On Wednesday, I got put with Elder
Y., who is from St. George. He's 100% Navajo Native-American, and he's
super chill! Oh yeah, and we have another companionship of Elders in the
district! AAAAH. It makes me so happy to be with normal Elders again. We got to
our apartment, got everything unloaded, and started the day. As we went and
visited people, I found that there are several people in the branch that are
relatives of people that I've served with in my previous areas! Not to mention
that there are a ton of missionaries that I've served with that are in our
zone! This whole week has been a big week of surprises and pretty improvised
everything. We went and taught a couple of active members, and got to know
them, one of which was the son of a family that I was with in Penasquitos. We
then went around the area, getting me familiarized with it, and set some
appointments with a couple of less-active members. We then turned in for the
night.
On Thursday, we got weekly planning
done, and I got brought up to speed by Elder Y. on our current
investigators, our members, and our less-actives. Turns out that our current
area used to be covered by two sets of Elders, but that one set had been moved
out at transfers, so we were covering two areas. We got out and went to Peach
St. to start contacting people that Elder Y. knew, and we were able to talk
with several people, English, Arabic, and Spanish alike. We were knocking on a
door when this little old man walks up the stairs with his bicycle. He says hi
to us in Spanish, and asks if we'd like to come into his apartment to talk with
him. His name is R., and as we walk in and start talking with him, he
proceeds to tell us that he knows several members, said he really likes the
church, and that has had the discussions from the missionaries before, but that
he can't come to church because he has to work all day every day to pay rent,
since he lives alone. We talked with him a bit about his life, and after a bit,
shared a message and set up a return appointment. We then went and contacted
some referrals, visited a few less-actives, and went to dinner with M. and
R., a couple of members in the other area. We walk in, and instantly, I
recognize M. I have no idea why, though, since I've never seen her before
in my life. Oh well, says I. We sit down and start talking, when M. tells me
that she's L. L.'s sister. Then the light clicked. THAT'S why she looked so
familiar. She cooked us some birria with frijoles and arroz, and it was
splendidly scrumptious. My mouth was watering pretty darn good as we sat there
waiting to eat.
Friday, we had district meeting, and I
forgot to tell y'all, I'm not a district leader any more. Elder Najera is the district leader. He talked
to us about faith and the principle of power in faith. We then went to visit
several less-actives, and were able to share some really good messages with all
of them. We went out contacting, and I started talking to this black lady on
the street. She had never really known much about Mormons, so Elder Y. and
I started to share some things about the restoration. As we talked, she had a
lot of questions that were really honest and good! By the end of it, she said
that she would read the Book of Mormon, and that the sister missionaries could
meet with her. Her name was S. That made me so happy
inside. We then visited R. again, and shared another message with him.
Turns out he wants to learn English so that he can move up in his job and get a
better pay with fewer hours to be able to come to church. So we set up an
agreement to come by and teach him English when we can. We said a prayer with
him that was really powerful, and right after we said amen, he started his own
prayer, thanking the Lord for sending us to visit him. It was a really awesome
visit. We then went and taught our currently progressing investigator L.
with the S. family, who are members. We sat down and started talking with
her, and she opened up to me pretty quickly. That means that I'm getting better
at talking to people, or she's just a naturally cheery person. My bet's on the
latter. BUT, we started out teaching her about the 10 commandments, the law of
tithing, and the law of the fast. It appears that she was formerly in a good
Christian church, because she already understood the concept of tithing
perfectly and had no problem with obeying it after baptism. I was quite
shocked. We usually have a good amount of resistance with that commandment. She
accepted the others just as willingly, and after a bit, told us a painful story
about her life. I won't go into detail, but I'll say that the words from the
Book of Mormon that we shared sure hit her right where she needed it. She seems
pretty darn solid. Right now we're working with her on getting a baptismal
date.
Saturday, we went to meet some members
of ours named M. and R. Both were raised in the church, and they're a
pretty young couple. M. is 23 and R. is 21. It's pretty weird to see
people that are just barely older than I am that have kids already. It's weird.
