New companion and a sliver

We had a pretty great week this week! Wednesday, I picked up my new companion, Elder V., and he's from San Antonio, Texas. So I've got another Texan companion! He's pretty awesome, and we've been getting along swimmingly this last week. Mostly, I just really fear the prideful Elders, and luckily, I got a humble one, even though he's from Texas. He just came from Brawley, which is out in the Imperial Valley, and Elder Y. got moved to Calexico, another city in the Valley. So he's out in the heat! And we just got word that we'll be getting iPads in May. Right when I come home. Oh. Goodie. Luckily I don't have to pay for it, so that'll be a blessing. The only missionaries that have to purchase their iPad are those that will still be in the mission by November, so I'll be well away from having to buy one. We'll be getting some special training from President Donaldson, from the District 2, and a member of the Seventy on how to use the iPads for proselyting. That'll be on May 19th, just one week before I come home. So, once again, I'll be getting some good training for how to start doing missionary work once I'm home.

On Wednesday, we got some lunch, and went to the church for district meeting right after transfers. I'm still not quite sure why we had it on Wednesday, but we did. Elder V. and I then went to meet all of our members and investigators. We had dinner with the V. family, and went to see a less-active member right after. We were able to get into their home for the first time ever since I've been here, and we were able to share a good message with the mother. She asked us if we could come and share a family home evening with her kids, and have an activity of sorts to do with them. So, we agreed, and got to planning it. We then went to K.'s, and M. and R. were there. They all jokingly put some chips in a bowl, and smothered them in Valentina and Tapatio, and dared Elder V. to eat the chips. Now, lemme tell ya, those chips were swimming in hot sauce, and Elder V. ate them like a champ. Then everyone felt bad for making him eat them, but by eating those chips, M., K., R., and U. instantly warmed up to him, and he feels right at home now. We shared a message with them, and went home.

Thursday, we went and tried to visit several members, but many weren't home. We mostly biked around, getting Elder V. up to speed on how the area is set up, and where the main pockets of spanish-speakers are. We had some pretty good street contacts, and got a few "not interested" people that wouldn't give us the time of day. But, we had a good time talking to people, and were able to visit R. for the first time in awhile. After dinner, we went to see if we could find him home, and when he opened the door, he got a big smile on his face. He was really glad to see us, and we were able to talk to him about some good topics on the scriptures. The Spirit was pretty darn strong for the lesson. We invited him to read a bit from the Book of Mormon, and he said that he would.

Then, on Friday, we had a full day of contacting and teaching set up. We were just about to leave, when we got a call asking if we could come help some English Elders with some service. So, we went. We got there, and they were shoveling mulch into a garbage can, a wheelbarrow, and several other improvised containers, and we were dumping them behind this member's house. As we worked, we got to know the new Elders in the zone, and had a great time goofing around with the work. Then, I got this monster sliver in my hand, in the skin right between the thumb and index finger. Oh man oh man oh man it hurt. I left it there, because I didn't have tweezers or a needle on me, and it was DEEP under my skin. Seriously. The member was kind enough to feed us, and the burgers that he made were heavenly. I miss homemade burgers. OH well. We then went to another member's house, and began to help her by demolishing some of her furniture that had been ruined. I still had the sliver in my hand, and couldn't help much because the sliver was right where the tools needed to rest in my hand, and it HURT. SO. I got a needle from her, and started digging for the sliver. My. Gosh. That thing must have made it 20,000 leagues under my skin, because my hand looked like the Kennecot copper mine by the time I finished. I finally got a little part of it poking out, and the member lady gave me some tweezers. I had Elder V. try to get it while I tried to pinch the skin around it. He almost had it, and then the member lady grabbed the tweezers, snagged the sliver in one go, and unsheathed the monster. It must have been 4 or 5 millimeters long. I was so relieved to have that savage out of my hand. Then the blood came rushing forth. And then I got a band-aid, so all was well. Then I helped with the demolition and planting of plants in the back yard. We then went to see if we could find a less-active family at home, but they had gone to the temple to wait outside for a sealing of a family in our branch, so we said, "Good on ya.", and told them that we would see them at church. We went and visited the J., met the V. briefly, and tried to find V. at home. We then called it a night.

