We are now attending the Ventura First Ward. It is a small, friendly, diverse ward which meets in the stake center in Ventura. We seem small in such a large building. It takes us 20 to 30 minutes to get there, depending on the traffic.
This ward is in a different stake than the one we had previously been attending. So we get to see different missionaries. It is actually the same ward the Assistants attend, and also the zone leaders for the Ventura Zone. The zone leaders alternate between two wards. We also see the Castros occasionally - either between meetings, or, President attends Ventura First when he cannot make it to their assigned ward (which also meets in that building).
We have been asked to visit several part member and/or less active families. We have begun to do that. We have an appointment Friday to visit a family who is just coming back into activity. The mother, April, has lived a hard life. She was addicted to drugs, had her children taken from her, served time in prison, and now is coming back to church. Good for her! And I think her husband has had a similar background. In fact, it sounds like the children were theirs, not just hers. They now have a little five year old daughter, which is the reason, April said, that she was able to get off drugs. The missionaries have been meeting with them and are excited to have us get acquainted, and the family seems to be happy about it too.
Another family we've been asked to see has three daughters who were baptized a few years ago when they lived in Santa Paula. Then they moved to Ventura and have not been active. The youngest (now 14) was evidently interested a while back, so we will go see what we can find out. The house Lucy (our GPS) took us to is itsy bitsy. And if I am to understand it, there are six people living there? Yikesers! No one was there except a big dog out by the door the first time we went. And the gate to the yard was locked. After our bike ride Monday evening, we drove by again. There was a car there and the door was open, but we were not dressed for making a visit. We just wanted to see if someone really lived there, because from the outside (other than the dog) it did not look it! Evidently the family situation there is far from ideal. I actually called a previous mission couple (who live in Logan) who worked with this family a couple years back. The senior elder said it was the weirdest family situation he had ever encountered. He felt sorry for the girls. They were in the home a few times and tried to get the youngest to come out. When I spoke with him it was before we had driven by the house or I would have asked about that. At any rate, it sounds like we will have our work cut out for us :)
We have been asked to speak in church on the 23rd. Which is the same day I have been asked to sing in church. Good grief. Get it all over in one day! :)
So, the talks in sacrament meeting were interesting last Sunday. Brother and Sister Winslow. She is the YW president. I don't know what his calling is, but when he spoke, we learned that he had been a coach at Ventura College, was investigated [for misappropriation of funds, we later read on the Internet], ended up getting convicted on three of seven felony counts, and served jail time. Of course, it was in all the newspapers. The investigation went on for several years. It was tough on the family, as you can imagine. Of course, he lost his job. They lost their house. His talk was on the solidity of family. He said his family withstood the stress of this entire ordeal. Their children were early teens and younger when all this began. Now they are RMs, on a mission, or getting ready to go on a mission. He said he was not ashamed of what happened and bore strong testimony of family togetherness. He commented that when someone told him how lucky he was to have a good woman to stand by him through all of this, his reaction was, well, of course she would -- he never considered it would/could be any different. They had made eternal covenants. He said he didn't take her for granted, but just knew she would stand by him. Like I said -- interesting.
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