Week 51 - Long Suffering

Hello dear friends and loved ones. It has been yet another week

1. Long Suffering

2. Prayer lesson

3. Update on the Work

1. Transfer News for today! I am staying in Lakeside for Elder Johnsons second week of training, but I'm also District leading. I shared last week that I kinds was hoping to be transferred just because training is hard and I didn't want to do it anymore. The main thing that's hard is that I feel like Elder Johnsons not grasping a lot of things. He still doesn't really know what to do for planning our day, lessons, or anything else really. I'll talk to him to get his opinions or thoughts on anything so we can be more united, but I feel like I'm doing it all on my own. I've told him how I feel as well but it hasn't been helping. Were getting better, but he's still more closed off. I would say if this last transfer had a theme it would be long suffering. I've learned a lot about Gods long suffering, and how I need to be long suffering with myself as well. One of the biggest things was Brad Wilcoxs talk "His Grace is Sufficient". Very good talk. But, as we were nearing the end of this transfer I was hoping for a little break, but I'm still training. I am also now District leading again which was hard for me as well a few transfers ago. I thought that was kind of funny. I'm doing good though. While I'm not going to get what I wanted, I trust that it's what's best and it will all be great I'm sure. 

2. A big highlight of this week was a lesson we had with a member family. It's a single mom and her kids. When we got to the lesson the mood was kinda low. They had a court case that day and it didn't go well. Something with their dad. They talked about it for a while and kinda let it out but the attitude was anger and frustration. We went into the lesson planning to have it Missionary work focused, but I felt like we should teach prayer instead. I have this object lesson I like to do with a tie. We did the lesson and read Alma 37:36-37. The mom really was touched by the verses and had a lot to share. She had a realization moment where she said that she and her daughters had been praying that the court case would go well, and that they would be able to trust in God's will. But she said it was so rude of them to pray to ask God's will, for him to show his will, and then they begin to try consulting against what he has planned for them. She cried and it was a sweet moment for me. She said the lesson was exactly what they needed, and it felt so good to be a part of that. I wish those spiritual lessons were more often because they're so fulfilling. 

3. Here's an update on some things. Our Friends are depleting, but our inactive members are doing better! We had one come to church for the first time on Sunday which made me so happy.

- Daphne Barry is doing ok. We reviewed the Baptismal interview questions and it became more apparent that she really needs to read the Book of Mormon and strengthen her testimony of the Restoration. That's a pretty important thing haha. But she just hasn't been reading. She's been residing a lot of fantasy books, but not the scriptures

- Our other few friends are basically in their same spots. Some are still sick with long term health conditions, others are very hard to reach. My boy William was just out of town but he's doing great at reading. Hopefully we'll meet soon.

That's all I can think of for now. I hope you know I love you all

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

- Doing some Member calls at Lindo Lake

- My Mom sent me a Star Wars Lego set. She knows me well. Best present ever

Week 50 - Hello Again

Hey All, sorry I am really short on time. But, here are a few points

- Had exchanges with the APs this week and it was good. If any missionaries need some tips for mid day hours, it's a good idea to visit old members in the ward, active or iactive who aren't up to much

- Sister Barry is doing good. We talked a little bit more about Baptism and covenants to understand more of where she's at. When we meet this week we are going to go deeper into what promises we make in Baptism next time we meet. I think she's closer to getting Baptized.

- We've been trying to just stack our days with lessons. It's been good, but members have been feeding us a lot and I'm trying not to gain weight.

- We had interviews with President Merritt this week. We talked about a lot of things: long-suffering, aligning our will with God's, focusing on attitude, grace, etc. A lot of the things could be covered in 2 talks I listened to this week: "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox and the one Elder Holland gave called I think "Becoming a Saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ". Just trying to work on my attitude and focus. It's going better.

- Overall I'm doing ok. A little tired because of training. I just don't like doing pretty much everything and it feels like Elder Johnsons not getting a lot of stuff. I worry if I get transfered that a lot of the things were doing are going to die. But, I will try to help him and also keep the areabook set up for the next missionary. I do somewhat hope I get transferred just because I'm a little tired of training.

Week 49 - 19 Years

Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you're all having a great day

1. Zone Conference 

2. The Work in Lakeside 

3. 19 Years Old

4. Exchanges

1. Zone Conference was really good last Wednesday. I have a string testimony of Zone Conference and our mission leaders being able to receive revelation on what to help the mission with because it feels like it hits the nail on the head everytime. This Zone Conference I won't go into everything, but the main point I liked was when we had a training which was called "But if not". They shared Daniel 3 where King Nebuchadnezzar is going to cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego into the fire. In verse 15 He says :"But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." So the key thing there was Where they say "But if Not" and I thought it was super cool. We have faith in God, not in our expected or wanted outcomes. And while we need to have the faith for Christ do perform miracles and things in our lives, we also need to have faith for those things not to happen and trust in God's will. I won't go too much further but I recommend this talk by Elder Bednar which we also read in preparation for Zone Conference:

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

2. The work is going ok in Lakeside. We have dropped about 15 people this transfer which has been discouraging (4 households: Family of 8, 3, 3, and 1). 1 household was no longer nterested, 2 we haven't been able to contact after many phone calls and visits to their house, and the last family of 3 we probably should've dropped a long time ago. We'll still probably meet them soon because they're an inactive part member family and we're trying to work with the member dad. But the rest of the family isn't interested which makes it hard. It's sad because we have 3 of the people we're teaching could be put on date, but 2 of them right now have been ghosting us too and may get dropped if it continues much longer. But, we had a cool experience with Sister Barry (The lady who's been taught for many many years). Her main problem is she basically believes all religions point to God and so there doesn't need to be one I guess. But she comes to church every week and really enjoys the church. I felt prompted to ask her what she was currently thinking and feeling about Baptism and she said it's actually been on her mind a lot recently. She thinks she could be baptized and keep the covenant, but she doesn't see herself progressing towards the Temple. She doesn't have a goal to, and has been pondering about if she's ok with being a member that doesn't progress that much in the church. Shes going to give it more thought and prayer but I think this is good for her. We'll see how it unfolds. 

3. I turned 19 this week as well. I still feel like I shouldn't be, because I feel like a child. But then again, I also know adults who are just children trapped inside adults bodies. I think 20 years old will hit harder for me. But it was a good birthday. Pretty average day for me but I felt loved from all the messages I got, and things like that. I also got gifted many cookies that day, and had a California Burrito. But yeah, I guess I don't have much to say regarding my birthday. Nothing super unusual happened, just an average working day. 

4. Exchanges were good this week. I went to Alpine which is another city next to Lakeside. But this area covers like halfway to Imperial Valley which is pretty good. We drove around their area doing visits and probably sat in the car for about 2 hours driving. It was honestly kind of nice just because I think driving is good for clearing the mind. It put me in a good and relaxed mood, but because of that I felt pretty knocked me out for the rest of the day. But I think I needed it just because I've felt pretty frazzled training and just doing normal and busy Missionary work for so long. Unlike a few weeks ago I don't have an exchange story. 

Love you all and thanks for reading. 

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

- Zone Conference pics

- I made a custom Birthday Burrito. Thanks for the candles grandma. I tried to light them but I kept burning my finger with the tiny lighter we had. Couldn't figure it out I guess. It was the cigarette lighter kind.

- Members house smores

Week 48 - Little Tender Mercies

Hello Everyone, it has been another week. But it has been a pretty good one.

1. ZL Exchanges: Tracting

2. William

3. Paul/Saul Church tour

4. Little Tender Mercies

1. So, as many of you know, and are probably thinking, I don't like Tracting: Aka, going door to door knocking. It was a pretty common thing back in the day, but with today's age of technology and people not liking you coming up to the door as much, it hasn't really been a thing. But, it also depends on the area. Our Zone Leaders are in the area just below us "Granite Hills", and they have been doing some tracting and have had pretty good success. They use this method where they have a survey, asking 10 questions pertaining to God, Family, and the Restoration. Some examples include "Do you believe in God?", "Is a close, strong family important to you?" and "If there was another book of scripture, written by prophets that testifies of Christ, would you read it?". Its worked pretty well for them, and this general area of Lakeside/El Cajon area people are more humble and generally more open to people coming up and knocking on your door (again, depending on the area). So we tried it when we went on exchanges with the ZLs, and have been doing some of it here. It's been ok the past few days that we've tried it. Haven't met anyone who's interested but a few people agreed to take the survey. It was just more frustrating when they would say yes to some questions, like the one about additional scripture, and they still said no to learning more. It was a bruh moment.

2. We have been teaching a guy named William and it has been so awesome. He has read the Book of Mormon through 1 Nephi 11 and is understanding it! We had a good lesson with him on Saturday talking about just what he's reading and any questions he has. At the end we reviewed Moroni's promise and told him that he can know that the Book of Mormon is true. He said he will continue to read. It makes me happy just because of how uncommon these kinds of experiences have been for me so far. 90+% of the time no one wants to talk to you, and if they do, they struggle with keeping commitments like coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon, or even simply meeting with us! It's been a pretty big surprise for me to realize how common these issues are with people. At least in San Diego. But William has been reading, and has an open mind, and is simply golden. 

3. An interesting experience happened just yesterday. We came to the church to use the computers for some Facebook work and to call members to set up lessons. And as we were walking up the steps to the church there's just this guy with sunglasses and a hat standing at the top of the steps with a Big Gulp. He looks like those random, possibly homeless guys, that just do their own thing. But when I first saw him it scared me for a second because he was just staring back at us in silence. He was a pretty weird guy. He told us he was walking by the church and saw the Visitors Welcome sign so he decided to come check it out. It didn't occur to him I guess that nobody was here on a Monday at 2pm in the afternoon. He asked if he could come in and worship even though he didn't really go to church before. We told him our services were on Sundays and we'd love to see him then. He said he wanted to see the church, so we decided to give him a church tour! We showed him the foyer, chapel and then when we got to the foyer on the opposite side he asked for our card and said he was going to leave. He said he might come back on Sunday, but he didn't want to come at 9 am when we started. He might go to the Granite Hills meeting at 11. So that was an interesting experience for me.

