#2 mini-missionary comp - 09/02/13

Transfers happen a week from today. Can't wait to see what happens! 

My current companion is another mini-missionary.  He's part Chinese, part Hawaiian. He likes to play his ukulele and generally keeps to himself. Pretty chill. I like him. I only have to deal with him for a week, so no worries. 
I got sick this week, which somehow allowed me to sleep from about 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.  I feel bad for my past mini. He listened to my music and played with the Nerf guns while I slept. He also put a pretty impressive drawing up on the whiteboard, which I will include as an attachment. :D 

The miraculous thing is that I got a priesthood blessing from my buddies the Zone Leaders and felt good enough to go out almost instantly. But then we discovered that my mini had a flat tire, and that we couldn't go anywhere. Then we got somebody to take us to Wal-Mart and buy a new inner tube after dinner, and it was the wrong size tube. So we had to go back to Wal-Mart the next morning and return that tube and get the right tube. All in all, a lot of time at Wal-Mart. But it's okay. Stuff happens.  

The Lasselle ward elders had a double header baptism on Saturday! I was so thrilled for them. And the Lasselle ward came out in force to support them. I was kind of worried that no one would show up but it was a packed house. I'm so proud of those elders and of the two young ladies they baptized. I got to give the baptismal interviews on Thursday and I really enjoyed it. There is something special about those interviews. I just felt the spirit so strongly. 

And I can kind of appreciate how much change the two ladies went through to join the church. I hadn't met the first one, but she had a learning disability of sorts and still managed to learn a lot about the gospel in a short amount of time. I could tell she had been prepared by the spirit. And the latter one, I had only met once, in a less-than-righteous environment. But she is committed to living the standards of the gospel, and I could see her determination. They have both been converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was so cool to be able to see it firsthand. 

The sad news about all this is that they broke up the dream team. The trainer in the Lasselle ward got emergency reassigned Saturday morning and was not allowed to go to the baptism. So the other Lasselle Elder had to hang out with me all day while we prepped for the baptism. It was a very sad thing that he couldn't be there. And even odder that they couldn't wait another week for regular transfers, and for the 12-week training program to be finished. 
I have been surrounded by the best and worst of missionary life in MoVal. And nothing has stayed stable for me for very long. I guess the Lord wants me to learn to be flexible. And I think I'm learning.

We had very spiritual visits with a less-active guy with one leg, with our country gal eternagator in the canyon, the Suicide Silence family, and my favorite CA public defendant lawyer guy. Hopefully there will be more of those this week that really touch my heart! I'm about to finish out a transfer here, and I feel like I'm overwhelmingly getting attached to the people that I have the opportunity to teach. But I kind of doubt I'm leaving right now. We'll see what happens. 

I love you all! Keep the faith and don't give up. 1 Corinthians 3:16

"As eternal beings, we each have in us a spark of divinity. And, as one who has traveled over much of this world, on both sides of the iron curtain, I am convinced that our Father’s children are essentially good. They want to live in peace, they want to be good neighbors,  they love their homes and their families, they want to improve their standards of living,  they want to do what is right, they are essentially good. And I know that God loves them"

- Spencer W. Kimball