Week 31: Onigiri and fitbits

Week 31 Journal

January 30th, 2017:

Today, we went to ShopCo.  It's a store that's closing in 6 days in our zone.  I ended up getting a few exercise shirts & some exercise shorts as well as a fitbit-like watch.  They were all close to wholesale price, or at least low thrift store prices.

Afterward, we went to play volleyball.  It was a fun time; some elders in our zone really know how to play, Elder Leterneau included.  While there, I sold the Fitbit-like thing to another missionary because I realized I'm not the type to wear such a thing. I can be really indecisive at times.

Oh, also: we tried looking for sticky rice to make onigiri–the triangle rice thing (it can be seen in super smash bros)–but we didn't know which rice to use as Elder Leterneau only knows what it's called in Japanese.  I've found an easy appreciation for (some) Asian dishes–hot pot, sushi, onigiri–and it's been a wonderful process of discovery.

After p-day (by the way, we now have a longer p-day which I didn't know how much I needed), we couldn't do much due to Elder Bach's & Elder Leterneau's conditions, so we stayed at the Paul's.  I discovered the "prelude" section of the Children's Hymnbook, and the others set up their own imitation fitbits.

January 31st, 2017:

We visited a man named Brother Preece.  He knows so much about church history that he was called to help with the church's more academic publications.  He gave us a printout of the Book of Mormon, connected chronologically.  I've yet to read it.

We didn't do too much other finding today.  There were a lot of people at basketball, but the one new non-member wasn't interested.

Elder Leterneau and Elder Bach want to go to sleep now, so… goodnight!

February 1st, 2017:

We finished weekly planning today!  Just in time to plan for the next week tomorrow.  Ha.

Elder Bach and Elder Leterneau may go home early.  It depends on their physical limitations.  It's been a challenge to balance their needs and considerations versus my own self care and what I feel is right.  I really wish I could grow more so our relationship would aid us all instead of burden us.  Reflecting on the past two and a half transfers, I hope to learn that skill for life, along with self-confidence and self-mastery (temperance).

I've found a lot of respect for President Hillier.  Often, mission presidents will compare their callings to suddenly adopting ~150-~250 children.  But he's guided by the spirit and IU can feel much of the care he has for us.

February 2nd, 2017:

Elder Bach, after much discussion, helped me realize that unity ≠ knowing and understanding all the reasons why your companion does things.  There were many other things, but that was the main thing.

Today was another slower day, but we did weekly planning a bit.

Elder Leterneau is definitely going home this transfer.  His knees have gotten so bad that he can't stay out.  He's said he's at peace with it, he knows he has fulfilled his calling, yet that's more than I could say.  I feel like I haven't changed enough!  I hope to reach higher.

We're bonding over stories of tubing and other winter activities right now.

February 3rd, 2017:

It was surprisingly warm today!  I didn't need to wear my jacket.  It felt great, and I think we all had a more upbeat time.

In our lessons today, we had a really spiritual baptismal invite with two of our investigators.  While they didn't say yes, it was refreshing to feel the spirit in such abundance.

February 4th, 2017:

We went to Chipotle today!  I got a monster quesaritto.  No one, including Elder Bach and Elder Leterneau, had seen or heard of it before [besides those working at the restaurant–someone behind me in the line walked up to me and asked what on Earth I had just managed to order].  I loved it!

We finished all of weekly planning!  What!  What?  All today in two hours!  [we started over from Thursday]

We had a lesson with Abraham, a 15 year old investigator.  After it, we played basketball a bit because he and his friend Jack love basketball.  Worldwide, youth have proven to be the most effective group in sharing & receiving the gospel.  It's shown to have the strongest connections between peers and a time of change.

Also, I think I'm faster!  Makes sense; weighing myself earlier today I was at 164 pounds.  Being down 24 pounds would make it easier to be swift.

I'm so glad for the schedule change.  It's been so nice to have self-care time.

February 5th, 2017:

We went to a lot of ward council meetings today.  It was an odd change of pace; the meetings felt too long.

Elder Leterneau's knees were not up for much after dinner, so we went to Brother Wheeler's to type up bios.  We then went to the Pauls' to wait for the evening to expire.  I learned much of the prelude music from the CHB, at least…

President Hillier was right.  Not doing the work is much more tiring than doing the work is.  I've felt in sore need of a good night's sleep by the end of the day for a while now.

Here's a picture from the window of the chapel where we did our planning, looking west over the valley: