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| Me and Elder Clayton |
Monday, May 22nd, 2017:
Our p-day was thus: cleaning, shopping, laundry, and
emailing, followed by a zone activity. Cleaning went pretty quickly,
while we spent a lot of time and money at the grocery store. I think
we're good for the next three weeks or so. Laundry helped; we have public
washing machines so we have to stay at home. I used this as valuable
catch-up time for my journal. I barely ended emailing on time.
Emailing was with our zone, half the Spanish zone, and maybe a few more
missionaries.
Our zone activity was basketball, Frisbee, or any other
projectile anyone had. Turns out I'm pretty decent at basketball; people
asked if I played. I'm not good, though. Just decent.
I got to throw my boomerang a few times. I even got it
to do a full circle once! It was great, but I had the problem of not
actually knowing how to catch a boomerang. I almost hit myself in the
face.
I got a bad cramp at the activity. Fortunately, I had
eaten a banana as part of lunch. Unfortunately, I hadn't stretched or
drank a lot of water. We left the activity and got back at 5:20. My
cramp was slowing me down, but I must admit I wasn't going as fast as I could
have. We ultimately got out at 6:40.
Off the bat, we went by Randy. He wasn't feeling too
well, so we didn't stay for long. We finished the night off with a FHE
with a family, but the daughter actually had the lesson and then they invited
us to play apples to Apples. Just before that, we helped some kids get a
balloon out of a tree by popping it. They then got another balloon and
let it go outside because they loved to see them float away.
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017:
I got up at about 8:00 or so today. I was wiped out,
but still ready at 8:30. My morning studies were slow, but I strongly
emphasized the need to teach for understanding.
We spent a little over an hour writing lesson reports and
sorting out our area book, returned to our apartment for lunch, and had an
apartment inspection. We walked to the church, talking to people on our
way, and waited for a correlation meeting with the 11th ward's new WML by
filling in records in our area book. The correlation took an hour and a
half, but it was a good discussion.
We dropped by Ken, a referral we got recently. He's
very interesting. He has explored virtually every religion under the sun
and is either crazy or on to something about the Free Masons worshiping the
devil... apparently, Joseph Smith was a high-ranking Mason so Ken doesn't want
to fully investigate the church until he clears this up. He still has an
interest in understanding what we believe, though.
An hour later, we went to a dinner at the Iceberg, a
landmark restaurant in our area. We were going to use the money a member
had given us--there was a small medical emergency, so they had to cancel--but
someone else paid for us. People are awesome. It was pretty good
food, if a little expensive (for fast food).
We walked back to the apartment to use the bathroom and
store the uneaten portion of my shake (their smallest size, "mini,"
is relative to their other sizes), then walked down to the 13th ward to work
for the evening.
Randy wasn't feeling well and Katerina got food poisoning;
both visits were brief, so we moved on to a list of less-active members the
ward's bishop gave us.
While we were walking around, two people crossed the street
just to say hello to us. The first man was named Dee; he told us how
missionaries changed his life with the gospel. He thanked us for serving
and told us about Russel M. Nelson's biography by Condie, which may be
something for me to consider later. He encouraged us to work hard.
The second man was Josh, a member who just got out of
jail. He had an addiction, so he wanted help despite how the jail charge
was based on a misunderstanding. We gave him a bishop's number, our
number, and one other number, as well as a Book of Mormon. It was a
pretty cool conversation; I hope he can get the help he needs to get back on his
feet.
The reason I wanted to look into Russel M. Nelson's
biography is because Dee loved how much he did with his life. I'm still
trying to figure out how much video games should be a part of my life after my
mission, as I want a good balance. I also want to do a lot of things,
similar to President Nelson. But, I'll figure that out later.
Today was a good day.
Wednesday, May 24th, 2017:
We biked a lot today. Biking is many times faster than
walking. It's also easy enough; I was able to ride in the bike lanes by
the middle of the day.
It's been getting harder for me to get up right with the
alarm in the morning. I think I've just been doing more, so I'm more
tired. I'm confident I'll adjust soon.
Our planning went well over 30 minutes today. We've
been having trouble keeping it short in general. Between that and getting
everything in order on my bike, we only had 20 minutes of personal study today.
