Week 62: member-missionary work

Monday, September 4th, 2017:

Our p-day activity was bowling.  Elder Parnes and I got there earlier than everyone else, so we started and continued on our own lane.  We got through six games.

Most of our cleaning was already done.  Along with our normal shopping, we dropped by Rite Aid and REI so Elder Parnes could get a few things.

Jeremy invited us over for dinner.  Elder Parnes started to feel really unwell at the end, so Jeremy (a certified nurse) checked his blood pressure and heart, which both showed irregularities.  He consulted with Sister Balling.

We only visited Marie, an investigator, this evening.  She accepted the offer of a blessing.  I wasn't sure exactly what her situation was, but I could tell that she too felt unwell.

Jeremy stayed with us a little.  We got food items Elder Parnes could take, given his present condition.

Tuesday, September 5th, 2017:

Elder Parnes checked in to the emergency room today.  He talked it over with Sister Balling.  It wasn't a rush to get there, but he did need to go to the hospital.

While he was there, I went with Elders Opificius and Jones.  In sorting out our schedule and seeing what might happen with Elder Parnes, we got to a handful of people.  We spent a long time with one of their investigators, a girl with depression who's dealt with suicidal thoughts, with a break for dinner in the middle.  She noted about pushing people away to protect them from being hurt if she killed herself.  We constantly testified to her and used many scriptures to show that she could change and God did love her.

It put a lot of my problems in perspective.  I, as most people, can be prone to complaining more that I should.

That evening, the other elders didn't have lights (the batteries died on one of them while the other used a different bike than his normal one), but I had flashlights in my bag they could use. Prior preparation can be illuminating.

Elder Parnes didn't spend that long in the hospital.  He and Jeremy stayed at the apartment so he could rest.  He will be okay, it's just something he has to have treated and go through.

Wednesday, September 6th, 2017:

Elder Parnes was on bed rest again, so we didn't get out much.

I had another appointment at family services.  We talked (in part) about situations I have trouble with in communication, like when someone speaks too quietly or with young kids and babies.  It can be hardest for me to know what to do if I don't understand.  That wasn't the only thing we talked about, but it was a majority.

For most of the day, I read "resolving concerns"--a PDF from the church historian that I obtained in one of my previous areas.  Some of the doctrine went deep, but not so deep that I couldn't follow.  Our dinner appointment brought by food, so really I had a large block of time to read uninterrupted.

A snack I made: chopped apples with cinnamon baked in the
oven on toast with peanut butter and crushed walnuts.

There was a meeting at the end of the night for East Mill Creek North stake.  I feel like I may have spoken unwisely--I didn't wait to first get a feel for what the wards had been doing.  I also may have tried to downplay Elder Parnes' health issues.  I don't like people to give a lot of attention to my issues if I can get past them; it just doesn't do anything to help the reason why I'm here.  I may have folded Elder Parnes' issue into my preconceptions and tried to press past it because of that. I feel like the WMLs may have disregarded us on the missionary work side because we wanted to roll out new efforts without really checking what they were doing or why the work was slower...there was just a better way to go about things than I did and while I know it didn't do permanent damage, it pained me. I'm still working to understand how better to communicate. 

Thursday, September 7th, 2017:

Elder Parnes was feeling a little better today.  We did some weekly planning, but mainly we had a discussion on how to wisely coordinate with WMLs to guide ward missions to greater activity.  We settled on working through the high councilor over missionary work.

Lunch today was with the Sorensens.  We also correlated.  Elder Sorensen is a beekeeper, like my brother-in-law; he showed us his hives.  The bees were much calmer than I expected.

We had another meeting with a bishop and dinner with a WML.  We're finally reaching out to parts of our area that missionaries haven't been by in a long while.

After, we got to see Tristyn.  We think she doesn't actually want to be baptized, or doesn't want to talk about it, right now.  We'll talk with many people about it later.

We went to Elder Walker's after--he lives in our area--and got a car!  Cool.  I'm mostly just relieved/glad for Elder Parnes.  We were not given a mileage limit; rather, we were told to be selective.  Accordingly, we will still bike once Elder Parnes is feeling up to it.

Friday, September 8th, 2017:

Elder Parnes got up late today, but he's doing better.  We conducted weekly planning with some interruptions, finishing the portion regarding the people we're already working with.  I really would like to finish a weekly planning session this transfer(!)

Zone meeting was on prayer and the Spirit.  It went along well with a letter I got from my mom regarding meditation, paired with new masterpieces from artists Lily and Rose.  My mom’s grandparents sent me a card as well, which was thoughtful.

Holiday Zone

We helped a couple load a moving truck. They have an expansive book collection. My arms! 

There was a ward tailgate party in the 12th ward.  Andrea, Kiki, Gong, Tina, and Jim all showed up, so we were able to see many of our investigators.  A member of the relief society presidency mentioned that they talked in a presidency meeting about who had three-year-old children in the ward and decided to contact the primary presidency to find playdate friends.  That, more than anything else tonight, caused me to smile.  It's exactly what we want the wards to be doing!  I am so grateful.

Saturday, September 9th, 2017:

Things are rolling with Elder Parnes now.  Yay!  We used our car when necessary today, though.  It was an exhausting day, as we had a lot of service this afternoon.  We helped the couple from yesterday move more and took down a fence in another family's yard.

We may drop Tristyn.  I believe we should simply ask what her feelings are, then tell her how we've been feeling.  We talked to the WML about it.

Stake conference for Canyon Rim took a good part of our night.  They had a Q&A format based on what the local leaders thought the stake needed.  Elder Durham led the discussion.  We tried by a few people after, but no one was home.

Sunday, September 10th, 2017:

We weren't able to take the sacrament today, because of stake conference.  Canyon Rim had their stake conference 7:00 AM-8:30 AM (youth session) and 10:00 AM-11:30 AM.  We stuck around to plan for our day and talk to people after the first session, then contacted a potential investigator and met with a ward mission leader before lunch.

The YSA sisters have been unable to contact Jilin, the investigator we passed off to them, so we tried to stop by and found he had just returned from a trip.

Our stakes hold things called "walk-abouts," a light sort of progressive dinner where people can walk around the neighborhood and talk to everyone.  There were three tonight, but there was also a stake senior mission prep fireside that the stake president wanted us to go to.  We only had about 25 minutes at two of the walk-abouts.

Elder Parnes riding past Hokulia's, the shaved ice shack we go to occasionally. 

The fireside itself was a great time.  Youth with about a year before they could potentially go on missions were trained directly by the stake president on what they need to do to prepare.  We encouraged them to go on a mission, and that they shouldn't be intimidated. I talked about how a mission is a wonderful (albeit crazy) opportunity to grow and develop. Although I've grown past many of the feelings and fears from the beginning of my mission, I still tried to communicate some things they might not realize on their own. For example, I talked about how a mission will give you according to your preparation, so the more preparation you do, the better.  This applies to things like working to pay for a mission, or reading the scriptures (which I did do a lot, but reading the scriptures while having a stronger testimony is a very different experience). I poured out my feelings out to the youth, and hope that it helped.