The Book of Elder Christensen
A record of Elder Christensen and his dealings with the people of New York.
Chapter 8
1. And it came to pass that 97 days had passed since Elder Christensen had left the land of Utah.
2. And it also came to pass that Elder Russon did enter into the land of Cheektowaga. He did take up spiritual arms with Elder Christensen.
3. They did go out into the land of Cheektowaga and did preach the Gospel unto as many as would hear their words. For the people of Cheektowaga did dwindle in unbelief. For it had been many months and the people of Cheektowaga did not soften their hearts to the Gospel.
4. Elder Russon did bring much faith and good works to the land of Cheektowaga. For the two Elders did prosper exceedingly because of the tender mercies of the Lord. For he did surely put them together for the keeping of the sanity of Elder Christensen. For He knoweth that Elder Christensen would rejoice exceedingly at the works of Elder Russon.
5. And they did not dwell in a tent.
Anyway,
Elder Russon is fantastic!!!!! "Oh sugar plumb pie and all plumb pudding!" (Sister Lawrence) He is a good one! Very willing to just go out there and work. We had to walk because it was raining to the City Hall to get another portable map copy and to also try and find some good service opportunities. Sadly this was just shy of halfway to the other side of our area. It was a little bit of a walk! A little over an hour one way. So we are nervous about the winter months and how we will plan these days where we will have to walk all the way to the other side to visit our people. No worries though.
Transfers were nice and simple. Everything went over pretty smoothly.
We helped the Baker's (Senior Couple) with their little dinner activity that they planned for all part member married couples. As a get to know each other and just be like friendly and what not. It actually turned out pretty well. We were the servers but also ate food and socialized a little. It seemed to help a little. Hopefully that got people a little more interested in knowing others of our Faith. Just some good ol' fellowshipping.
With Elder Russon and the no limitations on what we do because he is down to do whatever, we are finding a ton more work to do. We are also getting into more doors. So that is pretty fantastic! We've been go go go go go go since he got here. It's nice! It's tiring. But it's nice! I can tell that my time with him in Cheektowaga is just going to FLY by.
So I think Elder Russon's uncle happened to be Dad's boss back in the day. We were talking and I mentioned that Dad worked for a company that made video games that went under. He mentioned that his uncle part owned a company and he got to test PS1 games like Jet Motto. I then told him my dad helped make that game.... SO ya... If you know a Mike Bartholomew then.. yep! It's definitely a small world! Plus Elder Russon lived like oh... down the street from the P.G. house on the American Fork border. He went to American Fork and lived there all is life. He is also another football player but very humble about it and not really in your face. He is going back to school to UVU when he gets home in about 15 months.
Sunday, the other two elders had a baptism. 88 year old. Never too late. That is for sure! It was a good baptism and he was a little late! haha It was funny mostly because I didn't have to stress I just kind of waited and set up chairs. Elder Houskeeper was on the edge of a heart attack or so it seemed.
Everything is going pretty great! Except I washed that nice blanket Grandma bought me a week or so ago. Worst mistake of my young life. It has been shedding ever since. So after a couple of washes, a lint roller, packing tape and everything else I could figure to do, it has been banished to the top shelf of our closet. My clothes still have little pieces on them. It's everywhere. So I had to go to target and buy this comforter thingy for my bed. It's pretty nice. It keeps me warm enough now that we have kind of figured out the heater in the apartment. It doesn't really like to work. So we have to put the normal hours down to like 59 degrees and then like 6:00am right before we wake up it goes up to 64 degrees so we don't freeze to death. We were still doing what we were doing with the air conditioning which was just keep it off and turn it on when we need to. But we were waking up to a 52 degree apartment and that was just a little too chilly for me. So we figured it out.
Not much else to report. Still trying to work hard and I have a real solid companion that is excited to help me turn this area around. This is his 4th area which is a LOT for only 9 months out. So he has some good ideas and he also was in a Spanish area for a little bit. So we are messing around with some spanish words all the time. It's fun.
With my extreme awesomeness (And lack of humility) with online Shopping, I love Old Navy. I have gathered a solid amount of sweaters and stuff that I can wear over my white shirts for a fraction of the cost by balancing sales and promo codes. I was quite satisfied with my thriftiness.
Hope all is well! Staying dry and warm. Or at least trying to.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Transfers - New Companion
This last week is kind of a weird week.
Basically we are working everyday and don't really have any free time. But when you look back on it. Nothing happened. So ya... It's not much to visibly report on!
Transfer calls were last night. Elder Houskeeper and Buxton are staying in Lancaster. Which is good that Houskeeper is staying. It'll be interesting as that is almost a guarantee that Elder Houskeeper will leave next transfer and Buxton will take over. Which is fine if Elder Buxton kicks it into gear this next transfer and gets the area down. He still is a little oblivious to that. He is a good guy though and knows all the answers to doctrine/scripture.
I have a new companion as of tomorrow. Elder Russon. I am told that he is a nice guy and kind of quiet. So ya... We'll see where this goes! I'm a little nervous as I really really really need a really good companion to kick this area into gear. Even though tracting is completely WASTE of time nowadays and especially in the NY Rochester Mission, I am planning on getting another copy of the area of Cheektowaga and we will just tract ever last door in the area in the next 3 months as we don't have the members in the areas to give us referrals or anything. We are just kind of stuck at the Finding Stage in Cheektowaga and I need a companion that wont get discouraged by Finding day in and day out.
Lancaster Ward is doing great though! We are averaging over 100 people at church every week. Which is pretty great because 6 months ago they were getting like 50 each week. So definitely improvement in the ward. The month of October they were way way nice to us and we had meals about 5 times a week! It was soooo nice! I feel like I ate pretty good this month. Even if half of it was venison. Which I don't mind at all!
I keep getting yelled at in Ward Choir. I am seriously trying so hard to pay attention and do well. As the Bishop has assigned the missionaries to attend ward choir because no one else was... I switched from tenor to bass yesterday because the bass didn't move as many notes and I figured it'd be easier for me to stay closer to on key if the notes are going all over the place. But I got yelled at because I switched (even though there were like 5 tenors and 3 bass). And the week before I got yelled at because I just barely found out how to figure out by looking on the actual music sheet for when the guys sing and when it is just the ladies. I usually just listened to the people around me. The whole Ward Choir situation is pretty funny as usually I just get laughed at when I try to sing and now they are wanting me to sing. She has gotten used to the fact that I am not actually intentionally singing off note though. She used to get mad at me for swinging off note and I didn't know I was! haha Oh the troubles of having the music talent of a stick.
Our Zone Leader got bumped up to AP this transfer. It's pretty sweet. It's like I know a celebrity. I knew Elder Rawe before he was an AP. I'm so hipster.
I'm slowly getting molded into a cookie cutter missionary. But not quite yet. Still got some fight in me! (Just kidding, just kidding. Cookie Cutter missionary isn't bad!) Luckily I am done with 12 week (training) and I don't have to train! yay! I don't think President trusted me with training. I flew under the radar for that one. ha!
All is well. Lots of challenges out here but I'm working my way through them. I jacked up my knee somehow. It felt like some internal bruise. It was right on my knee cap but I couldn't see the bruise. It killed to walk around Saturday and Sunday but today it is starting to feel better. Good thing it was just a bruise or something! I'd like to keep all my limbs.
Basically we are working everyday and don't really have any free time. But when you look back on it. Nothing happened. So ya... It's not much to visibly report on!
Transfer calls were last night. Elder Houskeeper and Buxton are staying in Lancaster. Which is good that Houskeeper is staying. It'll be interesting as that is almost a guarantee that Elder Houskeeper will leave next transfer and Buxton will take over. Which is fine if Elder Buxton kicks it into gear this next transfer and gets the area down. He still is a little oblivious to that. He is a good guy though and knows all the answers to doctrine/scripture.
I have a new companion as of tomorrow. Elder Russon. I am told that he is a nice guy and kind of quiet. So ya... We'll see where this goes! I'm a little nervous as I really really really need a really good companion to kick this area into gear. Even though tracting is completely WASTE of time nowadays and especially in the NY Rochester Mission, I am planning on getting another copy of the area of Cheektowaga and we will just tract ever last door in the area in the next 3 months as we don't have the members in the areas to give us referrals or anything. We are just kind of stuck at the Finding Stage in Cheektowaga and I need a companion that wont get discouraged by Finding day in and day out.
Lancaster Ward is doing great though! We are averaging over 100 people at church every week. Which is pretty great because 6 months ago they were getting like 50 each week. So definitely improvement in the ward. The month of October they were way way nice to us and we had meals about 5 times a week! It was soooo nice! I feel like I ate pretty good this month. Even if half of it was venison. Which I don't mind at all!
I keep getting yelled at in Ward Choir. I am seriously trying so hard to pay attention and do well. As the Bishop has assigned the missionaries to attend ward choir because no one else was... I switched from tenor to bass yesterday because the bass didn't move as many notes and I figured it'd be easier for me to stay closer to on key if the notes are going all over the place. But I got yelled at because I switched (even though there were like 5 tenors and 3 bass). And the week before I got yelled at because I just barely found out how to figure out by looking on the actual music sheet for when the guys sing and when it is just the ladies. I usually just listened to the people around me. The whole Ward Choir situation is pretty funny as usually I just get laughed at when I try to sing and now they are wanting me to sing. She has gotten used to the fact that I am not actually intentionally singing off note though. She used to get mad at me for swinging off note and I didn't know I was! haha Oh the troubles of having the music talent of a stick.
Our Zone Leader got bumped up to AP this transfer. It's pretty sweet. It's like I know a celebrity. I knew Elder Rawe before he was an AP. I'm so hipster.
I'm slowly getting molded into a cookie cutter missionary. But not quite yet. Still got some fight in me! (Just kidding, just kidding. Cookie Cutter missionary isn't bad!) Luckily I am done with 12 week (training) and I don't have to train! yay! I don't think President trusted me with training. I flew under the radar for that one. ha!
All is well. Lots of challenges out here but I'm working my way through them. I jacked up my knee somehow. It felt like some internal bruise. It was right on my knee cap but I couldn't see the bruise. It killed to walk around Saturday and Sunday but today it is starting to feel better. Good thing it was just a bruise or something! I'd like to keep all my limbs.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tis the Season of Hunting
Another week has past. This week we were unable to write home on Monday because of Columbus Day Holiday. So it's a week plus a day!
Where to start... Okay... Well we were out and about trying to find more people a bunch this week and trying to find more people to serve in a way to get a recognition of LDS missionaries are in the area. We have given our names and numbers to the American Cross as volunteers but have not heard back from them yet. I'm kind of happy kind of disappointed about that. I'm not sure how well I would do even just handing out treats at the place that people donate blood... BUT I would love the service opportunity.
We did exchanges (twice) this week! Which was nice because it is just a nice relief to mix up who you are constantly around. So that was a huge benefit. PLUS I went into the Lancaster area so we were pretty busy going from appointment to appointment! I got to sit down with their 89 year old man that has a baptism date set and are working towards that! Should happen within the next two weeks. Got to assist in the blessing of a elderly lady who is quitting smoking and looking to come back to the church has her grandchildren are starting to show interest in the church. The grandchildren are nonmembers but the kids of the lady are members. Spouses are not. So hopefully she will continue to kick the habit and be able to come closer to the church! She finds comfort in reading the BoM.
Sadly we weren't able to do a whole lot in this week because of work that the ward needed and because of driving issues. When we had meetings all Thursday night we had to spend the day with Lancaster because they didn't have enough miles to come back and get us to drive back out there for the meetings. So we were still doing missionary work and service but it wasn't in our area. The miles limitation can be quite the pain sometimes. And we couldn't really bike 25 miles to our appointments that night. Well we could.. But not very practical!
We were able to eat Venison this week. That was quite the interesting experience. It is Hunting season out here! So our favorite elderly couple were feeding us as they do on a weekly basis and we grilled up some fresh deer meat. We also the other night helped our landlord skin, cut up and wrap up some of his catch of the week into the freezer. He shared the goods with the other two the other night but it was kind of late and I was exhausted so I valued my sleep over a late night venison snack.
We spent ALL Saturday moving people. We moved a lady in our ward a city over (Still in our ward.) But that morning of we also got a call of some non members moving into our area. After my extreme prodding of the other elders, I was able to drag my companion over to their house after we were done moving the lady in our ward into her new house. They were still moving into their apartment and were extremely grateful of our help because we quickly finished it up for them. Sadly it is a boyfriend/girlfriend living together situation as it always is BUT they are very interested in hearing our message so YAY for potential investigators! Woooooooooooooooo! It was quite exciting as Elder Lewis had fasted for some opportunity for new work to happen in the area two days before. (I would have joined him in the fast but I didn't know he was until halfway through.) So they could be very promising. She is Haitian and he is Nigerian. She moved here at 9 and him at 18. So very interesting pair! And they are actually working. He is a CNA and she is some medical assistant working towards her CNA.
Whoever gave the impression that P-days were some sort of day off was very much lying. Writing home is usually the only break you get. Then it's just shopping and cleaning and getting ready for the week. So this last P-day we weren't able to email home but we spent the day helping our landlord tile, I cleaned the apartment and then we shopped. Our P-day ends at 6pm but we had to end it at 5:15 to get to our 6pm appointment which was an AWESOME FHE with a part member family. I had quite the trouble trying to think of a good family home evening lesson that couldn't rely on technology and would keep the attention span of a 6 year old through a 16 year old at the same time. But it was great.
Today I got to go to Niagara Falls! Elder Houskeeper and I exchanged as Elder Buxton didn't want to go. One of their investigators wanted someone to go with him to his Root Canal up in Niagara Falls. He doesn't have really any friends or family so we figured it was the good thing to do. He then took us by the falls! Got a couple pictures that you'll see as I think I'm going to send the memory card home real soon here. It is sooo cool and I was just itching to have a real camera to play around with up there. It was a good day as we are having an extremely warm fall up here. Usually it's snowing by now. It was a fun day and Elder Houskeeper and I get along pretty well when it is a nice switch it up day.
That's all for this week. Quote of the week: "It is not possible for you to sink lower than the Infinite Light of Christ's Atonement shines."
Where to start... Okay... Well we were out and about trying to find more people a bunch this week and trying to find more people to serve in a way to get a recognition of LDS missionaries are in the area. We have given our names and numbers to the American Cross as volunteers but have not heard back from them yet. I'm kind of happy kind of disappointed about that. I'm not sure how well I would do even just handing out treats at the place that people donate blood... BUT I would love the service opportunity.
We did exchanges (twice) this week! Which was nice because it is just a nice relief to mix up who you are constantly around. So that was a huge benefit. PLUS I went into the Lancaster area so we were pretty busy going from appointment to appointment! I got to sit down with their 89 year old man that has a baptism date set and are working towards that! Should happen within the next two weeks. Got to assist in the blessing of a elderly lady who is quitting smoking and looking to come back to the church has her grandchildren are starting to show interest in the church. The grandchildren are nonmembers but the kids of the lady are members. Spouses are not. So hopefully she will continue to kick the habit and be able to come closer to the church! She finds comfort in reading the BoM.
Sadly we weren't able to do a whole lot in this week because of work that the ward needed and because of driving issues. When we had meetings all Thursday night we had to spend the day with Lancaster because they didn't have enough miles to come back and get us to drive back out there for the meetings. So we were still doing missionary work and service but it wasn't in our area. The miles limitation can be quite the pain sometimes. And we couldn't really bike 25 miles to our appointments that night. Well we could.. But not very practical!
We were able to eat Venison this week. That was quite the interesting experience. It is Hunting season out here! So our favorite elderly couple were feeding us as they do on a weekly basis and we grilled up some fresh deer meat. We also the other night helped our landlord skin, cut up and wrap up some of his catch of the week into the freezer. He shared the goods with the other two the other night but it was kind of late and I was exhausted so I valued my sleep over a late night venison snack.
We spent ALL Saturday moving people. We moved a lady in our ward a city over (Still in our ward.) But that morning of we also got a call of some non members moving into our area. After my extreme prodding of the other elders, I was able to drag my companion over to their house after we were done moving the lady in our ward into her new house. They were still moving into their apartment and were extremely grateful of our help because we quickly finished it up for them. Sadly it is a boyfriend/girlfriend living together situation as it always is BUT they are very interested in hearing our message so YAY for potential investigators! Woooooooooooooooo! It was quite exciting as Elder Lewis had fasted for some opportunity for new work to happen in the area two days before. (I would have joined him in the fast but I didn't know he was until halfway through.) So they could be very promising. She is Haitian and he is Nigerian. She moved here at 9 and him at 18. So very interesting pair! And they are actually working. He is a CNA and she is some medical assistant working towards her CNA.
Whoever gave the impression that P-days were some sort of day off was very much lying. Writing home is usually the only break you get. Then it's just shopping and cleaning and getting ready for the week. So this last P-day we weren't able to email home but we spent the day helping our landlord tile, I cleaned the apartment and then we shopped. Our P-day ends at 6pm but we had to end it at 5:15 to get to our 6pm appointment which was an AWESOME FHE with a part member family. I had quite the trouble trying to think of a good family home evening lesson that couldn't rely on technology and would keep the attention span of a 6 year old through a 16 year old at the same time. But it was great.
Today I got to go to Niagara Falls! Elder Houskeeper and I exchanged as Elder Buxton didn't want to go. One of their investigators wanted someone to go with him to his Root Canal up in Niagara Falls. He doesn't have really any friends or family so we figured it was the good thing to do. He then took us by the falls! Got a couple pictures that you'll see as I think I'm going to send the memory card home real soon here. It is sooo cool and I was just itching to have a real camera to play around with up there. It was a good day as we are having an extremely warm fall up here. Usually it's snowing by now. It was a fun day and Elder Houskeeper and I get along pretty well when it is a nice switch it up day.
That's all for this week. Quote of the week: "It is not possible for you to sink lower than the Infinite Light of Christ's Atonement shines."
Monday, October 7, 2013
Two Week Update
LAST WEEK
It's been an interesting week. I think the most entertaining/notable part of the week happened last Thursday. Elder Lewis and Elder Houskeeper were full of testosterone and were just messing around. I was in the kitchen and they are just kind of bumping into each other. Nothing overly physical. All of the sudden I hear a "Crack!" I just chuckle and go around the corner thinking that they had bumped against the door and it had splintered some of the wood inside of it (With no visible damage). That is what it sounded like. As I turn around the corner, I get the entertaining sight of the two of them staring at the wall which is now housing a hole that measured out to be 42 inches tall and 22 inches wide. The dry wall had completely buckled under the slight pressure. Oddly enough there was a lack of a stud/beam/whatever it's called in that spot probably due to cheap construction and that the wall was part of the closet. Either way, I got to sit there and laugh as they freaked out about it and called our landlord. Luckily for them, he was pretty chill about it and was just glad they told him / willing to help pay and fix it.
Another fun event of the week was our local "Prophetess" Less Active. Who is now coming back to church. She has calmed down on telling everyone about random visions she decides to have. But this week she called us up and had us come over to tell us about a whole conspiracy with the women in the ward and how she was quite offended over a lady (nicest lady in our ward) who didn't allow her to participate as much as she wanted to in class or something? The story changed and got more elaborate the more she talked about it.
I got a pretty sweet shirt from the Flea market that says "Add Jesus" and has the "Adidas" logo above it. (Play off words. Say it out loud and you'll get it.)
Surviving out here. The leaves are changing. Winter is coming. Where the people of New York apparently just hibernate more or less. Which slows down missionary work. But gives us the opportunity to serve people by shoveling their walks with the endless snow that supposedly I will be able to enjoy this year. We'll see. Storms have dropped ft upon ft of snow here before. I guess some storms have dropped up to over 100 inches of snow or something like that. Where you just tunnel out. We'll see how that goes.
Hit my 2 month mark yesterday in New York. It's definitely a whole other society out here. Everywhere minimum wage is hiring but to work there is to get less money that if you just collect welfare/unemployment or whatever. But that doesn't stop me from being offered Jobs at stores because I look like I work there. The problems of walking around in a tie constantly.
THIS WEEK
Interesting week this week. As far as the goals/numbers/key indicators, we didn't have a hugely successful week. Not really at all. Through a variety of different reasons.
One was that we had interviews with the Mission President one day. That was really... Interesting... We had to teach the third lesson to the APs as a Roleplay situation also. It was kind of awkward and hard because I haven't actually ever taught that lesson as we haven't really had an investigator get that far. But they said we did a good job so I guess that's good! The interview with the Mission President was really short and awkward. He just went through the basic "This is a Baptizing and Converting mission where miracles happen on a Daily Basis" Which is good and all. He shared a scripture or two. Asked me if I was worthy. Asked how everything was going. Really really awkward because I don't know know him or anything... So It's like umm ya.. and he has 240 interviews to do so I didn't want to drag out his time especially since he was over already. Sadly, he denied my request to get "The Infinite Atonement" Book by Tad R. Callister as something to increase my knowledge on the Atonement. Saw that one coming though. It isn't part of the Missionary Gospel Library. Oh well. Saves me a buck or two. haha
Then he gave me like this really really long hug (like 20 seconds+) and was like "I love you." On a scale of 1 to awkward I was definitely feeling like it was over 9,000. Once again, I am starting to realize that I'm not a touchy person. Add the fact he is a foot taller than me... It was just awkward on every level. He is nice though. Don't get me wrong hahaha
Sadly I think we are starting to lose our one investigator, Joe. We'll see. He just keeps trying to cancel appointments and doesn't seem to really be progressing. So hopefully we can get in there and get him feeling the Spirit. We invited him to Conference but he didn't show up.
General Conference is better than Christmas to missionaries out here. It was pretty awesome! Sadly I can't soak all that all up and retain it that easily so I will have to reread and rewatch when I can. But I loved it and lots of good stuff that hopefully will be able to help me out.
We had dinner at the Baker's (The Senior Couple missionaries) between sessions of conference on Sunday and finished the PM session there. We watched all the Conference sessions besides that one in the chapel at our meetinghouse. It was interesting. Most just watched it at home so it was only like 10 of us in there at any given time.
The work is going. Elder Baker seems very determined to take this Ward and get it to a high enough level of attendance that they can turn the building into a Stake center. Which requires about 80 more people at attendance every week for a couple months or something. We are currently averaging a high 100 people per Sacrament. So his gun ho is nice. He is a little bit overbearing at times but it's nice to have the senior couple.
It was an eventful week. We also got a chance to visit a less active that hadn't been visited in like 6 months. It was nice. People are just mad and unhappy out here.
It's been an interesting week. I think the most entertaining/notable part of the week happened last Thursday. Elder Lewis and Elder Houskeeper were full of testosterone and were just messing around. I was in the kitchen and they are just kind of bumping into each other. Nothing overly physical. All of the sudden I hear a "Crack!" I just chuckle and go around the corner thinking that they had bumped against the door and it had splintered some of the wood inside of it (With no visible damage). That is what it sounded like. As I turn around the corner, I get the entertaining sight of the two of them staring at the wall which is now housing a hole that measured out to be 42 inches tall and 22 inches wide. The dry wall had completely buckled under the slight pressure. Oddly enough there was a lack of a stud/beam/whatever it's called in that spot probably due to cheap construction and that the wall was part of the closet. Either way, I got to sit there and laugh as they freaked out about it and called our landlord. Luckily for them, he was pretty chill about it and was just glad they told him / willing to help pay and fix it.
