Weeks 97 and 98
Hello everyone! It's been two weeks since out p-day last
week was on Thursday, and I didn’t have time to do my regular email, I'm
dropping some of the details from my journal. I don't have a lot
recorded, too. I'm skipping the things I can't remember about and, while
I wish I could go back later and flush those days out later, I don't know if
I'll be able to do that.
Monday, May 7th, 2018:
For our preparation day activity today, we had a water war
and picnic. I spent some money to get some water guns, but it was worth
it. We had a good time spending about two hours outside eating sandwiches
and squirting each other. I didn't get to play very much, as I was trying
to keep everything set up, and everyone had a good time.
We had a long dinner today, as a family wanted to take us
out to dinner.
We had to help clean Elder Flaminiano's apartment, on Elder
Wilkin's request (he's a senior missionary over housing in our mission; he
stopped by Elder Flaminiano's temporarily vacant apartment and told us it
needed to be cleaned up). We thought it was going to take a while longer
than the hour it took, so we were happy about it.
Tuesday, May 8th, 2018:
It was a slow morning. We did a lot of biking and
contacting, but no lessons.
Elder Vandehei and Elder Flaminiano pal around a lot–
they’ll get close to each other on their bikes, or they’ll push each other a
little at doorsteps. I talked to them about it. President Hillier addressed
something similar at zone conference; people have cameras on their doorstep and
sometimes catch missionaries saying bad things, being silly, talking about the
people (reviewing contact plans), etc. He advised us to be careful, as this has
been a common issue, sometimes serious in nature, in many countries.
Dawnette called to set up lessons! We had dropped her a few
weeks ago because they were not following through. Hunter (one of her boys)
kept asking her if we could come back over, so she agreed.
There’s a safe-housing community in our area. Everyone there
is trying to get on their feet; most residents are abused mothers with their
kids. It feels very peaceful there. We go there often – it’s in Elder
Flaminiano’s area – as a few of the families want us to visit. To respect their
privacy, I’m not going to mention anyone’s names in association with it.
We finished day with a meeting with the Union park stake 5th
ward mission leader.
Wednesday, May 9th, 2018:
MLT – Mission Leadership Training – was basically another
zone conference, but for the all of the district leaders, zone leaders, and
sister training leaders, and assistants [DLs, ZLs, STLs, and APs] for the whole
mission. I realized I need to shape up on our morning schedule. Also, the
principles of gospel leadership may be one of the most interesting subject
areas for me to study.
We did splits, and I was joined by Brad, a convert from
Judaism. We had a lesson with Arash and Marzi, who wanted to know more about the
history of Christianity. Brad gave them a crash course. As a side note, I don’t
know how to introduce people to church history, as it’s a minefield. If they
researched on their own, one wrong turn could lead to a biased article. So many
people like to attack the church from that angle.
Brad took me out to Itto’s for lunch. Elder Vandehei and
Elder Flaminiano, who also taught a lesson, only met me after that.
My throat is starting to get sore. Over the week, it would
get bad, but got better a little before zone conference on Tuesday. I never was
at a point where we stayed in, but there were times where I had to let Elders
Vandehei and Flaminiano do most of the talking.
We had two lessons in the safe-housing community.
Thursday, May 10th, 2018:
We met a mother helping her daughter and son-in-law move
into an apartment in Royal Ridge. It’s a multiple-day process, so we gave them
our number. Today, however, we asked about the safe in the back of the mom’s
car; she told us it was a safe she hadn’t been able to open since she got it an
an antique store a year ago. 30 minutes later, we had the back of the safe
undone (all with a screwdriver). We found out it was a door to a safe, rather
than the safe itself. The mother was upset, but her friend (and everyone else,
including the mom) got a good laugh out of it.
Friday, May 11th, 2018:
We were scheduled to help move two families. Both postponed,
then one cancelled. We gave a blessing to the wife of the member who helped
Elder Hardt and I make slings a while back. He had us over for lunch after the
blessing.
We had our district meeting today. With zone meeting
being last week and zone conference being next week, I had mixed up the
schedule and didn't realize I needed to prepare until yesterday. I already
had some ideas in mind, however: Consecration; Purpose; Changing attitudes. I
was able to find time to prepare during studies, so things worked out. We
also discussed VGP [Vision, Goal, Plan]. The VGP for this month and last month
has been to invite someone to be baptized every day. The district hasn’t been sticking
with the VGP very consistently, so we all talked about it. We discussed the
vision the zone leaders had in asking us to do that. One in the district
companionship misunderstood the VGP, which had caused them a little trouble.
Everything worked out well.
We had one lesson with Hunter and Daegon, then another
lesson with Jeremy and Vanessa. We then planned the baptismal program for Rick
in the Midvale stake.
Saturday, May 12th, 2018:
Rick was baptized today. His wife and kids already were
members. I was only able to be with Rick for a short time during his conversion
process since he was in Elder Flaminiano’s area, but I know he really desires
to have the gift and guidance of the Holy Ghost. He’s going through a tough
time with his family right now, yet he stayed determined to follow what he
knows to be true. His baptismal service was touching, as his kids sang a
musical number. The mother told us afterwards that they were wonderful when
they practiced earlier, but their actual performance became the mother singing
softly behind their three uncertain children. It was very cute.
The people we helped move in Royal Ridge also took us out to
Itto’s. They insisted. Twist my arm.
We met an Iranian guy this evening. From him, I realized why
Omer once talked to us about how the world shouldn’t label themselves with
religions. Even though Omer converted to the church (and is from a different
country), the Iranian guy shared a displeasure and exhaustion with conflict
arising from religious differences. In this man’s case, it was enough for him
to not want to even talk about the church.
Sunday, May 13th, 2018:
Mother's Day. I spoke with my mom in the afternoon, while
she was in the emergency room. My companions spoke with their families in the
evening, so I wrote a letter to my mom.
Monday, May 14th, 2018:
Our p-day was moved to Thursday. We helped Eddy and Jennifer
paint their house. They were going to have to move as the landlady was selling
her house. Something changed, so they will move into the upstairs and help
refresh the house instead. He’s a world-class chef, by the way. We also helped
a member family move in the Midvale stake.
It rained in the evening. It was nice, as I’ve missed
falling asleep to the sound of thunder and rain on the roof.
Tuesday, May 15th, 2018:
Zone conference was focused on being more worthy as a
mission. President Hillier felt we needed to repent and improve. The Spirit
interrupted a moment of self-congratulating to show him everything that the
missionaries in the mission needed to repent of. One other topic they discussed
was ward and stake focus. We’re going to change around a few things in our
area, specifically coordinating where we go on Sundays with the high councilors
over missionary work. In addition, I performed a musical number, Be Still My
Soul. I guess I can sing somewhat, so I volunteered a month or so ago.
We played Korean kickball tonight. It’s like volleyball, but
with soccer (same ball, same no-hands rules). The ball can bounce once in each
pass between teammates before sending it over. I’ve learned only a little bit
of Korean so far. I’m just trying to learn enough to say “Hi, we’re
missionaries, could we come back with someone who could translate?” That was
about all the useful stuff I learned in the Chinese ward for Chinese, outside
of gospel words.
Wednesday, May 16th, 2018:
We missed a lesson with one family for the second time, so
they dropped us. I kicked myself for that. Another family cancelled on us. We
met with Michael again. He’s doing well.
Thursday, May 17th, 2018:
Our preparation day was today. We went to the temple; for the
first time ever, I took family names I printed off myself. I found them through
family search. I didn’t feel much different, unfortunately, but I’m still happy
to “dip my toe in the water.” A lot of people gave us money today.
We went on splits in the evening to cover two lessons at
once. The one I went to was with MJ and Mike. I realized, earlier in studies,
that repentance involves the restitution of sin. Thus, MJ and Mike would not be
fully repentant just by getting married; there must also be some degree of
suffering or sorrow involved as they become sincerely penitent. The lesson was
very direct, yet it wasn’t traditionally bold. The member who came with me,
Tanner, noted how clear it was that I loved them. We had a short lesson with
Hunter later on.
Friday, May 18th, 2018:
I sorted out my study journal during personal study. We met
with the UP 1st WML, then helped Eddy and Jennifer by taping off some rooms’
baseboards and painting a little. We had lunch with Elders Coker and Evans in
our district at Zaxby’s. We’re trying to sort out exchanges, but before we
schedule them I want to learn what they are looking to gain from it. We had
dinner with the SLC South mission’s executive secretary.
Andrew, an investigator in the Midvale stake baptized in
February, was a no-show at soccer. He hasn’t been confirmed yet; we don’t know
why he was interested. Elder Flaminiano was only in the area for two weeks
before his companion went home, so he’s learning about his stake as we go.
Companionship inventory at the end of the day – we needed to
talk. Elder Flaminiano and I haven’t been getting along perfectly; we haven’t
argued, but there was some tension between us.
Saturday, May 19th, 2018:
Weekly planning was today, as we forgot with our preparation
day being on Thursday. I felt that we weren’t in unity. As it turns out, my
companions felt that I wasn’t on the same page because they thought that I hadn’t
been involving myself in the area as much as they were. We talked about it, and
I realized that I can improve. Repenting about things with missionary work is
similar to repenting about things in general. It feels good to face what’s
troubling me and make changes, even though it can be hard.
When we contacted people today, only 1 of 10 families were
home.
Sunday, May 20th, 2018:
We went to the Jordan River Temple rededication. We went to
the first session. It was good. Missionaries were asked to attend only one
session to keep seats free for other members to attend. On Saturday, all of the
Salt Lake City missions sent all their elders to the temple to help clean up
the chairs and move furniture into place, which took from 4:00 to 9:00. We had
mini-devotionals during it; 1000 (or so) elders makes a strong men’s choir.
Arash and Marzi have progressed a lot. Marzi wrote a letter
to God as she prayed, trying to figure out what was true. She felt the answer
from God that this was the right path. They asked us what they needed to do to
join the church and what timeframe they could expect/plan on for their
baptisms. I had to fight to contain myself in that lesson. I’ve written a few
times before about how at times I don’t feel the joy of this work, but when we
sat there and listened to how excited Arash and Marzi were to have learned more
about God, and have Him answer their prayers, I was ready to squeal with joy.
It felt good. I want to do that more often.
No comments:
Post a Comment