4. I just wanted to point out some little tender mercies I saw this week. While they're not huge, I like the quote that says "If you only look for God in the big things, you'll miss him in the little things". These things have just made my week better.

- My old trainer who went home, Brother Hayes, came to San Diego this week! It was fun because he originally wasn't going to be able to for another month or so but then I guess things worked out! We met up for lunch and got some Mexican food. It was good to talk to him and see him again for the first time in 6 months! Weird that it's been that long.

- I also saw another old friend this week. But he didn't see me. Since I am training Elder Johnson, we have these in field workshops over zoom from the MTC. There's another certain someone who is also being trained that I saw on the zoom meeting. It was none other than my good buddy from home, Elder Jensen! If any of you don't know, we grew up together, went to all the same schools, same ward, etc. It was really fun to see him there.

- The kids I taught in my last area, Aidyn and Alexis, got baptized this week! I didn't go because I didn't actually know about it much in advance, and I don't know if I would've been able to. They were on date for baptism the whole time I was there, but it kept getting pushed back because of their mom who we're also teaching. I won't get into that. But it was sweet to see them finally make it. They were first put on date back in February and have been ready for a long time.

- It also rained this week which is probably the most minor, but it still made me happy. Plus, it never rains here. But the feeling of seeing thunder clouds coming in is so cool. It rained pretty lightly, but it was still nice. I love gloomy weather where there's rain and overcast weather. I ought to live somewhere like Portland Oregon, or Alaska.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I love you all and am grateful for all your prayers and support. Until next week!

- Elder Wride

I didn't take any pictures, but here's Aidyn and Alexis baptism

Week 47 - One Year Left?

 Hello All, how are you? Hope you are enjoying summer. This week has been good as always. 

1. One year left?

2. Exchanges

3. Spiritual thought

1. I hit 11 months this coming week which is kind of weird to think about. You may be asking, "Then why would there be 1 year left?" Excellent question. So, I don't know if I've already explained in here but I will do so again. My official release date is Septermber 12th, 2023. However, my official first day of School at BYU-I is September 11th, one day earlier haha. But, the move in date is on the 8th and so I'm looking at getting home sometime in August. I will know when exactly I will go home at some point in the future. I could go home during the transfer or just go home the whole 6 weeks early. Which 6 weeks earlier, would put me at getting home on August 1st, 2023. Mind blown. So, I don't know what I want to do yet, and I probably won't decide for 6 months or so. What's kind of weird for me too is that if I did go home on the 1st I would be only 19 when I finish my mission. So young. Anyway, I've been a little more trunky because of that this week. Also, I've gotten Star Wars songs stuck in my head the past few days. The reason being that Elder Johnson showed me a cool way he makes Lightsaber noises. That night a member showed us this cool think he got at Comic con where you could take a lightsaber picture (see below). It's a little plastic thing that he holds up and takes a picture with the flash on. I'll see if we can have a picture of us dueling next time. But I guess it just went into a Domino effect. My family is also in Park City right now. But it will be ok. I'm pretty sure every missionary is always at least a tiny bit trunky. 

2. Exchange's is where you switch comps for a day. We are going to have more exchanges than usual this transfer because Elder Johnson is a new missionary. Anyway, it seems like there is always at least some kind of story when you go on exchanges. Some are better or more memorable than others. This exchange had a story for the books. Elder Brown and I were at Lindo Lake going and talking to people. I heard some distant shouting that grew louder. Eventually we came up to where this lady was swimming in Lindo Lake, which btw is a really gross lake. There was the Park rangers and police there, and a decent sized crowd of people filming the scene. The lady was yelling at everyone saying that since she was homeless the park was her home, and therefore we were all on her property. She was yelling " F- off!" and daring us to "come and get me Mother Truckers" (She said something else). When we walked closer to the crowd people were like "Pray for her!" and also told us to jump in and save her. The lady was probably on drugs or something. We didn't do either because it didn't seem appropriate. People we're filming everything and we were just like "We're gonna let the authorities handle this one". But my favorite line was one lady in the crowd who said "It's so bad that not even the Mormons will pray for her". We continued on and watched from a distance to see what would happen. Eventually the exchange ended and we had a lesson. Didn't see what happened, but she was in there for at least like 30 minutes to an hour. 

3. I'm overtime now so I'm gonna not do a formal spiritual thought. But this is a video we've shared with some members, that I would encourage you all to take to heart.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2021-01-0030-how-to-remember-those-in-the-back-room-of-our-lives-his-hands?lang=eng&alang=eng

Love you all!

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

1. Lightsaber

2. Temple this morning