Another Week Down!

Week five is in the books! It was a long tough but rewarding week!

"Believe in Miracles.  I have seen so many of them come when every other indication would say that hope was lost.  Hope is never lost.  If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Saviors own anguished example, if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead." -Elder Holland 

Monday:  After Emailing we headed over to a zone activity which turned our to be just some random member yelling and screaming at us when we wanted to play like dodge ball.  So Elder G and I, as well as the ZL slowly sneaked out of the activity and had to go commando and hide places so nobody saw us leaving ahah.  After that we went to Dick's Sporting goods which was fun because I got to hit on the Golf Simulator and we got to just check out all the stuff there.  After that we played ping pong at the church for a while then went back home.  Once P-day ended Elder G and I got stopped by this drunk dude who we both had met before but it was funny because he was just like "guys I have been drinking all day, so whatever comes out of my mouth, don't take it personally."  He then he told us he wanted to feed us another day apparently he used to be a really good  chief in new york.  Then we were about to leave that when he got up and gave us both hugs saying "if representatives of Christ won't hug me then you know I am going to H***" haha very interesting.

Tuesday: We had greenie meeting which was on asking inspired questions.  We role played and  the spirit was really strong.  I taught the plan of salvation.  District meeting was on extending invitations, it was really really good. After that we took our training and companionship hours.  This week in the program is literally just watching the district over again.  So the videos I watched before I left, we had to sit and re watch them.  We then had ward correlation meeting which was really boring, we are struggling with getting our ward mission leader involved but bishop did tell us we will be getting a bunch of new ward missionaries as well and an assistant ward mission leader, so hopefully things will improve.  

Wednesday: Really with training half of our day is spent inside.  So we really don't go our and proselyte until after lunch.  So we watched more of the district and discussed good things and bad things that the people did in it.  We went and visited this extremely old british lady named Elsa.  Most of the stuff she said made no sense especially when she just decided to ragg of George Bush but in those cases you just smile and nod your head haha.  Then after that we had our final lesson with Jared before his baptism.  We taught the laws and ordinances which now have to be taught before baptism.  It used to be you didn't have to until after they were.  It has come to the point where there is no use trying to keep your white shirts dry.  Every day we are soaked in sweat haha.  We ate with the Bates again.  They absolutely love us and said we are the best missionaries they have ever had even more than the ones who taught them.  

Thursday:  Personal study I focused on some general conference talks its cool because with the Ipad we have like every talk since like 1975 haha.  Training we watched more of the district.  Then we visited more new-member move ins.  We have over 15 apartment complexes in our area so it is tough because people come and go so fast.  For some reason every person we meet, there animals love me.  The dogs and cats just smother me and the owners are always like wow they never do that.  Then we went and visited a former investigator named victor.  He is really old and paranoid.  We had to say who we were from outside before he would let us in, and on the counter he had a gun out.  I assume he pulls it out every time someone knocks on his door.  But he actually really really liked me. So I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  

Friday: We had exchanges which meant another Elder came into our area and Elder G went somewhere else.  So I was in charge of everything.  Elder W who came over to my area literally doesn't say a word.  I wonder how him and his companion get any work done.  I don't think he said one word to anyone, member or non-member.  We taught a couple lessons or should I say I taught a few lessons.  I didn't get lost and we hit everyone that I wanted to see so it was a pretty successful day of me taking the lead full time!

Saturday: It was Jareds baptism!!! So my first baptism has officially happened! Most of the day was spent preparing for it  whether it was filling up the font or setting up chairs or figuring our what to say.  We had a great turn out but their was one problem.  Jared was no where to be found.  He and the young men had gone on a hiking and camping trip the night before so we all had to sit and wait till the leaders good actually get him there.  Set a new record for mormon standard time.  He was about 45 min late ahah.  Wasn't his fault in any way just kind of stressful.  The service was great and he is such a stud.  He will be a great member and great missionary when he gets older.  We also got a new investigator for his baptism.  His name is jack and he is one of Jareds friends!