Another fun event of the week was our local "Prophetess" Less Active. Who is now coming back to church. She has calmed down on telling everyone about random visions she decides to have. But this week she called us up and had us come over to tell us about a whole conspiracy with the women in the ward and how she was quite offended over a lady (nicest lady in our ward) who didn't allow her to participate as much as she wanted to in class or something? The story changed and got more elaborate the more she talked about it.
I got a pretty sweet shirt from the Flea market that says "Add Jesus" and has the "Adidas" logo above it. (Play off words. Say it out loud and you'll get it.)
Surviving out here. The leaves are changing. Winter is coming. Where the people of New York apparently just hibernate more or less. Which slows down missionary work. But gives us the opportunity to serve people by shoveling their walks with the endless snow that supposedly I will be able to enjoy this year. We'll see. Storms have dropped ft upon ft of snow here before. I guess some storms have dropped up to over 100 inches of snow or something like that. Where you just tunnel out. We'll see how that goes.
Hit my 2 month mark yesterday in New York. It's definitely a whole other society out here. Everywhere minimum wage is hiring but to work there is to get less money that if you just collect welfare/unemployment or whatever. But that doesn't stop me from being offered Jobs at stores because I look like I work there. The problems of walking around in a tie constantly.
THIS WEEK
Interesting week this week. As far as the goals/numbers/key indicators, we didn't have a hugely successful week. Not really at all. Through a variety of different reasons.
One was that we had interviews with the Mission President one day. That was really... Interesting... We had to teach the third lesson to the APs as a Roleplay situation also. It was kind of awkward and hard because I haven't actually ever taught that lesson as we haven't really had an investigator get that far. But they said we did a good job so I guess that's good! The interview with the Mission President was really short and awkward. He just went through the basic "This is a Baptizing and Converting mission where miracles happen on a Daily Basis" Which is good and all. He shared a scripture or two. Asked me if I was worthy. Asked how everything was going. Really really awkward because I don't know know him or anything... So It's like umm ya.. and he has 240 interviews to do so I didn't want to drag out his time especially since he was over already. Sadly, he denied my request to get "The Infinite Atonement" Book by Tad R. Callister as something to increase my knowledge on the Atonement. Saw that one coming though. It isn't part of the Missionary Gospel Library. Oh well. Saves me a buck or two. haha
Then he gave me like this really really long hug (like 20 seconds+) and was like "I love you." On a scale of 1 to awkward I was definitely feeling like it was over 9,000. Once again, I am starting to realize that I'm not a touchy person. Add the fact he is a foot taller than me... It was just awkward on every level. He is nice though. Don't get me wrong hahaha
Sadly I think we are starting to lose our one investigator, Joe. We'll see. He just keeps trying to cancel appointments and doesn't seem to really be progressing. So hopefully we can get in there and get him feeling the Spirit. We invited him to Conference but he didn't show up.
General Conference is better than Christmas to missionaries out here. It was pretty awesome! Sadly I can't soak all that all up and retain it that easily so I will have to reread and rewatch when I can. But I loved it and lots of good stuff that hopefully will be able to help me out.
We had dinner at the Baker's (The Senior Couple missionaries) between sessions of conference on Sunday and finished the PM session there. We watched all the Conference sessions besides that one in the chapel at our meetinghouse. It was interesting. Most just watched it at home so it was only like 10 of us in there at any given time.
The work is going. Elder Baker seems very determined to take this Ward and get it to a high enough level of attendance that they can turn the building into a Stake center. Which requires about 80 more people at attendance every week for a couple months or something. We are currently averaging a high 100 people per Sacrament. So his gun ho is nice. He is a little bit overbearing at times but it's nice to have the senior couple.
It was an eventful week. We also got a chance to visit a less active that hadn't been visited in like 6 months. It was nice. People are just mad and unhappy out here.
Keep praying for me for patience. It's helping. I'm starting to learn patience more. It's fun stuff.
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