14 Mar 2016

So the smaller area has been in effect for a few days now and I like it, We have a lot more opportunity to focus in the wards we are assigned. Plus it makes it even easier to get around on foot/bikes. I feel like we got everything transferred to the Sisters pretty well, I have faith that they'll take good care of the area. Probably better that what we did. After all we all know a sister is 10x more effective than 3 Elders, quote Jeffery R Holland (he was joking, well a little)

Monday- not much to really say. Typical p-day stuff. One thing that was out of the ordinary was for morning exercise Browning and I played Frisbee and it got stuck on our roof. Go figure. So I threw a ball up there to try and get it down and that got stuck on the first throw.... so I climbed a tree and jumped up on the roof. The tree was in a weird spot where I couldn't really go back down so I ended up just jumping off the roof. I went to a lower part. It was only like 8 feet high. P-day activity was pretty lame. No one really showed up and nothing really happened, plus it was the last time I got to see Ieti (sounds like yeti). He's a Samoan guy and I have no clue why he decided I was his best friend. We didn't even talk that much but we were best friends and he's transferred to Driggs. The rest of p-day was cleaning the apartment out so the Sisters could move in.

Tuesday- Moving day so this was probably the easiest move I've had. All I had to do was pack my stuff up. Then we just went back to the Benton apt. and unpacked. When we got all settled in we had a recent convert pick us up to take us to a lesson at his place. We shared a message on the atonement. Mostly on the fact that the atonement is very personal even though it was done for everyone. When the lesson was over we were talking to Brother Kisely and it sounds like we might get to help him basically rebuild a car. So I hope he picks us up on that offer. It'll be fun and a good way to just be of service. Later we went to the YSA Face to Face to support a recent convert. The face to face was pretty cool. That's where I got the Jeffery R Holland quote on sister missionaries. Being a YSA, face to face, go figure that most of it was on marriage. But it was really good. He touched on sisters that do and don't serve missions; trying to help comfort those who haven't served, but still encouraging young women to give honest thought into serving a mission. Then my second favorite part was when he addressed homosexual attraction. He totally just changed the question while still answering it. The bigger picture is that its not about homosexual attraction. Its about chastity and controlling your urges. The best part was his testimony, part of which he left a blessing upon all those who were listening. A blessing from an apostle is a pretty big deal and super spiritual. After we got a small group together to play soccer at the YSA building and brought the recent convert with. We played around for a while. I got kicked in the face and got a bloody nose. Sadly it didn't break it back into place. Then we helped the Stafford's with moving something.  They have a truck bed that was converted into a trailer, but he just wanted the frame so he could build a tear drop trailer on in for camping. All the bolts for the truck bed part got cut and we started moving it. It was a little sketchy trying to move it with just three of us, so we called up some other elders and a YSA RM. That made it a whole lot easier to move. I got to say some good byes. I'll probably still see the Staffords but I'm no longer over their ward and that's a bummer. They were my favorite RM couple, (mostly because they served in Wisconsin and I could talk to them about the area and even about Heidi and Hank) Plus they are just awesome people.

Wednesday- so I'm back to sleeping on the couch and honestly I don't mind it. Its basically what I did back at home. So Elder Green got a 1000 piece Marvel puzzle and that was a huge distraction during breakfast and before bed. It got me three days behind on my journal and I'm still working on catching up. So interesting morning we got a phone call and a less active we were helping out is in jail.... sooo that's one of the biggest bummers this week. The rest of today was mostly just talking with our ward leaders and getting things figured out for how to make our wards more productive since we can focus on them more.

Thursday- So its the first day that we met the sisters in our area. We had district meeting this morning. The biggest thing I recall from it was following the spirit/teaching by the spirit. But it gave us time to meet the Sisters and get information transferred over to them. After lunch and stuff we went to see Korrin &Ryan just to stop by and visit, We hadn't heard from them in a while and we found out why. First they were just sick and they didn't want to get us sick. But then we learned that her 6 y.o. daughter, London, got in an accident with her biological father. Their car was hit by a semi. Amazingly they are both alive and recovering in the hospital. I think that's a fair reason for not being home and forgetting to talk to the missionaries. Despite the crazy accident, they seem to be okay. I would ask that you keep London in your prayers. That's a scary thing for an adult let alone a six year old. Later we went to the V.C with the Staley's and showed them an Easter video on the atonement. We talked about it and did some testifying. It was a super good lesson. The atonement is one of my favorite things to teach. After, we went over to help a recent convert at institute. The class was on politics and religious freedom. The teacher was almost a lawyer twice. He works in political science so he was super excited to be teaching. The main focus was on Mosiah and how right after he finished translating the Jaredite plates he realized having a king is going to end poorly especially because of his sons situations. So he changed the entire government. During this lesson it actually went along with my studies. I'm in Helaman and its talking about the voice of the people becoming more wicked than righteous. So a couple of things have been made clear to me. The main goal of missionary work is to help people eternally but there are temporal benefits. Through these studies and lessons I've come to realize that missionary work and helping people have a faith in Christ, will benefit this country. Our voice of the people today is becoming corrupt in wickedness. Comparing that to the scriptures, we can know that if things don't change then we can expect hardship and trials for our country. As much as people say religion and politics shouldn't mix, when we have a government that is run with laws that are similar to the commandments of God this country will be blessed. Sadly the voice of the people is becoming corrupt so the laws and leader are likewise becoming more corrupt. Missionary work has a temporal benefit for this nation and that's something that just helped me realize the importance of my calling even moreso. The other thing that came to my understanding is that the voice of the people is becoming corrupt. That doesn't necessarily mean that there are more wicked hearted people than righteous, but that the righteous are not voicing their opinions or they sympathize with the wicked to avoid ridicule. We need to be firm and spoken in our beliefs. Just a warning, don't teach overbearingly but be bold and steadfast in your faith.

I'm running out of time. The mission is hard but worth it!!!! I'm loving my time out here and I hope you all have a good week!!!!