Sunday: We had Jared's confirmation and he also received the Aaronic priesthood.  So he is officially part of the ward.  His grandfather did the baptism and confirmation which was important because his grandfather has practically raised him.  After that we had meetings after meetings.  Meetings about meetings haha.  Ward council is like a comedy fest.  Everyone is cracking jokes and laughing but it is so efficient and they everything works great.  president Hartmen leans over to me and just says "this is how the lord works my friend..." haha.  

That was my week! It was long, hard, interesting, spiritual, and rewarding! All in one!

Love Elder Hemsley #2

And from Ethan

Hey Mum! 

 

So this week felt ridiculously long.  A lot of it had to do with the fact that we were pretty much out of miles on Monday, so we spent the last three days of the month bumming off rides from various members and other missionaries.  We actually got given a different car that has a bike rack on it, so that's gonna help a ton with managing the area a little better.  The problem we keep running in to is that our appointments are never close together.  We try and schedule to meet with people during times that work for them, us, and more often then not, the member who is coming with us..  But at any rate, at least we're teaching. 

 

In other news, I met brand new missionary from Alpine Utah who knows all of the people that I used to hang out with at BYU!  She's from the same ward as my old room mate and she knows all of the guys from Proving Ground.  It blows my mind how small the world is. 

 

So as for week 2...

 

Monday was okay since the Zone Leaders were nice enough to give us a ride to do all the stuff that we needed to do that day.  They're great guys for sure.  I just hate being that guy who always needs to get bailed out haha.  Nothing else super special about P-day. 

Ate dinner with the Harrisons that night, and then we had a lesson with the Fa'amatuainu family.  We tried and tried to share the first lesson but we kept getting interrupted by various things.  They have a son named Ison who I think may be autistic, and he's always a handful.  The thing that we really wanted to focus on was that this is THE true church.  A lot of the Polynesians just have this mentality that any church will do.  Its cause of the culture.  The family all has to be one religion, so a lot of times the spouses will join the church just out of obligation and not cause its true :P 

We had another few people planned to go see that evening but none of the ended up panning out.  We did street contact a super cool family though.  I had felt that I had needed to talk to them, but a ton of things kept getting in the way as we were both walking.  Finally I just stopped caring about the awkward circumstance, and I just ran up and started talking to them.  Gave em a Boom of Mormon and had a great little visit with them.  Not interested enough to give us their address, but with the new building opening up right around there, im sure they'll have more contact. 

 

Tuesday was all biking.  We biked around Montebello and contacted a bunch of people, and then we taught a referral finding lesson to the Johnson family.  The sisters beat us to the people they were working with haha. 

Ate lunch, and Elder B said he wasn't feeling good so he conked out for two hours.    But I spent the time calling and setting appointments with people.  We got bailed on by Isaac  again afterwards.  I think that may be the last time we try to go over there in a while.  Had our Tuesday lesson with Darwin and Carmen, which was super difficult to control and keep on topic because Darwin had started reading the Bible we gave him and he went off on a thing about how old the Earth really is etc.  He thinks too hard some times haha. 

Ate dinner, but them we got a call from the Strasberg elders asking if week could do a baptismal interview that evening, and that it was the only time that they would be able to do it.  So we had to re arrange a few things.  The guy, Gerardo Guzman, was super super prepared for it.  It was a cool experience to interview him. Then we had correlation meeting that night.

 

Wednesday was definitely the most difficult day of the week.  We had district meeting that Morning and Sister Grenfell gave the training on how to use our time here wisely.  There is a whole chapter on it in Preach my Gospel.  I had her do it on purpose, cause the Sisters in Green valley just seemed to have it all figured out, all the time.  It was a good meeting.  Afterwards we went to L&L's Hawaiian Barbecue.  I think I've found my new favorite style of food.  Polynesian is where its at haha.  

Got home, ate dinner, and spent the rest of the evening trying to contact people in Montebello.  It was raining so I was glad when the evening was over. 

 

Thursday was by far the most packed of all the days.  We tried desperately to find a member who could give us a ride to DLC's cause the ZL's couldn't.  So when we realized it wasn't going to happen, we just decided to bike the crazy huge distance to the Alameda building where the meeting was at.  It took like 2 hours.  We biked through the Ghetto, the industrial park, the railroad station, AND we even biked by the local prison haha.  Crazy.  But we did end up magically meeting the ZL's at a subway that we stopped at, and they carried us the rest of the way.  They were amazed we had biked that far. 