Saturday came around, and Hna. C. was having a yard sale. Elder V. has a tie fettish, so we went to see what she had out. She had tons of stuff out for sale, and for great prices, and we talked to her for awhile. And then she told Elder V. that he could have any tie that he wanted for free. He was so happy. We then went back to the apartment for lunch, and went right off to an appointment with a less-active member. She welcomed us warmly, and her "husband" watered the plants around us as we talked outside. It was a pretty fresh day, so we were happy to sit out in the breeze and talk to her. We then went and visited another member, and she had this...thing...on her wrist. It wasn't a cast, and it wasn't a brace, but it was there to make sure that she couldn't move her hand. She's getting a surgery on her heart with one of those cool doo-hickies that you put up the vein in the wrist and work on the heart from there. They had just prepped her wrist vein, and they had to make sure that she couldn't move it until the surgery. So, she asked for a blessing, and we gave it. We then went to see if our members were available to feed us, but sadly, they had to cancel. Coordination also cancelled, so we took a letter from a missionary to Hna. G. She was ecstatic to get it, and gave us cookies and milk, and talked to us about a lot of things. We then went and visited K., and talked to him about working on coming to church. We tried our hardest to just invite the Spirit, and he agreed to come to church.

Then, on Sunday, we went to church, had sacrament meeting, and almost everyone that got up to bear their testimonies had gone to the sealing of the L. family on Friday, and they all got very emotional about what had happened there, including the 14-year-old daughter that looks like she's...well...much older. That's a recurring thing in California. Everyone looks older than they really are. Except for me. According to Hna. G., I'm just a kid trapped in an adult body. And that's probably true, now that I think about it. ANYWHO, we had gospel principles, and Elders quorum, and K. looked happy to be back at church. M. gave a strong testimony in Elders quorum about repentance and forgiveness, as he had just met with the stake president for some things, and the Spirit was really strong. After church, we went to a special training meeting for ward mission leaders and missionaries that was presented by the stake presidency and the mission presidency. We talked about several things, and President S. then got up and showed a presentation for the "Because He Lives" initiative that's beginning on March 27th that's focused on members and ward councils. We got to see the video, and let me tell you, it's GOOD. I noticed a very recurring theme and pattern between the "Because of Him" and "He is the Gift" videos, but this one is quite unique. It has the same special effect feel, but the rest of it is different. I really liked it. We then had dinner, went to see some less-actives, and went home.

Yesterday was zone conference. And it went from 10:00 to 4:00. Man it was long. It was good! But it was long. We went over a lot of training on how to make member dinner appointments more effective. We watched some videos, did some group discussion, and at the end, President played this recording of this member of the Seventy demonstrating the celestial way to get referrals, or figure out with whom to share the gospel. He asked questions, made comments, shared experiences, and made promises in a very simple, yet effective way. We then practiced it, and we got some really cool results. President then showed the "Because He Lives" presentation that's specifically for full-time missionaries. After the conference ended, we went to Hna. G.'s for dinner. We talked with her about a lot of things, but the conversation ended up gravitating around U., since he's going to Columbia to date a girl from his mission. We then went to see the V. for the family home evening. We sat down with the kids once we'd gotten them settled down, and shared a message on faith. We talked about how we have faith in, or trust in, Christ and his prophets. We had a mouse trap, and showed that it worked, and then by tweaking the spring, we set it up to look like it was set, but in reality, was harmless. We told them to have faith in us when we said that it wouldn't hurt them, and we promised them that it wouldn't hurt. At first they were scared, and the oldest son poked the trigger, and nothing happened. Then the others were quick to follow. It was a really good lesson, and I guess it was right on topic, because that oldest son had asked his mom what faith was just a few days before. The mother then asked us to give her son a blessing, since he's been having some internal bleeding, so we gave him a blessing. We then went to visit Hno. D., and we asked if we could try out the referral finding pattern from zone conference. He graciously accepted, and as we went, he said that a co-worker popped into his head. He then explained to us a bunch of things about him, we asked some inspired questions, and he agreed to invite P., his friend, to learn more about families. I thought it went really well! And it worked! We then called it a night.

That's just about all that's happened this week! Have a great week!

-Love, Elder Crook