Week 16 - A Missionary Christmas

Hi

I don't know what to say anymore. These emails are starting to feel like that scene from Black Panther. "As you can see, I am not dead"

1. Our Friends

2. TIWI is my enemy

3. A Missionary Christmas

4. Homeless Camping

5. Spiritual Thought

1. So the work is going along. We had 3 people on date for baptism, now we have 2. But the 2 probably won't be baptized anytime soon. They want to be baptized, it's just gonna take a lot of work to get them ready. But for the good news, Peter, a guy we met a couple weeks ago has been reading the Book of Mormon! And he wrote down questions he wanted to ask us. Like what? That's amazing. We will meet with him tomorrow I think. But yeah we do a lot of Street Contacting and have placed some BofMs, got some phone numbers. 

2. I don't know how many of you know what TIWI is. Basically it's this little device that sits on the windshield of the car and makes sure you're doing a good job driving. And she's out to get me. I've gotten a lot of violations, and as God is my witness, I am innocent for most of them. Most of them have come from 1 of 2 things. 1: You get a violation if you don't log in when you start driving. You log in with this card thing that you put under the device and it's supposed to scan and log you in. TIWI is supposed to remind you to login but sometimes she doesn't and then I forget and get a violation. Other times, I have held the card under the scanner and she isn't reading it so I get a violation. 2: Check your speed violations. I'm normally pretty good. I will admit I have gone too fast sometimes, but for most of them I plead innocent. There's this ramp onto the highway that goes from 30-55 or something. And TIWI always detects the new speed limit late, and so she thinks I'm going too fast when I'm trying to speed up to the coming speed limit. I don't know if that made sense, but basically, TIWI is out to get me.

3. Christmas was this week. I honestly didn't even think about it because there's no snow here or anything. It didn't really hit me until my Beloved Grandma sent me a Christmas tree that I set up this week. It did make me a little trunky but I'm ok. Christmas Eve was alright, even if I was a little trunky. We met a bunch of people and were able to send Christmas messages to our friends. I kept with the family tradition of sleeping by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I thought Christmas day would be a day off or something but it was just a normal working day. It almost felt like we didn't even celebrate Christmas. But we were able to open presents and call home. Then we went out street contacting and placed 2 BofMs which was good. We had some other Elders over for some hamburgers for dinner. I also drank EggNog which is Christmasy, so that was a good time.

4. Homeless Camping. So, it may be just me, with how many people I've pitched this idea to, so far it is just me. But hear me out. I think it would be cool to be homeless for a little bit. I could take a nap and not have responsibilities. But, since I wouldn't want to be stuck being homeless, I could go homeless camping. You load up a bunch of stuff like a tent, money for food, it would also be cool if you got a TV and an Xbox Xbox play at parks where they have a pavilion and public outlets. And I know homeless people probably wouldn't have an Xbox, but the idea is that. You could also just talk to missionaries who are trying to find people. The idea is just to see what it's like to be homeless but you're camping so it's just an experience where you're just chilling for a couple days. I wouldn't want to be homeless here in San Diego, because I very well could get shot. I think Utah is safer. So, anyway, that's the idea. I haven't found anyone that's interested so if anyone here is down, let me know.

5. Trying to get better at putting Spiritual thoughts in. Today, I'd like to talk about Alma 26:12 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things, yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever". I love this verse. Missionary work in this area is a lot. Just while typing this email we've gotten two referrals. I really can't do it without the Lord working with them. The Spirit they feel when we teach does not come from me or my companion, but the Lord. And for example Peter, we invited him to read the BofM in the same way we invited many others. And it was amazing that he took the initiative when many other people didn't. It's just cool because I feel like I'm beginning to see how Missionary work goes. Like I'm seeing the stories that you hear about now. I don't know how much of that made sense but it's cool.

Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a great week. Email me if you can or want to, sorry if I don't respond. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

- Elder Wride

1+2. Christmas Devotional 

3. Me and my two trainers

4. My Christmas Eve

5. Messenger filters

6. Meme

7. Cool picture

Week 15 - Homeless Guy

Hi

I don't know how to write emails anymore. For like the first 8 weeks I loved writing emails but I don't know what to say anymore. 

1. Update on things 

2. Homeless Guy

3. Christmas

4. Bald Spot

1. Our goals for this area this week was to have 0 Baptisms, 4 People on Date, 15 at Church, and 5 People added. 15 sounds like a lot, but we honestly could do it, we have enough decently solid people. But this last Sunday we got 2. Oof. And we had 3 on date last week, but now we have 2. Oof. In our lesson last night with Tony, who the Sisters put on date and it was our first lesson with him, he said he didn't feel ready. So we took him off date and we're gonna keep meeting with him. But our 2 people on date may not be baptized for a hot sec because they haven't been coming to church. Something Elder Hayes and I talked about is that in the normal world I feel like people show up to things they say they will, but in the mission, 40% of the time they don't show up for lessons, and 75% of the time people haven't come to church when they say they will. Those aren't exact figures, but still. It's fun to see how things go super right or super wrong, like Satan trying to mess up what he can, but God will help us when He needs something to happen. But after falling short of our goals, we will walk into the next District Council with our heads down. Unless a miracle happens before Thursday.

2. I can now say what the weirdest thing that happened to me on the street was. It's not super weird, so don't be like excited. But all the weird people here are normally on the same level of weirdness so all the interactions kind of blend together. So yesterday we were walking down good old El Cajon Blvd. There was this homeless guy sitting down. I try to talk to everyone so I go over and ask how he's doing and all that. He just ignores me which kinda bothered me so I asked him again, and then. Elder Hayes was like cmon let's go. So I was like whatever. Anyway, about 40 minutes later we had looped around and were walking down that same part and this time, the guy was standing up in the middle of the sidewalk with his arms fully extended, facing up with his eyes closed. It's not anything super weird I guess. He's just doing his thing. So Elder Hayes is like "Just keep walking". But, I decided there's nothing wrong with just waving and swing. So I do, and the guy opens his eyes and turns around saying "I'm doing something" in a pretty aggressive way. I'm like oh, sorry, I didn't mean to mess up what you're doing, something like that and this guy I think said I disrespected him. It's kinda hard to tell because he didn't talk very loud and there were cars going by. But he looked pretty upset and his eyebrows were like really squinted? I sound like an idiot, but I don't know the proper way to say it. But it was to the point were I didn't really feel threatened because this guy is overreacting. That was until he started kinda growling and I was like what? Anyway, he kept saying you disrespect me and I can hear Elder Hayes behind me saying cmon let's go. I almost decided I was gonna teach this old man a lesson but I didn't. So I just said sorry, have a good day and he's still upset and looking at me. So we just start walking away and I'm like what the heck. I think the best part is that there were people in the restaurant right next to us, Elder Hayes said they were watching but I didn't notice. But they must've been like "Oh shoot! It's a Mormon vs A Homeless guy!". So that was fun. Also, everyone uses the term Mormon here, even the members. We try to correct them when we can but I don't know if they all got the Memo.

3. I know Christmas comes before my next email. I forget that it's almost Christmas, because A. No snow B. We're working and don't do Christmasy things. In Christmas day we'll just keep working, it's almost like we don't even celebrate Christmas. But whatever, I'd rather just keep going because then I'll get trunky. We don't even get at least a day off? P day doesn't count by the way. But like people with jobs have weekends and people at school have summer and other breaks. My break is when I go home I guess. Anyway, but it's fine. It's all good. 

4. Elder Vickery is gone, but we still have our Messenger chat. And he sent a picture of me on the floor for whatever reason. Anyway, like what the heck? I have a bald spot on the back of my head. I guess thats a trial with brown hair is that your skin contrasts with it when you have a bald spot. But that was from a few weeks ago, the other picture is what it looks like today. But I can't be going bald. It was nicer to know, Elder Hayes said he never noticed a bald spot until Elder Vickery sent that. But Prayers are appreciated during this time. Oh, also, I was on the floor because I was still coming to terms with the reality that a lot of our lessons cancel. Our last lesson for the day canceled, and I think that day we had 1 out of 5.

