Week 39: General Conference

Week 39 Journal

March 27th, 2017:

On this p-day we got haircuts, emailed, shopped for groceries, and otherwise did what we needed to do.  We went to the zone p-day activity for only an hour and a half, but still got some exercise.  We also went to family services today.  We talked about my difficulty getting along with my companions, but from what he suggested (which I was already doing), I think I need to work over it with time.  Talking with President will help as well. From a time management standpoint, we did everything on time!  

I got a package from my family–a 90 day refill on my meds, breath savers, and a nice pen.  I have my 30 day refill still untouched–I have 13 left as of this evening on my old refill–but I'm glad that my mom and dad have sorted that out getting refills within their insurance.  Thank you mom and dad!

We ventured into Emigration Canyon to visit two less active priest-age young men.  One has two siblings on missions and very active parents, but he and his friends are going sideways.  The mom was home alone, and she told us that her son loves hiking and shooting and the outdoors–basically Elder Gudmundsen in a nutshell.  While he led the conversation, I scratched their dog while listening.  By the end of the conversation, I had taken off a decent part of her winter coat (which she had started shedding).

The other young man comes from a friendly but not very active family and may be put off by most all the other priests' bad examples. No one was home, however. Adolescence is such an interesting time of life and development.

Later, we heard a synopsis on how to destroy one's testimony in the form of an RM telling us why he didn't go to church anymore.  He was friendly, but it's just hard to understand where he was from the perspective of where I am now.  He also had a dog who basically brushed by me and changed the color of my slacks with all of his shedding hair.

Interviews are tomorrow!  That'll hopefully help Elder Gudmundsen and me.

March 28th, 2017:

Interviews–while long–were good.  President Hillier talked to Elder Gudmundsen and I together, helping us resolve our relationship difficulties.  He said he wanted missionaries to take the strictest interpretation of the rules.  But he also confiradded med that I needed to be more adaptable in what issues I brought up, how I helped my companion, and so on. He noted that, partially due to my Aspergers, I likely am not as able to work in a relationship with someone who isn't on the same page as me.  I thought about that a while; I'm going to try to be more like the Savior in that regard--being able to tolerate the faults and imperfections of others while helping them as I can and not lowering my own standards at the same time.  I want to turn my weaknesses into a strength.  It'll take time & prayer.

Right now, Elder Gudmundsen is out for the count.  He had some issues with his energy levels last transfer, so today was just a recurrence.

~Later~

We had dinner with a wonderful British family again.  Their son just got a mission call to South Africa.  We talked to him a bit.  As a result of that conversation, we found out about a man who loves fishing.  Elder Gudmundsen wanted to go over, so – reflecting on interviews – I held my tongue. His wife opened the door – the fisherman wasn’t home – and she told us about her neighbor who might be interested in the church.  It felt very much like we were finding – following leads to locate people who were interested in hearing about the gospel – and it was a satisfying experience.

We went to English class. It was our turn to share a message, since the sisters from the other mission had done the at the end of the meeting the past two weeks.  We ended up helping Sister Paul teach English to the students.  When asked what they would use a single wish for, one of them wanted to be an octopus. 

Here is a song in the Chinese Children's Hymnbook.  This song was really easy to get into our heads. We didn't know what it meant, so we put it into Google translate.  

It didn't make any sense to us either. Maybe something got lost in translation?

Reflecting on teaching – especially in helping moderate a game – gave a very small glimpse into fatherhood. Okay, small tangent: babies confuse me. I find it hard to love them because of that.  I have no idea what they need but I feel an obligation (when caring for them) to know what they want and fulfill their needs. It can be hard to know what they want sometimes.

We've set up weekly small appointments with our stake's ward mission leaders and it's been going well.  Also, I finally figured out how to record names!  It's an easy system. Using our iPads, we put each person that we are trying to see into a task with an abbreviation for their respective ward (IH, WH, CV, PR, MP, CW, EC, SM, or Palmer) in front.  When we visit them, we mark the task as completed.  When we report on it, we can transfer the tasks to the records involved, then delete the task.  I made it to sort our lists of people to visit, but we talked to a ward mission leader about some people after English class and when I saw Elder Gudmundsen recording with it, I realized how effective it is.  Yay!

