FAST & FUN

So not much happened this week 

other than that I am staying here 

in the Vista 5th ward again. 

Which IS really exiting because

 I have made so many great friends.  

It is crazy to see all the kids go back to school summer is so short. 

Now that we have all these new missionaries 

ALL wards in Vista 

have at least one set of missionaries. 

Other than that it has been a pretty normal week --  FAST and FUN to be a part of!

THE NUMBERS ALIGNED

Wow to this week ... 
Jacob got baptized!


This is how the week went. Monday p-day, Tuesday zone conference, and Wednesday I was asked to move bikes around the zone cause I am the only one with a bike rack.  Thursday, we had a lesson with Jacob started at 0830 -- we only were going to meet till 9 30 but we didn't finish until 1230  -- the end result was --  Jacob decided to be baptized  -- that Saturday.  Friday get the time for the baptism and plan the whole thing, Saturday baptism and clean up, Sunday church. . 



Our four hour lesson started by reading in Jacob (a book in the Book of Mormon -  if you haven't read it --  you should).  In verse 7 it says,  "...come unto Christ"  -- so we with Jacob studied what does it mean to "come unto Christ" and a long time later he decided to be baptized.  His confirmation of this being what he needed to do -- kindof came around in an interesting way --  when we were trying to get him to commit to a baptism date -- we went, with Jacob, to the chapel and prayed,  then left him there with my copy of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He came back and told us the 19th which was is 2 days!  The way he figured the date out was first his favorite scripture in the Bible is Mark 9:23  - "...everything is possible..." and he was in the Book of Mormon abbreviation page and Mark is straight across from 2 Nephi so he went there to 2 Nephi 9:23 and it said "...repent and be baptized...". so that is was he said confirmed that he needed to be baptized and that this was the right thing to do. Then he was trying to find a verse in the book of Alma and came across Alma 5:26, and then Alma 7:17-19  -- so he did the flip thing on the abbreviation page and Alma lines up with Galatians so he look for the page that had a 19 on it because of Alma 7:19 and came across Galatians 4:19 "...be born again with the name of Christ..." and April 19th was the first time he met with the missionaries. It was a great day.  I am so happy that I was able to be with him in this process since I got to this area on April 24​

So it was a fun experience a lot of heart to heart talking and resolving concerns till he had none left and I ask what have you against being baptized cause I read the scripture a little while ago in the lesson. I was so much more happy, exited, and proud when he said he was going to be baptized then I was when I baptized him. When we left hi in the chapel to pray i went out side cause a had to move around i was so happy

POWER of ONE vs Old Habits Die Hard

This week has been great we have been out walking and biking  a lot lately. Mostly walking because every day either Elder Wambeke or myself have had bike problems.  For me, it is just a flat tire about once a week and for Wambeke it is his bike breaking. 

Our two investigators are doing great and are progressing well. Joe Whip who got baptized last week, (don't worry if you don't know about him,  cause I haven't talked about him til now) invited us to his baptism because I gave him the interview.  He had 59 non-members there,  that were his close friends.  He printed out a whole bunch of invitation cards that gave the date, location, and time of the baptism, and would just hand them out to everyone he met.  It was a great service.  We had 20 Book Of Mormon to give out but we ran out and had to go get more. 


Our investigator, Jacob, gave a talk in sacerment meeting in the 10th Ward about the restoration. (Attached is a recording of the talk it doest have the intro but it is really good)  The spirit there was so strong it is one of the best talks I have heard.

So what to say, what to say ???  Training is hard! I thought that it would be easy and that the mission is easy but i was wrong --  there I said it The JR Hyde is wrong!  It is a lot to do dealing with a kid that thinks they know it all and when you try to teach them something they get impatient and passive agressive in comments.