Anyway. I love you all! I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

- Elder Wride

1. Me on the floor

2. Bald Spot today

3. Selfie while writing email (I didn't take any other pictures this week. Didn't want to leave you with just bald spot pictures)

4. Meme

(Elder Wride's mom here with #5 - screen shots of the video call with Natalie and Peter):

Week 14 - A Series of Fortunate Events

 Bonjour mi Amigos

It's becoming harder and harder to write emails, I guess I feel like nothing super interesting is going on that I would would able to explain in an email. Although I'm a little concerned that I haven't been able to come up with any movie analogies recently for life experiences. I guess it doesn't really matter. I imagine a lot of you don't read the whole thing anyway. I try to read siblings emails and stuff, but most of the time I just skim through and it's just a check to see if they're still alive sort of thing. 

1. Transfers and Our Area

2. Update on the work and thought

3. Street Contacting: A Series of Fortunate Events

4. Cool Scriptures

1. Transfers today. Elder Vickery is gone. It's been a few hours and I miss that man. But there is no time for mourning. So, our Ward last transfer had 6 missionaries: A trio of Elders and a trio of Sisters. That may seem like a lot, and it was, but we needed it. This ward is soo ripe, we need as much help as we can get. But, we had transfers today and everyone the Sisters were teaching got sent over here. I was so scared to refresh my areabook and just see all these people just popping up under our teaching lists. But it's happened. I thought the past few weeks were very stressful as I'm trying to keep track of all these people because I'm the logistics guy. So yeah. Hopefully we don't forget anyone that's ready. Sorry if we do, I'm doing my best to watch out for everyone. But, I like it better than not being busy enough.

2. I would like you guys to know everyone we're teaching, it's just harder to keep tabs. Basically right now we have 3 people on date, we have a couple other people that are doing well and could be on date soon. Sorry, I guess I don't know how to explain it. But something I've realized is that none of it comes from me really. I basically just bother people if they didn't read the Book of Mormon or come to church. The people that are progressing really do it on their own. We're here to help with anything we can, but I wouldn't say it's because of what we're doing. It's because of what the Lord is doing and the person wanting it enough. So that's been cool

3. Street Contacting is very good in this area. We walk down El Cajon, and meet people you hear about in Missionary stories. Both people that are ready to receive the Gospel, and people that make interesting experiences. A couple days ago we saw a lot of miracles, hence the title: A Series of Fortunate Events. First that day, we had a lesson with an inactive member. She has felt very lonely and doesn't have family nearby. So we shared a message with her and invited her to the Ward Christmas party that was like in 1 hour. She said that would be nice. So then we just went street contacting around her neighborhood and down El Cajon. We walked by a barbershop and this guy just pokes his head out and says hold up. He comes out and says he wants to learn about the church and the Book of Mormon. Like what? That just doesn't happen. So we exchanged contact information and are meeting with him later this week. So we were like alright, that's pretty cool. And then, we walk into a guy that we gave a Book of Mormon to like 2 weeks ago. We weren't able to be in contact with him because he doesn't have a phone but we gave him our number and church address and everything. He didn't come to church, but we'll see him again. Im pretty sure he's homeless but he wants to get better. So that was really cool. And ThEn, we got in contact with the memver lady again. She said she didnt want to come because she didn't want to ruin anything (she has low self esteem), but we really encouraged her to come and so she said she would. The reason that's an important detail, us because it timed it again for yet another contact. This guy was just walking by and he said he's actually been looking for us. He has a Book of Mormon and wants to have a lesson. I don't know if you guys realize the magnitude of this. This was all perfectly timed. All these people were moving and we wouldn't have seen them if we weren't there at those precise moments. And like 3 in a row? We've had a couple less efficient Street Contacting days. But now I'm pretty sure we just spent our allowance of Street Contacting miracles. So we'll have to have a couple more unsuccessful days before we have more cool experiences like that. And also, the inactive lady did come to the Christmas party and had a very good time.

4. Read in 2 Nephi 29 this week. If any of you are dealing with or are sick of Bible Bashers, these are some good verses. It's basically the whole chapter, but I especially like verses 7-10. This would've been nice material to have in my back pocket a couple weeks ago. 

It does feel really weird to not have more things to write about... I guess it's like we're more focused on the people themselves, so it's hard to put all of it down on email. Also because you guys don't know them and we couldn't explain the whole story. So I don't know. Just pray that I don't forget anyone in the midst of all the people because I can very well lose track of things, and I have before.

