Week 76: Cat Scratch Fever

Week 76 Journal

Monday, December 11th, 2017:

“Elder Heyward, come here and look at this.”

“What.”

“Look at this dining area you’ve created.”

“One second.”

“Elder Heyward, whose hot chocolate is this?”

“It’s mine”

“And how old is it?”

“It’s from exchanges, so like a week ago… but I’m still drinking it…”

“Elder Heyward, you’re drinking from a measuring cup.”

This was an odd p-day. We set off, after studying and planning pretty well, to shop with Elders Martin and Shafer. A member in their area (Brother Egan) took us out for most of the day. We then went to his house and played Munchkin. It’s a really fun card game; it was refreshing to play a game. I miss that from home. It takes a while to play, though.

Elder Martin bought a large karaoke speaker at Savers. He plans on returning it, having tried it out, but it was comical nonetheless.

We emailed at the end of the day (3:00-5:00). The other elders emailed with us.

Before emailing, we had a lesson with Martin. Elder Heyward had a fascinating idea: Martin and his little sister Lucy taught all of us. It was for “teaching and learning in the church.” Elder Heyward prepared the lesson for them ahead of time so they weren’t caught off guard. It went well.

Tristyn cancelled tonight–or rather Staci did–so we went contacting before joining Simeon, Madeline, and Hannah for the temple square lights. They hadn’t seen the lights before, so we walked around and mostly took it in. It was valuable for me because I learned how to best conduct temple square lessons by talking to the sisters there.

We got Chick-Fill-A at the end of the night. I had a mix-up and Simeon paid for me, but it was okay. Elder Heyward talked to Simeon about the extreme smog the inversion was causing during the ride home. Simeon, being a safety specialist at 3M, had all the statistics. On a “red” day, an hour outside is equal to about a half a pack of cigarettes. The smog level was orange-red today. I’m glad for my scarf, which functions as a missionary-acceptable air filter (it’s better than nothing).

Tuesday, December 12th, 2017:

Early morning basketball felt really early this morning. We still got to it and I was up and running, but the “getting there” was a little harder than normal.

The smog was really bad. It was rated orange when we checked, but we wouldn’t be surprised to learn if it was red at times. There are two levels worse than red; a red-brown and a brown. I wouldn’t go outside if it got to the worse level. We got photos of my super-powerful flashlight beam in the smog. Basically, it’s like really persistent fog you know is dirty, but doesn’t look or smell or taste different. Yet.

We straightened out our referrals. It was so liberating! I realized a lot of the names wouldn’t lead anywhere because the people who provided them to us didn’t put thought into it. It was an on-the-spot thing. Other names weren’t essential [“This person would be good to visit if you’re looking for something to do.”]. We judge carefully on each referral, but most of them aren’t true referrals to people who are genuinely interested in receiving the lessons. We sent a lot of names to our senior couples, the Sorensen’s and the Shepherd’s, and retained some. It was amazing to make progress on that!

We also included the names of a lot of unbaptized children–those who were blessed as babies but never baptized. Elder Heyward thought I didn’t want to do it before, which was partially true. I’m a lot more willing now–I think I’m reaching a new phase of missionary work.

We had dinner with a ward missionary, then were picked up by a priest (Jonah) to go to a lesson. Tom, the non-member husband in an otherwise active family, is an interesting case. He says he will never be religious and doesn’t want to take the discussions again, although he likes chatting with the missionaries. I think Tom is tired of people trying to convert him. We will consult with the bishop and others about how to help.

We got to a youth party (where we talked to youth leaders) and then had a lesson with Tristyn fall through on us again. We helped the Relief Society pack up before we took some brownies from the party to Tristyn.

I think we’ll start confirming lessons through her now. She showed some initiative tonight.

The next Star Wars in the new trilogy releases in two days. It’s funny how irrelevant that is to me.

Wednesday, December 13th, 2017:

We were in the apartment until the mission conference. We’ve been doing that for pretty much every day now–not going out in the afternoon but blitzing the evening. We should have less calls to make now that we’re prioritizing real referrals, so it’ll just be a matter of going and doing.

We went to Family Services, too. Kyle showed me a specific method for being mindful; it should help.