BUT, we started out just getting to know them, and randomly, M.'s dad, who
is our branch mission leader, walks in and asks us to come help him give a
blessing to a less-active member whose eyesight is failing because of diabetes.
We went and gave the blessing, and then went back to share a message with
M. and R. since we just upped and left to give the blessing. We then
walked way out into the other area to find some members, but they were busy, so
I chased down a paletero man and bought some ice cream. I got a chamoy freezer
bar, and let me tell you, Mexicans come up with some of the weirdest flavors.
Chamoy is one of those flavors that I can't quite get used to. I like it! But
it catches me off guard. We then went to the S.'s house again, since they
were throwing a party for their son, and ate with them and several other
members. We then went and tried to find a potential investigator family,
couldn't find them, and went to coordination. Our branch mission leader is a
bit flaky, from what it sounds like, because he hasn't been to any of the
coordination meetings for quite awhile. Luckily, there are faithful branch
missionaries that were there. (Fancy that! I feel like this branch is just one
big miracle in my mind!)
Sunday, we had to go to branch council
at 7:30 am since church starts at 9:00. We got in there around 7:35, and the
branch president chastised us for arriving late. I was quite surprised. This is
the first unit that I've served in where people have actually been punctual.
Huh! It was a really effective branch council, and several orders of business
were taken care of very quickly. The branch president then told me and Elder
N. that we'd probably be bearing our testimonies in sacrament meeting if
the speakers didn't take much time. I was cool with that. So we walked into the
chapel, and I ran into even more people that I already knew from my past areas!
One of which is this girl named T., whose family I visited a lot up in
Ramona. There were so many members in the sacrament meeting! I was blown away
by how many people there were! The meeting started, and I was asked to help
with the sacrament. The sacrament table was down in front of the pulpit, so
that was a new one for me, not to mention the fact that there were actually deacons
and teachers there to pass the sacrament! We finished up the sacrament, and sat
down. Then they gave me and Elder N. some time to give our testimonies
after the first speaker, who was Sister H., with whom I served in Poway. She
finished, Elder N. went up first, and then I went up. I bore my testimony
about Joseph Smith, (I don't really know why), and talked about his life, and
the many things that he did and suffered. I then connected it with my own life,
and then with the Savior. I sat down, and the meeting went on. Afterwards, we
went to the classes, and I had been asked earlier that morning to teach gospel
principles because the teacher wasn't able to make it. The class was on agency,
and there were so many people there! I was amazed! The class finished, and we
went to Elders Quorum, and had a fantastic lesson on Elder Bednar's conference
talk about his son, the ointment, and the band-aids in relation to the
atonement and missionary work. We filled the afternoon with studies, and got ready
to go out. We then had dinner with some members that live 18 miles away from
where we live, and the other Elders gave us a ride and ate with us. They're the
O. family, and they were a hoot! They're one of the most interesting families
I think I've met in my life. The food was good, the company was good, and the
spiritual message was good, too. We then came home for the night.
Yesterday, we got some Arabic
contacting phrases to help the Arabic Elders out with their work, and went to
what's called the "Old Ladies Luncheon", where a group of the elderly
made the missionaries lunch. They were so nice, and the food was fantastic.
There was even a tray of chicken wings! HA! They knew just what would make me
happy. It started raining all of a sudden, so we went and did mormon.org
time. We then went out and started our evening visiting a blind member and his
wife. After, we went and taught a 15-year old investigator girl the plan of
salvation. She seemed to like it quite a bit. We then went and set up some
appointments with more less-active members, and went to dinner with Hna.
G., a member in our area. We had U. C. come with us, who is a
recently returned missionary from Colombia. She also made us birria, but with a
different recipe. We talked a bit, and she said that my testimony in church was
spot on because of a missionary that had returned early from his mission, gone
less-active, and then renounced the church. She said that this guy started saying
that Joseph wasn't a prophet on his facebook profile and all sorts of other
anti things, and that many of the members had seen those things. So I guess
that's why I felt impressed to bear testimony about Joseph Smith. I'm really
glad that I was ready for that. Now I just have to make sure that I'm ready for
future things.
Well, that's just about all for this
week! Talk to you all next
week!
-Love, Elder Crook
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