Week 30 Journal
January 23rd, 2017:
Our p-day activity was a nerf war.
I'd like to buy a nerf gun, but maybe not because they're so expensive and
that's not exactly a missionary item.
This p-day went well. I got all my
laundry done, including dropping off for dry-cleaning. My hair is
cut. However, my shoes are not polished and the dishes are not done.
I tell you these seemingly minor details
because it perfectly represents my p-days. It's never perfect; I have too
much to do. I'm getting better at it, though.
After the activity, we had dinner with a
member family & then had a correlation meeting. We visited no one
else… we still haven't done weekly planning.
I found out that Jose L., one of my old
investigators from Evanston, got baptized. I did not expect it but I'm
really happy he did.
January 24th and 25th, 2017:
Well… we got basically no proselyting
time these last two days. Or, well… today we tried to find someone for
~30 minutes and couldn't. The grid system in Salt Lake is amazing for
missionary work, but sometimes it's still hard to find the house.
Yesterday, we did a service project for
the refugee donation center. It took must of our free time. I
sorted toiletries the first half and loved it. Then I helped up away
shelves. I really enjoyed doing it because it was easy enough to do but
still presented an organizational challenge.
Over the course of these two days, Elder
Bach and I had a pretty open disagreement over the rules and then made
up. Thanks to Elder Leterneau, things are actually looking a lot
better. Our disagreements come from me not giving constructive critics
more in the best way; I was completely in the dark on how to help others
improve. I've learned a lot–or maybe realized a lot of what I already
knew in some way–about how people think. Hopefully I can change enough to
help us all. I won't go into the details. Too long, too messy, and quite
frankly not really worth it. You had to be there for it to be worth it.
January 26th, 2017:
There was a church-wide missionary
broadcast yesterday. I took many notes that I still have to review from
both yesterday and today. Some big things, however, were two changes to
our daily life: first, our schedule is more flexible with less studies and more
time for self-care. The second item is a change to the key
indicators. The key indicators are key events investigators experience
that show they're ready to join the church, such as going to church, lessons
they have with us, and if they're keeping all the commitments we ask them to
make. There used to be nine, but they've been reduced to four. This
makes our efforts a lot more focused on what our investigators need and helps
us take more charge in how we go about planning.
We had zone conference today.
Elder Bach and my relationship is
improving. We still haven't gotten to where we want to end up, but the
tension is diffused and I hope to be better in how I give feedback and work
with Elder Bach to avoid conflict and help us both progress.
~Later~
I don't want to write about the rest of
today, so I'll pick my favorite emojis from the hidden emoji button on the
Chinese keyboards to share with you.
Suffice it to say it wasn't the prettiest
of times.
。一。what.
(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
⁄(⁄ ⁄ ⁄ω⁄ ⁄ ⁄)⁄
ಠ_ಠ
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡.
.｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣◇￣)┘
(˶‾᷄ ⁻̫
‾᷅˵)
♪(*^^)o∀*∀o(^^*)♪
◉‿◉
(( _ _ ))..zzzZZ
January 27th, 2017, for January 26th,
2017:
Yesterday was pretty bad between the
three of us. I won't go into the details, but I will clarify: normally,
we aren't arguing. That's not why it's bad. We will talk about our
planning and at some point we recognize we're not in unity and then we try to
resolve that by talking about it. That's when it gets messy. It's
not contention, it's when we try to resolve our disunity and we can't, and we
just talk about how we're feeling and be honest… I never go out of these things
with hatred or anger toward Elder Bach and Elder Leterneau; rather we're just
all looking at a problem we have no idea how to face. We become exhausted
and overwhelmed. So it's very different than shouting or arguing; in
fact, I've never felt closer to a companion that I have to Elder Bach and Elder
Leterneau at these times. With no other idea of how to come together and
resolve our differences, we share our honest feelings and see so much of the
other person(s).
That being said, during that time
yesterday, Elder Leterneau ended up promising us a blessing that if we
expressed our love toward each other openly and frequently, we would be able to
work in unity.
*****
January 27th, 2017:
Today, I talked with Elder Bach. We
had been planning lessons for our investigators and had run into a
disagreement. We then, through the course of the conversation,
transitioned to our relationship.
Now, at times in my life I have had a
strange variety of deja vu. It is very odd in that I followed the same
process of thought I had done in a strikingly similar situation in the
past. I couldn't tell if I was remembering correctly, resulting in a very
odd and lasting feeling.
