Sad Goodbye to Menlo Park

 Que pasa Calabasas!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Welp unfortunately as yall probably know by the title of this email that I am no longer in Menlo Park, tough one for real. We had transfers last Monday and I am now serving in Gilroy, CA. My comps name is Elder Thompson and he is only in his 2nd transfer(6 weeks in). He's got a great heart for the work and those around him and super humble so I'm excited to learn a lot from him and help train him so more. As well I'm on bikes again haha because your boy doesn't have driving privelages for rest of mission because he likes to speed and my new comp accidently threw his wallet in the trash so he doesn't have a license haha but its great! We cover the whole city of Gilroy and are the only missionaries that live here which has been exciting to get back in shape but also a bit lonely. The work here is aweosome though, it reminds me a lot of Wastonville but a bit bigger and we have already seen some really cool miracles! 

This past Sunday we were heading to our last lesson to finish the night. They didn't answer and it was about 8:35 and we had about a 15 minute bike ride back, they lived in an apartment complex tho and I had the feeling to knock there next door neighbor as well. The person ended up answering and I gave an older contacting method of saying "we're looking for our friend jose". Well the guys name happened to be jose and he happened to have talked with the missionaries for a bit about 2 years ago. We asked how the discussions went with them and first thing he says is "Well for me I'm catholic" which is the classic answer you get from latinos who aren't interested but also haven't been to the catholic church in 5+ years haha. So I was like here we go but then decided to just trust the spirit on it. I then asked him more on the feelings he felt with the missionaries that came by. He then ended up talking really highly of them and loved how they weren't hypocrites like a lot of other preachers that's he has experienced can be but was just show shocked how they were so highly motivated with something they didn't get payed for. Moroni 7 then came to mind about faith, hope, and charity and he then welcomed us into his home to read it. We then ended up having a really spiritually filled lesson with him his wife and son and an invitation to read and pray about the book of mormon and restoration of Christs Church here on the earth. He gave an answer after we left them the invitation that really was amazing to see and don't see much. He said "Wow faith that's really all I gotta do to see if this is true or not, of course I will". From someone who didn't seem interested and wanna switch religions to then having a great desire to read the Book of Mormon was a really cool miracle and another witness to me to trust and follow the spirit. Though he gave the classic excuse and it was easy to doubt we trusted and followed the spirit and the spirit did the rest of the talking that night to see a cool miracle.

Also another cool miracle is from an experience back that I shared actually in my email back in June when me and my comp Elder white found this guy named junior and gave him a blessing and had a super cool spiritual experience from it. Well this past Saturday before I left Menlo Park, he got baptized in the ysa English ward which was super cool to see and I'm grateful we decided to go up and talk to him even though he was smoking and didn't seem like he wanted to be bothered.

Really looking forward to my new area here in Gilroy and will always remember the great experiences I had in Menlo Park and more importantly all the people and things that helped build my faith in Jesus Christ. I worked mainly in East Palo Alto out there and I truly love the people there as well the members of the ward. There have been many who I have really come to see as big role models/examples for me of people who are willing to let God prevail in their lives. Some of the most humble people who sacrificed so much time to the work of the Lord and to putting God first in their lives that I'm truly grateful and they will be blessed for eternity. The pictures below will show a lot of them however there are 2 that have been really huge examples of this for me who I shared from my last email are Hermano Zárate y Jose Hernández. One struggling with on and off job and wife who is stuck in Mexico and the other with an inactive wife and amazing change and testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. However with the many struggles in their lives they are some of the most happiest people I know because they know what's most important and they've let that be the most important focus and influence in their lives, being Jesús Christ. I know as we follow the same in our everyday examples as Disciples of Jesus Christ we will make an impact on the those in the world around us and we will better help share the light that a troubling dark world needs. 

Les amo y Jesucristo vive!

Love, 

Elder Plumb

3rd pic down: Junior

10th: Jose Hernández 

19th: Hno Zárate