Week 59 - Answers to Prayers

Good day everyone! Happy Tuesday!

There's a Christlike attribute activity in PMG and I took it this week. I marked low on some of the questions and a big takeaway was that I haven't been very good at noticing answers to prayers. Since then I have tried to be more specific in what I pray for and I've also been keeping a prayer journal to help me notice answers. One of the things I prayed for this week was for biking to get better. I wasn't expecting it to get super easy or anything, but I've been hoping to get more used to it. Well, I received something from that prayer. My former comp Elder Hatch is my Zone Leader and we went on exchanges this week. As we were biking to an appointment we found a biking trail that led literally right to our appointment. I looked on google maps under the bicycling feature and found out that in this area there are all sorts of biking paths in between neighborhoods. We rode through it and it was really nice actually. We tried to capture the moment on camera but it didn't quite show. It felt like an answer and something that made it better. We've also been able to get rides to places which I always appreciate. Plus, I feel like there's a kind of special bonding when you are chatting with a member while driving at night. 

I know there are a few more small answers to prayers that I've received that I wrote down. I just can't remember them right now. But in just a few days my testimony of prayers being answered has been growing!

The work in this area is going good actually. We've been meeting a lot with members because a lot of them haven't  had the missionaries over in a long time. So far, we've also had a good amount of members that have given us names of people to reach out to! We haven't begun teaching anyone from it so far, but it's been cool to see. I feel like things are picking up! The biggest thing I would say I have been praying for is to find those who are read[y to accept the gospel, and to have the faith to find them. It feels like that prayer is being answered!

I guess I don't have any pictures with my actual comp for this week. All these pictures are with Elder Hatch. We were on a 24 hour exchange and at the end he and his comp brought out their polaroids for some exchange pictures (Polaroids are basically cameras that you put film into and then it prints right out of the camera). Elder Reinhart started trashing on their polaroids, talking about how digital pictures are so much better. That was until we took our exchange pictures. Ours is the one below where we're on the stairs, but I don't have Elder Reinharts and the other ZL. It was funny to see Elder Hatch and his comp convince Elder Reinhart against his previous opinion and now, after taking some really nice pictures, he is converted. Elder R literally carries his picture with him everywhere he goes now because he really likes the picture. I like this one too, and also really want to get a Polaroid. Let me know if anyone is interested in contributing to that fund. They're around $80 I think. I might get it for Christmas. 

Second Polaroid picture that we took on the biking trail. It just looks a lot darker.

Also, I colored this rock this week at a service activity

So I'm doing good overall. Missions are kinda hard and I feel like I'm at a weird point. I feel tired and don't want to work sometimes. But at the same time, my greatest desire is to teach by the spirit and help people realize the truth of the gospel and the message of the Restoration. I just have to keep that as my focus. 

I love you all! Hope everything is well.

- Elder Wride

Week 58 - Demon Caster + Lunch with Family

Hello Everyone! Hope you're all doing well. This week has been really good!

1. Run-down

2. Highlights

3. Demon Caster

1. The area is doing ok. We came in with 3 friends we were teaching. One of them is actually in the other Elders in our apartments area so we sent that record to them. The second one is going to be sent out to Oceanside because he actually lives there, which leaves us with 1 person. The one non-member we've met with a few times is named Connor. Things have been good. We taught him the Restoration and also read 3 Nephi 11 with him. He also came to church on Sunday! He's not working right now though and is also homeless. We're working on getting him into the LDS Employment services which would be good. But, he's also YSA, so we passed him off to the Missionaries in the YSA ward because we thought it would be better for him. So, right now we don't have any friends that we're teaching. Hopefully we'll meet some new people as we continue to meet with members, go to parks, knock on doors, find on facebook, etc. The bikes have been ok, but it's been kicking my butt. We haven't biked that far from our area yet. To get from one side to the other takes literally an hour and a half, with what google calls "very steep hills". We've only biked around this side of our area with moderate hills and it's been pretty bad. It's a little humid, and after a 12 minute bike ride to a member lesson, I am sweating really badly. Maybe I'm just out of shape. I'm hoping that either a miracle happens and we get a car, or I get used to it soon, or we could just always ask members for rides. I don't know, but I think our area is way too big for a bike. I think I included last week the fact that our area is bigger than some car areas. Anyway, sorry for the rant. My new comp is Elder Rainhart from Boise, ID. He's doing really well so far, and seems to be loving it. It's really good to hear him talking a lot about the things he's enjoying day to day. I also love being in an apartment with another set of Elders. It's so much fun to be around more people and we've had a lot of laughs already.

