Mt. Soledad, Beach Bonfire, Bike Ride, Baptism and Visiting YSA
Monday is our P-day. After we finished doing the laundry and cleaning our apartment (which is way quicker than cleaning a whole house), we decided to drive up to La Jolla Beach. We were planning on going to a Regional YSA Beach Bonfire/Volleyball Tournament that evening, so we thought we would go exploring before meeting up with the YSA. Our friends, the Allen's from St. George (who had served a mission in San Diego), had told us to visit Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. So we drove up the windy road to the top of the hill. There is a big white cross at the top, along with a unique Memorial that honors veterans, living or deceased, from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terror. Each plaque has a picture and a brief story of their accomplishment during their term.
The view is incredible from this vantage point. We could see downtown San Diego, Mexico to the South, and even had a pretty nice view of the San Diego Temple.
This activity was billed as a Beach Bonfire/Volleyball tournament. Our ward had practiced the week before and were prepared to compete in the tournament. People were arriving, along with wood for the bonfire. We soon noticed a young lady walking from group to group asking if anyone had brought a volleyball net. Well, it soon became apparent that someone had dropped the ball - no one had been assigned to bring a net. In the meantime, the sun is getting lower and lower in the sky. Then, we are assured that someone is going to purchase a net!
Probably a half hour or more after the sun set, a net arrives and volleyball in the dark begins. By this time, there were just a handful of people who were still interested in playing, considering it was hard to see the ball! But, the YSA are adaptable, and everyone had fun listening to good music, making Smores, and just mingling with each other.
Tuesday evening for Institute, we enjoyed grilled hamburgers by Elder Hardy. Once again, the YSA's enjoyed Sister Hardy's Sand Lake Inn cookies. One of these times I will remember to take pictures at Institute!
We had another great lesson from Elder Anderson's book, "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness". I highly recommend it. We learned why it is so hard to change. It is necessary to have the desire to change, and without Jesus Christ, it is pretty tough. Alma 24:8-10 tells us that His Spirit helps "to soften our hearts" and forgives us of our sins and takes the guilt from our hearts through Jesus Christ. The fastest way to change is to read His words - spend time in the scriptures - they will heal you.
Wednesday morning at pickleball, we each had an opportunity to have a conversation about the gospel. Stan has a friend named Loy. He's a Filipino, and was raised Catholic. As a young man, he was an alter boy and doesn't have a high regard for Priests. Stan visited with him and was able to get his phone number. He's still working on setting up a meeting with him. This Holiday weekend has slowed things down. I visited with my friend Terri. She attended our Church for a short time with her Mom and sister when she was young. She had a good experience. I've invited her to attend our Church, but she says she's going to go to her sister's Church. I enjoy talking with her about the things she remembers, and try to add a few more principles in our conversation.
Our KIA needed a service done, so we took our bikes with us when we took it in for service so we didn't have to wait for hours. After dropping off the car, we took off and road a few miles to the Silver Strand, a strip of land that connects the mainland with Coronado Island. We enjoyed a beautiful ride, but were a bit saddle sore when we returned, just in time to pick up our car.
When we came out of the church, we could see the Super Blue Moon in the sky. Earlier in the day I looked up to see where the best spot to view the moon in Chula Vista, so we drove to a park and took some pictures.
We decided we should invite the Elder's for dinner, since they don't get dinner appointments with the YSA members. We really enjoyed our visit with them. It's nice to have a few moments to get to know them better. One of the Elder's has a challenging family situation. His parents are divorced, and sounds like his Mom has sacrificed to help him get on his mission. These young missionaries are examples of a tremendous desire to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ. They've sacrificed much to be serving our Lord. I love being in their presence. This is one of the great blessings of serving as a Senior Missionary, to get to rub shoulders and serve with these young people.
On Friday we spent some time developing a handout that we could give out to the YSA's when we go visiting. We put a picture on the front, a quote, and all our meeting and activity times and locations on the back. We bought some chocolates at Costco and put them in a bag with the handout attached. We will give these out when we go visiting.
On Saturday a set of sister missionaries had a baptism down in Imperial Beach. We received a call from some Elders and asked us if we could give one of their Friends a ride to the baptism (the young missionaries aren't allowed to take other people in their cars). So we picked up Michael, an army veteran from North Carolina. We had a nice visit with him and learned a little bit about him. A baptism is a wonderful experience for people interested in the Church. The spirit is strong, and testimonies are born of the Gospel and of the Holy Ghost. I'm glad were were asked to take Michael so we could attend the baptism as well.
After we dropped Michael off at his apartment, we began our adventure of driving around the area looking for the addresses of the YSA's that the Bishop asked us to check on. We went to probably about 6 addresses, talked to two Mom's, an Aunt, a man that said Andrea didn't live there, a couple addresses that it was impossible to know which apartment or door to knock on (or when we knocked no one answered). But we did have one interesting contact. We went to an address to find a young woman named Genesis. When we arrived at the address, it was an obviously low income one story apartment complex. There was a man playing with a boy in the courtyard, so we asked him if he new Genesis. He did not, and waved the landlord over, who was outside as well, and he didn't know her either. So we turned to leave and as we were walking away, I told Stan that we should go back and give our handout and bag of chocolates to the man we talked to. So we turned around and went back. I told him we felt like we should give bag to him, and opened the handout and read the quote to him, and shared a few thoughts. When I showed him (on the back of the handout) the time for Church, he said he needs to come back to church. We found out he's married and has kids, so we told him the family ward meeting time, and showed him the address on the handout. Stan got his phone # so we could text him with a reminder. He sounded like he would be interested in coming. As we walked away, I heard him mutter "10 a.m.", the meeting time. His name is Keyshawn.
So, this morning, we got ready and went to church in time for the 10 a.m. meeting, but no Keyshawn and family arrived. We figured as such, but were still a little disappointed. We will go with the Sister Missionaries that work with the family ward and visit him this week and see what we find out. I'm grateful for the experience, and I know we were supposed to turn and go back to invite him.
We're feeling blessed to be able to serve in San Diego with the YSA's. We still can't believe this is where the Lord sent us! We're loving it! We hope and pray that we will be able to make a difference.
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