Simply having a wonderful Christmas time - 12/17/12

"Well Elder... you're great."

That's what President Smart usually has to say during our interviews. He's not the most social person in the world, but he always makes his missionaries feel like he loves them. He also makes us feel like he can peer into our souls and know everything about us. But he still loves us, so that must be a good thing.

This week, my companion and I had interviews, and he also interviewed the best investigator I've had in a long time ("EQ"). He got baptized the very next day. He didn't invite any family or friends, but a lot of the ward showed up to support him. And they brought food, too. I felt bad because I couldn't bake anything super special for his special day, but I did find the time to whip up a box of brownies.

On Sunday, we attended a special musical performance that was composed and performed by members of our stake. It was pretty good. I met Sister Beckstrom there, the missionary that served in my home ward before I came here. She took a picture for facebook, if any of you are friends with her. She's a sweetheart, and she's excited to serve a mini-mission for a couple weeks after Christmas. That seems like a pretty cool opportunity to me.

Exchanges with the Zone Leaders were also this week, and that was a whole lot of fun. I love our Zone Leaders to bits. They are very good missionaries. I got to teach a killer first lesson to a potential investigator, which was super refreshing because we haven't found any new investigators in the three weeks I've been here.

Three weeks? That's half a transfer! I still don't know my ward or my area at all, and I'm sure my comp will be leaving me soon, since this is his fifth transfer in Murrieta. So I better pay attention and figure out what's going on so I don't look completely incompetent.

Christmas Eve will be next p-day. I don't know if the library will be open or not, to be honest, but I've got a homeshare that will bail us out if we need it. Hopefully we can figure out skype arrangements for our bi-yearly call home.

If I don't get to do it later, I'll go ahead and wish you a Merry Christmas right now. There are a few families in the ward that want us to see them either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so we should be taken care of. Do me a favor and look at the Sara Bareilles song "Love is Christmas". Know that you are all loved and cared about, especially during the few seconds between my head hitting the pillow at night and the alarm going off at 6:30am.

It's that time of the year - 12/10/12

Happy Holidays everyone! I'm enjoying my time here in Murrieta. It's a little bit colder here, but it still doesn't feel much like winter. It is actually cold enough for me to wear a sweater or a suit coat without being hot. So that's something, right?

There are so many names to remember and I don't know a third of them. But, as of tomorrow, I will have been a missionary for 8 months. That's a third of my mission gone already. How does that feel? I am a bit shocked to be honest. I still have no idea what I'm doing. But I've been involved in a lot of good teaching and made a lot of good friends.

Speaking of which, I forgot to tell you guys that I had a baptism last week. My very first week in the ward, and we baptized 7 children in a part-member family. How cool is that? This family has been inactive in the church for a long time, until my companion tracted into them and started teaching them. I showed up just in time to get them interviewed and see them a couple times before they got dunked. It was a marvelous service. It was also the first baptism in the Cole Canyon ward since it was organized in March. It was amazing to see it happen. Obviously, it wasn't as special to me, because I hardly knew the family, but it was still great to see it.

I've discovered again how small the LDS world is. Apparently one of David Parry's (friend from home ward in S.C.) home teachers at BYU lives in my ward. The Zone Leaders live at the Perkins' home in the middle of Bear Creek, a super nice gated community with golf courses and multimillion dollar homes in it. Yeah, that's the kind of people that live in my wards. It's a major change of pace.

Also, a missionary that served her mission in South Carolina lives in Murrieta, I heard from another Elder in my zone, and she remembers serving in my ward while I was a ward missionary. That's a bit scary for me because I can't remember what she looks like, and I know I was probably a super slack ward missionary. It's a bit embarrassing especially now that I'm on the other side and I understand how frustrating that can be. (Brooke Beckstrom. Anyone remember her?)

Probably the most shocking is when I made super good friends with a guy and his wife, only to discover that the wife served her mission with my brother in the newly formed New Mexico Farmington mission. Then after we moved out, I discovered that his dad and my dad were childhood friends. I still can't get over that. I'm turning into my Grandma Hansen and how excited she gets over little connections like that. (No, I don't think they went to East High.)

Well I hope all is well with you guys wherever you are! Know that I love you and that I'm going to be just peachy here.

This week I discovered a scripture that covers the same bases as three of my favorite scriptures: D&C 68:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:16, and D&C 122. All covered in the first three verses of D&C 98. Check it out.

Merry Christmas!

