Week 37: short week

March 16th, 2017:

Our p-day was moved to Thursday because our zone was going to attend the temple. The temple was awesome.  We had a very rushed p-day for the rest of the day.  There wasn't any time for exercise.  However, we did manage to get all our errands done!

I made a nice crockpot chicken/ham/potato dish in cheese/cream cheese for dinner tonight.  Crockpot dishes are a great way to have a fancy enough meal on a mission schedule.

We went to a do-it-yourself car wash and used a cool change machine.  It gave out dollar coins, which I love.

There were a bunch of spices for dirt cheap clearance prices at Walmart.  I snagged a few.

We tried to visit Jason and Zhiwei tonight, but they weren't home.  Their daughter has been sick the passed few weeks, so they haven't met with us.  Apparently, she may have strep.

After them, we went up to visit a referral, not realizing that it was one of the ward members we know well--Matuwi.  We visited for a while, but between that and the large driving time, we only got to see him.

~Later~

Abraham and Jack accidentally locked their bikes in the Chinese ward building.  They texted us at 10:32 pm, which is past our cerfew. We're dealing with it tomorrow; their host family picked them up.

March 17th, 2017:

Happy Saint Patrick's day!

We had a shuffled day--we helped Abraham get his bike in the morning, picked up some more cookies to pass out from the Pauls, conducted studies & weekly planning, went to dinner, and finished planning. Weekly planning took a while, but our area is going slower and we brainstormed how to pick it up.  We're going to have small weekly meetings with our WMLs in addition to our biweekly or monthly meetings, and we summarized all the referrals and other notable people to visit.  We'll hit them all soon and hopefully kick things up a notch!

Elder Gudmundsen's knee isn't getting better, so I may be going through another transfer with a lame comp!

Also, we saw a rocket-plane-thing as we were in the church parking lot.  It launched from west of SLC and once it got going, it cleared across the sky in minutes.  Probably a military thing.

Spices are interesting.  We went to an Indian restaurant and ate some curry for dinner.  Curry, wasabi, and peppers all burn in different ways.  Also, I'm weird in that I like spicy food but can't take very strong spice.

March 18th, 2017:

We helped, early in the morning, to clean the Chinese ward's building.  I vacuumed the whole time.

While cleaning the chapel, I found a Fisher Price pirate and castle set just like the kind I had as a little kid

We were out street contacting this evening.  One man we talked to was actually a member.  He gave each of us Skull Candy headphones for free, unprompted.  He works for Skull Candy and had enough old sample models that he could spare them.  I'm shipping mine home Monday as headphones are prohibited.

Elder Gudmundsen went to a baptismal service for an old investigator of his.  Anytime a missionary in our mission wants to attend a baptismal service, he or she has to get two members to go on splits.  Elder Paul went with him while Brother Wheeler took me around our stake.  I talked to him about the sisters, not knowing that they already talked.  It didn't do much, but I figured out that Brother Wheeler either doesn't realize we are always doing things--and thus sometimes we don't do everything he asks because we have other things to do--or he things the things he asks us to do are better options--because of his own personal experiences.  Either way, it's a subconscious thing (assuming my suspicions are accurate).

Brother Wheeler is a great aid to our area, though.  He visits enough people to be comparable to a companionship of full-time missionaries.  I know for sure he means well, too.

Earlier, we were walking to a less active member's house--Josh--in the hopes that he will come back to church when a member stopped us and transported us to two member referrals.  We're going to visit them to obtain referrals, but even if we don't get anyone to visit we still get to cheer up the elderly.

We talked about diligence today.  It's a hard concept for me that others can't change to follow the rules or the schedule faster or do more.  I get not being able to change because of a lack of skill or ability, but I can't yet comprehend when my companions (or myself) can't change for no good reason.  It's okay, though--as long as I remember I don't understand, I'll be fine.

March 19th, 2017:

We had an early start today!  We made a ward council meeting at 7:30, a major improvement from last week.

We gave talks in Emigration Canyon this week.  Mine went really well; I discussed why it takes a crisis for us to be humble by sharing my dad's story and my relationship with him.

We taught a youth lesson in the Chinese ward.  It wasn't stellar, but still I love working with the youth.

We did a lot today.  It's good to be able to stop and recognize that.

Our monthly Chinese ward meeting was this week.  We have nothing going on in the ward, it seems; the sisters have virtually all the new activity there.

We went south today--our dinner was far south so we then drove farther south to contact some less-active families--and we were in close proximity to three temples (Draper, Jordan River, and Ochre Mountain).  It’s crazy how close together temples are in Utah.

Moon shots:

Moon rise

Mooooon