Elder Wride in California: Week 46

Hello Everyone, hope you are all having a lovely summer. Here's my week summed up!

1. First Week Training

2. Kirk

3. Finding and Expecting Miracles

1. Training has been pretty good! Both good and bad. I think it's been a good learning experience for me so far and it's been fun also. But it's also been kind of hard and slow. The week didn't go by as fast and there were moments during the week where I felt inadequate to train or didn't really know how to best do some things. I spent basically all of Tuesday with some other Elders in our district after transfers. We were temporary comps. Then around 6:30 pm all the trainers went to the Mission office to meet the new missionaries and we had dinner, social time, and then President Merritt and the other leaders told us who would be going with who. It was kinda cool the different process they went through this transfer. They wanted to meet all the new missionaries before deciding. Anyway, my new companion is Elder Johnson from Montana! We took pictures, grabbed luggage and went off to our area. We also came back the next morning for Missionary orientation. I remember my Missionary orientation and that it has been the only time on my mission where I wanted to cry. I was feeling fairly emotional but I held it together because I was in public. By the time I could cry in privacy later that night I was doing ok enough and didn't need to. But, it kind of felt like a blast from the past and it was interesting. For the first half we had training with President Merritt while the new missionaries were trained on some things. I really liked the training and thought it was super helpful. Exactly what I needed because I didn't really know what I was doing. Previously, I don't think the Trainers had a meeting where they got a little bit of instruction so it's that President + Sister Merritts are doing it with their first group of missionaries. I am very impressed with them. So the training was really good, I really just felt like I could stay to hang out with and learn from President Merritt all day. We then had lunch, more training, and that was that. Then we went off to work! Elder Johnson is a good guy. He's pretty mellow and quiet but it's been cool to see him open up throughout the week. When we first got assigned one of my thoughts was that I knew people would say we look alike or we look like brothers or something because we both have glasses and brown hair. We have been told that more than once this week. The Mission department also has a new training program for new missionaries that I think has been good for us as a companionship so far. So, it's been a little hard to lead a lot and have to explain things and be patient as he is learning and trying, but overall it's been good.

2. Kirk is a guy we met this week. Fun little story. We called him and he said we could meet Sunday at a park. So, we went over there and he's sitting at a table with 3 other ladies. They are all members at another church and had some things they wanted to share with us. Before we got too into it, a homeless guy came by and was talking to all of us about something to do with the Articles of Faith. He was most definitely drunk or something but I thought it was funny that Kirk and the other people were confused by what the Articles of Faith were. He also talked about how the ducks at the pond were evil or something and said he had already talked to some other people at the park about something I don't remember. Apparently they called the cops on him so a police lady came by and asked him to go, which he did. After that, one of the ladies came prepared with a little note card that had points she had to bring up with us. It was very polite but it felt like a waste of time. The biggest thing we talked about was the debate about faith and works. We also talked about the kingdoms of glory, becoming like God, etc. I just wanted to get out of there. They didn't really want to hear what we had to say so they were pretty typical bashers. We finally got on with our day, but I was happy for Elder Johnson and his first bashing session.

3. Earlier this week President Merritt talked about how he wanted to have a quick meeting with us and talk about Miracles the New missionaries have seen their first week in the field. I've been trying to seek and expect miracles and follow President Nelson's counsel, but this puts a little bit more pressure. So, we tried a lot of things like going to parks in the morning, walking to lessons, and a few other tips and things to try from other missionaries. I was really hoping for and trying to see miracles with our friends. It didn't feel very good because during the week we had all our friend lessons canceled (except for Kirk), and haven't met anyone new. There were a few little things like we got back in contact with our friends Terry who's just been sick, and William who hasn;t gotten back to us because he feels like he hasn't gotten far enough in the BofM for a visit. But we stopped by and he's read through 1 Nephi 4 which is better than most! But I felt like I wanted more. I knew God could do more, so if he's willing and if I have the faith, it can happen. But I still got pretty discouraged while finding just because I felt like we were doing all we could. But so many people still don't want to listen. But a few days ago I kind of had a refocus or a new way of looking at it. I share the gospel not only when people accept it. But, I try to share it as a witness of how important it is to me. That kind of focus for me has made it easier to keep my purpose in mind and not get discouraged when people don't listen. I have realized that this gospel is really important to me, so I will do what I can to share it with others regardless of whether or not they accept it.

That's pretty much it for this week! Love you!

Pictures:

1. My new comp and I last Tuesday night