{Insert Cheesy Persian Caption}

Alright, I have to share this, it was so funny. So we have Farsi class 3 times a week with Sister Mead. Part of class is when we come wit sentences we have written and we read them, and then Sister Mead helps us to make them better and grammatically correct. So I read a sentence like "The room was dark because there is no light." (Very clever I know) and after, to make sure we understood the word I used, Sister Mead said "Elder Ekberg, your tie is dark blue". Then she said "Elder Wiedrich, yours is dark silver". Then it was Elder Arguelles' turn. "Elder Arguelles, your tie is also a dark color". And so granted Elder Arguelles is the new guy, so he didn't know what was going but he caught this talk of colors, and after Sis Mead said that to him, he said "I have dark skin...?" :) Ohh man.. You had to be there, point is.. The gift of tongues helps you to know (kinda) what is going on, in almost any situation. :) 

While walking on Westwood, we ran into this older Persian man. Turns out, he is a member! He was baptized like 3 or 4 years ago somewhere else in California and had just moved to Westwood. He was praying that he would run into someone he could trust to help him move from apartment to apartment. So the next morning we found ourselves moving boxes and bags into our very spacious Toyota Corolla. It was awesome to be able to help Hadi move in to his new apartment. He even showed up to church yesterday for Regional Conference! 

Regional Conference (?)

Regional Conference! Was that a thing for Arizona? It was awesome! Don't be too casual about your religion! Be an example of the believers everywhere you go and everyone you talk to! We shouldn't be ashamed of the covenants we have made, as we keep them, the blessings greatly outweigh anything else. Don't be afraid! Yes, we live in troubling times, the darts are flying faster, quicker, and they sure are blazing, but as we stick to the basics, the little things, we will receive the blessings that are promised to us by our Heavenly Father. Why do we do things? Simply because a young boy had a question. As he asked God which church to join, he was told by Christ himself, not to join any, but through him, the original church of Christ would be restored. Through revelation we know that ____________ is God's will for us, and that's why we do that. #Renlund

Visitor's Center with Hamed

Hamed promised to take me to Iran someday.  He needs to calm down...haha!

 We met this new lady, Shadab (شاداب) and we were able to meet with her yesterday! We had a great lesson about how Christ has provided us a perfect path and God blesses us as we follow Him. We watched some videos in the VC about missionaries, one of them talked about how he overcame cancer and how helping an investigator take the step of baptism was very similar. After the video, Shadab mentioned how cool that was and told us that she wanted to be baptism when the time was right! We walked around the temple, talked about our goal as children of God here on earth, and officially invited her to be baptized. She was all for it, no specific date, there might be some time to sort out residency (approved but pending kinda thing), but we are excited to start working with our new friend! :) 

All in all, things in California are going great! Maybe a little slow at times, but I'm excited! We are gonna have a great year! :) Some have asked about the food, its awesome! We get fed by the members here probably 3 times a week, and the other meals we cook ourselves. Elder Arguelles is teaching me a few things about cooking, and I can say that I'm better now haha. We do go out to eat sometimes, your classic Wendy's and McDonalds #MissionBudget. In-N-Out on occasion and don't forget about some quality Persian food. I'm a fan of Koobideh Kabob, its a good cheap classic haha. 

Thanks everyone! I love you all! I love hearing about what everyone is doing back home, and I'm excited about whats going on wherever youre at! God Speed! :)