Week 102: nearing the end

Week 102:

This is probably going to be a recurring theme for the last three weeks of my mission, but I spent a good portion of my emailing time sorting out things for college or otherwise emailing people.  I'll try to provide a quick recap of my week.

Monday, June 11th, 2018:

I found the missing part to my bike lock!  It was in the car of the senior missionary over housing.

Tuesday, June 12th, 2018:

I took time to write in greater detail for this day's journal.  I yearned to capture a day with more detail than I've been able to lately.  But as I only have 30 minutes to email and this is well-recorded, I'm going to try to get to my less-summarized days down first.

Wednesday, June 13th, 2018:

After an unexpectedly long and detailed week of my plan, the zone leaders joined us for companionship study, then we fed them lunch.

We had a lesson with Michael again.  This time, we answered his question about R-rated movies.  In the discussion, he mentioned how he might want to go into being a director for movies.  The discussion was two parts, one on how important it is to realize the difference between what society thinks is okay and what God has defined as okay. The other part of the discussion was on art and if portraying violence was necessary for deep character development in movies.  I probably talked too long during the first part, but we didn't notice how time went so quickly.

All of our other lessons cancelled.  Mark, Marie, and Isis. Isis told us she didn't want to meet with us yet because she still wanted time to be a kid.  She was packed with activities during school; with summer just getting started, I think our discussing the covenant and responsibilities of baptism scared her off.  We're still hoping to talk to her to assure her that she can most definitely still be a kid and be a member of the church.

Thursday, June 14th, 2018:

We got through half of the planning for the next week. Time was too short to get to all of it, but the things we did get to went well. Busy days ahead for Friday and Saturday. I have noticed that I will sometimes want to not yield to Elder Vandehei's ideas; if it doesn't make sense in my train of thought, I don't think it's a good idea [which is normal for everyone, I suppose].

We had four lessons and a baptismal interview scheduled for today, but they all cancelled.  Boston, a guy we met outside; Patricia; Mason and Alexandra; and Megan's interview for Sisters Coleman and Olvera.

It's noteworthy that Mason and Alexandra [a referral we contacted yesterday and set an appointment with today] is the third family to drop us this week.  Lola, who we met in Royal Ridge, texted us saying something came up and she completely forgot the appointment; but also, that she changed her mind and asked us to remove her address from our books.  Isis (noted above).  Mason and Alexandra, who we didn't actually meet; both setting the appointment and him later telling us he didn't want Mormons around were done through his brother talking to us in person and calling him on the phone. Megan's mom didn't think she was ready to be baptized.  The sisters tried to talk to her, but stopped when they sensed that she was only getting annoyed.  The day's events were a significant investment of time and emotions for them.

Friday, June 15th, 2018:

Mission tour.  Elder Taylor of the Seventy talked about a "yes" list of people who we should focus on when trying to find people to teach.  Really, it is mostly comprised of people we already know to try, but it's in a more organized manner and with some principles (like following up) incorporated in. We talked to many people on the streets today; I felt pretty motivated.

SLC East Mission with Elder Taylor. I'm on the front row, third from the left.

Hunter is learning well with a collection of gospel art paintings and their descriptions.

Saturday, June 16th, 2018:

Out of time, sorry!

Sunday, June 17th, 2018:

Stake conference for the Union Park stake

Sisters Mendoza and Stephens are trying to sort things out with one investigator, Alexander.  He was supposed to be interviewed today.  They got deeper into things with his parents, which is good. For a time, it had looked like they were going to drop the sisters.