Week 68 - Last Christmas as a Missionary

Hello! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. It was my second and last Christmas as a Missionary. It has been a pretty good week. It seems like it's generally been harder to meet with people and find. We didnt do any tracting or calling to meet with members on Christmas and Christmas Eve (for good reason). So it's been more social media and some park finding/walking around neighborhoods and talking to people we pass. Except this week we also did a ton of Caroling! We went on 3 different days this week as a District (forgot to take pictures) to our different wards. Even though I feel like Caroling is a little weird, it was really sweet to see all the members and non-members that were touched by it. Sometimes we would be caroling at a house and someone nearby would compliment us. Then we would go over there and ask them what their favorite song was. It was really cool, and it's something we can really only do during this time of year. But other than that a lot of people have been out of town. Yesterday we went tracting for an hour or 2 and we only had like 7 people answer. We've also found out that a lot of members are going, or already are out of town between Christmas and New Years. But it's been good. Christmas and Christmas Eve were pretty regular days except we could spend more time at our meal appointments and we got to call home. I did also keep up with the family tradition of sleeping by the tree. 

 Elder Quiner and Gudino joined too, but Reinhart didn't want to ):

 

Here are a couple other things for this week

- Had our friend Bryce at church on Christmas! Good to see her there. Hope to be able to begin teaching her more soon. She's good friends with a member family and that's why she comes. It's been hard to meet with her but we still communicate.

- On Monday we delivered the last of our goodies to our friends and other members. One visit Michael, didnt answer, and so we ended up just leaving the brownies for whenever he came by. After dropping off the brownies, we normally stopped by to make sure they got it but we forgot to do so with Michael. We were walking by his place on Thursday and we were pretty sure he got them but we thought we'd double check. And they were still there! I don't know what it is with some people. We know he was home at some point because the cards we left were gone, and he'll also leave his skateboard out when he's home. But for some reason he didnt take the brownies. Hopefully that doesn't mean he's not interested anymore. The brownies were pretty stale but we weren't just going to let them go to waste.

- In Personal Study I read Moroni 7+8 today. Super good.Chapter 7 is probably my favorite in the Book of Mormon (except for those in 3 Nephi). There were so many verses that stood out to me, but one that I wanted to share was Moroni 8:3 "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end". It reminds me of Brad Wilcox in his talk "His Grace is Sufficient" saying that Grace is not the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is the light moving us through the tunnel. I just thought that was cool. I would invite anyone to read those chapters.

We had a really good District Council yesterday. We are coming up on the last week of the transfer (5/6) and this was how we were doing on our Key Indicator goals. New People taught: 3/10. Church attendances: 21/50. Weeks of people being on date 3/6 (This ones a little confusing. Basically what it is is how many weeks one person has been on date. For example: If a friend is on date for 3 weeks it counts as 3 instead of 1). People Baptized: 0/1. It was a pretty big oof. Things in our area have been especially hard for me. I'm at 11 weeks in this area today and we've only begun teaching one person (they moved too). So throughout this whole time we have not been teaching anyone. As we were reviewing our goals, it was proposed that we should have our goals for this last week be: 1 New add per companionship this week (4 total). 10 more church attendances this next week, and 1 new person put on date for baptism. Thinking logically, I really did not think we would be able to begin teaching anyone new. We have had so much potential for so long, but I've been doubting whether or not we will actually begin teaching anyone because it's been so long. But, as a district we really prayed, trying to know what God's goals were. We believed that if we involve the Lord in the goal setting process, and really work hard to achieve them, that it will happen. I'm still somewhat skeptical, but I also believe in Miracles, and I hope that we can really work hard this week and achieve our goal as an area to within the next now 5 days (by Sunday), begin teaching one new person, have 2 people to church, and maybe have 1 new person on date. I really liked this quote that we read from Preach My Gospel "If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit". I have been struggling to have a vision of high expectations for this area, and I want to be more faithful. Prayers this week are greatly appreciated.