After companionship study, we went down to the church
parking lot, where I refreshed myself on how to ride a bike. It's a
little weird being in proselyting clothing while riding, as we have to mind our
shoulder bags and tuck our pant legs into our socks. It was worth it, though,
because of how fast we're able to get around.
We finished that at 11:45, at which point our syncing and
other normal activities brought us to a lunch at 12:45. I took too long
for lunch. I wanted to make a stir fry of cabbage, eggplant, and beef,
but I underestimated the time it would take to do so. It took 45 minutes
to prepare and cook and 15 minutes to eat and put away.
I talked to Elder Clayton about how I could manage my time
better. Maybe I just need to be more patient with myself as I get back to
clear-cut scheduling.
After lunch, we biked around to a few people. It was
hot today, so when a member invited us in we gladly accepted., She gave
us water and half-granola bars half-cookies; we swapped recipes.
A few visits later and dinner rolled around. However,
the family cancelled so we just had leftovers. It was good for us because
we needed to do dishes. We ended dinner late--Elder Clayton accidentally
ran over this time--and spent the rest of the day on foot.
Immediately following dinner was a correlation meeting with
the 12th ward's mission leader. It was an hour-long meeting. I feel
like I need to make more of an active effort to involve myself into the area;
Elder Clayton took the lead in the meeting while I pondered the question of how
we could motivate the ward. Elder Clayton has generally taken the lead;
that's fine, but I should be absorbing every bit of information I can...
After the meeting, we went to sync and use the bathroom, but
found a game of volleyball and met a few members over it. That was the
night. Phew.
Thursday, May 25th, 2017:
I got up well enough today. Sadly, I fell to a
half-hour nap later in the morning. After planning, we biked to the
church to do personal study for one our investigators, as he sent us an email
of questions. Biking shook me up enough to get any morning sleepiness
out. The bike lane is slanted and chipping at the edge when going to the
church, so it was a little sketchy.
We took 15 minutes to prepare to go and about 15 to travel,
if you include getting down our stairs and locking up our bikes. I'm
working on getting fully ready in the morning preparation time we have.
In preparing for David, I have encountered the clearest test
of studies yet. He's so heavily ingrained in the Bible that we need to
teach from it--his interpretation of the Bible makes him have so many burning
questions that he can't just listen to the basics first. We have to show
him that the Bible actually teaches many things of the gospel, or else he views
the Book of Mormon as skewing the Bible. It's forced me to learn and
prepare much better in studies.
Between personal study and our lesson with David, we had
companionship study, weekly planning, and lunch. Companionship study was
only 30 minutes. We got through a little over half of weekly
planning. For lunch, we biked over to McDonald's. I honestly wanted
to get a Mario themed toy, which is why we went...
We talked at weekly planning. I boiled it down to: A)
wanting to become a great missionary by being motivated by a love of God and
those I serve, and B) wanting to pick up my pace and become more obedient
again. I've been having adjustment-related stress, but hopefully I'll be
fine. Partially, it effects my ability to focus well.
Having done about two-thirds of weekly planning, we stopped
to go to David's lesson. We tried to teach the Restoration again to
answer his questions, but we ended up going down a tangent. He explained,
then, the things I wrote earlier. He's not trying to bash us. it's just
that while he really wants to learn what we believe, what he believes puts him
far away from us.
Dinner afterwards was a great pause after David's lesson,
but soon we were on our way to another lesson. The brother who had us
over gave us a lift.
Doug, the man we were going to have a lesson with, told us
that he'd had such a crazy day that he didn't even call us to cancel.
We walked over to a member's house to ask if he could go
with us to Katerina’s for a lesson and he agreed. We visited for a bit
before heading out.
The lesson we had with Katerina was very distracted.
She was cooking dinner and her baby sons were very active when we were
there. I hope she got something out of it.
On the way home, we knocked on one more door: Chad, a member
working to return to activity. After a half-hour visit, we headed home
happy. Chad promised he would be at church on Sunday and said that our
visit led him to do so.
Friday, May 26th, 2017:
This was a good morning. I had a lot of specific
things to study for. Also, I did a personal inventory and reviewed the
skills I want to develop. There's something captivating about acquiring
skills; just the thought that the time I spend gives me an ability and pays
beyond the moment is awesome. I think I'll put a lot more free time into
developing various skills after my mission.
