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
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