Transfers are soon.  In thinking about it, I'd be okay with staying with Elder Gumundsen.  Or going.  Our relationship is stable enough to where we can do things pretty well together.

March 29th, 2017:

Elder Gudmundsen really struggled this morning.  He barely got to morning planning.  He's working on it.

We helped a charitable organization, "Hearts Knit Together," take inventory for around 2.25 hours.  I counted a lot of hygiene-related items.  That, a meeting with the Pauls, sisters, and Brother Wheeler, a lunch and studies time that overstepped its bounds a bit, and driving took the afternoon, while two correlations and a single finding took the night.  A pretty simple day.

March 30th, 2017:

We had a pretty good morning studies and weekly planning until about 4:20, when we were so wiped out that couldn't focus. Our dinner appointment brought food to us because of scheduling issues on their part. The evening went really well--two meetings and an amazing lesson with the same person from last week.

At night, though, I ended up playing a lot of the Smooth McGroove music I have and talking about it to Elder Gudmundsen past 10:30.  I later felt bad about breaking curfew.

March 31st, 2017:

This morning was super interesting!  I don't want to talk about it!  I cried for 30 minutes.  It was good crying, though, but it would take waaay too long to explain.

Afterwards was district meeting.  After my experience, I managed to get cleaned up and get something to eat.  After that was apartment inspections, which went well, and exchanges.  I went with Elder McKee, our District Leader, but didn't get to know him very well.  He's from Canada.  He and Elder Gudmundsen get along well; they're pretty similar in their interests.

During exchanges, there was one father whose son walked in while we talked on his front porch.  There was a lot of animosity; the son was with his friends the dad didn't approve of.  My heart went out to them—so much anger, so little peace.  I hope things go all right.

April 1st, 2017:

General Conference!  We watched the morning session with the district at the Pauls, then had waffles.  We then watched the afternoon session.  We saw the priesthood session at the Stake Centre.  It was nice; my favorite phrase was "armor of light" and my favorite talk was the musical metaphor.

We found out about transfers this evening.  Neither one of us is being transferred! Sister Shang is leaving. Everyone else in our district is staying. Here is a photo of our district:

April 2nd, 2017:

Our morning was a bit sluggish but we got out the door in time for conference.  We went to the conference center to attend the morning session with investigators Jack and Abraham.  We only had three tickets for the four of us, but we were told the ushers had tickets anyway for such situations as this.  We were wrong; Sister Hillier offered us hers (we declined), then we got another one then gave it away (thinking Sister Hillier had an extra). So Elder Gudmundsen and I watched from the tabernacle while Jack and Abraham went inside the conference center.  I still have the unused ticket, but it was voided when conference started, as they gave away the empty seats.  It's okay.  I got to see the tabernacle, which has the organ that is shown on the front cover of the hymnals.  Also, I have two more chances to see it in person on my mission so I'll get to see it sometime. I can't say I wasn't bummed, but I still got to watch it on screen.

We had lunch today at the Pauls.  "We" being Jack, Abraham, Elder Gudmundsen, and me.  The Pauls are so generous!  In addition to making us lunch yesterday and today, they took us out to dinner last night.  I know Sister Paul has wrist pains along with shoulder and knee pains, so it really isn't easy for her but she still does it.  I hope she isn't hurt too much.

Elder Gudmundsen's knee hurt really badly, so we stayed at our district leader's apartment while Elder McKee and I finished our exchange report.  Elder Wehle, his companion, has been really sick.  Because of this, the four of us visited the man in our stake who gave us headphones.  He's incredibly nice; he gave the other elders headphones and gave us a medium-sized speaker.  I'm debating on getting a larger speaker for $60 (normally $180).  I probably will not, though.

P-day tomorrow; Tuesday should be a normal day of working.  I can't wait!

The work is a little slow in terms of "results" but we're keeping busy which is good.  Spring is so
nice; it's usually warm enough to wear short sleeve shirts.  My favorite aspects of missionary life are probably in how varied it can be.  People are so interesting; everyone has their own story.

Here's a turtle statue that  reminded me of my mom, since she likes turtles so much: