Week 56 Journal
Monday, July 24th, 2017:
This p-day wasn’t easy. I didn't do
personal study. I was crying. I felt like I was pushing against a
force of demotivation. Elder Wagley convinced me to pray, which got me
back on my feet. I steadied myself by cleaning the kitchen. It’s very clean
now. Doing that felt nice.
Earlier in the week, Elder Wagley and I
had helped unload and prepare for a wedding celebration. We were given a pack
of cream puffs. Today Elder Wagley defrosted the whole pack of cream puffs at
one time because he thought he could refreeze them, but it turned out that wasn’t
the case. So we passed them out to the Spanish zone during emailing.
I filled up my last journal, so I broke
out a new one.
We finished shopping quickly today.
Elder Wagstaff had a party for his 83rd
birthday. We celebrated with everyone else, and ate lunch there.
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| Elder Wagstaff's 83rd birthday party |
There was an unexpected service event that displaced our dinner when we came
back to pick up our laundry. So we "raided" the other elders'
apartment. I got many cooking supplies, especially spices.
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| Spices! |
That's how we spent this p-day!
After, we did some calling and texting. Vahid was home, but we didn't go
pick plumbs with him.
We contacted a man on the street.
He said things like how he was an "actual Christian" and how he
"was raised on the Jesus Book… not that Mormon stuff." His fly
was down the whole time. I didn't know how to tell him.
Happy Pioneer Day! There were
fireworks tonight. Elder Wagley wanted to take photos, which is why I'm
writing this journal entry on Friday.
Tuesday, July 25th, 2017:
Zone conference today. Some of the
topics were: following through on goals and plans, having faith in finding,
investigators living the gospel of Jesus Christ and not just being baptized,
and developing a mission culture in which we understand our purpose. Some
of the rules were clarified as well; I liked that.
Elder Wagstaff was unable to attend as he
was in the hospital. I hope he's okay…
There was a quinoa salad during lunch at
zone conference. I forgot about the quinoa, black rice, and wild rice that
we would often eat at home.
We were supposed to go to a lesson with
Ryan, a new investigator, but we decided to not go because Elder Wagley said
the spirit was telling him to not go. We didn't really know what to do, so we
used the time to plan instead.
We've started teaching a less-active
family with a kid named Braxton. They're having something weird feelings
regarding evil spirits lately. There are some upsides to this, however, as
the family has looked to the church for more help because of what’s been going
on. God gives us what we need sometimes.
Wednesday, July 26th, 2017:
I woke up queasy. Elder Wagley told
me to sleep it off, which I did until 10:15 am.
Elder Wagley got to a DL/ZL review just
in time, though everyone did go to our building for it. I can't remember
what I did during the review; I think it was writing lesson reports.
We had another lunch with an older sister
who likes to invite us over. This one was much shorter than other times.
She must have a hard time because of her physical limitations.
Soon after, we went to family
services. I had a very insightful discussion with Kyle: I determined that
I had a belief from my days as a student that I need to finish all the things I
needed to do to be at peace. As a student, this was possible, but as a
missionary, no longer. I didn't want to throw that belief out the window;
something had to govern my work ethic. I also didn't want to reduce the
things I thought necessary to do, as I wouldn't be able to function in a
high-stress situation because I'd run into the same problem.
So, I–with the help of Kyle–came up with
a three-part principle system: do the most important things first ("first
things first"), stick with your choice and be mindful to choose well
("integrity in the moment"), and understand that the choices I make
will be the best I can do, so I can't worry about it. That second one
means not having attention drawn from something because of an interruption;
it's stopping (briefly) and choosing what is most important between the first
activity and the interruption.
He also told me to dig into the
"why" of missionary work. "You can live with any ‘how’ so
long as your ‘why’ is deep enough." Connecting to my purpose, the
people I serve, and Jesus Christ will empower me to get over demotivation.
We finished the night with dinner, visits
with WMLs, and a lesson.
Thursday, July 27th, 2017:
Just after companionship study, we held a
lesson with Memphis. He's a nine-year-old we've met with a few times
before. This lesson was on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I found
myself having almost a father-son talk to this child as we discussed how life's
easier choices don't always lead to better results. He has to choose if
he wants to go to sacrament meeting and learn to like it or not go because he
doesn't like it yet. I think I left a piece of my heart with him.
