ELDER MATTHEW LEBARON - The law of chastity, miracles, and the bike of suck

First off, sorry if you were expecting an email from me on Monday, we had zone conference, and then we had a church open house the next day, so we had to move p-day to today. 

So this week started off with me leading out the area, and let me tell you, what a ride it has been. There is so much stuff to remember, and there is so much stuff that goes a long with being a missionary that I didn't fully realized until it was all dropped on me until E. Low left. I honestly am still trying to figure out how all of this stuff works, and to boot I have a small Japanese companion that keeps looking at me for all the answers. The first couple of days were rough, and planning has been a whole other mess. Every missionary has a different way of going about missionary work, and so sometimes its hard to know what each particular area needs. E. Low definitely had a very specific style, and its a little nice to figure out what this area really needs. 

I have felt that in this past week i have grown immensely as a missionary. I'm not training, but sometimes it seems like it, especially when your companion doesn't know the area, or the language very well. I have found this light within me that I didn't even know existed, the responsibility of the area, seemed heavy at first, but I have felt such an increase of love for the ward members, and especially our investigators, something I didn't feel as strongly when I looked to E. low for all the answers. I often spend most evening looking at our area book wondering how we are going to meet our daily and weekly goals,  and especially the goals that we have for our investigators. I have never felt the love that comes from serving people this strong in my life before. Truly, I love being a missionary. 

Thursday came and went, and i still hadn't gotten a call from the bike shop, so on Friday I called and they said that my back tire axel had been shattered along with some other problems, and told me that it might take a couple more hours until they could fix it. Fine whatever, i thought just a few more hours, that's nothing. Well, I waited and no call came, and i was still stuck riding scoliosis central through the California streets. Finally on Saturday while we were getting dinner, we received a call, confirming that my bike was ready to pick up, I asked when they closed, 6 they replied. Fearfully, I looked down at my watch, seeing that it was 5:30 I was instantly filled with  anxiety. Contemplating my options, I considered picking up and paying for my bike up on Sunday, but then realized that you can just go and break the sabbath day. I looked to E. Katanuma and said "if we don't get a member to take us to the bike shop before 6, I will scream " I could not imagine spending another day on that clown bike. We ran home, and found Fred on the couch, he agreed to take us to the bike shop and I spent a large sum of money fixing my bike. You know when things keep going wrong and you finally say "whatever, I don't even care anymore" that was definitely one of those moments.

Last night we had a lesson with Jason, we talked to him about the law of chastity, and lets just say... it was probably one of the funniest lessons I've ever had, there are a lot of things that i can't repeat in this email, but Jason was very open about all sorts of stuff.. too much stuff actually, not to mention that the language barrier created some pretty journal worthy comments. I remember the shock in his eyes explaining all that is the law of chastity, and instantly he said that he couldn't follow it, because its too hard to follow, but by the end we got him to see the importance and he committed to change. It was just one of those lessons where you have to stop in the middle and laugh, because there is nothing else you can do, anyways, Jason is awesome, and we're so excited for his baptismal date.

Yesterday we also had an open house at the institute building, we passed out flyers all over citrus campus, which is a jr. college in our area. Quite a few people came and we walked people through several different rooms that were designed around the mission discussions, Restoration, Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the commandments. It was really weird to teach people all of the lessons in the span of 30 minutes, but it was a super cool experience. After that we had lunch, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. There was a lady named Kimberly that found a set of sisters headed to the open house. She told them that she had been praying to find Gods church, and when she saw them she knew that whatever they had to say was the truth. The sisters brought her to the open house, and they talked for 2 hours. The sisters brought her over to me and E. Katanuma and explained that she was in our area, and that they were going to pass her off to us. I told Kimberly that i knew that God had answered her prayer, and that there are so many blessings just waiting for her and her family, she then asked us when she could be baptized, shocked we responded that she could be baptized in three weeks. Its one of the craziest things, i know that there really are people that the Lord has prepared to be apart of this church. "For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" Doctrine and Covenants 123: 12. I have a big testimony of this scripture and I know that this church is true, we are so blessed to know of the truth and where we can find it. I love this mission, I love the people that I get to serve, and I love the Lord. If you guys go into general conference with a question, and you pray for help to get an answer, I can promise you that any question you have, or any concern you have, can, and will be answered through one of the speakers. 

Love,

Elder LeBaron