Week 96 journal
Monday, April 30th,
2018:
Last week our
companionship was joined by Elder Flaminiano, a Filipino missionary who had
been waiting for a visa for seven months, then came to our mission. His
companion in an adjoining area went home, so our areas have been temporarily
merged. Working with Elder Flaminiano throughout the week has been
good. He helps me be accountable; having a fresh view on our
companionship, he can see the best ways we can improve. He also is very
direct in street contacting, whereas Elder Vandehei and I don't always talk
about the gospel when we talk to people (usually because they walk away after a
bit). On the other hand, he
plays music a lot and doesn't keep as neat. Both of those are minor
things, especially since he is willing to talk and compromise. The only
hard thing about working with him is that we have a bit of a language
barrier. English is not his first language, and sometimes he doesn't have
a handle on fine connotations. Sometimes I misunderstand him, but a pinch
more patience has helped me.
Our area books merged
today. At first, we feared we lost half of Elder Flaminiano's
investigators, but the assistants to the president let us know they were still
working on combining them. We spent some of our preparation day time
catching up on both area's lesson reports.
We picked up our
bikes from Jerk's Bike Shop. The saddlebags and rack I ordered arrived
and were installed. They worked well as we biked around the areas.
We contacted a few
people this evening, but the majority of our time was spent with the two oldest
boys in the family with the broken backboard. We played basketball with
them, then asked if their mother was home and if we could have a lesson with
them. The answer to both was no. Elder Flaminiano pointed out that
we could have used our time better, which was true -- we spent more than an
hour playing.
Tuesday, May 1st,
2018:
This was a hard
biking day. Not only was it my first full day with bike bags, it was our
first full day covering both areas. Elder Flaminiano and I both got
flats, so it was a good thing I brought the pump. The Slime or Flat
Attack stops most holes, but it takes a little time to seal if the hole is too
big. I learned that it could be a pain to manage carrying my bags; I
can't leave them on my bike because they don't lock on. I don't know if I
thought about that before I bought them, but I'll find a way to work it out.
One person we met
this evening was April. She's a single mother of four kids; while she
wants to get more involved in the gospel and have her kids be baptized, the
older two make a fuss whenever she brings up anything related to church.
It makes it very hard for her. We found working alongside her is the only
way to help her; if we lack understanding ("Aw, you didn't read the
scriptures with your kids? Could you read with your kids tonight?"),
she becomes defensive.
We stopped by Cyrus
to end the night. We were going to try to contact some people in the
Royal Ridge apartments, but the Spanish Sisters -- who were just leaving the
complex -- told us that he could use some help, as his car got impounded and he
generally hasn't had a good week. He only said his week was
"good" when we asked him, but we tried the best we could to help.
Wednesday, May 2nd,
2018:
We drove around part
of the Salt Lake Valley to contact some of the Korean former
investigators. Only one person was home, which is especially unfortunate
for the Korean ward: Elder Flaminiano decided that there's no going in unless
we have an appointment. The best we can hope to do in cold contacting
them is to set an appointment for later, instead of maybe coming in and
teaching. The difference between contact and no contact is more stressed.
We helped Laurinda
with her garden this afternoon. Some of the seeds germinated, while
others were too deep.
Our lesson with
Michael consisted mostly of reading scriptures.
We had a good lesson
with Arash and Marzi. The temple open house helped them a lot, as they
went from more of just curious to the point where they might consider
joining. They had some questions relating to the restoration, as usual,
but we agreed to find someone more qualified to answer those questions
later. We taught the first half of the plan of salvation instead.
Oddly enough, they didn't have any questions about it.
Thursday, May 3rd,
2018:
We did weekly
planning outside today. We talked about a few people, but it wasn't as
focused as we needed it to be if we wanted to review all the people in our
area(s).
We had a lesson with
Iman today. It took all evening, as we had to review everything but the
gospel of Jesus Christ with her and have her interview. She listened very
well, especially given her age. She passed her baptismal interview and
will be baptized on Saturday!
I got a letter from
my mom from the zone leaders after the interview. Things are going better for
her with her therapy, which is wonderful. My dad's cancer has resurfaced,
but I'm not too worried as they're already on the ball.
Friday, May 4th,
2018:
Zone meeting was
today. The zone leaders trained on teaching repentance and baptizing
converts. The biggest thing I want to reflect on is how to use the
scriptures to warn people of the consequences of sin, while tying that in to
the missionary purpose.
After zone meeting,
Elder Shafer and I went on exchanges into the zone leader area. They
hadn't been able to plan for the day yet, but we drove around to contact
various people they are working with.
Saturday, May 5th,
2018:
Iman was baptized
today! While we hadn't worked with Iman for very long and she was shy to
start out, she quickly opened up to us. She is a happy kid. Iman's
mother, Aalaa, was a convert after she moved to Utah. Aalaa's father was
killed by her home country's government when she was 11 for, as she put it, no
other reason than they could and maybe felt they needed to scare the people
more. In addition to the blessings Iman will receive for being baptized,
her baptism helped Aalaa know more members of the ward and feel welcomed.
The members of the ward were generally unable to visit her successfully.
The bishop sorted out Iman's baptism with Aalaa before we were introduced.
The baptismal service
itself was grouped with the stake baptisms, even though Iman's confirmation was
in sacrament meeting. The program, thrown together by the ward council,
was passed out after everyone had gathered in their seats for the
service. But the baptism was great. Aalaa bore her testimony, I
gave a talk on baptism, and the bishop gave a talk on the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Without an interlude planned, I stepped in to play the piano until
Elder Vandehei and Iman changed into dry clothes.
In other news, we had
a good time at dinner tonight. The family who invited us over -- a single
mom with older kids -- asked us to bless the home. Also, we told them
about the SNAP program, a mutual night for special needs kids, as her youngest
son is autistic.
I picked up the
absurd bike lock I ordered from Jerk's bike shop, as we were in the
neighborhood of the shop's owner.
Sunday, May 6th,
2018:
We used our car to
get around the three stakes' sacrament meetings. I'm a little concerned
about our mileage, especially since we haven't kept track of it since we wrote
down our odometer at the start of the month.
One highlight came at
the very end of the evening. With 20 minutes left in the day, we went to
Royal Ridge to contact some people. I noticed two people with
skateboards; Elder Vandehei used to skate, which has proved a good street
contacting tool in Utah. We walked over, struck up a conversation with
them, and invited them to read the Book of Mormon (which they said they would)
and be baptized if they knew it was true (to which they answered with some
concerns on baptism). We have a return appointment this week!
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