I'm gonna give you a day-by-day
description of my week. Its been nuts.
Monday June 18:
Not much happened other than getting
packed for leaving. It was a little sad but I was ready to leave the MTC
Tuesday June 19:
Grill, Bushman and I were all ready
to leave when our Polynesian friends all had to get pictures taken with us,
which was awesome. After that we got on a bus and headed out to the Airport. On
our way we passed the LEHI ROLLER MILLS! I couldn't believe my eyes. When we
got to the airport we kinda just waited around for a while, when Elder Bushman
went to go call his folks while we were waiting. I decided that I wasn't going
to because at that time of day everyone should
be working or they were at EFY. We all boarded the plane and went to the
Ontario airport. Once we got off there was Sister Godwin waiting for all of us!
Soon President Godwin came in, too, and he talked with us for a while until the
AP's showed up with a couple of cars to take us and all of our stuff to the
mission home.
When we got to the mission home it
was really odd, we just kind of hung out. We didn't do much of anything, just
played ping pong and talked with each other. We had a little bit of time where
we were instructed with some stuff, but nothing too intense. Before we went to
bed we played this game where you cut off the top half of a paper bag and try
to pick it up off the ground without using anything but your lips. I was
terrible at it, but some of the Elders did amazingly well.
Wednesday June 20:
When we woke up it was just more
hanging out. I didn't mind that much, kind of just ease all of us in to mission
stuff. We had little get-to-know-you interviews with President, but other than
that not much happened until all our trainers showed up. Mine was the last one
to show up with his temporary companion.
My companion's name is
Elder Smith and he is about a head shorter than I am, dark hair and really
cool. He's a very laid back guy but very good at getting stuff done. He's a lot
like me, he wants to do Graphic Design and likes Pokémon. How odd, right?
I found out that I was assigned to a
little area called Phelan, said like "I've got a Feelin'." It's this
little nowhere town about 45 minutes north of San Bernardino. Its mostly dirt
roads, so we are in a really nice truck. The houses are all spaced apart like
200-300 yards from each other, so we drive from house to house when we are
tracting.
That night for dinner we went to the
Elder's Quorum President's house, Brother Chaffee. They were way legit and made
great barbecue. After dinner we went to the church to play basketball with some
of the ward members. I'm terrible at basketball. I had fun, even though I was
just kind of the extra guy on the team.
Thursday June 21:
Thursday was kind of a mini
Preparation Day. Most of the time we were trying to get to the library to make
myself a Mormon.org profile, which I still haven't completed. We also went
shopping for yummy food, and I unpacked all my stuff.
This day was also the first time I
went tracting. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about it, but after
doing it, I really didn't find anything intimidating about it. It was actually
really interesting. There are a lot of different people out here. The most
memorable guy answered his door without a shirt on and told us he was an
atheist. He was really funny to talk to, he wasn't mean or anything, but he
sure had an opinion. All the people that I've talked to, in the ward or just
out tracting, have all been extremely nice and friendly. I freaking love it out
here.
I also met one of our investigators,
Lillian. Her life if pretty messed up right now. I don't want to go into too
much detail, but she's living with this guy she absolutely hates, and has three
children, 5 horses, 11 dogs, 8 cats and nearly 100 chicken and ducks. She's
come to church a couple of times and wants to be taught, just not at her house,
because I think she's kind of embarrassed by it. We are probably gonna teach
her at a member's home this upcoming week.
That night we had dinner at the
Gage's home, with the Bairds and Pratts too. All the families were really nice,
but it kinda felt like we weren't part of their dinner. Elder Smith said by
themselves they were all awesome, but together they didn't seem to want to
include us. Kind of odd.
We played volleyball and another
ward's building and I found out I'm actually kinda good at it.
Friday June 22:
We focused more on talking to less
active members on Friday. We tracted for a little bit, and taught another of
our investigators, Jenny. She's awesome, she wants to get baptized but can't
right now. We've got to teach her all the missionary lessons first beforehand,
but she's also been in jail and is on parole right now. After we teach her all
the lessons we can then have somebody interview her and then send a letter to
get approval from the First Presidency to see if she can get baptized. I
sure hope she can.
The couple of less active members we
saw were really nice. One of them and her family all live in this really nice
motor home parked behind her sister's house. They were awesome. Another family
has two turtles and two tortoises as pets. One tortoise could actually be held
in the palm of my hand. Anyway, the one member with the tortoises said that
they'll be coming to church now that her husband has a different work schedule,
so I can only hope she does come.
We went to eat dinner at the Scott's
house that night. So far they've been the people I've liked the most. They were
way more my speed and relaxed. They also made Chicken Enchiladas which are
superb. I'm loving the food that they make here, its all really normal.
Saturday June 23:
Saturday was completely different.
We didn't do that much during the day, just went to a baptism for some kid that
the sister missionaries taught. It was really short because the kid was
autistic and couldn't focus for more than a minute. Before that we tracted near
the church and found a couple of people that might be interested.
We haven't followed up, but I'll keep you posted on that.
After not much else happening we
went to dinner at the Nelson's home. There's really only one Nelson, and she's
dating this guy who isn't a member and has two kids. He's interested in the
church and has kind of taken the lessons, but not really, so we sat down and
actually taught him the Restoration. He understood it and said that he wanted
to believe its true but would not commit to doing anything, That was the most
frustrating thing I've done. I kept telling him he had to read if he wanted to
believe its true, but he kept coming up with some stupid excuse why he
wouldn't. Whatever. I'm sure he'll come around some time.
Sunday June 24:
Going to church in a different ward
was good. It was strange being the new missionary because they ask you to do
everything, including pray in ward council, then again in Sacrament Meeting,
again in priesthood and pass the sacrament. Blegh. Every single person came up
to me and introduced themselves. There is no way I remember all of them and
their names. They were all super nice and friendly, but its a wee bit
overwhelming. I guess that's what happens when you're loved.
A couple of strange things I've
noticed is that everyone had some connection to Sandy, Utah, and everyone
thinks I'm saying Elder Sailor when I'm introducing myself. Weird.
I ate dinner at the Best's house.
That was weird. They are good people with awesome little kids, but every time
they started to act like they were having a good time their parents would yell
at their kids to shut up and go to their room. It was a "fun free" home.
Monday June 25:
I haven't been doing that much
today. I met Elder Clark, who was the guy here before me. Every time I've been
to somebody else's house they always ask where Clark is and how he's doing.
He's a pretty cool guy and I've got big shoes to fill.
Now I'm here at Phelan Library just
writing all of you guys. And I'm starving, I haven't had McDonald's in like a
month. I'm gonna try to get some today. Later today I'm gonna go play some
Frisbee with my zone.
I love all you guys! Thanks for all
the prayers I'm getting. You can all write me an email at r.sage.taylor@myldsmail.net.
Now go, and be golden,
Elder Sage Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment