Week-8

The week I was both looking forward to and dreading has finally happened. I'd been asked to give a talk on how General Conference has affected my life, and I was definitely a bit nervous about speaking in front of the ward. But I probably shouldn't start with the end of the week.

MONDAY was the first P-day in the new transfer, and we started it by going to the mall. The other Elders we live with got permission to go out of our zone to the mall in the zone over and brought Elder Bates and me along. Most of the time we spent there was just walking around and window shopping at all the stores. One of the other Elders did buy a new suit for pretty cheap, though. Other than that, none of us bought anything, but it was still pretty fun just walking around the mall and looking at all the stuff on sale. After that, we headed to one of the nearby chapels to have our regular zone P-day with lots of basketball for them and lots of family time for me.

TUESDAY we weren't too sure what we wanted to do for the day, so we decided to go over to one of our friends' places to introduce Elder Bates and to check on them. When we got there, they were a bit surprised but happy to see us and to meet the new missionary. After we'd talked for a while, we decided that it was time for us to get back to the work and said goodbye. We spent the next couple of hours tracting the area, looking for people to talk to, which went fine. Later in the day, we got a message from a member in one of our wards asking to see if we could come over in a bit. This member was actually the sister of Elder Hitchcock, an AP or assistant to the mission president, and they told us that he'd be staying at their house before going home the next day to be released and wanted to say goodbye to us. Of course, we said we'd love to say goodbye to him, so we finished up a little more tracting before heading over. When we got there, Elder Hitchcock was helping his sister and brother-in-law put some more insulation into their house, so he was in service clothes, which was kind of weird for me to see. We got to meet his mom, eat some fresh cinnamon rolls, and talk with Elder Hitchcock about how it felt that he was going home. He said that it was a bit weird to be leaving, but that he was happy to be able to see his family again. It was a pretty cool moment to be able to say goodbye to one of the first people I met in the mission, and I wish him well in his life to come.

WEDNESDAY was a busy day, so we barely got to do any tracting. First, we had some service early in the morning chopping wood for an older gentleman. I really enjoyed doing that for an hour because it was just really relaxing to me. Afterwards, we had a Zoom meeting with the entire mission on the successes of using technology to share the gospel and ways that we can best use it for the right purposes. After that, we had even more service where we helped a family move some of their heaviest stuff out of their house. This included a headboard for a bed, a couch, and a thousand-pound grand piano, which I never thought would be something I'd move on the mission. Thankfully, the hard part of getting the piano ready to move was done before we got there, but it was still a bit nerve-wracking to get it out of the house and into the truck. Nothing broke, and no one was crushed, so I'd say that it was a success. Then our final activity for the night was helping some of the young men learn a recipe that they can cook on their own mission. It was a pretty simple recipe for lime chicken, and the young men were quick learners, so after just a little while, they had succeeded in making the recipe and were enjoying a filling meal. I was a bit nervous to see how I'd do explaining the recipe to them, but from the results, I'd say that I taught them well.

THURSDAY we made up for the lack of tracting Wednesday by doing a lot of it today. In total, we spent around 4 hours just walking around different neighborhoods knocking doors. 4 hours might not sound like a lot (and it might not actually be, I'm not sure), but all that time walking was definitely exhausting. After all that, we ended the day with a lesson with someone we've been teaching for a while. A lot of our time there was spent on us just trying to answer some of his questions on parts of the church that he didn't understand. At one point, he started getting pretty upset about a certain principle of the gospel, but I was able to bear my testimony of the truth of the gospel, and it really helped to calm him down and bring the spirit back to the lesson.

FRIDAY we had zone council where we got to go over how we had been doing with some of our goals and what we could do to improve. It was pretty cool meeting all the new missionaries in the zone and just hearing about how our zone is from a lot of the other ones geopolitically wise. Even Elder Bates has been constantly talking about how much greener it is in our area and about how early it gets dark over here. It really makes me realize that I probably got one of the best starting areas. Afterwards, we headed back out to the sticks to get tracting and try to find some people to teach. While we were doing that, we got a message from one of our members asking us to come over and help her neighbor with some service. We weren't expecting any service that day, so we rushed back to the house to change into our service clothes and headed over to help. When we got there, we found out what we'd be doing for service, and it was definitely not what I was expecting. We were going to be helping them get a bunch of their rabbits into the back of their car so that they could be taken to a rabbit show in a different state. Like I said, not what I was expecting. It was pretty easy work, and we got to see a bunch of the other animals around their home, so I can't complain.

SATURDAY was another long, exhausting day. We started it by getting all of our studies out of the way so we wouldn't have to be coming back to the house throughout the day and waste miles. We then spent 4 hours straight tracting different neighborhoods and streets because we didn't have any lessons for the day. Now that was a rough couple of hours for my feet. Then later in the day, we went over to a member's house for a potluck with all 3 wards around our area. They were having the potluck because their son was getting ready to begin his own mission in just a couple of days and wanted him to be able to say goodbye to everyone. We had to wait a bit longer than we expected to get some food, but we were able to get our food and then socialize with all the members. Then once we got back to our apartment for the night, the other missionaries told us something that we weren't expecting. One of them hadn't been feeling too good that day and felt that he should take a COVID test. And it was a good thing that he did because he tested positive for it. When we found out, me and my companion also took one just to be safe. Thankfully, we both tested negative, so we were still good to go to church the next day, but the other Elders would have to be quarantined for the next couple of days.

SUNDAY was finally here, and so was my talk. We got up and went to church for ward council as always with nothing to stand out happening for us. But then it was time for my talk, and I was definitely a little nervous for it. I hadn't given a talk in a while and had even skipped out on giving my farewell talk back home. But I think that my bishop back home had realized that and reached out to my current bishop to try and fix it. Overall, the talk went fine, and the only issue I had was that I couldn't really see my talk on my phone screen because of the glare from the lights. Finally, after our second ward's church ended, we went outside for a linger longer that they had set up and enjoyed some good food and some entertainment in the form of one of the young men dumping a full water bottle onto another and then being chased around by the victim. Those boys' parents are not gonna be happy to clean their suits, but that's not really my problem.

This week was pretty fun with all the service, meeting new people, and all the food the members fed us. I was completely stuffed after that linger longer. I'm really loving my mission and all the members in my area. The spiritual thought I'd like to give this week is just a couple of the last verses in the Book of Mormon. They come from Moroni 10 verses 3-5. And they say, "3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." When we ask of God to know if his scriptures are true with sincerity to act on the answer we receive, I know that he will give us an answer through the power of the Holy Ghost. Thank you for reading my email and all the emails that are sent to me. Enjoy this week as we approach General Conference.

1- goodbye Elder Hitchcock

2- "its wabbit season"

3- my comp really like Halloween