As I was in this feeling, searching for
how I might be able to improve my relationship with Elder Bach, I remembered the
promise Elder Leterneau had made yesterday. I told Elder Bach that I
loved him and he was a great missionary, and after fulling collecting my
thoughts, said quite simply that we all want the salvation of our investigators
and surely, if we were working towards that common goal, there must be some way
to be a cohesive team. We talked then.
From that following discussion, Elder
Bach helped me realize that obedience is not the only attribute or qualifier in
missionary work; that diligence was also very important as were a number of
things. If I was so inclined to obedience as to forget those other
things, it was not good. He said many other things and helped me realize
quite a bit of why I might not be happy. To be perfect, we must be
obedience but we must also have many other things–basically, the Christlike
attributes–and in that way, I was not progressing and therefore was not
happy. I wish I had a recording of it all; it was better than any general
conference talk for me and my needs.
I wanted to record this because I realized
later that Elder Leterneau's promise he made directed by the spirit has already
shown itself. Furthermore, if Elder Leterneau hadn't prepared me by
helping me realize Elder Bach was (and is) obedience because he tried to follow
the rules as best as he was able [just like me], I'm not sure I would have had
my mind in the right state to receive Elder Bach's words. I have a
testimony now that I needed to be here, with these people, to grow in the way I
did.
I also have a testimony of how great an
example Jesus Christ is, and how much of that doctrine about him is true.
How much it will help us become happy as we live it and seek to understand
it. I have hope for improvement and many other things, and that hope
alone is what inspires me to do many things. That is faith. I know
Jesus Christ is a perfect example–the perfect example–and that as we follow Him
we will find happiness.
I'm also realizing how true the Book of
Mormon is and how Joseph Smith was a prophet, as I don't know how a man could
author the wisdom in the Book of Mormon. It took me time to see the ideas
contained in it, but I saw it.
~Later~
…that just kinda turned into a testimony.
Well, we didn't do much proselyting
today, either. We had a doctor’s appointment followed by our discussion,
picking up Elder Leterneau early, studies, a lesson in West Valley (30 min each
way), dinner, finding someone, visiting a family, and sync-ing.
In that lesson, though, I learned
something I'd like to share: God gives us commandments to help us be
happy. He cannot bless us for obeying a commandment if we don't follow
it, and we don't even have to know about it formally to receive those blessings
(as in the blessings from Word of Wisdom, a stable marriage, being kind, and so
on). I'd encourage you to consider this as you read the Book of
Mormon. Are you going to read it? Could you tell me yes or no,
please?
Dinner today was at Five Guys. That
brought me right back to Virginia.
January 28th, 2017:
Today was a day of good food.
Before I get to that, though…
We had morning exercises with two other
companionships. They played basketball, but Elder Leterneau and I broke
in his volleyball a bit as he helped me improve my technique. It used up
our bonus 30 minutes of prep time to get out to the gym, but I was awake enough
because of it to prep in 30 minutes instead of an hour, which works out.
We did no proselyting again today, it we
did our weekly planning! Well, most of it. But the point is we had
some free time and got more things done.
So, the good food of today was Itto
sushi: a really good sushi place that gives a 50% discount to
missionaries. I got "The Alaskan" with raw salmon &
"The Lion King" with crab, shrimp, & a few other things. I
found sushi to be basically my favorite food. I think part of overcoming
my fears of raw fish came from Elder Leterneau's tidbits about homemade sushi
being illegal in Japan because of the strict care needed to avoid food borne
illness.
I also bought a pair of chopsticks
there. They are white with silver and gold ranges flying over blue
clouds.
For dinner, a member family in the
Chinese ward made good pork and beef. He was from Malaysia & she was
from Korea (South). Following was a Chinese New Year party hosted by
Abraham, an investigator of ours. He and his friend served up some
amazing food! Mmmm.
I talked with Elder Bach more
today. I've decided to submit myself so that when we disagree on an
issue, we don't have to be so contentious. Hopefully I'll remember.
We'll see how it works out.
January 29th, 2017:
Many in the 6th ward were wearing
traditional Chinese formal attire, as Chinese New Year was a few days
ago. I have never felt underdressed in a full suit.
Elder Bach and I are going to trade
designated driver positions. It'll help me get to know Salt Lake City,
although I hope Elder Bach will share the phone more.
No comments:
Post a Comment