One night, I had planed to go and see a less active family at 8:40,  but he wanted to go back home. So when I told him to take a right -- he told me no and went straight --  I had turned cause i was in front while riding bikes and when I look back  -- guess who wasn't there. I was mad.  I past the less active's house -- they were there BUT I couldn't stop because my companion was gone.  I was on a loop road down hill so,  I continued and meet up with him while he was still pedeling home.  I stopped him and told him that because he didn't listen to me -- we couldn't see this family that is almost never all home.  I was so frustrated -- I have also had to tell him over and over that I am not going to make him get up everyday.  I am not his mom. IFinally I told him that not waking up is showing the Lord you don't care. It is showing Him that the stuff He wants to have done is not important to you.  When you show the Lord your dilligence, He will match the effort -- take up where we fall short.  I have found with my companion, I have to be blunt.  It has been a lot of stuff like that and he gets it all from going on exchanges with other elders and he says,  "they do it so why cant I". I finally got it into him that he signed up to be a missionary -- it was his choice -- he is the one who hit the button -- so act like the missionary you want to teach your dad ( his dad is not a member). After I told him this I thought that we were going to get mad at each other but he thanked me for it and he has seemed to understand way more . I thought that I could train him like I was trained and the way I train myself but everyone is different.

I love it but it is hard. 

Just to let you guys know I am doing well, some times may be hard, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

You know we get along so much better now. I realized the things that made me annoyed really didn't matter and that I was a part of it too.  I let myself get bugged about things and that just grew.  I have always liked him, but I realized that most of it was me letting myself get that way. After we had a talk about rules  -- he wanted to change -- he had just fell into habits that he was glad to get out of. 

Catching LIZARDS

So, this week has gone. We went tracking a lot and got one potential from it but i enjoy seeing more people. As we were walking we meet a less active guy named Ralph and he wanted to start coming back to church so we gave him all the information he needed to get to church the next Sunday so maybe we will see him. Then we met a guy that asked us if we were LDS.  He said he had a couple of questions for us -- we taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation during our 40 minute walk while headed back to the apartment. Other than that this week has been pretty normal other than the lizards we catch.

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This week has been great!  It is the last week I have to give a assigned district meeting until week 6 but it is a district leaders choice -- so I get to pick the topic -- which is nicer than having a topic assigned and then having to form a training around it. 

I was happy because I thought I would have the week off of from having to prepare something 

BUT, alas, the APs asked me 

to give a discussion/training @ Zone conference.  

SOOOO, now I get to study "Prayer". 

They say they are trying something new and so I have no clue 

when or if I will give my discussion cause they normally don't have one at Zone conference other that what the APs and Zone leaders give ...so I am in for an interesting ride in the next two weeks. 

NEAR MISSES and BLESSINGS

Well,  another week has flown bye, it is already the start of week 3 in the transfer and things are starting to pick up a little bit. We did a lot of service for people --  movings, yard work, carpet cleaning, and cut down a 25 ft tree with a hand saw -- now that took a while to clean up. 




We've had a lot of bike issues, near misses and blessings of safety -- Elder Wambeke had a pretty bad crash on his bike.  He just smoked a curb and went flying. I got a flat tire on my bike and it was a ways away from our apartment but luckily we got a ride.  


Then the in the middle of the next day -- a car pulled out in front of me.  I swerved to not hit it BUT nailed a light pole. I would have rolled across the hood but hitting the pole turned the bike so I was able to not hit the car. 

On exchanges I got permission from the mission president to drive down to see one of the Vista 8th & 9th ward's elder's investigator who was in the hospital.  

We got to eat lunch right by the temple and some people payed for our lunch.  

Then on Sunday the Stuaffer family, who I have gotten really close to,  bought us a gps for the vista 5th ward,  but it was the thought that counts. It is crazy,  the relationships that you make with people.  One of the less active couples, we have been working with since April -- are going to get married in the temple on August 12. 

Those are just some of the things that have happened this week.

AMAZING Opportunity

So,  another week down and I have been a trainer for about a week now! 

It is an amazing opportunity for me just the fact of having another missionary 

that is looking for you to help them out with everything you really built a love for him.  

My new companion is Elder Wambeke (WAM-BECK).  He is a farm kid from Powell, Wyoming  -- near the east side of YellowStone. At first, he didn't talk too much but he is finally starting to work out of his shell. We finally got to make dinner for ourselves it was a fun experience. Things are starting to pick up a little  -- we had 3 lessons this week which is nice. We get to ride bikes again.