But, I love you all. Be righteous

- Elder Wride

Forgive me for only taking two pictures this week

1. Got some Fat California burritos. I finished it over 3 sittings.

2. Someone dented our car a little. They didnt leave a note but whatever

3. Meme

Week 13 - A Possible Drug Lord

Hewo

Time is going by pretty quick. I hit 3 months as a Missionary the other day. Also it's the last p day of the transfer, I probably will stay in this area, but I could get transfered again I guess

1. Brian on Date

2. Sore legs and arms

3. Dogs

4. Possible Drug Lord

5. Hopefully this Guy is Ok

6. Charity

1. Good news is we got another guy, Brian, on date this week! We called him to set up a lesson and he was like "Can you come now?" So we just skirtted over there. Brian has had a lot of injuries, I can't think of somewhere that he hasn't broken something before. So we went over and gave him a Priesthood blessing because he's in a lot of pain. We had a short visit with him, and talked about the Book of Mormon. He believes in the Book of Mormon and everything so we got him on date for January 1st. Things are going good.

2. Now, I have a confession: I have not been diligent in exercising for a while. I have just stayed in Bed for an extra 15 minutes, I'll do a little bit but not very much. I had no excuse, I just didn't feel like it. But I cannot believe I worried last transfer that I would gain weight. Because if I was gaining weight then, I most definitely have been now. Members feed us way too much. One example: The other day the Relief society president called us after a party and have us all the leftovers. Like this ginormous box of Olive garden which we've been slowly making progress in consuming. Except 

the bread sticks didn't last long. Anyway, point is this ward completely spoils us, we get fed all the time. And that combined with me not exercising, it's a miracle I haven't gained much. We don't have a scale in this apartment so I'm not sure. So earlier this week I recommitted to exercising and it was not wonderful. On Friday Elder Hayes and I did planks for like 40 minutes straight. We exercised arms the next day really hard. I was sore for many days. Literally as close as I could be to being paralyzed without being paralyzed. And walking down El Cajon wasn't very fun. It was like, I don't know if you guys have ever seen Dinosaur, it's an old movie. Basically there's like these dinosaurs that need to migrate, but there's the old dinosaurs in the back that get left behind all the time. Thats how I felt. I was walking as fast as and could, but my legs didn't work like they used to before. It's been a rough couple of days. But now I'm getting better so that's good.

3. Low key not a fan of dogs, sorry if anyone is offended. But after working over the summer and having dogs barking at me all day, I'm just annoyed. Some dogs back then would be barking, and if the owner wasn't there, I would fight back. I would either bark back at it, or charge it for a second and it would run away. They were behind a fence or something so they couldn't come at me, and it just bothered me because they're cowards pretending to be all tough. So, I havent hurt a dog physically, but if a dog escapes and comes at me, I am not afraid to take it down. If anything happens I'll wrote about it. I could own a dog, depending on the kind of dog, but I don't care about other dogs. There are 3 dogs that have a special place in my heart.

- 1: My pet dog Chloe we had when I was 6, we gave her to some friends while we were going out of the country for a couple months. But when we got back, she had grown up and bonded more with that family and their dog so they kept her. .  

- 2: There was a house in Pennsylvania that j I was servicing. And this dog waddles up with a stupid smile on its face and it warmed my heart. It didn't want to be petted or anything, he was just chilling with me for a while.

- 3: We went to a members home for General Conference and they have this tiny fluffy white dog. Literally like the size of a waterbottle or something. But during General conference I petted it until it fell asleep so that was tender. 

But other than that I just don't like dogs. They're just big hairy animals and I don't find them cute generally. 

I just realized that I kind of just said all that for no reason, but whatever. It was just a thought I had while writing this.

