Week 67: Losing our wheels

Monday, October 9th, 2017:

We completed planning in 20 minutes today, which is amazing.  Granted we set a time aside to text people the things we wanted to send out before and didn't, we did do all the 13 steps for planning as set forth in PMG, but it’s still pretty impressive!

As we were leaving Walmart for our p-day shopping, someone asked us to give them a blessing. We went to a nearby Wagstaffs and did it in a quiet room.  Being trusted and able to bring peace of mind to someone is pretty awesome.

The couple that helps with our laundry helped us with our laundry this week, then told us that their stake presidency told them to no longer help the missionaries with their laundry.  I guess they think that since we temporarily have a car, we can go to the laundromat. They told us where a nearby laundromat is and even bought soap for us. We’re grateful for whatever help we receive.

We got to carve pumpkins for our p-day.  I carved the tabernacle into mine.  Others made various faces or things.  We took pictures. After, we played some sports.  We were late out of the activity--no one accounted for taking photos or cleaning up--so we didn't have a lot of time for dinner.  We got on the field late.

I collected some of the pumpkins and plan to make pumpkin soup. I didn’t know how much work it was going to be. I spent a good part of the night working on it, but the pumpkins didn't cook through all the way through. I got to bed late.

We did have a good lesson with Olivia.  Her dad was there; we managed to involve him a little and we think things went well.

Tuesday, October 10th, 2017:

Today was a hard day.  I started the pumpkins before exercise; they were cooked so I chopped them up.  I baked two pans, so between that and the blender not really working I spent a while on it.  Elder Parnes studies while I occupied the kitchen, I didn’t get done until 9 am. Elder Parnes made breakfast after studying. The rest of the pumpkins can rot, as far as I'm concerned.

At 10:00, we planned.  It was a mash of planning, getting calls, texting people, etc., so it took a while.  But we got planning and a lot more done. But my companion didn't share what his plans were for the day. We're asked to do in the training so our companions can help us. I suspect there's a good part of him I may never know about.

We did the online safeguard training (again) so we spent several hours doing that at the family history center.

The husband in the family that had us over for dinner mentioned how much he liked the sound of the marimba when he heard that I played it.  I really miss percussion.  I keep having dreams about it--usually of just showing up to a rehearsal and not knowing what's going on--but still, I'm happy to go and play the instruments in my dreams.

In a lesson with Simeon, we picked up his wife and roommate as new investigators.  It went well. I think next time we may ask them to teach us.  They've wanted our discussions to help us all come closer to Christ, and this may be a way to honor that.

My stomach felt kind of sick during the day; at one point, I had to lie down while talking to Elder Parnes.  He eventually asked if I wanted to lie on my bed, so I did and actually fell asleep.  It was hard to get back up; not because of lack of motivation, but because I didn’t feel well. It was a hard day. I'm tired.

I found a very cool pen in the bottom of our car glove-box.  It's made by "Skilcraft" and is highly mechanical--the mechanism in the pen is unusual but I love it.  The gel smears, though, as I am a lefty...

Speaking of the car, we don’t have one any more.  Elder Wagley (my former companion, still in our zone) crashed his bike hard enough to send him to the ER. Until he recovers, he’s unable to ride his bike. We got a 30 minute heads up that we were to turn in our car. Oh well.  Elder Parnes can't bike due to his asthma, so we will walk or ask members for rides.

Wednesday, October 11th, 2017:

We did weekly planning today because the zone leaders wanted to go blitz our area tomorrow.  There was a lot of phone stuff and reporting to do as well, so altogether we had a solid hour and a half on it.  We re-approached it in a healthy, inspiring way.  I think it did us good.  If we could finally shape everything together so we had a long enough block of time and stayed on course, we would be well set!

We had two lessons, contacted a few people, and had a meeting to round out the day.

My dad sent me an email with exercises to help Chondromalacia patella, or "runner's knee."  While my knees don't hurt as much now, I know Elder Leterneau had that same condition and it caused a lot of trouble for him, so I gave him a copy of the exercises.  I'll monitor my knees closely for now.

Thursday, October 12th, 2017:

We had exchanges with the zone leaders today.  I went with Elder McKee; we walked the 11th WML's dog, Boomer, to Tanner Park to talk to people.  Elder McKee taught me how to just start teaching.  We had good opportunities to talk to people whenever Boomer started playing with their dog(s).  He helped me form a new perspective to OYM-ing; the opportunities are all around, they just need to be made.

I realized something I think will change my whole life as I talked to Elder McKee over the exchange report.  I think I was addicted to leisure time. I was not addicted to video games or being online; I filled my free time with them, but I just loved being able to do whatever I wanted.  It's why I tried to make as much time as possible at home, disliking homework, chores, or meetings I did not sign up voluntarily for.  Understanding it, I'll be able to monitor my time better.  It's been a huge issue for me, but I've been waiting to think deeply on it until I got to "my plan"--the last transfer reflection activity--at the end of my mission.  I know I still have more pondering to do. But for now I’ve realized that I may able to play video games or take a career in something like video game design without the fear of being unable to manage my time. 

