Thursday, I was once again reunited
with Elder Y., and we started the day off with some weekly planning, and
went off into the day. We went about trying to find people at home that we
could teach, but unfortunately, almost nobody was at home. We finally had
dinner with a member who wants his son to start the scouting program. So, I had
picked up a copy of the most recent Boy Scout Handbook, and gave it to him to
show to his son. We talked about scouting, and I was able to share a lot of
things that I did that I felt had prepared me for real life. We then went to
teach L., but she cancelled, so we had nothing set up for the rest of the
night. We tried to find less-actives at home, but none were available. So we
walked around trying to find people to talk to, and ended the night.
For Friday, we had district lunch,
provided by the Sisters since they had a Domino's gift card from a member. We
ate with gusto, and then had district meeting. Elder Y. and I were assigned
to prepare a bit to share on finding new investigators, so we did an activity
where two missionaries had to contact a certain situation. We had written up 15
situations, all of which were normal, except for one. The weird one was a
contact that I had done once back in Chula Vista, where a guy was sitting at a
bus stop, talking to himself and twitching. Just our luck, Sister H. grabbed
that situation, so I got to be the twitchy guy, and they had to contact me and
share something about the Restoration. Went well, I thought. We then went to do
some service for a less-active in our area that was throwing a birthday party
for her daughter. We had to rake up the weeds in her yard so that they could
inflate the jumper-house. We finished, and went to visit the C's. We
showed up, and they were quite happy to see us. They had just been in court on
Wednesday with their daughter, and everything had worked out much better than
they had expected, so they were pleased with the things that were happening. We
shared a message with them on the heart-wrenching trials that we have to
experience amidst the everyday-drawl-trials, and how we have strength in
Christ. We then had dinner with Hna. G., and went to visit some
less-actives after that. We tried to find V., but he was on the phone with
his dad, so we couldn't meet with him.
On Saturday, we did a lot of street
contacting. We had planned on going out to the far west edge of our area to see
who we could find to talk to. We didn't have much initial success, but were
able to talk to several people. Then, all of a sudden, the R.
family invited us into their house to have carne asada tacos. Turns out
they were members of the English ward whose area we cover. We then went to the
party at the less-active's house that we'd helped the day before to see if
there were any non-members that we could speak with. We had some weird salad,
ate some more food, talked to the members a bit, visited with some non-members,
and went on our way to visit another less-active. We rode our bikes pretty much
the whole day, and I must say, I feel like my thighs should be massive from how
much biking we're doing, but alas, I remain thin as always. We then had
coordination, and went to visit A., but he had gone to LA for a concert gig,
so we tried finding other people to visit. Didn't have much success, and turned
in for the night.
Sunday, we went to branch council, and
I got to sit outside with Elder C. and talk to him while we set up chairs
for Priesthood. We had a pretty good chat, me mostly listening, and him just
letting everything off his shoulders. It was good. I like being someone that
others can turn to when they need a listening ear. We then had our church
meetings, and a high councilman and his wife visited to speak in
our sacrament meeting. They are from Chile, and had a very distinct accent that
kinda made me cringe a bit. They kept swallowing the "s" on a lot of
words, and it just sounded weird. After church, we went and did our studies,
and we did sally forth to find somebody to teach. Nothin'. So we went and had
dinner with the O. family, and they live quite a ways away. So we traveled
with the other Elders, and when we got there, I smelled something very
recognizeable: menudo. I've had some interesting experiences with menudo, so I
was a little apprehensive at first. They let us taste it, and it tasted fine,
so I agreed to eat it. After I finished my bowl, they gave us carne asada. We
then got to share some moments from our missions as the spiritual thought,
(since all their kids are grown up and we were on the topic of mission
experiences). We then came back, amidst great tempests and tumults because of a
storm that had rolled in. We got to our area and started walking around to find
people to teach, and it started downpouring on us. We ran for cover, and stood
in an apartment complex until it let up a bit.
Yesterday, we had lunch with a bunch of
elderly members that had fixed us some food, and we ate it with pleasure, and
visited with them a bit. We got a ride home from some other Elders, and went to
contact in some very good locations, (or so we've heard). We were able to
contact this young guy that was smoking. At first, we both thought that he was
Arabic or English, but it so turned out that he spoke Spanish. So we started
talking to him, and got into a really good conversation. We mentioned a bit of
what we do, and were able to get onto a good note with him. He said that he
didn't particularly pertain to any religion, but that he believed that we
should all treat each other with respect. He even said that he believed that
the purpose of life was to become more divine, and more like God. We jumped at
that bit, and shared a bit about the Plan of Salvation, and about how we lived
with God before this life, and that this life is the time to prepare to return,
better than we once were. He got really excited about that little tidbit, and
we were able to get him to loosen up a ton with us. It was a cool contact. We
then went and had dinner with Hna. G. again, and she had just gotten some
disappointing news, so we talked about how sometimes, we have to suffer a lot,
so that further down the road, we might be able to withstand the horrible agony
of watching our spirit children suffer in their own mortal probation, and not
being able to help them as much as you'd like because of their agency. The
Spirit was super strong, and I think that it was exactly what she needed. We
didn't find anyone at home after that.
Well, I guess that's about it for this
week! We had a pretty epic Nerf war, Elder Y. and I. He got me pretty good
a couple of times, and I got a jumpshot that was amazing. I ran and jumped, and
I was almost horizontal, (yeah right, that's just what I think), and I shot him
from across the apartment. I felt pretty awesome.
Talk to you next
week!
-Love, Elder Crook
P.S. Just for fun....
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