To be a rock and not to roll - 04/07/14

And then there was one. Last week. I get to spend it with the Office Assistants, running errands all over the mission and taking care of business inside the office. Apparently we are actually assigned to a ward, too, but not a whole lot happens there, and since we share the ward with Sisters, they get most of the good stuff. I got to spend my last weekend in Hemet in a beautiful Zone meeting, watching conference with all my missionary friends, and baptizing "D" on the anniversary of the official organization of the restored church. I don't think we ever explained that part, though. Maybe "J" will tell him.

She's such a sweetheart, "J". She's not actually  "D's" daughter, but she's basically being raised by him and his wife. She goes to seminary every morning, she's soaking up everything being taught to her like a sponge, and she wants to serve a mission in a couple years. Unfortunately her biological parents are so against the church that she's going to have to wait until she turns 18 in November to get baptized. But right now she's making us so proud because she can answer questions about the gospel better than some of the kids that have been raised in it. Can't wait until she follows "D" and his wife into the waters of baptism. Being able to dunk "D" was a great way to cap off my weekend and my stay in Hemet.

Buying stuff at Walgreens is usually an act of desperation, under impaired judgment. As a result, I have far more cough drops and chloroseptic spray than I will ever use in the remaining 7 days. But I got a ridiculously sore throat on Tuesday morning and have been fighting it off ever since. My fever broke Wednesday night and it's been more manageable ever since, but I'm still pretty snotty. Thank goodness for Sudafed. 

A detail I almost forgot to share:  I'm still shocked that we managed to hit the Standard of Excellence for the third week in a row, in spite of taking time off for zone meeting, conference, and being sick all day for most of the week. Seriously, we didn't leave the house to teach until dinnertime on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I call that a miracle. My companion is super proud. I'm glad that everything worked out so well. Only 10 hit the standard this week. We feel like champs.

Stare at CNN for long enough and I'm sure you'll go crazy hearing the same story of nothing happening over and over and over. I was stuck in that predicament on Thursday night, when my good friend Elder "Mc" and I were told to go to the emergency room. "Mc" had a killer headache, and every doctor that he'd visited in the past six months had failed to solve the problem. Well, the emergency room doctor didn't really fix anything, either. And we got to be in the emergency room from 8:30pm to 2am. That was entirely too much CNN in the waiting room for my poor brain to handle. But I was still more sane than poor Elder "Mc".  He was so mad by the end of the ordeal. 

Way back at the beginning of my mission, I remember how exciting everything was, and how much enthusiasm I had for everything. Now that's replaced with the wisdom of experience and being so used to these things it's almost like second nature. I almost feel a bit jaded, honestly. But every time I see the spark in someone's eyes, it's like it's brand new all over again. Or being able to participate in any ordinance of any kind, whether it's a blessing, the sacrament, or a baptism. I was told by Bishop that he really liked how I looked right at "D" the whole time I was saying the words of the ordinance. It never gets old. 

To say that the mission was the hardest thing I've ever done may not be entirely true. But it is definitely the best thing I've ever done for myself. The mission has shown the greatest return on investment for any significant chunk of time I can think of in my life so far. I've grown so much and I'm so grateful for it, crazy companions and dead areas and all.

Heaven must be like this: love and service. I am surrounded by people that I love and I get to serve God's children in fantastic ways every day. Soon I'll be doing different service, and not be a full-time missionary. But I'll still be able to progress and learn in ways that I haven't yet. I'm looking forward to it and hope to see all of you soon. My last thought is 2 John 2:12. Stay true to the church and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I know that God will bless us all in ways we can't even imagine.

When all is one and one is all - 03/29/14

You may have noticed that all my subject lines are song lyrics. And if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last. 

This week was pretty fantastic. We hit the standard of excellence and got our names on the email again. Our investigator "M" is still on date and she's quitting smoking cold turkey right now. Our investigator "D" is on date to be baptized this coming Sunday. In terms of the missionary work, there's a lot to be proud of. I won't be leaving the area in worse condition than I found it when I arrived. 

My funny stories this week basically all have to do with moving heavy things. We had five moves this week, three during the week and two on Saturday. So I've been loading trucks and carrying really heavy furniture all week, and I'm flipping exhausted. And I've had to play therapist two or three nights this week, so I haven't been getting to bed on time. But I'm okay with it, because my lovely companion is doing way better at the moment. We had a couple sessions of passive-aggressive repartee, but mostly he's been far more upbeat than usual. 

I was pretty scared, though, when he told me he didn't want to go to dinner because he was scared of the dad in the family that was feeding us. He was really, really stressing out. Apparently he reminds him so much of the jerks that teased him in high school, that he was getting ill at the thought of eating in his house. But I convinced him to man up and grit through it so that I would be able to eat. And in the end, he came away smiling and saying, "I hate it when God proves me wrong on these things." The guy he was so scared of sat down with him one on one and gave him a good pep talk. Then the other guy in the home, our second counselor in the bishopric, did the same thing. They really helped him out. 

I'm also really glad that I was on exchanges on Friday when the other elders finished moving the guys that had a roach problem. One of the elders told me he felt like Moses parting the Red Sea when he leaned back the refrigerator and a sea of cockroaches swarmed out from underneath it. I would have freaked out. Instead I was running around San Jacinto with my buddy Elder "S". 