Tristyn and Staci cancelled again.  We're going to drop them soon, but we plan first to ask and see if Tristyn has personally felt any progress or benefit in trying to draw closer to God as she's met with missionaries.  We're not sure if she has.

We got to participate in ordaining a husband of a recent convert to the Melchizedek priesthood.  He returned to activity.  After we visited some people with a WML.  The last people were from a referral we contacted before; we had an amazing conversation.  It was so natural for me; for what may be the first time in my mission, I talked normally with non-members without really thinking of what to say. If I can get to being natural, it would be so easy!

I've found that my companion holds on to very few things, but when he does he is very stubborn.  I mean "stubborn" in a neutral sense.  We've disagreed before.  Usually, he'll have more reasons than he will say for wanting something, which is normal of most people.

I made pumpkin soup for lunch.  It was amazing, but I'm never going to make it again on my mission.  Waaay too much work and time.

Friday, October 13th, 2017:

We had pretty hard morning workouts.  I asked Elder Parnes if we could tone it down a bit by starting later--we were going to start at 6:00; he set his alarm for 5:30 am.

Our district meeting was excellent.  We had a good training on our purpose and counsel on our investigators as a zone leader, an AP, and President Hillier were there.  I was able to learn more about working with less-active members from pipeline (a time we report on our efforts and ask for advice), but I especially say how God's purpose--and our purpose--focus on the individual and doing whatever thing possible to save his or her soul.

Walking back, we passed by a member's yard as he was winding down a neighborhood party.  He gave me hot chocolate, which was nice and warm.

We had a good afternoon, but I can't help but think we could have run things more effectively.  I talked to Elder Parnes about it; we determined we should have backup plans, as the correlations ended earlier than normal.

Saturday, October 14th, 2017:

Our daily planning went to about 10 am.  It was so long that after we started companionship study I fell into another bad humor.  I concluded by realizing I really didn't know how to do a lot of things and decided to study up on those things. I want to learn as much as I can in the absence of experience, then learn more from experience as it occurs.  It was weird how my mood flowed into action, but I'm glad it did.

We finished weekly planning.  Yay!  I also learned Elder Parnes' story. He converted from Catholicism.  He loves hockey and soccer but also plays baseball and golf.  He worked doing construction and at an ice rink for a year and a half to save up for his mission. 

We went out to contact people--lots of walking--before dinner and a trunk-or-treat. To end the night (which we spent with Jeremy driving us around), we joined Jeremy in a lesson with the Sorensens, and reported on our lessons and contacts. The discussion eventually turned to things to talk about early on with a spouse. The topic was insightful for marriage, but I've stuck it in a mental file cabinet for now.

Sunday, October 15th, 2017:

After the mission prep class, two sacrament meetings, and lunch, we went to the nearby ward building to attend elders' quorum.  We've been walking everywhere.  Elder Parnes' ankles swell up by the end of each day now; he couldn't go anywhere else for the 1:00 block because of the pain.

Later--after planning and changing--we went by Ewan.  I was able to gain an appreciation for him and how Downs Syndrome works as I spoke with him, which manifested in a love for him.  I suppose I need to know and understand people--how they express emotions, what their thoughts or personalities are--before I can love them, at least so much.  Maybe that's normal for most everyone.

Ewan is an opportunistic learner; his parents told us that he can't sit down for a formal lesson.  They also moved his baptismal date back, as his grandmother isn't available.  As far as we understand it, his baptism is turning into a social thing. We don't want it to be just a social thing, but his parents are building it into one.

After that, we visited Tristyn and Staci.  A ward missionary was with us; in a moment of mischief, I hid on the area by their stairwell and said to pretend we were on splits.  Elder Parnes said to take notes, so I stayed there longer than I originally intended but soon realized hiding was pretty dumb and also a little creepy.  Eventually, Staci saw me, and I joined them. It was a kind of a stupid thing to do and now regret it.

We went to a member’s house for dinner. There were three kids--a 8th, 6th, and 4th grader--and the conversation eventually led to the Spanish tradition of fitting 12 grapes into one's mouth at the new year.  The kids were stuffing grapes into their mouths for the rest of dinner after that.  Everyone was having fun it was a lighthearted time, which was fortunate because it could have gone off the rails.

We visited the family where the husband recently received the Melchizedek priesthood.  Their names are Adriel and Keirstin.  Things have been going really well for him--he talked about how he felt so much better, more inclined to help, and closer to God after receiving it.

Elder Opificius said he had something for us, so we met at a church building.  Jeremy actually wanted to meet and talk; he said that around the same time we got the car, we both changed. He noted how we--well, Elder Parnes--seemed more demanding in getting Jeremy to help drive us around.  We both seemed to have changed for the worse.  We tried to pinpoint what may have happened, but didn't come up with any definite conclusion. My companion’s health challenges and not having the car probably contributed to it.