The Lord gave and the Lord hath taketh away - 12/03/12

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Sorry for being such a downer in my last letter. I was upset and spoke from the "bitterness of my soul". (Job 10:1) I've since come to a greater trust that "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Nephi 2:24)

 

The first few days in Murrieta were a bit slow. Every single one of our appointments canceled the first day, and all but one canceled the second and third days. I found that as long as we were trying our best to do missionary work, I was given the strength physically and emotionally to smile and bear testimony and teach with the spirit. But once we made it back to the homeshare, I fell apart. I was totally exhausted. But I still put my trust in the Lord and tried my hardest the next day to be a good missionary.

We cover two wards, the Cole Canyon ward and the Murrieta Hills ward. The Cole Canyon ward was just organized in March and it's still pretty new. Geographically speaking, it's absolutely tiny. I've never seen a ward this small except in Utah. Murrieta Hills is a bit bigger, because it covers the mansions that all sit on their own hills five miles apart out in the country. I'm told we'll be eating at the home of a billionaire next week. I feel so out of place with all these rich white folks. I'm always afraid that I'll come off as a classless country kid. Luckily for me, I have the promise of the Lord, so I will be "strong and of a good courage", like in Joshua 1:9.

The downside of being in such a wealthy area is that it's awfully darn hard to tract. Nobody is ever home. We tracted for 3 hours one morning and only talked to 4 people. That's a huge difference from Jurupa Valley. Granted, it was from 10AM to 1PM, which is a poor time to tract anyways, but there's not much else we could have been doing, either. I'm going to have to get used to this kind of stuff. The best way for us to do our work, our ward mission leaders have told us, is to support and strengthen the members so that they trust us to teach their friends. I think I can do that. I have to learn two wards worth of people, but as much as I love people, surely I can rise to the challenge.

I sat through a ward council and 2 3-hour church blocks yesterday while fasting. That was an adventure, especially since we split up for part of it and Elder "C" didn't tell me where to go. Somewhere between bearing my testimony in the first ward and bearing my testimony in the next ward, I felt the spirit tell me that I would be able to do my job here and do it well. I folded my arms and said in my mind, "Challenge Accepted." I want to be able to look God in the eye and say that I gave it my best shot.

And I think I've done it, so far. I helped build a manger for a live nativity. I met a bunch of members, many of which enjoyed my testimony in testimony meeting. And I think I'm starting to get used to my companion. All will be fine. I trust in the Lord.

Broadening my horizons - 11/26/12

What a week. I burnt myself out trying to work too hard, for which I was reprimanded by the mission nurse. I took a four hour nap the next day, which helped a little. Exchanges day turned into errand-running day, with a trip to the mission office, a service project that I wasn't allowed to help with, and a surprise apartment inspection. We fixed the broken toilet and the light in the living room that day, so I consider that an accomplishment. I wish I had paid more attention when Dad fixed things around the house, because I feel kind of inadequate when things break and I don't know how to fix it. Luckily that's what the apartment maintenance guy is for.

Thursday was full of fun and way more food that I probably should have eaten. We had two meal appointments that day, one in the early afternoon and one in the evening, and they were both delicious. I started having sharp pains in my abdomen that day, but I'm kind of hoping it was just gas, or overeating.

I became very sentimental this week. I was sitting there with my miracle convert family  and realized how much like family I felt when I was at their house. I felt very loved, very comfortable, and very much at home. It was so powerful it brought a tear to my eye. I really and truly love these people, and I'm so happy to serve with them.

I also got sentimental when we put up the Christmas tree and lights that we found in the apartment closet. I will always love that about the holidays, seeing the bright shining lights of the Christmas tree when the room is dark and silent. It's a very special thing to me. Even if it's only a fake tree that's a foot tall. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a real live tree at my Ward Mission Leader's house. I smelled it the moment I set foot in the house. Love that smell.

Saturday morning, President Smart called us about Elder "A" serving as a Zone Leader in Yucaipa. We were both pretty excited about that. As much as we loved teaching together, we drove each other crazy in the time that we spent not doing missionary work.

He's going to be a Zone Leader in Yucaipa. I thought for sure I'd stick around and recover some more, since I still hurt and I'm still taking naps and taking narcotics. Well, that's not the case, as I discovered at 10:20 on Saturday night. I'm being transferred to Murrietta.

Well, by the time church rolled around, I was done being upset, and we ran around making our goodbyes and taking pictures. I'm so happy that I got to spend time here, and I'm super grateful for the ties I've made. Hopefully I can keep writing these people and start work in my new area even though I'm not 100%. My ride will be taking me there this afternoon. Wish me luck.