2. Here are some highlights of the week.

- We had a member lesson on Wednesday, and the youngest daughter was getting baptized on Saturday. We invited them to think of someone they could invite and they did! They invited us to come as well and it was fun. The non-member coming didn't lead anywhere, but hopefully they felt the spirit. 

- We also had the ward chili cook off and trunk or treat this week! It was fun, but after being there for a long time for the set up and the party, I was pretty beat by the end of it. It was still good and we got to meet more of the ward members there. 

- The biggest highlight this week was having lunch with my aunt and uncle! My extended family has been in Newport this week, and my aunt and uncle were coming down to the San Diego temple to perform baptisms. I talked to the MP, and we were able to meet up for lunch! It was really fun to be with family again for a little bit. It was initially kinda weird to see them again, but after a while it felt like I never left.

3. We were visiting some old records of people previously taught this week. At our first visit, it was the wrong address for the lady we were looking for. The guy said he didn't know her, but while we were talking, I noticed inside that he had a picture of that painting by Harry Anderson of the second coming.  It's the one that I'm pretty sure is in every church building. It's the one where Christ is descending from the clouds in a white robe, and there are tons of angels around him. It's a pretty popular one, and I guess I thought it was exclusive to our church or something. I asked him about it and that led to a very long discussion. Basically, this guy is Christian, and is somewhat familiar with the church, but believes the church to have the doctrine of demons. He talked to us about a lot of things like Joseph Smith, Kingdoms of Glory, etc. He said he had done his research and knew what he was talking about, and while some of the things he said were correct, he also had a lot of partial truths, and complete lies. I guess that's what you find on the Internet. He also told us about his church and how they cast out demons, perform healings, and speak in tongues. It seemed like he believed that our church is not true unless we have people screaming as demons are coming out of them because of the power of the holy spirit in our church services. He was probably the most nice and gracious anti I have met, but it was still a little weird. Near the end he asked if he could say a prayer with us. He grabbed our hands and in a circle he gave us a prayer and a blessing. During the prayer he prayed that demons would be cast out of us and that we would realize our false doctrine. It was a nice gesture, but nothing really happened. We said goodbye and put it in the notes to probably not go back.

Love you all! Thanks for all your love and support.

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

- Picking up my Greenie

- Lunch with Family

- Halloween Party (Elder R was trying to do a last minute costume as a vampire)

Week 57 - New area from Ground Zero, on Bikes, and with a Greenie

Time is zoomin by. I hit 13 months this week. 

I got transferred after 4 months in Lakeside. My new area is Olivenhain, near Carlsbad. And, I am training again! I do not yet know who my new companion is, I wont find out until later tonight. They're flying in today and will spend the whole day with President and Sister Merritt, and then later tonight we will meet for dinner, and head to our areas. I am excited to train again because it will be a new experience with a new companion, and it will be cool to just see how things go. I'm a little worried though because we will be in a brand new area (The ward, and the neighboring ward used to be double covered, but this ward was more neglected). President called and said it would basically be from Ground Zero. Plus, since I'm training I need to show the new missionary all the ropes. Also, we are on bikes! Our area is pretty big. Bigger than a lot of the car areas which I think is lame, but oh well. We live in the top corner of our area so it will take a while to get from one end to the other. It'll be a little tough with that and all the hills, but I am trying to go in with a good attitude. I just took a look at the areabook and it's a little concerning. We have 46 unreported events that I know nothing about because I just got here. I guess I thought after training Elder Johnson I would be able to chill for a little bit, but the Lord had something else in mind. I really just wanted to mainly just have a companion where we can both go head in and work hard. I hope my greenie has greenie fire because it's time for the grind. So, all in all, it might be hard, but I am actually really excited to start over in this area and to get to the grind. Also, I'm in a 4 man apartment just like in the Best Two Years which will be so sick!

