The Big Finale!

This is us doing martial arts poses in front of the temple

This will be the last letter home, so the events of this coming week will be input by myself in about that much time. Tomorrow, we have a special training conference for receiving the iPads, even though we will not be receiving the iPads until much later on, which means that I won't be getting one AT ALL. Oh well. Such is life.

Starting off with last Tuesday night, we were biking around after dinner, looking for someone to teach, and we couldn't find anyone. So we went to see the J. family, but they weren't home. On our way out of the complex, a man that we talked to awhile ago yelled at us from his balcony that there was a woman that needed our help. We thought that he was talking about the Mexican lady just right below him, so we talked to her and got the stiff-arm of "I'm busy talking.", when I could see the screen of her phone, and it wasn't on a call. He then said that his WIFE needed help. SO, we took our bikes up to his apartment, and we came in and met his wife and daughter, all three of which we had contacted at the same time. We asked how they were doing, and they said that times had gotten hard. The man, J., and his wife, A., were going through a very stressful time. They had a subpoena that they had to be present for, and they were worried, especially A. We talked about the peace that the gospel brings. Elder V. felt prompted to teach about the priesthood and give A. a blessing, since she was the most stressed. So we did, and I then got the prompting to share the Because He Lives video on their computer. As the video was going, A. began crying, and the Spirit was surprisingly strong. I choose that adjective carefully, because it really did surprise me. When the video ended, she said that nothing ever makes her cry, and got her husband to affirm that. We testified of Christ's power to heal and comfort us, and set up an appointment for Elders D. and F. to teach them the next morning.

Wednesday morning, Elders F. and D. added A. and J. as new investigators, and are teaching them now. We had zone meeting on Wednesday morning, and for the most part, it went really well. Elder P., one of the zone leaders, very much pleased me. He acted more as an advocate for the whole zone as far as goal setting, and really did well at getting the goal set at a number that is a stretch, but is at least achievable. We then had lunch, getting some Domino's pizzas, and ate with the Elders of the zone. We then did some service with some English missionaries for a couple of hours. We then went off to work, and found practically nobody at home for the whole afternoon. We picked up dinner from a member, and went to teach mission prep class. We taught about the first lesson of Chapter 3 in PMG, which is the Restoration. We gave pointers and tips to the youth there on certain situations, and answered their questions the best that we could. And that was it for the night.

On Thursday, we went to get our male member to take to see V. that morning. Turns out, he bailed on us last second, so we went to see if we could teach her on her doorstep. She wasn't home, so it turned out alright. We then went and helped a member family wash their four dogs. They have a great dane, a border collie, and two smaller dogs that I can't identify, (that weren't chihuahuas). We got them washed up, and then had lunch with the members. The skies started looking pretty dark, and it got cold. The day before, I'd seen a ring around the sun, and I remember Dad telling me about how Grandpa Crook would say that a ring around the sun meant rain. So in my humorous way, I prophesied that it would rain in the next two days. We then did our weekly planning, and visited a few people. We taught J. A., our previous investigator that disappeared, and he's back with a drive to learn, so we picked him up again. We then took J., the member we helped to clean his dogs, and U., and went to see some people. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, was home. So we called it a night. And that's when prophecy was fulfilled. The rain came, and it poured all night long. It thundered on our roof pretty hard.

Friday came around, and we had breakfast with the R.'s, and walked through the rain in the morning. Remember what I said about prophecy being fulfilled? Yeah. So we walked through big puddles, and got there. We shared a message about the temple, since they're just about ready to go to receive their endowments and be sealed as a family. We then spent the afternoon trying to find people at home amidst the rain. We walked around for a bit with our umbrellas, and talked to a couple of Arabic people. We then took J. again, and went to see some investigators. Again, nobody home. We then had dinner with a member at a Chinese buffet, and ate to our hearts' desire. We then went to see some people with U., so that we could get in, and weren't able to find anyone at home. We then met up with J. M., and had a good lesson with him. He's working on helping his family to come back to church, especially his wife.

Saturday, we finally found V., and she said that she'd gone to the hospital on the day that we had an appointment with her. She had low blood pressure, and her head was hurting a lot, so she had to go before we got there. We then went and took J. with us again in the hopes that we'd finally be able to teach someone with him. No such luck. None of our potentials was home. We then had dinner with the C.'s, and had some good dessert there. It was frozen-cookie lemon cake, using "Maria's" cookies, (they're a brand). We then went to see a less-active, the brother of the guy who just barely took us to a Chinese buffet, and he asked if we wanted to have some Chinese buffet. We kind of said no, and he insisted, so we went again to a Chinese buffet. This time it was a different one, and had frog legs. I tried some, and they were interesting. They also had snow crab, and Elder V. tanked on the crab. We then went and had a lesson with J., and took R. with us. It was an amazing lesson, and J. had lots of questions. R. answered some, and testified about the Book of Mormon. We invited J. to come to church with us, and he said that he'd be there. Then R. invited him to go to the class that he, (R.), had been assigned to teach. It was so perfect. And that was it for the night.

Sunday, we waited in the chapel, and J. showed up with R. and sat by us. Then the missionaries started having to help everywhere. We had to help set up the sacrament, make copies of the programs, help pass the sacrament, translate for the meeting, and sing with a member for a musical number. We then went to the classes, and like a miracle, the Gospel Principles lesson was on Faith in Jesus Christ, which is exactly what Joe has been striving to increase. He asked some questions, and when asked a question, he gave an awesome answer, not what you'd expect from a non-member. We then went to Elders Quorum, and R. taught the lesson about the Book of Mormon. Then, after the class, we went to the branch president's office, and participated in ordaining R. to the Melchizedek Priesthood. We had lunch with a member after that, tried an investigator, and went to sing at the mission president's fireside in Poway. We practiced, and the time came to perform. The piece went very smoothly, and Elder Thompson sang the duet. We got a lot of complements, and Rachel's arrangement got a lot of praise. I said goodbye to some members from Ramona, and surprisingly didn't see any members from the Poway branch.

And that's just about it for the week! I'll admit, I'm getting really apprehensive about coming home. I'd love to stay here for just one more transfer, but I know that it's time. I'm excited to see everyone, and I'm about to be surprised with how much the nieces have grown!

 

See you next week!

-Love, Elder Crook