Monday, April 23rd,
2018:
For p-day, we got quick
haircuts from a former investigator named Mandy. As a single mom, she's really
busy. We also helped weed the garden of one of the senior couples in our area.
They have helped us get around to so many places, so it’s the least we could do.
By 3 pm, we had finished all of our p-day activities, which was rare.
We tried to visit an
investigator that we’re dropping because she has not been making time for us
and has not been progressing, but she was not hope. We left her a note. We
watered another investigator’s garden. We had an appointment with Mike, the
music theory teacher, but he had to cancel because one of his neighbors needed
serious help. The couple who was going to join us for the lesson (the
relief society president and the recently-released elders quorum president)
went over to help them out. We meet the investigator’s girlfriend. We
learned that her house was left a mess by her previous renters, so we talked to
a neighborhood family about possibly helping out. Its all about the service!
Tuesday, April 24th,
2018:
We had a good Family
History lesson with MJ. She kept saying that she needs to learn more about
her ancestors; hopefully she'll get hooked on family history. We coordinated
with members about the needs of some investigators. We then met a former
investigator who had been taught by the missionaries six years ago. He did not
seem very open to receiving a spiritual witness. I’ve learned during my
mission that you need to be open to the gospel message before you will receive
a witness from the Spirit that it is true.
Wednesday, April
25th, 2018:
It was a slow
morning. Our area and week has been going fast, so we're been pretty tired
(which is no excuse for a slow morning.).
We brought some
chicken soup with rice to Dawnette, who recovering well from dental surgery.
She appreciated it. We read the scriptures with Michael as a follow up to last
week's lesson. Then we went to the Jordan River temple open house with Arash
and Marzi. They asked questions about all the paintings we saw, but they
still seemed to rush through it, especially after the spiritual experiences we
had in the open house with the other families. Talking to their friend,
Mohammed, after the tour confirmed our feelings that they need to understand
how to feel the spirit.
After the temple open
house, we met Iman, a 10 year old daughter of a somewhat-active member who has
been working with her bishop. Iman was pretty shy but after she got to know us,
she showed no signs of discomfort. We set a baptismal date of May 5th
(as proposed by the bishop), but we aren't sure if she'll be ready by then.
After that lesson, we
met with the Fergusons and a ward missionary from the Midvale East 5th
ward. The WML is navigating finals, is moving in a month, and is being
released soon. Hopefully the new WML will
be able to look to him for guidance. The Fergusons gave us a ride back to
our apartment, where we talked in the front outdoor sitting area about the
area. A kind member family dropped off dinner to us, which we quickly ate
after we finished our meeting.
In the evening, we headed
over to Danny and her family. She is a now-single mother of six
children. I believe Elders Haight and Hardt had met her and helped teach her
eight-year-old child. We previously had noticed that their basketball hoop's
backboard was shattered into two main pieces and a few splinters of varying
size, so we brought some duct tape and tried to reassemble it. As we were
puzzling the pieces back together, we talked to two of their neighbors.
Both happened to be handy with tools, and they pitched in and constructed a new
backboard out of plywood that they had. ; it was fast enough. It was the
most rewarding to to measure, cut, and attach the board. Perhaps it was one of
the best things we did all day. Danny pulled in with some of her kids near the
end of the project and sincerely thanked us. She said that her children
had missed having a backboard. We also confirmed some of her other needs
(as the ward had requested). It was a great start to working with her and her family.
Thursday, April 26th,
2018:
This afternoon, we
worked on setting goals for the month of May. We prayerfully considered some of
the newest people on our radar. We have so many new investigators we are
currently actively teaching or working with that it's a little absurd. I've
flipped from most of my mission: now, I haven't focused on "Oh! We
have so many investigators, who should we continue working with and how?"
or otherwise having all things thought through. This attitude has helped
contribute to our finding more people to teach, but at the cost of me not
knowing everything that we have to do. I can still instinctively tell who
will progress the most, or who our primary focus should be on are, but every so
often I'll miss something or another that we should have addressed. I'm
just not worrying about it since I’m doing the best I can. Everything seems to
be going better. Elder Vandehei has been a big help as well, as he
assists in balancing me.
Our district meeting
this afternoon was on how to effectively seek referrals as we visited with
members over dinner. We have so many dinner appointments and I realized I
had never truly used that opportunity to try to find more people to work
with. My hopes from the meeting are that each of us would effectively be
able to seek referrals as we visited with members for the rest of our
missions. If the district meeting could successfully accomplish that
task, it would be worth it.
