Week 73 - Displaced

Hello wonderful people,

This week has been long. As the title says, we are DISPLACED. Last Tuesday we were on standby, waiting for our Mission President to let us know what we'd be doing or where we'd be going since our ward/area got dissolved. Last Tuesday night, after P-day, the Zone Leaders called us with news. Basically, we are still here, but without a specific ward or area. Our main responsibility is to transition all our friends to the new missionaries that cover their area, until transfers which are on Feb 14. The problem with that is that we aren't really teaching anyone. We know and we've met a lot of people, but have not formally begun teaching any of them. The ZLs said they know the work would be rather slow, so they said we can go on exchanges 2-3 times a week or so. Most of our members are in La Costa ward and the San Dieguito ward, and we went to both wards on Sunday. So we've gone on exchanges a lot to keep our sanity. The Lord has been looking out for us mainly through the La Costa Elders. We'll either exchange and split up, or they will double book their evenings for dinner appointments, or even all 4 of us will go to an appointment. Yesterday this member generously took all 4 of us to Texas roadhouse. He said it was for "double the blessings"

So even though the circumstances aren't ideal and it's been hard, we are still blessed.

Because of our unique circumstances, there haven't been a ton of new events this week, but here are a few highlights:

- Exchanges on Wednesday with Rancho Carrillo were awesome. It was right after the change so I was feeling especially down. A happy missionary is a teaching missionary and we weren't teaching missionaries. But, on exchanges we had a couple lessons. One was with this returning member and he just really had that fiery spirit and love of the gospel. We reviewed President Nelson's message "The Everlasting Covenant", and talked a lot about hesed. It was so awesome and I just really loved that man. We also had another lesson with one of their investigators and we talked about what is holding him back from Baptism. He said he feels like he doesn't know enough yet and isn't ready to make such a big commitment, but he's practically already a member. He's a dry member (unbaptized). Hope the Rancho Carrillo Elders can work more with him to progress.

- Sunday was good. Like I said, my companion and I attended both La Costa and San Dieguito ward. It was the first Sunday with both wards since the boundary change so it was kind of hectic. Especially since in the San Dieguito ward, they had a change in the bishopric. The bishop of what was previously the Cardiff ward got released, and the new bishop is one of the members of our old ward, Bishop Archibald. It was a really cool testimony meeting because the entire old bishopric, and the bishop's wife, and Bishop and Sister Archibald all bore their testimonies and shared some of their feelings. It was definitely memorable and spiritual. The San Dieguito ward is awesome and it would be cool if Elder Roberts and I got sent there after transfers. One of the current Elders there goes home in 2 weeks, and the other one has already been there for 6 months, so they might be whitewashed. And since Elder Roberts and I know a lot of the members that are now there, it would make a lot of sense to go there. I think the work there is about to pop off

- Met a nice lady, Danielle, this week. Some Elders were moving her out of her old apartment into our area, and they asked if we could help her move in. We went to go help, and she actually lives in our apartment complex! The moving went well and we got to know her. She is a super nice lady from Brazil, and had some contact with missionaries before. We invited her to church and she said she would come next week. She is just one of those people that has that extra brightness about her and I really hope we, or the La Costa Elders can start teaching her too.

 

I have a couple of other things that have been on my mind. Two spiritual thoughts for you

- Back during Christmas time, our Mission President would send out an email for every day of December with a different name of Christ. On the final day, Dec 25, the name they focused on for the day was "My Jesus". Since then, as I have started over the Book of Mormon again, I have noticed how many times the scriptures say "My God", your, their, or other variations of that. And I have decided that that is my favorite name for Christ. Here is the prompt President Merritt included in the email: 

"December 25th: My Jesus - Jesus Christ is magnificent and wondrous, but He is also personal and loving. He created all things and is all-powerful, but He is still focused on our daily, personal struggles to love and be loved. He offers salvation from the worst that could happen to us, while also making possible the very best that we can ever hope to experience. As we contemplate His goodness, His majesty, His care and His nurturing – let us declare with Nephi, “I glory in plainness: I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.” (2 Nephi 33:6) We can all receive God's fullness because of our Jesus, who is Christ the Lord, the Savior AND Redeemer of us all!"

- My second thought is that I have been feeling especially weak this week. Like, I'm not working hard enough, I'm not being faithful enough, we're not seeing miracles or people come to the gospel, and there could be something wrong that I'm doing. I know I need to be patient with myself, but it's hard to combat the natural tendencies. But, as I was studying earlier this week, I came across this quote by Richard G. Scott "When the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy". I know God loves us, and that He is long-suffering and patient with our weaknesses. We just have to keep trying, and call upon the Lord to receive His grace and strength. 

Well I love you all, but I gotta go. Hope everything is well with you all. Keep the faith!

- Elder Wride