Week 50: Rough week good Sunday

Week 50 Journal

Tuesday, June 13th, 2017:

We went to the temple, which was great and peaceful.  I focused on the question of how I can be more centered on Jesus Christ in everything I do.

The rest of p-day was very rushed.  Due to my better journaling, emailing was pretty calm.  Shopping took awhile--we both like to cook but basically contrast in palettes.  We didn't get to exercise.  Elder Wagstaff, our senior couple elder, gave us rides through the whole day.  We were too rushed to express our gratitude well.

We got laundry in well enough and cleaned thoroughly, but didn't make it out on time.

We tried to contact a recent convert who moved in, but his politically active roommate talked to us for 45 minutes.  He did tell us about the recent convert's schedule, though.

The rest of the night was a seriously needed record clean up and contacting our investigators via phone.

Wednesday, June 14th, 2017:

Zone conference today was amazing.  The topic was the small things--the little things in missionary work that snowball into big things.  We converted the whole schedule, so there's always going to be something from the conference that could help us.

We had to rush to various appointments after zone conference, but biking helped us go quickly.  After, we visited people with a WML and a few more by ourselves.  No one was home, so we didn't really "accomplish" anything.  Still, I'm excited to use thing things from zone conference!

Thursday, June 15th, 2017:

We went to a church gym to exercise this morning.  I noticed a difference in my morning studies.  Usually, I'm not really falling asleep but I'm still not fully awake.  This time, I was alert for studies.  So was Elder Clayton.

I'm trying to cut back on artificial sweeteners--sugar, brown sugar, sugar-like substances--so please don't send sweets.  Or please use fruits to make it sweet.

After studies, we started weekly planning.  We broke for lunch after an hour of planning, but after lunch I told Elder Clayton about a lot of the things Ive been working on.  I payed there and talked for a long time.  Elder Clayton not only listened but was able to help me get up in the way I needed.  I had shared basically a summary of everything from my past companionship inventories, skipping over the details.  I'm glad he was able to help me up.

The sisters had another candidate to be interviewed for baptism.  The interview went pretty long and Elder Clayton didn't pass her at first.  However, President Hillier discussed the matter over with him at night and they decided to pass her.

We had a lesson with Suaad and her kids right after that.  We were very late, but Suaad was there, her kids came downstairs, and one of the members from the neighborhood came with us.  We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing!  All three of them were able to follow along.  Everyone could feel the Spirit.  We put them all on date to be baptized on July 8th.  They'll be able to progress as a family.

Friday and Saturday, June 16th & 17th, 2017:

These past two days were tough.  We finished weekly planning tonight (Saturday).  I have a new focus: consecrate myself to the work.  I was very, very unfocused these past two days, and not like the unfocused I get with Elder Clayton.  I've noticed I actually improved by talking less and listening to the Sprit more in my time with him.  I hope I serve with him more.

In spite of this slump, we visited many people.  Most weren't home, but some were.

We got a lot of cereal, which is awesome.  A member family had us over and the dad works for Post, so he gets a lot of it for free.

Sunday, June 18th, 2017:

Happy Father's Day!  I have a card I've been working on the past week for my dad, but I don't have an awful lot of time some weeks.

Sunday was a good day.  We had six investigators at church–Suaad's kids came!–partially due to a family we recently found thanks to a bishop.

I'm focusing more on being positive.  We had two visits tonight.  One family is barely active–their kids are not baptized–and I testified of the blessings they are missing by not having all of the gospel.  I hope I wasn't brash, but I think it was something they needed to here.

The second visit was to Katirina, an investigator we had on our radar for my whole time in the area.  While we spent 45 minutes there without teaching, we got the answer to two important questions: what is her and her husband's plan for religion?  and can we help her, and how?  She wants to be sealed in the temple, but feels overwhelmed like being at the base of a mountain.