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!