08/30/2010 - Week 68

This week has been really good! We got to teach a lady named Tracy. She just moved in with a less active, recent convert lady in our ward. She knows a lot. She has read the Gospel Principles book, Preach My Gospel, most of the Book of Mormon, and is active in our ward, but had never sat down with the missionaries. We are trying to help her connect that all her concerns come down to the question: Is the Book of Mormon true? She hasn't prayed about it yet. Oh, then, I got hit by a little Asian guy in a big black Yukon. It was in a parking lot and we were both moving slow, so it is all good. He backed into me and dented the passanger side pretty good. It kinda looks like the Stratus, just my luck.

The mission is going to take care of all the legal stuff. We didn't have any new opportunities to teach Christine, nor did she come to church, but she still wants to be baptised. We moved her baptismal date to Sept 5th; we are going to have to speed things up a bit to make it happen. Last week was really rough for her, the trials of being a poor, college student, single mom. This week should be better for her. I had exchanges one day, which are always good. We taught a few active members preach my gospel lessons, which helps our teaching a lot. And, yesterday, we taught the non-member, younger brother of a member in our ward. It was an interesting lesson. He has no foundation in life to trust in. He is 19, has lost both his parents, was raised by his mom who fell away after their father died. So, her anti-mormon feelings made him agnostic, and now, he has nothing to depend on. It is sad.

I felt like I made a difference in some peoples lives this week, and that feels really good and makes me really happy.

08/23/2010 - Week 67

I hope the road trip is going well! So, this week has been really good. We got a new cell phone! It is like a sprint version of the blackberry. We have been jamming out to the new ring tones... so good. We, also, got to help some people move out of their beach house. That was really fun. It was with our district which has become really close, and it was not in our ward, so that was cool. I, also, had an exchange with my district leader. I feel like he is beginning to understand me and my efforts, and that feels good.

We visited with Derek again, but we really have to refer him, now. Christine is so amazing! We taught her 2 more times, she came to church and a small BBQ with a few ward members. I love teaching her. She has a 2 year+1 week year old daughter, Eva, who is super cool, too. It really helps to have some to work for. Someone to motivate you to do all you can and to be your best.

08/16/2010 - Week 66

The Lord led us to this amazing lady, Christine, and we taught her this week! She is a young single mom of a funny toddler, Eva. She knows a family in our ward very well, so we had the lesson at their house. She is excited to be baptised on Sept. 4th. (She wasn't able to come to church this past Sunday because she wasn't in town, though.) We had a good lesson with Derek, again, after dinner, and we were blessed to teach a loving less active sister.
This was a crazy week. The MTC changed their curriculum to the new "Simplified Curriculum." So, all of the Trainers, District leaders, and Zone leaders had meetings to learn this new perspective on Preach My Gospel teaching. It was from 8-4, Tues-Fri. Those leaders needed someone to take care of thier areas and companions, so we got pulled into it, too. Elder Bickmore was in Costa Mesa with Elder Earle (Wisconsin's greeny). I was with Elder Nielsen durning those times in my area and the top part of Irvine (the housing looks the same as in my area, lol). He is a good missionary who has 2 months left. He has a get it done, get them in the water attitude. That was good. I have been my own leader for a while now (senior companion); it is good to get other perspectives. I think I probably give people too much agency. What ever, I do my best. It was a fun but stressful week. Things are good.

08-09-2010 - Week 65

Well, this week went by really quickly! We taugh 6 times or so. An active member let us teach him (role play style). After hearing us teach and resolve his "concerns," he started getting really excited about missionary work. We met with a less-active sister who is starting to come back. We kinda taught her, but most of the time she spent telling us her conversion story and how much she loves the church and us. She has a rough go of things lately. She is Rocky's mother-in-law. We saw Rocky. That was the first time I have seen him for a couple months. He is so happy, now. Even though he does not want to continue meeting with us; us, the ward, and God helped pull him out of a pretty big rut. We taught a young Chinese guy, who never experienced religion. He froze up and shut down when we asked him to pray. The visit didn't last very long after that. Also, we met a young guy who was referred to us by missionaries in Taiwan (singles age, but steady dating. we will see. got an appointment on the 22nd). He is a law student and is very busy. He will read the Book of Mormon. We also taught the friend of one of the young men in the ward. It is a mess because he is atheist (Japenese heritage) and not investigating super strongly, we are meeting with him at the members home, we need to refer him to the singles Elders, he doesn't live in our stake, so we don't know how we are going to pull it off. Met with Bob. He is still not reading, so we will just meet occasionally to read with him (next appiontment is in 2 weeks). So what all of this means is: We don't really have anyone we are working with right now, but we have many good potentials, also awesome referrals we need to pass.

Our ward had a linger longer this past Sunday. The Sister we brought to Peggys lessons came up to us and told us she talked with her at the pool. Apparently, Peggy is really missing meeting with us. I feel the same.

08/02/2010 - Week 64

You guys are great! Thank you so much for helping me keep going. I feel very blessed. Sometimes it is hard to feel good about my efforts because of the lack of "success." It is nice to feel trusted. I know that you understand that my circumstances are not caused by disobediance or lack of faith. Fellow missionary leaders do not always share that understanding. oh well, it is good. I press onward.
News from the mission. Rocky is back. He dumped us though. "It is not you, it is me. We can still be friends," (that is not a direct quote, lol). Also, we are not working with Peggy anymore. Because of the trauma she has faced in life and her age, her kids don't think she is mentally stable. They have been putting a lot of pressure on her to stop meeting with us. Apparently, her neighbors have been voicing to her their concerns about the church, too. She knows our teachings are true, but the opposition is too strong right now. Bob still hasn't been reading, and no new appointments with Siva. We were referred by the Chinese Elders to a young man, Daniel. Daniel is 17. We taught him, and it went well. He sees value in the Book of Mormon! Other than that, we have been doing a lot of walking and a lot of knocking. There are apparently big changes coming in missionary work. That could be good.