The mission conference was great. I really don’t know the newer groups of missionaries. Kenneth Cope sang for an hour. Elder Callister (president of the Sunday School for the whole church) gave a lecture on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He helps us overcome the obstacles to exaltation. Both were great, but having Elder Callister was definitely my favorite. It was a total surprise to the mission that he attended.

We tried to stop by Tom, as we had set a return appointment today. He really wasn’t interested–sort of a “been there, done that” mentality–but he was unfamiliar with what the remission of sins was. It’s sad. People think they understand the gospel, but to really understand it they need to experience it on a spiritual level. Spiritual truths are learned by the spirit. They haven’t experienced it, because if they had they would be in the church with a testimony. But they need to humbly seek to find the truth.

After, we checked by the family that the RC2 WML visited with me while Elder Heyward was attending a baptism. He’s made wonderful progress already.

We got the smog ventilators from Simeon. I tried having one on under my scarf today, as my throat has started to hurt. I may be getting sick instead, but I’ll see. It seems to work well enough–no one notices anything odd if they’re just driving by.

Also, I forgot to mention that I got three letters last Friday and a care package today. One letter was drawings from Rose (my four year old niece), which I put up in our apartment, and two letters were from my parents. One of those had my renewed driver’s license, which was set to expire next month. The package is the ward Christmas package. I saw Elder Canaan had a package with the same print, also from Bishop Delis. I haven’t opened the package yet; I’ll wait for Christmas. I appreciate everyone keeping me in their thoughts.

The mission took a photo together and gave us all journals with “Utah Salt Lake City East Mission” stamped on the front. Mine was upside-down, which works as I’ll probably have that as my last journal. My first was upside-down too. Maybe they’re trying to tell me something.

Thursday, December 14th, 2017:

We did a part of weekly planning today! Yay! We also went with a member to Maria’s, the restaurant that replaced Cowboy Grub. It is an authentic Mexican restaurant. I had camarones a la diablo, which is shrimp of the devil. It was spicy, but good. That, and other things, prevented our weekly planning from having the full afternoon. But hey, we did part of it.

I was pretty tired at one point today, but for the most part things went well.

We contacted people in the evening. The highlight was that as we looked for a referral and knocked at a house, a cat joined us. The resident opened the door and talked to us a while.  I learned that I do not know how to pet a cat. I guess the cat wanted more attention, though, as it started climbing and clawing my leg. He had front claws; it didn’t hurt so much as surprise me. Still, after I got him to go off my leg he later climbed up again and nipped at my hand. Bad kitty! While I was being a scratching post, Heyward taught the contact about what we preach as an overview, invited him to go to church, and set up a meeting with him and his roommate for tomorrow. A new investigator! I need to remember to wear my old pants on the next visit.

We only have three investigators we’re currently working with–Martin, Ewan, and Tristyn–so we’re hunting for more.

None of the stake leaders want to hold our regular meetings this month. I think everyone is waiting until January.

Friday, December 15th, 2017:

I woke up feeling terribly sick today. Elder Martin (who has been sick a while) and I stayed in while Elders Shafer and Heyward worked. I guess it wasn’t the pollution after all.

The only thing to note was that Sister Hillier did not permit us to play games if we’re sick in the apartment. It’s only a p-day thing, apparently. This was one of my fist sick days on my mission. The reminder helped me to understand how we need to do something productive even when sick. It’s how a mission is truly a full-time occupation. There’s something powerful in that.

Saturday, December 16th, 2017:

Elder Martin and I stayed in again today. Sister Hillier had told us to call her if we stayed in, as we should try to go out after a day in unless we’re running a fever. We did not call her–I thought about it twice during the day–and I really don’t know why we didn’t call. Part of the reason is that I was asleep until about 1 pm. I had a somewhat sore throat and stuffy sinuses, pretty standard; mainly I was tired. Elder Martin had much of the same thing.

Sunday, December 17th, 2017:

We stayed in for the morning and afternoon. I read the Book of Mormon for three hours, finishing Third Nephi. It was a more productive use of time than Saturday. We then called Sister Hillier to let her know how we were feeling and decided to try to go out for the evening.

We were able to get to a lesson with a non-member who only wants to read the Book of Mormon with us. He doesn’t want to be converted, just read and learn. After that, we got to a few referrals (including two drunk, polite young men) and headed in for the evening.