well.
Do work this week.
-Elder James Richards