Week 104 - a great baptism

Monday, June 25th, 2018:

We had a good start to our p-day today. We used our weekly planning to figure out who most needed our help. We then got everything done we needed to, like cleaning, laundry, emailing, and so on. My emailing time is consistently being taken up with college planning and other after-mission things.

We went to Ross Stores, because Elder Vandehei wanted to find shoes. I also bought two pairs of dress shoes, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep them. The pairs I currently have are pretty worn out, which is no surprise since it’s the end of my mission.

With p-day time still remaining, we played basketball at a local ward with the elders. We got home, showered, ate and got out for the evening. The main thing we did this evening was visit Mike. He walked up to us in the Southgate apartments while we were visiting someone else, and talked to us about how he thought the missionaries were good people. He invited us to visit him in his home, and told us his story. He’d served three years in prison, and while there learned to focus his spirituality. He asked for a blessing, which we freely gave. He’d like to develop a greater spiritual relationship with his girlfriend, but she has some abandonment issues. He said that she likely wouldn’t be willing to meeting with us.

Tuesday, June 26th, 2018:

This morning, I did the chapter of My Plan on dating and temple marriage. I’m excited to get married because of it …but I’ve never dated. It’s an odd feeling.

Another thing I sorted out this morning was the dorm I would stay at in college. I had been indecisive about it, but now I’m not so sure. We finished planning at noon.  We did companionship study at the chapel, contacted more people, had a lesson with Patricia cancel on us, then sat on a stair landing while talking to a boy named Tavie about the power of prayer.

We had dinner with a family I've visited two other times.  The dad isn't active.  I felt prompted to share and bear testimony about temples and the joy of being able to be sealed as an eternal couple/family (maybe because of my studying of My Plan).  We heard later in the week that he asked about attending temple preparation classes. I’ve got to believe that there was more to it than my being at a dinner appointment, but it’s a reminder to never ignore a prompting to speak about the gospel.

Mark texted asking for help in a pinch.  He needed to pawn something off and needed help loading it. However, his friend was already there helping out when we showed up with one of his neighbors.

We spent the rest of the night trying to find people to teach.  A few other planned events fell through.  At the end of the evening, we distributed some fliers for the fourth of July breakfast in our stake to some houses in our neighborhood.

Wednesday, June 27th, 2018:

I went on exchanges with Elder Shafer in our area today.  I wanted to work on meekness and relying on the Spirit.  The whole day passed in a blur; we had a few scheduled lessons, some of which cancelled. Our lesson with Michael went really well, however, once we pulled the conversation into spiritual things.  We covered the Restoration, as he didn't know it.  We were finally able to have a member of the ward join us. James, the member I've grown close to in the Union Park 1st ward, joined us for the evening.

Isis, a teen-aged girl we’ve been teaching, dropped us.  We talked to her about how she can be a member of the church and still be a kid and be a member of the church. She said that she likes spending time with her dad on Sundays.  She suggested that she would check the church out when she moves from her family (in six years).  She made it clear that she wasn’t planning on meeting with us again.

We saw Parker and his mom, Katie; they were just leaving their apartment when we showed up.  Katie said Parker could start taking the lessons again, but then she closed herself out of the loop by saying her and Julio's schedules didn't line up. She suggested we call Julio and set a time when he would be home, that way we'd have a third male.

Hunter passed his baptismal interview!  We were sure to be quick with him, given how he loses attention quickly.

Eddie's wife, Jennifer, told us about her concerns with the church.  She has a lot of friends who have been hurt by the perceived conflict between the LGBT community and the church. Theirs was was the last family we visited in the day; we got back to our apartment late because the conversation trailed on a bit.  On the upside, Jennifer has a good grasp on the layout of the whole issue and could even work through her feelings soon.

Thursday, June 28th, 2018:

We ended exchanges today. We did personal study before the other elders got here. The area book software was supposed to update at 10:00, so we didn't plan. We did companionship study, wrote the exchange report, and had lunch. The update to area book was good. The interface has changed very little in appearance; there's a new home screen or dashboard that helps to call various things to attention, such as unreported lessons, commitments we haven't followed up on, and how close we are to the week's key indicator goals. Weekly planning took much of day, aside from dinner and going to someone's house only to have them cancel on us. After the area book updated, we cleaned it up: reporting on commitments, removing people we didn't know from the "focus" list, flushing out teaching records for people we were/are working with, and sorting out tasks.

In writing the exchange report, Elder Shafer helped me identify a step I could take in developing meekness: listening.  "If I notice myself thinking when listening," he said, "I try to stop thinking and just listen."

Weekly planning went well.  We haven't sorted through our whole area in a thorough weekly planning for a while, so it was good to get everything squared today.

Friday, June 29th, 2018:

We went on the departing missionary temple trip today.  It was cool to see everyone who is going home with me.  Many of us asked about our old areas to others who served there after we did.  Everyone there was experienced in doing missionary work.  In the temple itself, there was a moment where I was able to ponder with more of an eternal perspective.  I won't go into details.  It wasn't in response to anything I sought answers to, so I don't really know why I had it.

We had our district meeting today. I had wanted to prepare for the district meeting on Wednesday, with exchanges didn’t have time. Thursday we worked on the new area book and did a comprehensive weekly planning.  I could have prepared earlier than when I did. That being said, the meeting went well. With planning as the topic in mind (ha ha ha), I discussed how, because planning is a process of revelation, we can learn God's will. Similarly, the numerical goals we set are important because we become committed to a goal if the spirit confirms it as God's will, even and especially if the people originally behind our goal choose otherwise.  Other topics were how time is precious and how planning is a skill that God uses. We also talked about how the recent conference talks on ministering can apply to missionaries internalizing our purpose, as both require looking beyond just the teaching materials/programs, finding methods, or other things already given in order to use time and opportunities to the highest potential.

The lesson with Kristi, Elaine, Joshua, and Jeremy was good, even though only Kristi participated (Elaine wasn't feeling well, Jeremy did not participate, and Joshua was not home). We asked about her religious background before sharing about the restoration of the gospel.  She already holds many beliefs in common, like personal revelation.  She seemed really open to it, but at the same time I couldn't tell how she felt -- it was like her body language wasn't working, so she only communicated with what she said.

Saturday, June 30th, 2018:

Hunter was baptized today!  He wasn't sure if he wanted to get baptized when he woke up, but we've been working with Hunter long enough to know that he really wanted to, and that’s what he decided.

We’ve been working with Hunter for a long time. We met him and his mom, Dawnette, when we tried to visit her neighbor, Afshin.  While we never got in contact with Afshin, Dawnette told us her kids had previously met some missionaries, but then contact had been lost. Initially, things didn't seem like they would go anywhere.  We had difficulty talking to her due to things like her losing her cell phone. But we were able to see her good qualities come through. She walked in snow and on ice to pick up her kids from school. She loves them; they seem almost like her everything. Not that she spoils them. With a committed (still not perfect) mother, we worked to help Hunter and his brother Daegon to learn more about the gospel.  It was sometimes difficult to get them them to pray or read the scriptures, but we found ways. They are active. They like to learn, but it takes effort to teach them. I’m glad we could. The baptismal service went well.  Arash and Marzieh (some other investigators) attended. There was a bit of squirreling around to get the font filled, as almost all of the people who had that responsibility were unavailable. We walked with Hunter, Daegon, and Dawnette to the service. Now that Daegon has seen his brother be baptized, he says that he but he wants to be baptized as well.  Hunter might be able to help us teach him.

In the evening, we went out with a priest named Jeremiah.  He was recently diagnosed with Asberger's syndrome.  He didn't have many questions about either Asberger's nor missionary work.

Angie was actually home!  Brother Sharp, the ME 1st WML, had felt she was prepared to be baptized, but then she went radio silent and no one could contact her. Tonight, however, she told us both her and her husband's schedule, her phone number, and set a return appointment.

We talked with Ty and Kai.  It was not an ideal conversation, but it's the start of the missionary lessons for Kai.

Sunday, July 1st, 2018:

Seeing the bread being broken and singing about the Savior’s sacrifice was a powerful moment for me. I saw a sister sit by another sister who had borne her testimony. The sister who spoke was barely understandable when she said, “my words cannot express how much Jesus loves us.” The other sister sat by her and let her weep on her shoulder. That is true ministering, I thought.

We then went to the UP 2nd ward council. There was a lot to talk about in the that ward.

We then met another investigator and took him to church with us.  Hunter was confirmed in the same sacrament meeting. I sat next to Daegon in sacrament meeting. He wiggled around a lot.  He knew he should sit still for his mom to let him stay for primary, but he didn't anyway.  He told me that he wanted to be baptized July 7th, but he hasn’t been participating in the lessons enough. We will give him a more time to prepare.

Arash and Marzieh attended gospel principles. I saw how ready Arash and Marzieh were to grow in the gospel.  I realized I should write a letter of my own to supplement the letter they wrote of their commitments to gospel principles.

We then attended a the sacrament meeting in the 1st sacrament. I thought of a few different people as I fasted during the day.  One, of course, was my mom.

In the evening, we met with the UP 5th WML. He is very active in his calling.  They worked hard to get the most out of their ward's turn to have us over for dinner.

We got everything sorted out for Hunter's baptismal form to be submitted.

In the evening, we gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to a girl. We found it later by the fence by her house. She had defiled it, writing over some pages in sharpie. Not respectful at all.