Had DLC's which is always interesting, and then we got dropped off at Resharde's place.  He is an investigator that the sisters handed over to us, and this was the first time we met with him.  Really loves the Lord, but I'm worried that he was high when we taught him :P  Everyone in Montebello smokes.  It was a good lesson but im not sure how far he will get.  We're gonna go back by again this week. 

Taught our Thursday lesson with Darwin and Carmen and we committed them to live the Law of Tithing.  Carmen was all in as always, but Darwin was a tad skeptical, but eventually when we explained what it was used for and why the Lord has always required it, he began to warm up to it.  Then his Hispanic dad, who was Catholic, came in and Darwin asked him about it in Spanish.  The dad apparently was SUPER staunch that "you should always pay your tithing" regardless of the church haha.  So that was a little miracle.  They were all for it by the end.  Dinner was dropped off, and then we went to teach Traphena about the word of wisdom.  She agreed to quit smoking!  She's got an excellent support group with us, the Mata'eles, and her family.  Great lesson.  She was a little thrown off by the green tea thing though haha. 

Came home and actually got to eat the food that was dropped off. 

 

Friday was spent doing a lot of planning.  That's really all there was to it.  We went to the church to do it this time, and elicited the help of other missionaries who were there.  Most people plan the same way I do, but I got some good tips.  That evening we went to the Hatch family's place.  They're LA, and they are related to Orrin Hatch.  It was kinda awkward at first, but it got better.  They both work on Sunday which sucks.  But I know they felt the spirit. 

That evening we exchanged with Elder B, and Elder B came with me to our area.  He's a super cool guy too.  He's almost 28!  He was less active for a lot of his life, and had hit some pretty bad spots before he finally was reactivated and went on a mission.  He's almost done though.  He actually had a traumatic brain injury a while before his mission, and he had gotten into a car accident a few months ago that sort of reactivated a few of his symptoms.  I would have never been able to tell, but it was interesting to see the different demons that every missionary seems to have to deal with, regardless of who you are.

 

Saturday was crazy too.  We had to exchange our car with the Spanish missionaries since theirs had a bike rack, but we ended up leaving the phone in our old car.  So we went the majority of the day without a phone.  Taught a new investigator named Marlin, who was at one point going to get baptized, but he couldn't give up drinking.  We may pass him off to Spanish since his English wasn't super good, but it was a really good lesson.  We spent a little while waiting for the Zone leaders to bring us our phone back, and then we went to visit a few people who bailed on their appointments :P  We did get to talk to this really cool kid named Daniel at a trailer park that we were in, and just when he was starting to talk about how much he felt the Spirit when we were talking, the Park Manager came and rudely asked us to leave.  We put up a fight though.  We were there because the Fellows family had invited us there, and we had just causally struck up a conversation with Daniel as we crossed paths going to our car.  She basically told us that we weren't allowed to visit someone who had invited us to their home, and when we told her that that was illegal she threw a hissy fit and went and got her boss. That dude was a was a jerk too until he realized that all of our information checked out.  They finally let up, but the lady looked like she was about to kill someone haha.  

That evening, Brother Mata'ele took us to another Luau that was happening at the Methodist church.  They were a lot of the same performers from our luau since it was a collaboration, and we got to talk to a bunch of people and tell them about our church and how the Book of Mormon was actually related to Polynesian culture (remember Hagoth who sailed off with his group and was never heard from again?  Well almost all Polynesians have this legend about their common ancestor whose name was Hagoti or another equivalent name).  Pretty neat stuff.  All the Methodists warmed up to us eventually. 

 

Then Sunday was crazy too.  Meeting with the Stake president, meeting with the Ward council, church, and a bunch of cancellations :P    But we did finally meet with the Fellows family.  Ate with the Bishop's family and then we tried a few people before Elder B's Rolled ankle started giving him some trouble.  The Fifitas gave us some ibuprofen and that about did it for our week.   

 

Wish me luck as we approach these people's baptism dates! 

 

Love
Elder Efan