We didn't have too long to do weekly
planning, but we are planning quickly. That's been the case for the past
few times now–we are too busy to finish planning. That shouldn't be the
case, so maybe we'll finish it this week.
I've gotten better on OYM-ing! We
found a new investigator (we have to set a return appointment still) named
Palmer. He's from my home town! He went to Marshall High School–my
high school–and would have graduated in 2014. Crazy!
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| Palmer from MHS |
We finished the day with exchanges.
I went with an elder from Mississippi. He's very outgoing; a little
informal, but he told me he has some problems when it comes to worrying too
much and I think that may be a way he gets over it. He works pretty hard,
though.
Friday, July 28th, 2017:
Today way crazy. It may be the most
people I've ever visited in a day on my mission. Tracting doesn't count,
and I'm even setting exchanges aside (as our area has both sets of missionaries
for the day).
We divided up the stake and hit the
potential investigators list. It's great to have a lot of potential investigators,
as that can quickly be converted into some solid contacts. We have so
many right now.
One notable moment was using an antenna
from the boom box in the nursery and a piece of wire to hook the keys off a
seat in a locked car. A funeral attendee accidentally locked her keys in.
We also found some pockets of the south
part of the area I'm less familiar with.
One person we went by tonight was the
perfect example of most benevolent non-Mormon people. She loved all the
good everyone does, believes in a higher power, and respects our rights to an
interpretation of what that higher power is but she has her own private
interpretation of what it is. She will listen to us, but not really hear
us. I don't yet know how to respond to people like her. Truth is
truth. In such a discussion, religious belief really rises to an interesting
scope and level.
I noticed a thorn earlier in my bike
wheel, so this morning Elder Wagley and I tried to install "Slime"–a
gel used to automatically patch leaks in tires–and instead broke the tools we
had to remove the valve core. The Wagstaffs took us to Walmart to get a
new tool, but we didn't get time to install it tonight.
Saturday, July 29th, 2017:
We broke the new tool. It's a cheap
plastic thing that was worked into the cap of Slime bottles; it is not sold
separately. We replaced everything and pumped the tire back up, hoping that
it would last.
We taught Louis, a man whose friends
helping him to start investigating the gospel. He can't put the
scriptures down; he doesn't know how ready he is.
After that lesson, we found my bike's
front tire was absolutely flat. We left it to catch a ride to some YSA
investigators. We didn't get contact with the sister to pass them off, so
our 1:00 bingo service was bumped. They were a no-show, so we headed to
bingo.
On the way back, we talked to a member we
knew at her yard sale. He friend wasn't active, but we had no idea when
we were talking to her. It's crazy how that can happen. We both got some
items at the yard sale. A photo printer for Elder Wagley and cooking
supplies for me.
After fixing the bike, we headed to
dinner. We had to replace the tube.
A few visits after dinner brought us to
weekly planning. We finished! At 10:20! It was an acidic
companionship inventory until we described how we saw each other.
Sunday, July 30th, 2017:
The fifth Sunday is missionary Sunday. We
attended ward council at the 3rd ward; biked to the 11th ward and talked on how
our baptismal covenants bless us; talked to more people; then spoke in 4th ward
talk on how every member affects missionary work; visited with more members (We
met a sister that served where Elder Moe lived. She told us pre-mission
stories about him. It was funny.); then went to the WSA ward and shared
our testimonies on missionary work; had a brief lunch; invited Vahid to a
fireside, attended the WSA elders quorum; had a meeting with President
Anderson; then dinner. That evening there was a stake fireside on church
history and the early saints. I really don't remember a lot about church
history, so it surprised me to hear of some things on my mission. It doesn’t
affect me much, as I never put a lot of weight to it, but it was still
interesting to learn about.
After the fireside we visited the family that
we've gone to almost every Sunday evening to read the scriptures. I don't
know why we're visiting them instead of others in the ward. We haven't been
given a very clear answer from anyone, so we just keep doing it.
Elder Wagley and I got into an argument,
then we patched things up. I think our relationship improved in the
aftermath of this.
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| Smoke from a plane crash north of SLC on 7/26/17. Four people died. |
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