Week 64 Journal
Monday, September 18th, 2017:
This is the start of my 11th transfer. I'm going to try a somewhat different
approach to journal writing that will hopefully help me even after the
mission. I want to write ideas, not just memories.
This ties in well to what I am thinking
about. There are some things I wish to incorporate into myself:
- Not working by deadlines, but working by things as they come and as I have time.
- Making scriptures a delight to me so I will enjoy and seek time to read them.
- I've similarly enjoyed praying. Connecting with heaven.
- Listening to and reflection on truth, no matter where (or who) it comes from.
- Finding a way to enjoy everything I do in life, especially things I find I do regularly. This doesn't mean I will enjoy everything.
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P-day went well, as we were able to do
most everything we needed. Our car is clean, we went mini-golfing/bowling
with Jeremy, and played ping-pong with Jilin. Emailing fit perfectly in
two hours, shopping is done, dry cleaning is picked up, and generally I feel
ready enough to face the week. We keep the apartment tidy enough. Yet as
I look at it, we didn't clean our apartment and we ended late because we
cleaned up after dinner. We had Elder Opificius, Elder Jones, and Jeremy
over for dinner, where I made a mayo/cream of chicken/chicken breast/curry dish
aptly named "curry chicken with rice." Sage, cinnamon, and
garlic salt went in as well.
We went out in the evening to visit
people, but very few people were home. We visited one family (mostly active
members, but the less active member we were looking for wasn't home) and got to
hold their snake. Elder Parnes doesn't like snakes, but Jeremy really really
doesn't like them, so it's a good thing he wasn't there.
Having visited everyone on our plans,
we hit a slow time where we didn't know what to do. We synced and from my
notes I found someone else to visit. I'm trying to act without regrets;
in the moment, it's harder to take the harder path. In this case, it was
finding someone else to visit instead of throwing in the towel for the
night. Other cases may be how I've regretted not trying to talk to
someone, doing "work before play," or (pre-mission) putting down my
video game controller. Acting intentionally and without regrets is a good
application of mindfulness.
Tuesday, September 19th, 2017:
I feel like our day didn't work for us
as well as it could have. A majority of our appointments cancelled on
us. However, we did manage to find a new investigator! And while we were
doing service today, something bit or stung me four times in the leg. The
bites only hurt a little and disappeared within the hour, but I was shaken up. Chelsea's
encounter with the black widow in our garden came to mind. I didn't find
out what bit me, but I'm still alive.
Hopefully soon, Elder Parnes and I
should be studying more effectively together. I tried to address transfer
goals today in companionship study and Elder Parnes chose study as an area of
improvement.
I heard that iOS 11 released
today. That should be fun. The iPad will be able to have two apps
active at once.
My hair is so long! The sister
who gives us haircuts couldn't do it this Monday but will do it next week.
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| I need a haircut |
My goodness, I miss percussion. While
missing it is not distracting me, I'm certainly looking forward to it after I
get home, however.
Cameron's baptismal record wasn't
turned in, so we have to track that down now.
Wednesday, September 20th, 2017:
Elder Parnes and I tried to do a
companionship study. We haven't been practicing teaching, or role playing,
so I tried to have us do that. He insisted it wouldn't help him, as he's
rarely gained things from them. He feels it is a waste of time unless a
specific issue comes up in a lesson that we need to address. It's just
not how he learns.
I feel that he needs the practice in
teaching, as do I. We don't teach as often in this area--this week it's
picking up--so he could benefit from extra experience. I tried to think
of what we could do during companionship study: modified role plays?
Study together? Elder Parnes wanted to do phone work in companionship
study, in addition to reading the Missionary Handbook, sharing what we studied,
and talking about what we are going to teach.
After thinking for a while--and as
Elder Parnes texted people--I laid down. I was in a bad humor. This
time, I could recognize exactly what it was: I felt powerless. We
couldn't seem to find; we didn't finish weekly planning most weeks, taking up a
lot of time, and haven't been getting to the steps for planning finding.