Studies and district meeting were good; I gave the safeguard
and felt like it didn't go as planned. Yet it still went well. We
got a little late to zone lunch, so it became a late lunch out of necessity.
Also, before lunch, some members drove by us and gave us
$20. Stuff like that is pretty normal in Utah. They said to use it
for lunch, but we're saving it for groceries and I'm sure they wouldn't mind.
District meeting was a blend of the scriptures and
commitments: how to take stories and apply them to learn effectively. I
think I like our district; there's a good blend of personalities.
The related travel and changing, coupled with calling people
to make appointments, took us to dinner. The sister feeding us couldn't
find a third male, so she dropped off food. I decided to shower after
eating, but I failed to heed time. We grabbed our bikes and headed to a
6:15 lesson, arriving about three minutes late.
This lesson was with Suaad, a single mom of two, with her
bishop. She is very prepared; she worked a while at DI and felt the
Spirit when looking at pictures of Jesus. They are planning on going to
church and we set a return appointment. That's three new investigators!
The next lesson was back at our apartment complex in the
12th ward. Fortunately, as we were walking back to our bikes (we got a
ride from the bishop because we didn't think of the same meeting place) a young
couple offered us a ride. Their truck could hold our bikes, so off we
went.
Jennifer and her daughter, Kelly, are less-active
members. After breaking the ice with them, we had a great time learning
that Kelly works in astronomy with giant space lasers. Both had trouble
with a previous bishop, but they may come back to church. After the
lesson, we let our ward mission leader know and headed in.
Saturday, May 27th, 2017:
I had a pretty good morning. My study plans have
guided me well; I haven't reached my goals as fast as I thought, but I'm
figuring out what pace is reasonable.
We were both so distracted today: it was hard to stay
focused. We're both driven to do the work, so we refocused relatively quickly.
Before companionship study, we called the YSA sisters and
passed off David and James. It can be hard to pass off investigators at
times, but the principles behind why we needed to are sound.
We walked to the church, where we found a nearby yard
sale. We brought two great nerf guns for really cheap, but more
importantly we contacted the part-member family running the sale.
Hopefully, we will be able to teach them.
At the church, we synced and wrote a few reports.
There was a wedding going on, so--as is bound to happen--we were offered
food. I had lunch, but Elder Clayton didn't. I asked him about it;
he doesn't like a lot of foods. It's hard for him to eat them, although
it's mostly a mental thing.
We returned home so Elder Clayton could have lunch. I
got in a weird mood for about two hours; I was mentally tired. I think
it's because I don't get as much joy from the work as I could if I had better
motives for doing missionary work. Mine are good, but I try to do a lot.
It relates to being very converted to the gospel, so much that it could
motivate me every day. Additionally, I'm still adjusting to an increased
level of activity. I'll give myself time and room to grow.
We then did weekly planning for the remaining half-hour
before we had to leave for dinner. I don't think we'll finish this
week. We will get better, though.
We had sushi for dinner; some members dropped it off at a
church building. Elder Clayton didn't love it, though.
Our evening was very productive; biking is very fast so we
got to many people in a short time. I love those periods of time;
everything seems streamlined and the work is wonderful.
We got back to the church building, synced, and headed home
with our nerf guns. They were large enough that we strapped them to our
bikes and walked. We both felt silly... we put them in a spare room so
we're not tempted to mess around and waste time. We had to test them
first, of course.
Sunday, May 28th, 2017:
Our Sunday was packed. From a ward council meeting at
7:30, we were always in a meeting or heading to one. No one came to
church that we invited. It was a blur. We changed out of suits and
planned our evening before dinner.
We met Jade after dinner. He's an active member but
working through things like smoking and very public about it, which is a rare
thing.
Next, we visited a family who we invited to make a family
mission plan last week. The son didn't want to type up the plan and the
rest of his family was jokingly giving him a hard time about it. It's
amusing but weird to see both the parents' and children's perspectives in such
familiar settings.
We visited a few others, then headed to a church for the
bathroom. We texted more people for about an hour, then walked home,
talking to our neighbors on the way back.
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