4. So the lady we got on date last week will have to get her Baptismal date pushed back. She hadn't been to church yet and her date was for the 18th. This past Sunday as we were trying to get her to church, our Ward Mission Leader went to go pick her up but she was running late. He waited and talked to the owner of the house. It's a pretty rundown place, she lives in the garage and like 15 people sleep in the backyard. Not a very clean place. She wants to move, just hasn't found a place. Anyway, the owner wants her and her boyfriend to leave (Yes she's living with her boyfriend, we told her she can't be baptized until they're not living together. It's a work in progress). He told our ward mission leader something like that she and her boyfriend trade drugs for food or something. Ater our WML was like 30 minutes late was like I'm out of here. So that's fun. We don't know if that's true, everything's a little shady, but she knows the Word of Wisdom. We were gonna meet with her about it yesterday but she canceled because she was looking for a place. So that's fun. Sorry if it didn't make any sense, basically we learned that someone we're teaching may be dealing drugs, we don't want to have that conversation until we meet in person tomorrow. But I can tell she's just in this bad situation that she says she wants to get out of. But it may take a little extra work, hopefully nothing that ha8s to get police involved or anything like that.

5. Having the SIM card can be stressful. This isn't a super necessary part of the email, but here it is if you want to read it. 

- Our member list is 1200 and a lot of the people are inactive, have moved or don't exist idrk. But we texted this guys for a lesson, set it up, and then later texted us this

Member Guy: "Hey Elders I have a serious issue about something"

"It's life and death ..I have some serious people bullying church members here and I am out numbered. Hoping you can send serious help soon ..like today because I am a member and I've been poisoned. I am also suspecting that it is our own member..please send help. If I die look for me ..."

"Our faith is under attack and they are still using my hearing as for play and fun which is jeorpardizing my human health. Good luck though because I am all out of option and resources and all out of trust."

"I am weak and no longer have the strength to hold back from seriously hurting one of them by mistake or self defense. My water source is questionable and I am so dehydrated at the moment with no money."

"I am waiting for my iPhone13 to come in the mail with full service for life from God or Heavenly Father hopefully by tomorrow, because I don't have the minutes on this one."

(He sent all that in like 10 minutes)

Us:"Hey Brother -------. We want to help. Are you doing ok? Do you need to call 911?

Member: "And please notify my wife and daughter for me. I've tried plenty of time. They are attacking me because I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I have prove (scares) of their attack."

Us:"Sorry I don't understand. How can we help?"

Member: "I called poison control earlier but they couldn't hear me. Notify someone or everyone ...I mean whats the correct procedure here?"

Us: "Brother --------, do we need to call the police? Are you in physical danger?"

Member: "Like I said I am back to the wall"

Us: "Do I need to call 911 yes or no? I don't understand."

Member: "Not immediate danger that I can see at the moment but yes I have been attacked."

*I try to call him*

Member: "Man I am being bullied and having to yell and defend myself every day here. They are from a different faith. My food sources has been contaminated. At home and now even my drinks from the stores are showing signs of unwanted matters."

"You have my address Elders ...(LDS  Church Missionaries)"

Us: "Ok... How about we talk about this when we meet Thursday? And we can help you with questions about whatever you have".

"Is that fine? Or is it more urgent and need to talk as soon as possible?"

"If your food is being poisoned or contaminated you should contact the police or something. Is someone trying to poison you?"

Member: "I am going to try to contact the bishop or president in Salt Lake"

Us: "Ok, yes. Reach out to Bishop. His number is -----------. And we will meet on Thursday and we can talk about these things then.

So that was fun. We called and Texted but he wouldn't pick up. We also showed up at his house for the lesson but he doesn't live there. Hopefully he's ok? It was confusing and concerning. 

6. Something I have been working on is Charity. Maybe I should've thought more about the work it would take to develop the attribute before, but now I'm committed. I read in Moroni 7:45, and Holy gosh, literally Charity is having all the other Christlike attributes, plus it's the pure love of Christ. So, to work in Charity I need to work on it all I guess. But it was cool to see how interconnected the attributes are. It would be a good read I think, and the other verses around it too. For, "whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him". 

Don't know much what else to say. We did also go to the Temple this morning and it was good. Sorry I haven't been responding to as many emails, I promise I read them during the week, I just lose time to respond but I will hopefully eventually 

Have a good time!

- Elder Wride

Pictures

1. This was Christmas of I want to say 2010? We were in Chile doing a nativity scene and the lady who was in charge ran out of stuff so she put me in a bee suit. It's an iconic Wride family photo

2. Meme

3. Street Contacting

4. Elder Vickery

5. Meme

6. Temple