Shalom
I'm having a lot of technical difficulties so I hope this works.
I have officially been in San Diego for 1 Month. I also am about to hit 2 Months as a Missionary on the 6th. So that's cool. This email is long, but you should still read it.
1. The Music Underworld
2. Elder Wride vs Isaiah
3. My Bleach Water Balloon
4. Benjamin - LOTR Analogy
5. I Miss My Car
6. Haircut
7. Update on People we're teaching
8. Spiritual Thought - Prayer
1. So I have gotten more Music on my phone. Like, there aren't a lot of music apps available, so I didn't know where to get music from. But after getting more used to the mission, I've met some people, so I got Music now. I can't talk about it too much, because these are the people the Mission office is looking for. But it's like a Missionary Underworld. That's where you also get shows like the Chosen, Best 2 years, Fighting Preacher or other stuff you can't get on Gospel Library or Saints Channel. Don't worry, I'm not listening to anything apostate.
2. I made a goal in the MTC to read and understand all the Isaiah Chapters. I mentioned in my email last week that I got to 1 Nephi 20, where he starts quoting Isaiah for the first time. I didn't read it because I just couldn't do it then. I was just having a bad morning. Well, this past week I decided to tackle Him. It has been difficult. I've only gotten through a chapter and a half at this point. I'm going for the Study Diligently approach, and I've spent a lot of time just looking at the words. I've also looked at everything on Gospel Library about it, like Bruce R. McConkie has a talk and the Institute Manuals. But I still need help. I'm not good at deep reading. I don't read or speak Isaiah. The worst part is, I'm not even to the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. Round 2 will come in next week.
3. My last idea for getting the oil stains out of my shirt didn't work. The bleach I used literally advertised working for oil. But basically, it said for best results to soak the clothes and bleach for 30 minutes before washing. Unfortunately, that is not a feature on the washing machine, so I would have to soak it beforehand. We didn't have any buckets or something to soak it in, the only thing that made sense to me was to use garbage bags. The theory was that I could put the clothes and bleach in, and fill it with water, then let it sit for 30 minutes and take it to the laundromat. It was what I thought was the best idea for the time. It got heavier than I thought. I would guess 40 lbs? I'm really bad at guessing weight but it was decently heavy. I wish I had a picture because it just looked like a water balloon. So after 30 minutes we went to the Laundromat. So far so good. But, on the way I had to set it on the ground for a second to readjust my grip. It was a rocky outside floor, and I think something on the ground pierced it because it started leaking. We aren't too far from the Laundromat, so I just started hauling this giant water balloon through the complex parking lot. Yelling to Elder Ferry to hurry and open the door because bleach water was spilling. I got some on my pants and everything. Luckily the bleach was color safe so my pants aren't white. But after all that effort, there's still oil on my shirt. It's gotten a little more gray, over the weeks of trying to remove it, but still noticeable.
4. So I mentioned last week that I have been trying other methods of contacting people on Facebook. Like joining random groups, introducing myself and talking about the church with people. Nobody's been accepting my friend requests and so I'm trying to improve the efficiency of my Facebook finding. Well I joined another group and the post blew up more than I anticipated. My internet wasn't really working at the time, so I couldn't respond to people, but I could see all the comments. But yeah they were asking stuff about like polygamy, lgbt, race and the priesthood. It was a bit more controversial than the last post. There were like 30 of these comments at this point, only after a couple minutes had gone by. I didn't say a formal prayer, but was sort of like "Help me answer these in a way that leaves these people with a better impression of the church than what they had before." Later when my internet came back, I was saved. There was this guy in the group who was a member and had already answered all the questions, and did so in a pretty good way. I felt so relieved I couldn't even explain it. I messaged him and was like "thanks a lot, you have no idea how much I appreciate that". He said he knew a lot about church history and these sorts of topics. He also served a Mission. But yeah it was super nice. Well the next day there were more comments. We were at like 100 and something comments, including my and Ben's responses. But still, I was trying to stay focused on studies, and it was hard to not start replying to people throughout the day. So I decided to call for aid. Basically, in a Missionary group, I said I need a few people to come join this group and answer some of these questions because there are a lot and I can't right now. This is where I would like to bring in another analogy. I am actually beginning to get concerned for myself by the amount of movie analogies I relate to real life. I promise I didn't just watch movies all the time as a child. I had a life. I just remember what happened in movies really well. Anyway, this one's from Lord of the Rings. It's the scene during Helms Deep, near the end when they retreated inside. But Aragorn is ready to go charge, so he and the king just hop on their horses and go charging, basically bulldozing through the Uruk Hai at the door. But they're outnumbered. They're fighting away, and then Gandalf and the White Horse appear on the giant hill to the side. And all the Riders of Rohan come up behind Him. Then they all charge down and eventually win the battle. That's the scene. Benjamin and I are the people fighting already, and the Missionaries from the group are Gandalf and the Riders. It was glorious. Just this flood coming in. Go watch the scene, and that's how amazing it was. But, it did get out of control. One of the moderator ladies got kinda mad because all of the sudden all these Missionaries started joining the group, trying to "impose beliefs" on people. She didn't put a stop to things, I was able to calm her down, but yeah. I don't think a whole lot came from that experience. A lot of people said we were racists and a cult, but we did touch some lives I think. For the nice people. I did invite a lot of people to read the Book of Mormon. I don't know if they will. We ended up with 385 comments, and I would say we won the battle.