This is the only other picture I have for this week. My desk has become more crowded over time, but I feel like those are all essentials. Especially the Rocktopus. The new additions from Christmas are the picture of my family (That one is the only one in there that has everyone else), the oil lamp, the Lego Millenium Falcon, and there's also a little lego basketball hoop with one of those characters that you can shoot with (springs in his legs). 

It was a good Christmas! Love you all and appreciate all your love and support. 

- Elder Wride

Week 67 - God Takes Care of Us

Hello There! Hope everything is well.

First, here are some pictures from the temple last Tuesday

And the Brad Wilcox Zone Conference from last week

For finding this week we've done a good amount of Brownie deliveries which has been good. Mostly for our friends and some other members. My favorite delivery was to our friend Jonathon. He's just super happy and was very grateful. Said we might be able to meet sometime after Christmas. We've also still been doing a good amount of Tracting

Had two exchanges this week. One with Elder Hansen who is an Elder in the District. We're actually both from Sandy and when we first met we kind of had a feeling we knew each other. Haven't figured it out after 10 or so weeks. This was from a Christmas party we went to.

I also had exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Encinitas. I was with Elder Whetstone who was actually my seatmate on the plane ride here to San Diego. It was a good exchange and we got a lot of good work done. My highlight of that day was dropping off a Christmas tree to some members of the ward. Another member bought the tree and wanted us to deliver it to them because he wanted to remain anonymous. The couple has been going through a lot of challenges. One of them is going through chemotherapy for I think the 5th time over many years. They were super grateful. Even though I didn't know them well and it was my first time meeting them I still just felt a lot of love for them. It was awesome.

So, last week I included in my email that I crashed on my bike and broke the seat. When I first came into the field the mission took care of repairs, but the vehicle coordinator messaged us back and said that I would be responsible for it. I was concerned and didn't know how much of the bike seat would need to be replaced. If it was just the saddle, or if the whole seat post and up. From a quick google search it looked like a seat post and saddle replacement could be $100-$200. I was worried about it most of the week and was thinking back to some of the thoughts I've shared about the Lord looking out for me. I remember earlier this year when I needed to get Orthotic devices, which were very expensive. The Lord was looking out for me and Doctor Krage gave them to me for free. I've been blessed by many other members with mostly food, but also new shoes, and other needs me or my companions have had. This time, however, I doubted for a bit. It wasn't even that much money, probably the least out of the other things I've mentioned, but I still felt a little upset. The Rancho Carrillo ward Elders then told me that they had an unused bike saddle that I could have. Yesterday, as I tried to look at more of the damage, I figured out how to take the old saddle off and replace it and voila! It was all fixed! It was humbling and next time I will try to not be so quick to forget that the Lord can take care of even the little things. Just because he can, doesn't mean he always will, but it is important to be grateful when he does.

This kind of goes along with what I've been thinking a lot about, which is sight. Specifically, spiritual sight. In Ether 4:15 it says "rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind". I thought that the representation of being blind compared to a veil was really cool. I have felt so much sadness as I get further into the mission on the state of the world. I am surrounded by people who do not believe and their eyes are blinded to what the gospel really means and is. I know that is the case because I feel like my eyes were opened from coming on a mission. I feel like I have not understood what the gospel really is, and now that I know more, I struggle to help others to see. I like what the rest of the verse says: "mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel." I feel like these blessings I've been experiencing are only things we can recognize when we have faith. The Savior himself also said to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 19:35 "So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief". It can be hard to have faith in things we cannot fully see, but it does not require perfect faith. The Lord just asks us to believe, and I believe that the things I have seen and experienced are witnesses that the scriptures are what they say they are.

Also, here are some fire pictures we took the other day

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I love this work and this gospel! I love all of you! Thank you for all your prayers and support and I wish you a Merry Christmas this week!

- Elder Wride

Week 66 - Dirt + Mud

Hey Everyone! Another week has come around.

Elder Reinhart was sick on Wednesday and Thursday so not a whole lot happened. Thursday was our Zone Conference which was a bummer that we couldn't go in person. The 5+ hours over zoom wasn't very superb but I still enjoyed the trainings a lot. I have gained a strong testimony of Zone Conferences because they're always exactly what I need. I don't know what I'll do after the mission without them. One training I really liked was by President Merritt about being able to take correction. He talked about the difference between acceptimg and seeking correction, and just the overall blessings of having that kind of Humility. Since then I've tried to be better about seeking correction from those around me.