We walked in the
evening. Our bikes have been in the shop all week, so when we haven't had
appointments lined up (like Wednesday!) we've been slowed.
I conducted my first
baptismal interview today. Jeremy, taught by Sisters Coleman and Marenco,
really hopes to return to God's presence. He wasn't 100% solid on
everything, but I still felt he should pass.
Our landlord has hired
people to work on the roof. They took the shingles off and dropped them
onto tarps on the ground, startling our backyard neighbor's dog, Yeti.
The dog barked nonstop until the neighbor came outside to take Yeti in, but the
dog was not cooperating. Through the narrow gaps in the picket fence we
saw the shapes of the dog and owner chasing each other in circles. Elder
Vandehei and I needed the laughter.
Friday, April 27th,
2018:
Weekly
planning! Yaaaay. With so many investigators, we planned only
lightly for each person. I think the most important part from our weekly
planning was to make sure we knew everyone we were trying to work with and
straighten out what we wanted to do for the area. In the afternoon we met and
coordinated with WML’s.
After dinner, we had
a lesson with Dawnette, Daegon, and Hunter. We were joined by the WML. Hunter
was on a Roblox game and would not pause it. He took a seat on the small couch,
touching the tablet screen every so often so it didn't turn off. Daegon
messed around, half-joking about not wanting to meet, before joining Hunter's
server on Roblox with his headphones in. When we sat down and started
discussing about how we weren't sure if they were ready for baptism, it was
apparent Daegon couldn't hear us and Hunter was only half-present. After trying
unsuccessfully to get them to participate, Dawnette announced to them and us that
she wasn't going to have any more of the missionary lessons. She also said that
she wasn't going to keep going to church. She said they were both wastes of
time with how Hunter and Daegon were behaving. It stung with truth. She
was right that her kids were showing no desire to learn the gospel. I could sense
the truth as soon as she said it. I was surprised to shed a few tears. I really
cared for them. While I think they may be baptized later, I was sad at how they
did not choose to listen. It was an example of procrastinating one's day
of repentance.
As I prayed that
night, I realized that's exactly how God feels about each one of us. When
we fail to realize our full, divine potential, he weeps for each of us. And at
that, I almost cried again.
Saturday, April 28th,
2018:
We played tennis this
morning. It was enjoyable warm enough to do so.
With it being the
last day of the temple open house, we went with a fellowshipping family to tour
the temple with Dannon, Kimberly, Serena, and Jalon. Kimberly (the mom)
took a walk and Dannon wasn't able to find her for a while, so they arrived an
hour late. The sister who came with us wasn't able to stay, but her
husband was.
Dannon (the father)
enjoyed the uplifting feelings of the spirit. Serena isn't sure if she
wants to be baptized. Jalon, who didn't come, wants to be baptized so his
family can be sealed forever, but he needs more preparation as he doesn't know
anything else about the gospel.
We saw Mark
afterwards. He let us have a bike from all the junk the renters left
behind. Mark lost his job, as he was late too many times. It was a
two hour bike ride for him to get to work. Mark was happy to get the job,
as he almost failed to pay his bills, but now hopes for a closer, easier job
(he was doing heavy manual labor all day). It was good to see him again;
hopefully he'll take up a greater interest in the gospel now that he has a bit
more time.
In the evening, our
ward mission leader joined us as we visited some investigators in Royal Ridge
apartments. No one answered
Sunday, April 29th,
2018:
We were so tired this
morning. Fortunately, there were no ward council meetings, as it was the
fifth Sunday of the month. We attended three different sacrament
meetings.
At 3:00, we attended
a presentation of evidences for the Book of Mormon with MJ and Mike. It
was well done. MJ told us she believed the Book of Mormon was true, a
spiritual witness she gained within the last half-year.
Two lessons cancelled
tonight. James, son of the third WML, joined us for the evening, but not
much happened in response to our efforts. Sage, another priest in our
area, opened his mission call to Peru.
Monday, April 30th,
2018:
We started this
morning with an unexpected change in our area. Elder Flaminiano is
joining us for the four remaining weeks of the transfer; we now jointly cover
his area (the Midvale stake), including the Korean ward. I'll write more
later, but this is pretty fresh to me, so there's not much more to add.
We cover three stakes (again)!
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