Oakland, that's a whole other animal

Well....in the words of the kind policeman here, "Oakland, that's a whole other animal." (I asked him why he was talking to a policeman, he said they talk to them a lot because they are EVERYWHERE.)

Man this week has been so amazing and so changing. My whole mission just got turned up side down. So on Tuesday we headed to the Mission office to have transfers. I had to wait for Elder Bradford for a while with some other Elders because he was helping the assistants bring all the missionaries on bikes to the mission office.

 

Once he got there, we headed in our three some and went to a children's hospital to offer a blessing to a mother of a daughter with cancer. It was the most powerful experience being there. We explained about the priesthood as we taught her the restoration in a short 15min. The spirit was so strong in that hospital room. She expressed her fears of losing her daughter to this and so I shared with her my testimony and my experiences with my heart problem. It brought a calming peace into the room and then we gave her a blessing of peace. After that blessing I gave a blessing to the little daughter just around the isolation crib. It was powerful. She accepted to be baptized and learn more which is amazing. She happened to more English oriented so we are passing her on to other missionaries.

 

We spent the rest of the day down in East Oakland...Trying to find the Latinos among the black people. That was fun... One guy we contacted told us that it was getting late and that we better get out of here. It was like 4 o'clock. haha. That night we met with one of our part member investigator families. We are teaching a lady named sister Garcia  She is great, and her husband is a member. We are working hard with her. 

 

Wednesday we started off the day with District Leader council. I conducted the meeting and it was just a council with the district leaders in our Zone. We went over announcements  goals for the mission etc. It was a good learning experience to conduct that meeting. I have still so much to learn but I am excited and I love it.

 

That after noon we did service at a food pantry. We made bags of food for people. We had a good time there and made some friends with the other people who were serving there with us. We had dinner with the Mendoza family that night and ate a great meal. That night we went to the Bayou down in west Oakland. I met one of our investigators there and she is great but different. She has a very distinct way of talking and her house is like Louisiana down in the Bayou. Remember the movie, "Princess and the Frog?" The Louisiana one, yeah that's west Oakland. Sister Cobos is great though she doesn't understand a whole lot but we are working hard with her and have had some success with her. I also met another one of our investigators sister zarate in downtown Oakland. She is strong Catholic. We are working with her on helping her understand the Book of Mormon. 

Thursday we had our regular district meeting and then after we did our Zone planning for the transfer: Exchanges, district meetings etc. I have a lot of work to do her in the Oakland Zone.

We ate with the familia Garcia that night and oh man I ate! They made a carne asada and it was so good! We were out back with him helping him cook the meet as we here gun shots off in the background haha. The little daughter just said, "There's another one!"  Don't worry were protected. (You are probably freaking our right now but just take a deep breath) 

Friday we spent the morning moving sister Olvera to her new apartment in Oakland. Yup wee the first people to get a call around here if there is a need. :) 

That night we had the greatest experience ever. We went to the visitors center with sister Garcia. We watched the Testaments video. The sister missionaries that were the VC guides did such an amazing job. When we finished the video we they asked sister Garcia what she felt and feels. Sister Garcia began to cry and cry and the spirit just filled the room. It was so powerful. Her daughter gave her a hug and then once she stopped crying we asked her what she feels she needs to do next. She just said,  "Bautizarme" (Get baptized) At that moment we invited her to be baptized and she accepted for the 27th of January. She said she felt filled with something really warm. We testified that it was the spirit. As we ended we invited her to pray and we all kneeled with their family and she offered the prayer. She couldn't even say the first words without beginning to cry. The spirit was so strong in there and I even may have shed a tear. Psh....what are you talking about Oakland Zone Leaders don't cry. 

Saturday we spent the day trying to find people to teach out in Berkeley. Yes it is very liberal. They have separate streets only for bikes. I have never seen so many hippies and bicyclists. 

Sunday was the big day. We had coordination with the ward mission leader with all the elders in the ward including the assistants which we are with all the time. After coordination there was a baptismal service for a lady in English. We invited sister cobos to come to see a baptism to help her feel more comfortable to accept a date. She loved the baptismal service. After the baptism she told us, "I'm convinced" We then invited her with a date and she accepted also! It was awesome! This week we have had so much success! I love it! Church was great and I got to know a bunch of the members. After church we ate sandwiches with the assistants in the kitchen. We then did some paperwork for our Zone meeting on Tuesday. I am going to be conducting it again in front of 30 missionaries...

 

Then the night began. Oh I didn't know. Poor Zone leaders and assistants. We began the night young at about 9:30 with a call from our district leaders to get indicators. Other Elders (the backup) showed up and we had two phones going to get indicators in. We have five districts in our Zone. I had an Elder tell me earlier that day, "Elder I hope you realize that you just got put into the biggest Zone. Have fun tonight "  I didn't quite understand. We had calls coming in until 10:30 and then finally had to put all the numbers all together come up with a Zone focus and wait for the assistants to call us. We finally were able to crash at about 11:45. And then this morning we got up at 5 to get our laundry done because we had another Zone call for Zone Focus  that morning.

 

I love this but its a lot to do. I am doing good though I'm not tried or anything. I am a bit sick but everything is ok. My foot is infected again so I have a doctors appointment today but the missionary medical card will cover it. 

 

Everything is doing well. 2 baptismal dates coming up soon and also 2 in my old area that I will get to go to! Elder Bradford and I are doing really well. We love it and are working on teaching together. But I love Oakland sure is different from Concord though. 

 

I will write Holly again soon and Rayn. I wrote Holly a while back but I dont know if she got it. I live down by Lake merrit in Oakland para que sepas. 

 

Love Elder HIll.