Set up the Christmas tree this week as well. Special thanks to Grandma Wride for going above and beyond.

The title of this email refers to the two times this week I have fallen on soil. They were both pretty much my own fault. Last Tuesday, after P-day I committed a dumb by deciding it would be a good idea to attempt to slightly touch Reinharts back tire with my front tire. It wasn't, and I crashed into the dirt at the apartment (we were on our way home). I wasn't too badly hurt, just scraped my hand and a little headache. My bike was a little bit more badly hurt. We haven't been able to get it fixed yet, and needless to say it has been very uncomfortable to ride.

The second one was due to the rain we experienced Saturday and Sunday. Our church building is right next to our apartment so we always just walk. As missionaries we are also supposed to wear our suits every Sunday. You might be able to tell where this is going. On our way to the church there's a grassy and muddy area. I took the muddy area because it's barely shorter. I slipped and fell into the mud a little and got it on my suit. It is now getting dry cleaned.

We actually had 2 zone conferences this week. The one I mentioned earlier, and also one with Brad Wilcox! It was really good. He talked a lot about the gathering of Israel and the Second coming. One of the really cool things he talked about was how basically what we're doing right now is just preparing for the second coming. That when the Savior comes, there is going to be probably billions of people coming to the church, and that when that happens, we need to have temples, stakes, bishops, etc. He talked about how in our different tribes in Israel, we will have different roles and responsibilities given to us when the Savior comes. It was super cool and spiritual.

We also went to the temple this morning, but whoever has them hasn't sent them in our District chat. Will probably just include it next week. It was really early though. Going to the temple for a 6:30 session can be nice, but I feel extra tired. 

For a quick spiritual thought, one of the things I wanted to share is just how cool the Bible is. Reading the Book of Mormon is important and I know why it's emphasized, but if you don't read the Bible there is a lot of cool stuff that you miss out on. Today at the temple I was reading some scriptures in Revelations, and other random parts of the bible from the topical guide. Really cool to see how well the church doctrine still is supported by the bible. I've been reading the New Testament during personal study as well. Right now I'm in 2 Corinthians. One of my favorite verses from that is 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

Love you all!

- Elder Wride

Week 65 - Where Are You Christmas?

Good day, everyone! Christmas season has officially begun. The main event of this week was this Christmas Concert for our stake that was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's the first time they've done it since covid and apparently it was a pretty big deal back in the day. They have always had many many non-members there so it was also to be a good missionary event. We've been handing out invitations to the program for like 5-6 weeks now. They wanted every missionary in the zone there every night to hand out programs and start conversations with people. It was a good event, but I'm kind of glad it's over. One can only listen to the same hour and a half concert for so long. It was pretty high quality though. The one song that hit especially hard for us missionaries was "Where are you Christmas?". It's weird because it honestly does not even feel like Christmas right now. It feels like we just had Christmas not that long ago, and here we are again. It is a seemingly never ending cycle at this point.

Our district did a facebook live event on facebook. It's not super great, but if you want to watch it it's on the Come Unto Christ in San Diego page. I thought it wasn't a good idea to do it at a conflicting time with the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Plus, we were doing it right before the Christmas concert in one of the rooms at the Stake Center. During the event a couple people came by and tried to come into the room. When we ended we saw a sign that said "Boys Dressing Room". We're pretty sure it wasn't up there before, but oh well. 

Elder Reinhart is kind of an interesting and childish guy. Not in a bad way, he just has interesting behavior and humor. I sometimes feel like a single mom with a misbehaving child when he's distracted or misbehaving in public. The other day he used 12 eggs and bought a giant loaf of garlic bread and decided to make it for lunch. He was confident he could eat at least half of it for lunch. A quarter of a sandwich later he felt sick for some reason and we were late to our next activity. He finished the last of it this morning. Being in a 4 man apt with him and the other 2 elders is definitely an adventure, but it's fun.

Love you lots!

- Elder Wride