Oh, I went hiking this morning with my companion and another elder. I'm actually really impressed that we made it all the way to the top without losing my comp, but he was a trooper and made it all the way, as long as we went slow and took lots of breaks. Again, he can do things that are harder than he thinks he is capable of, and I'm trying to help him realize that. 

With all the moving stuff going on, I'm actually pretty impressed that we managed to hit the standard of excellence. But I know that God blesses us when we do service projects for people that really need it. So I shouldn't be too surprised. 

I'm running out of brainpower for this, and I'm not nearly as witty as I'd like. Have a wonderful week, and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Bound by the surprise of our glory days - 03/24/14

A lot happened this week. Let me just preface all this by saying that I am really, really looking forward to my final week in the mission, the week that I extended past transfers in order to see my convert sealed in the Newport Beach temple. In my last face-to-face conversation with President Smart, he told me that my last week in the mission would be fun. So I'm expecting a change of pace for that final week. President knows full well that he's sent a lot of tough companions my way, and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

From today's encouraging personal email from Pres: "You are a wonderful companion and a tremendous resource for our mission. I have relied on you many times. Thanks for being willing and able. Your good attitude has really helped me."

From the email that everybody gets from Pres: "PS - Those achieving the Standard of Excellence this week are: ... Elders Hansen and "P", .... In addition, 60 other missionaries achieved the Standard in all but one category. Thanks to all of you for your dedicated service. Have a great week!"

Nineteen other companionship hit standard, but I don't think any of them treasured that achievement as much as Elder "P". He was calling all his past companions and sharing the news last night until he fell asleep. 

For those keeping score at home, the Standard of Excellence is our mission's goal for what an excellent missionary can accomplish in a week. For us, it's four investigators at sacrament meeting, seven lessons to investigators with a member present, twenty lessons in total, and a full week of twenty street contacts a day. 

The thought never really crossed my mind that we could hit that goal and get our names in the email (that's our fame and glory, woohoo). But on Thursday, after three member-present lessons fell in my lap, and I realized that we had a handful of non-members that came to church just about every week (I didn't know a couple of these people were unbaptized before!), Elder "P" and I decided to go for it. And we exceeded it. We ended up with 28 lessons, 8 of which were member-present, and 7 investigators at church. I don't think he's ever had a week that good in his life. 

I 100% believe that the prayers of people back home made this entire week possible. Can I make it happen again? I sure can. I just hope that "P's" abundant joy and enormous pride doesn't turn into the kind of arrogance that will get us struck down and humbled by God.  You see, because the whole reason Elder "P" performed well this week is because he thought he was in danger of being sent home. That kind of attitude is what really rubs me wrong about this guy. 

Tuesday was a bad day. We had a district meeting, and my companion threw a fit. Well, he doesn't like that phrase, so I will be more precise: he threw his scriptures, his coat, and his name tag at the car in anger, punched the car a few times, and ran off on his own behind the church building. Two elders went after him. I just stood there. As far as I can tell, after talking to him about it, the thing that triggered that explosion was that six of our elders (the ones living together because they are avoiding the stalker) all decided to wear yellow ties to district meeting, and my companion felt left out of the cool kids club and thought they were bragging about how much cooler they were. So yeah, he punched the car in anger over a yellow tie. 

I was advised by my zone leader/best friend to call Pres and get this kid 5150d. First I had to deal with the fact that we were all at lunch and my companion was convinced everybody hated him and he didn't want to sit next to anyone with a yellow tie on. I did end up calling President later that night, and we determined to let him know that this kind of behavior is unacceptable, and is the kind of thing that will get him sent home. President spoke with him on the phone briefly, too. Suddenly everything changed. He called up everybody he could think of in the zone to apologize to. He was the first to suggest that we plan ways to get more lessons. He became a number-mongering missionary overnight. 

Things were still a little bit rough. I had to take him to the doctor, sit through 2 hours of Jerry Springer in the waiting room, convince him to buy and take his meds, and listen to him talk to the members about his problems. He got a letter from his parents that basically reinforced everything Pres and I said about him needing to shape up or be sent home, and that was scary for him. But like I said, he tried to be on his best behavior, and when Thursday rolled around, I felt inspired to do everything in my power to hit the Standard of Excellence. And so we did. He couldn't be more thrilled about that. 

The best part was on our way home Sunday night, one of our investigators that we picked up this past week called us up and told us that she wanted her and her children to be baptized in our church. Elder "P" wasted no time in putting her on date for baptism over the phone. Her kids are still in foster care and we've never met them, but she wants to talk to her social worker about being able to bring them to church. So that's pretty good news, in my book. 

Again, I can tell that the prayers of everybody on our behalf are making a huge difference. Thank you so much for caring about me. 

I'm reminded of D&C 35:34.  "Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good, and Satan shall tremble and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish;" When God wants something to happen, he can make the heavens shake for our good.  I feel like I'm sitting under a fruit tree and everybody has been shaking that tree for me, and the fruit just fell out and hit me on the head. Thank you so much.