7-6

Hope you had A BLAST of a 4th of July!
Sorry that I didn't write yesterday...I guess the Palm Desert Valley desided they wanted a free vacation day off ... so I guess Happy 5th of July to all of you too ;)
So before I forget I think I promised a brief biography of my companiero... My campanion is Elder Daniel Jensen of Okinawa Japan. Haha, yah, that is right JAPAN! He has lived there for the past 7 years (his dad is a physical therapist for the military.) So he moved there and went to school on base. I asked him if he speaks it, he said no...I think he is holding out on me though... not for long, I'll drag the tongues out of him!.. does that sound weird?? Anywho, the past week has been good working with him. He is quite the big guy & has broke his foot three times on the mission so far... so we have to take things a little slower - - and you know me, I am NOT a slow walker! haha He tells me a couple of riddles every day.. I think most are from Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, but everytime he tells a riddle I notice how pathetic my mind is at those kind of things... :)
On Monday night though we were like 10 minutes early to going into the appartment at night so I thought we would walk around the appartment complex and be obedient to the rules. Well we were instantly blessed! This lady named Noami stopped us in her car and thinking we worked at the complex she asked us how late our tennis courts were open and how early they opened [as a missionary we get confused with people A LOT - everytime we go to Walmart someone asks us where the toilet paper or other goods are etc.. haha]. Well we thought it was good moment to OYM her (open our mouths to her) And she said that she was looking for a church for her and her family, to come over and teach her! What a blessing from obedience Aye! Hopefully we can get in and teach the family now!
Oh, I forgot to tell you some sad news last week. I don't remember if I told you about one of our investigators that we had been teaching the past couple of weeks. His name is Eric Mendoza. He was a good guy, but life was full of a lot of trials for him - one of them being he was gay. He was reading the Book of Mormon and we promised him blessings from doing so. We told him that God would provide for him a better way in life and would help him get past his trials. He came to church and said he liked it and then about 2 weeks ago he was riding his bike home from Palm Springs on Highway 111 at 11:45 at night and was hit by an oncoming car and was killed. We were told the following Sunday of his death by a roomate of his. Still a little shocked - I have never had someone I was teaching die. But the good thing is that he was on the right path and will hopefully accept the gospel in the spirit world!! [Can you look online and see if you could find his information of the accident or the obituary for me and print it out and save or send it?]
On July 1st I got to have a fun reunion of a Sister Shayna Robinette! It was so fun to see her! I went to the Mission home in Riverside for a ZL meeting in the morning and she is serving in the Riverside Woodcrest area and was staying for a short time in the mission home because their homeshare had not opened up yet. Sister Reeves saw me pull up and ran in and told Shayna.. Sister Robinnette that she had to come out and see me. Haha, so weird to see her - One and a half years it's been CRAZY! haha, she is doing good though!
Our teaching pool is shrinking a little... those darn heat rays might be causing some evaporation to take place... maybe I should pray for rain. Things will be good though. This month our zone is going to be focusing on obtaining new investigators. And so we will all be diligent and obedient in our Heavenly Fathers work and I know we will be blessed with oportunites! I love what Josiah says in 2 Kings 23:25, "And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him arose there any like him." I never new about Josiah growing up until I had just read about him - but reading that isn't it amazing! He turned his whole soul & heart to his Heavenly Father. That is what I want to do, give my everything to Him and in the end I know I will get everything back.
I love you all very much! Stay safe and have a good fun week! Loose yourselves in our Heavenly Fathers work!-- Love, ELDER PATRICK McBRIDE