I've been less obedient and diligent than I wanted to be -- granted, nothing
major, but I fail to understand why not. Finally having a companion where
I don't argue and am not distracted (Elder Clayton), I thought I would do
better.
I felt very accountable that all the
areas in the zone were doing well enough to be divided in half except
ours. I know I was being too hard on myself at the time, but I felt sad
being put into an area for a transfer and not having much change. I felt
like the same was true for a lot of my areas. I know I lead in implementing
Hastening the Work of Salvation, but sometimes working with ward leaders
didn't go well and it feels ineffective for how it effects the area.
I explained this to Elder Parnes.
We had a lesson at 3:00 with Cameron, but I was in no condition to teach.
We asked Elder Sorensen to go ahead with the lesson and review the Restoration
without us.
Elder Parnes read me an excerpt of what
I think was his patriarchal blessing. It mentioned relying on Jesus
Christ for strength. I thought of a conference talk--after getting back
on my feet--and listened to it. "Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ
into our lives" from the most recent general conference. Listening to it
helped me. We pull the power of Jesus Christ into our lives when our faith in
Him motivates us to action. We also pull His power into our lives by
keeping covenants with precision. Also, by reaching up to Him with a
diligent, focused effort; it is mentally rigorous to think of Him in every
thought. We must deeply desire it. I'm glad I have trials as I try
to follow God, because it is only because I have trials that I am able to
follow Him and deeply, sincerely desire it.
It was interesting to note that I
wasn't sure if I wanted to be made to feel better or not because I wanted to
understand why I was feeling this way (and thus resolve it), which is hard to
do when I'm not feeling like that. But with the idea that we draw Jesus
Christ's power into our lives as our faith motivates us to action, it makes
sense why I don't feel so down but instead I'm lifted up. Then I can go and do things.
********
Some other things that happened:
- A mini zone meeting. The zone building was moved to the other end of the zone, so it's about 15 minutes away.
- Early morning exercise at the church building. I played tennis.
- Updating to iOS 11 (and then getting a notification later in the day to not do so, as it may affect the Area Book planner). Split view doesn't work on the iPad minis.
- Elijah and Tara, new investigators who both stay with single moms over the weekend.
- A meeting with the last of the three high councilors over missionary work.
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| iOS 11 is incompatible with missionary work |
Thursday, September 21st, 2017:
We joined Elders Opificius, Martin,
Meer, and McKee for morning exercise. It was soccer and basketball, which
was not only fun but a real workout.
Weekly planning went fast, but we only
had time for the first half. Two reasons were that I went to family
services and we had a 3:00 lesson to pick up a new investigator. In
family services, we talked in part about yesterday. He told me, like anger
or laziness or other emotions, "feeding" negative thoughts makes them
more powerful. My solution would be to just be aware of it, then go and
do something else.
The new investigator--Justin--is part
of the couple we helped move in when I was bitten. It was an incredibly
awkward lesson for me, as I thought--more assumed--that they felt compelled to
have us over. They were very nice to us. But I felt like their having us
over felt like a kind of pressure on them to make a commitment. It also made me
aware of my hesitation in OYMing people. I realized my reticence is based
on the idea that pressuring people is bad. I also realized that the feeling I
get when I assume someone doesn't want to talk to me is different
than the feeling I get when we're in a lesson and we’re trying to push someone
to do something for the wrong reasons. So although the lesson was
awkward, it taught me some things.
We accidentally bashed with a
guy. We didn’t intend to get into an argument and at the time I didn't
realize we were arguing. He had been rejected by his family for believing
anti-Mormon materials and leaving the church, and was bitter about it. He
started to justify his actions and starting talking about things in the Book of
Abraham. I should have recognized that he wasn't really open to what we
were saying any more. About an hour into our discussion, Elder Parnes
recognized we were bashing and told him that God wants us to exercise faith for
a reason. The man wasn't intending to bring any of this up when he let us
in and was as surprised as we were to find the conversation where it was. I saw
his hurt and sorrow at his family’s reaction, but got swept up in the moment of
his attacks. The poor man. He listened to the wrong voices, and the
response from his LDS community helped to burn the bridge.