I also got new shoes this week and they are pretty squeaky. Mostly because of my orthotics I think. Anyway, the Young Men asked me to help pass in Sacrament on Sunday. I was trying not to squeak and it was pretty hard not to laugh. I got a few comments by members after. They were giving me a hard time.

We also had a cockroach attack us. Actually a few weeks ago, but I forgot about it and then was just reminded of it since Elder Johnson sent me the picture. I'll include the story for content purposes. The night before General Conference, I was laying down in bed while Elder J was finishing his prayer. We then got up for comp prayers and I noticed this weird thing on the wall by the closet. I put on my glasses and saw that it was a cockroach! (I think). Luckily we had some cockroach spray. I had to stand on a chair to reach it, and put on a sweater for protection. It did not like the spray and jumped at me. I screamed really loud and probably disturbed the neighbors (It was like 10:40 or something). We battled for like 10 minutes until I covered him white in the foamy spray and the carpet. The foam evaporated or something and he was still crawling around like crazy. I put some books on top and we left him there overnight. He was dead in the morning.

It's really cool for me to see how I've grown as a missionary. Looking back, I had a lot of things I struggled with that I've simply moved past now: Homesickness, laziness (to some extent), and not having an enthusiasm for the work or the people. But as time and work have gone on, right now I'm at a point where I really just want to teach people. My greatest desire right now is to have one of those moments where you teach someone about the Book of Mormon, and the Restoration, and the spirit is so strong. It all just clicks for them and they have a desire to learn. I wish those moments happened more often. But that's honestly what keeps me going. When I make that my focus and my goal, it makes it so much easier to get through the moments where I don't want to work.

It will all be well. I don't have much else to say. I love the joy this gospel brings, and I hope to make the most out of the rest of my mission! Love you all!

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

- Took pictures at this bench again

- Cockroach

- Burritos

Week 56 - Conference + Tracting

Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great conference weekend and that the rest of your week went well. It's already October which is wild.

Our week was pretty good. Pretty fast but here are some highlights:

- General Conference is literally a holiday as a Missionary it feels. We go over to member houses if we can, they'll typically have food there and it's just a good time. We'll still get some work done between sessions so it's not a complete break, but a lot of the day is taken up. Especially on Saturday. But I really enjoyed conference. I need to review all my notes because I haven't done that yet. But I remember how good I felt listening to the talks! It's so awesome. 

- Been doing more Tracting and its been good. I like the approach we use where we'll ask them if they can help us with a survey about God and family. We'll ask a bunch of questions like "Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God?" "Would you like to be happier than you are now? What would make you happier?", and a bunch of other ones. I think.my favorite is "If there was another book of scripture written by ancient prophets that testifies of Christ, would you read it?". The questions almost always spark a good discussion and it's super easy to transition to the Restoration. Good stuff. We haven't found anyone new this week though. 

- Getting used to Contacts. I like them pretty well. It's made me realize how big my eyes become when I wear glasses. 

- The works going ok. We haven't met with a lot of our friends this week for various reasons. Still hard sometimes when you feel like people aren't progressing, but it's on the Lord's timing. We've been able to coordinate a lot of inactive work with the ward and I think that's been really good for building member trust. Our champion is one member, Brother Lochridge. He's coming to church pretty consistently now and is getting in the Spirit of it. He said back when he did construction, he was the super dependable guy who would get up every morning and show up at 5 AM or so, and that there's no reason he can't come to church at 9 am, for 1 hour, once a week. We've been going over the missionary discussions and he remembers a ton! He's super excited to get into the Saints books and learn more about church history. 

Our week has been well. I'm betting this is my last week in Lakeside because we have transfers next Tuesday. I'll keep you posted next week. Have a good one guys! Love each if you :)

- Elder Wride

Pictures:

- Tracting 

- Picture in front of the church