BEACH PREPARATION DAY!

WHAT AN AWESOME P-DAY! WE HAD BEACH P-DAY! It was the first time I had seen the beach on my mission! Our zone and a couple other zones went over to Dockwhiler beach for a few hours for a specail p-day! It is something they do each year in this mission, but I was in the MTC last year when they had it, so I only get one of them on my mission. It was really awesome! The beach is just south of Marina del Rey, right by the airport, so we watched tons of airplanes take off while we enjoyed some volleyball and other games. I saw Elder Haslem and Sister Flake there too and I took a couple "Vernal reunion" pictures with them. Sadly, we weren't able to go near the water. We weren't even allowed to touch the wet sand haha! I got a little sunburnt on my neck where my collar usually is. We will have to go back there in a year! This week was a hot one! Lots of hot sun and hard work. We invited tons of people to church this week, but not many came. We are having a really hard time trying to get people to come to church. We have lots of investigators we are teaching, but none of them make the effort to come to church. I wish we just had a big church bus to drive around and pick them all up! I had a really cool experience this past week. Elder Cottrell and I were riding our bikes down a street, on our way to eat lunch, and we both saw a lady on the side of the road. We continued riding, and I had the impression that we should turn around and talk to her. I just wanted to go to lunch, so I ignored the feeling. Then it came back again, but we were already far from her. Then, all the sudden, my companion turns around and starts riding back to her. He said "I can't take it", because he had obviously been feeling the same impressions. We went back to talk to her, and she was really interested. She said we can't meet with her in her house, because she lives with a woman from another faith, and she probably wouldn't let us in the house, so we set up to teach her at the park! It was impressive to me to see how the Holy Ghost can tell two people the same thing at the same time. Sadly, I didn't follow the prompting. But that's why they put us in companionships, so we can make up for eachother's faults. , our two investigators with baptismal dates, didn't make it to church this week. . A less active woman that we have been working with came to church! And she brought her 9 year old daughter who isn't baptized. That's a part member family! The mom's boyfriend isn't a member either, and we will be meeting with them tomorrow night! Welp, that's all folks. We are working hard and trying to help the people here in South Gate and Lynwood. We can just do our best, and pray that they use their free agency to choose the right path. I know Jesus is the Christ. I'm grateful for this time of year that we have to remember the Atonement, and specifically the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of Him, we will all live again! Have a super week! Elder Ross Watkins