Week 81 - Transfers, Missionary Work, Jehovahs Witnesses, etc.

Good evening all,

Sorry I meant to send an email earlier, but today we had transfers and I got caught in the business of it. The news is that I am still in National City, in the Harbor ward, but Elder Aguilar has left, and my new comp is Elder Yuvienco! He is a good guy and he's been out for about the same amount of time as me. If you ever see our facebook page, Come Unto Christ in San Diego, he is the main singer in a lot of the videos. I'm excited for the transfer and the work to be done. I'll miss Elder Aguilar though. He is a funny guy and a hard worker.

The past week has been really good. The past few weeks, we have just really done a good job at using the Book of Mormon as our sickle, meaning that we use it a lot in our interactions, and bring it up soon. The past few weeks we've given out 17 Books of Mormon. Which, compared to previous areas and weeks, is pretty good. We're trying to use it as our main gathering tool, as it is our most effective tool in conversion, combined with the spirit.

Here are a couple of highlights from this week:

- We had a lesson with TeWanda, who is a member that I knew in my area from over a year ago! She was recently baptized when I got transferred in, and me and my trainer had the opportunity to teach her a lot of the new member lessons, as well as about Patriarchal blessings. We talked with her about the Endowment and she really wants to get it as soon as possible. She's one of those members where you can see how the gospel has changed their lives, and it is just a testament that the gospel is true. We are hoping to work with her husband as well, but he is military and is gone all the time, so maybe not before I leave.

- While making visits this crazy lady motioned us with her finger to come over to her. We didn't know why, but didn't feel like anything was wrong. Turns out she just wanted to pray with us, and got some of the other hoodlums that were chillin around us.  A lot of them were high and one of the guys was blind too. We all got in a circle and held hands, and overall it was kind of weird, but also fun. After she said God bless, and said we were bold for being out here "in da hood".

- We had a big service day on Saturday. In the morning we went over to a lady, Michelle, who needed some help moving stuff out of her house to the dump. A lot of it was just furniture or other stuff she didn't want left over by her now, college+ aged kids. We went over as a whole district and she was super grateful. Since she was getting rid of the stuff, we were also free to grab stuff we wanted. The greatest finds were this really big painting of a desert village, a Foosball table, and I also got this big plastic crayon. So it was good, and we reaped rewards. Later, we also went over to one of our members to put a trampoline together for her kids out in the front yard. About halfway through the service we looked around and there were a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses. There were about 8 of them, all in companionship's of 2, and spread throughout the street. We're not sure if they knew that we were missionaries, but they didn't talk to us. As they walked by we said hello, but they just looked at us. It was weird because they only knocked like 3 doors total. The rest of the time they were just standing, or walking slowly/awkwardly around. It also probably wasn't very effective for all of them to be on the same street, but whatever. Elder Aguilar and I couldn't help but trash on them for their lack of knocking door skills. Especially considering that they were all full grown adults, and comparatively, we are just kids.

For my spiritual thought, I wanted to share a little experience. For the past little bit, I feel like I have been wrestling with questions. I have been studying, praying, and I have felt like it is hard for me to understand a lot of gospel concepts, especially grace. Sometimes, I just get really frustrated because I feel like I am just confusing myself overthinking it. As I was thinking, I had a little question pop into my mind which was "Do you believe that the Savior knows and loves you?" It is a simple question, and one that we've all sort of thought before, but this time it felt deeper. And as I was thinking about it, it just put into perspective the importance of some questions over others. I may still not have a full, mature understanding of grace, but when I think about how the Savior knows and loves me, and about what He has done, all other questions or struggles seem less relevant. It helped me realize that we can have joy in any circumstance in our lives, and there is no struggle that can overpower the powers of Christ's redemption. The most important thing is that we can be saved through Him, and no circumstance or trial on earth compares in magnitude to that. It's a very simple realization, and like many other lessons I've had on my mission, it is not a new one. It is one that I probably already knew and understood vaguely, but it is now a lot deeper and more real or relevant.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Love you all!

- Elder Wride

Week 80 - Good Things Are Happening

Buenos días mi amigos

Good week! We have found and begun teaching 5 new people! I will share some of them with you.

- Joe is a guy the Elders met before I transferred in. For the past 4 weeks we have been trying to meet with him, and this past Wednesday we finally got something set! We went over and talked a lot about the truth and about a lot of questions that he had. We explained the Book of Mormon, and the best question he could ask was "How should I read it, and how can I know that this is true?" We went over Moroni's promise and invited him to begin reading the story of Nephi. It was a really good and long lesson, and we met with him again tomorrow.

- We also met Rhonda this week. She was a media referral from a facebook ad, but we haven't been able to contact her for a while. On Friday we stopped by to see if she was home, and she was! She remembered filling out the online form and said it was because she has some friends and has heard good things about the church. She just wants more peace in her life, and we shared the video "Men's hearts shall fail them", and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. We also explained and gave her a Book of Mormon and some scripture references to read. At the end, Elder Aguilar said he felt prompted to give her a priesthood blessing, and she accepted. It was a nice blessing that we think helped her. We haven't been able to see her since because she's been sick, but we have an appointment Thursday.

Those are just a couple of the people we are trying to work with. I will update you as time goes on. I would also like to ask for prayers for Annette. You may remember her from when I first came to this area 4ish weeks ago. She progressed really fast, understood everything, and was golden for Baptism, but shortly after that, she had a lot of stuff happen with Family, work, and other relationships. She's going through it and hasn't been able to come to church for the past 4 weeks, so the YSA sisters have been pushing her baptismal date back. We're not sure how to help her, except to support the Sisters, and give and ask for prayers. 

One funny highlight from this week was on Sunday, as we were walking around, we found these 2 closet doors on the side of the street that said "Free" on them. Elder Aguilar wanted to try taking the door to somebody's house so when we knocked on the door, they opened just to see another door. We also flipped the sign that said "free" to "knock". It is called "door to door, door knocking", and in our experience, it does not work. We tried it a couple times, and people were not amused. Some didn't even answer the door, but just gave us weird looks through the window.

Another big highlight from this week was my Aunt and Uncle stopping by! They were in California for a wedding and vacation stuff, so they stopped by to take me and Elder Aguilar to lunch. It was good to see them.

A lot of good things are happening, and it all traces back to Jesus Christ. Previously, I have wondered how exactly Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Don't people have light in their lives who do not follow Him? They may, but I think President Nelson said it best when he refers to these as "Nothing but a hollow substitute for the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God". Another thing to consider is that Jesus Christ is the Creator! He made the earth, life, and all the other good things around us. Because of him, all good things exist. But there is more than that! Because of Jesus Christ, we can return to God, who is who we truly belong with. It goes back to our first and most important identity being that we are children of God. That is our true identity, and therein lies our true potential. Which potential can be achieved in and only through Christ. If the church and Book of Mormon are true, this is true.

I also wanted to share one quote that a Sister shared in our District Council. She said "I don't think Joy is the same as happiness. To me, Joy just means being with Christ". I have had similar thoughts and think this is true for many emotions other than happiness. I don't think anger or fear exist as well with joy, but I do think sorrow or other kinds of suffering can. For Christ is a man acquainted with grief. And on my mission, or other times that I have experienced sorrow or suffering, I have a deeper constant type of joy as I try to keep the faith. 

Thank you again and again for all your love and support!

- Elder Wride

Week 79 - More People

Greetings! It is another beautiful day, and we have had another good week in this part of the Lord's vineyard.

This Saturday we had a District Blitz. Our area has been struggling, so all the Missionaries came to our area and we were out working all morning. We paired English Elders with Spanish, that way we can have each companionship cover 2 languages. It was a good morning. The highlight of the experience goes back to a promise that President Merritt gave me on Wednesday. He told me if I kept going at the moment that I felt like giving up, that last contact would be someone we could teach. During the last hour of the 3 hour blitz, Elder Tobler and I were knocking through an apartment complex. We had made a visit with someone you used to be taught, and went around. We were facing a lot of rejection that morning and also got bashed by a Jehovah's Witness. We thought it might be time to switch gears, but Tobler wanted to knock on a specific door. We walked over there and there was no answer. While we were waiting I looked at the parking lot and noticed that the parking lot space and apartment number were the same. A lot of the cars were gone. But I noticed a parking space where a car was parked, for an apartment we had not knocked. As we were walking out, we walked past that door and so I figured we'd knock it—them being home increases the likelihood of them answering. That's how we met Liliana. She is a cool lady and said she opened the door when she saw "Jesucristo" on Toblers tag because she's been going through a tough time. We shared the Book of Mormon with her, read the Introduction together, set a return appointment, and invited her to read 3 Nephi 11. It was very good

 

We've met a lot of other people since then and got a lot of referrals from the Blitz, but none of them have progressed too much. Hopefully I'll be able to update you on them soon. 

We also had a public Devotional with Elder Gary Sabin called "Why I Believe". We've been getting ready for it for a while, especially Elder Aguilar because he's performed in it on the Cello. But it was a good program! The best part was the "How Great Thou Art" performance. It's a new version of the song written by some missionaries here. I'll include a link to it when they finish the Facebook video so you can all hear it as well. From the stand you could see a lot of tears. I also got to see past members, recent concerts, and missionaries I used to serve around. 

Yesterday was also a memorable day. I went on exchanges with our DL, Elder Vesterfelt. The craziest part for me was this one guy we crossed paths with. We waved as we were walking by and asked how his day was going and he just stared at us. We repeated the question, thinking he might not have heard us, but then he got a little upset and told us to go away. I was ready to comply, but Vesterfelt had a little bit of an issue and wanted to know what this guy's problem was. He started telling us that we were part of a cult and started walking up to Vesterfelt, but he didn't back down. Mind you, this was in the middle of the hood, and the sun was setting, so I thought he might punch or shoot Vesterfelt. But he was actually just walking past to get to his car parked in the street. We began walking away, but one of the best parts was Vesterfelt telling him that he should do his research for calling our church a cult. He also spat at our feet, so that was nice. Vesterfelt has a bit of an attitude with those kinds of people but we walked away. 

We also went to the USS Midway Museum today which was very cool to see. I had been earlier last July, but we saw some things we hadn't seen last time.

    

So it's been a good week. One of the things I've been thinking about is the commission to remember! The Book of Mormon tells us to remember over 200 times. Why? Because we are so forgetful. As I have come closer to the end, I am very grateful that I have kept a daily journal, and recently, I have been trying to record the daily good things that have been happening. Whether it be a funny story or contact we had, a time I felt the Spirit teach me something, a good member meal and lesson, or something I'm grateful for, just anything good! It helps me remember all the little things. Little things, that when kept track of, become great things all together. 

Anyway, I must go to bed, but I love you all! God bless

- Elder Wride

Week 78 - 18 Months: Sister Mission Complete

Kamusta sa lahat! ("Hello everyone" in Tagalog)

I'm still an English missionary, but since my companion is a tagalog speaker, and we are in a tagalog area, I figured I would get myself a tagalog name tag. I will probably only wear it to Zone Conferences, because then people may expect me to know how to speak it. I am trying to learn a little bit of basic words and phrases, but I don't know very much. However, some words like numbers and days of the week are the same as in Spanish.

We also had Zone Conference this week! It was a good time. We talked a lot about having confidence in Christ, and how that helps us be bold, and have courage as we go about our work. We also expounded a bit on the Faith Spectrum that I talked about from last week. First, we have desire, then we believe, then we trust, then we have confidence, then we have reliance. We talked about having unshaken and perfect faith and went over Jacob 4:6. 

We have been working hard and doing our best. I still honestly feel like I have a personal cloud following me for a long time that makes it so we don't find people to teach. We have a couple of friends, but we just always have a hard time scheduling things with them. We had another good progressing friend that we passed off to the YSA sisters, named Joseph. So that is 2 for our friends that we passed off. But it is ok! We've still been knocking doors, visiting people, and inviting them to learn more.We've had a number of good interactions and good people we have met, but haven't started teaching any of them. Yet.

 

(We found some Sombreros)

We went to two different Baptisms on Saturday. One was for Shirley, who was being taught by the other Elders in our ward. She is a very nice and calm lady, and it was really cool to hear her testimony after her baptism. We are excited that she is in our ward.

We also went to a Baptism for the Spanish ward that covers this same area. We invited Anette (who is being taught by the YSA), to help her get an idea for what her baptism might be like on Wednesday. She had something come up unfortunately. She also hasn't gone to church for the second week in a row, and might have her baptism pushed back. She wants to be baptized, but she's been going through it with her family, and also got a new job and has been working crazy hours. We'll see and we pray for them. She is a very elect lady.

For my thought this week, I wanted to share this quote by Joseph Smith: "I see no faults in the Church, and therefore let me be resurrected with the Saints, whether I ascend to heaven or descend to hell, or go to any other place. And if we go to hell, we will turn the devils out of doors and make a heaven of it. Where this people are, there is good society". I really like that quote and I've thought a lot about it. I have met so many amazing members. Members in San Diego, at home, fellow missionaries and other leaders. I may be a little biased, especially since members treat the missionaries well, but I have never seen or heard of a more fine group of people than the Saints of this church. I do feel like I have some qualifications to make this claim because I meet a lot of random people every day. I also have the opportunity to get to know members on another level, by going into, and feeling the spirit in their homes and hearing their testimonies and experiences. Being able to do so is a very testimony building thing. Last night, I stayed up late, laying in bed, thinking of the hundreds, and hundreds, and possibly thousands of names and faces of people that I have met in my life that are members of the church. They are amazing people, and there's no other group that I would rather associate myself with.

There are so many good things happening. For the past little while, I have been struggling because I feel like I am forgetting so many things. I am very grateful that I have made a habit of journaling every day on my mission. Just this week, as I hit 18 months, I finished Journal III. I have 4 journals on my mission, and I have written enough, and it seems to be timed almost perfectly, for me to have 1 journal for each quarter of my mission. But I have also begun writing down small good things that have been happening in a smaller book. I use it to record spiritual promptings, times I have been an instrument in God's hand, and just little good or funny things. As I've taken the time to record it, I am realizing how good things are, and how blessed I am.

I feel so much love for you guys! Thank you for all your support over the past year and a half. I would not have made it far without it. Here is to the next 6 months!

- Elder Wride