Friday, September 22nd, 2017:
We used exercise bands for morning
workouts. Elder Parnes showed me how. I didn't even know my
shoulders had some of those muscles that I used.
We started studies/planning a little
early, which has proven to be good. We also got most of weekly planning
done.
We've used up a lot of miles on our
car. We haven't started biking again. Elder Parnes and I got into a skirmish
about the car and getting rides from people versus driving ourselves. He says
that he didn't trust most people's driving. I ultimately had to trust
that he had his reasons and back off. But this little disagreement was nowhere
near close to arguments I’ve had with other companions.
District meeting has moved to a
location farther away, taking more time to drive to. It may be moved
again soon. The training was on teaching simply. A very good reminder.
I got a package from my parents; they
sent earmuffs! I lost my old ones a while ago, and the weather recently has
turned colder. It also rained much of this week. Additionally, I
cannot find my winter hat, gloves, scarf, or thermals. They might be with
the bag of clothes I had my parents pick up back in August. Fortunately, they
left them at my sister’s house in Huntsville, so they can bring them back to
the mission office.
We had two lessons tonight. The
first was a textbook lesson with Simeon, a new investigator. It felt
almost like we were practicing teaching. He had very few things he
disagreed on, which makes me think he might be okay with what we share but might
unwilling to change. He has only recently started exploring religion,
though, so maybe he will listen and be baptized!
We taught Kiki, Gong, and Tina
later. We covered the Gospel of Jesus Christ, focusing on what faith is
and how it leads to repentance, which caused something to click for Kiki.
She explained many things to her family members, including a five-minute
conversation in Chinese. Gong also spoke for longer than any time I've
heard him speak before. They aren't ready to jump into the font, but they
took a big step forward. We also learned more about them. It's
looking up for them.
Saturday, September 23rd, 2017:
I had an amazing time studying that
morning. I'm not really going to share about it, but it was on the Book
of Mormon and how the Spirit influences missionary work.
Elder Parnes developed a migraine soon
after planning this morning, so from then until about 1:00 pm we stayed
in. Fortunately, he was ready to go to the lesson we had scheduled with
Andrea. Andrea was on a tight time schedule, so we had to rush with her
compared to other lessons. She likes to talk a lot and answer questions
indirectly, which makes things very slow. This time, however, we were able
to center down on understanding what she needed and how she felt. I felt
like she was a little pressured, but it proved to be valuable for what we
learned from her. Now that we finally know where she is at (we tried
doing this two other lessons), we can help her better.
We had a lesson with Jim. His
wife was unable to make it. It took a long time, but it gave him a lot of
answers about the congregation and how the church is organized. I
stumbled over inviting him to be baptized, so I'll work on that in studies.
A WML met with us after dinner, but it
wasn't what we hoped for because his kids were with him. He does a lot
for his calling, but he is often busy balancing work, family, and church.
Besides that, we tried a few people,
set lessons up, wrote reports for lessons we've had, and texted or called some
people.
Sunday, September 24th, 2017:
A stake we cover is holding an early
morning mission prep class. We joined them, then remained at the same
building to attend three ward's sacrament meetings. We hadn't been to
those wards during this last transfer. It's farewell season, so many of
the sacrament meetings had visitors.
The bishop of the Highland View ward
asked us to teach a fireside on preparing for a mission. It was a great
opportunity to talk to the youth and have them ask us questions.
Our area is looking up now. We
have 16 or so investigators, half of which we've found in the past week.
I'm figuring out how to work with so many people. We need to get the
wards more involved!
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| Out new and enlarged Holiday zone |
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