5. I really have missed my High School car this week and probably will throughout the mission. It was a gray 2014 Ford Fiesta sedan. Manual transmission. And it was glorious. It is an ugly car, but I love it even more because of it. Anyway, this week I keep seeing it. The same car. While my Dad was on a Mission, he said he kept seeing my Mom in people. Like some of the people just looked like her I guess. Well, I keep seeing my car. But it's not like I see the Fiesta in other cars, there's just a lot of Ford Fiestas, mostly gray. And like it makes me sad. That car was amazing, it was so fun to drive. I literally, Mom and Dad, am considering buying it. Wesley, don't you dare crash it.
6. I don't remember if I mentioned it earlier but I needed a Haircut. And I got one this morning. I've accepted my fate. I was concerned because I've never had a Haircut from anyone except my Mom, and I just don't like having short hair. My concern was that the Elder giving me a Haircut wouldn't be as gentle as my Mom in like trying to not completely shave me clean. And he wasn't. In the past couple weeks he's been like "You're getting a haircut." He has just been waiting for this day. Anyway, he shows up with a haircut kit, and whips out different cutting tools and things, shaving cream, and some blue liquid. I asked if we could start with a prayer. I said a quick prayer and we started. He was very thorough with the buzzer things barbers use. He went around my head with it like 10 times, and hair got all over me. I shouldn't have worn my garment shirt because it's like they've changed color. The hairs he cut were so small they just stuck to the shirt. Don't know exactly what I'm gonna do for that. He also put shaving cream on the sides of my head which was cause for concern. He brought out a special razor blade and just cut it on the sides more. I was praying. The hair is definitely a lot shorter than the ones my Mom has done. She made an effort to not make it too short for me. He sheared me like a sheep. I can appreciate his effort, but I have officially concluded that I just don't like short hair. The saying "The difference between a good and a bad haircut is 2 weeks" hasn't helped either.
7. If it wasn't apparent by the amount of time I spend talking to bashers, we don't have a lot of people we're teaching. There's Linda, who moved away. We knocked on her door before she left, but her drunk grandson answered and said "Hail Satan". So we haven't really seen her since. She's not good at responding to texts and things. There's also Jacque. She's been on date for baptism for a long time. She just keeps pushing it back. She wants to get baptized in January so her son can baptize her or something. We're talking to her, but she already knows the gospel well. So, the main thing we've been doing is finding through Facebook, street contacting and member referrals. Not much so far. But, Sunday we did get a call. This is a guy that is inactive and we've knocked on his door before but he never answered so we've just left cards. Anyway he called because he said he's been going through a hard time and is just trying everything to find some peace. So we are meeting with him Thursday. But yeah, most of the things we've been doing are member lessons, and recent convert lessons. Still trying to find people.
7. Okay, this email is going too long, but I wanted to share something spiritual. So this is about prayer. Go look at the picture of the Bible Dictionary definition for prayer.
Who knew the Bible Dictionary could spit such fire? Anyway, so that's what I've been working on because lately my prayers have not been as meaningful as they should be. So yeah just work in your prayers to unite your will with God's.
Well we also had Zone Conference this week and did a service at the temple. As well as a ward trunk or treat. I guess I didn't talk about them because I just didn't. Sorry this email is really long. It's more for my personal documentation anyways. Email me if you wish, I enjoy it. Have a splendid time.
- Elder Wride
1. Zone Conference
2. Cool Temple Picture. We hung up Christmas lights so I'll just talk about it more when they turn them on.
3. What Facebook work looks like. Elder Henrie from our district
5. Prayer in the Bible Dictionary
6. Meme
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