So last monday as I mentioned last week I got my new companion Elder Winfield who is a stud and has grown immensely since the last time he was here in the zone about three months ago. After a P-day of some dodgeball with some of the other Elders in the zone, we had dinner with the Alvord family. Coincidentally we found out that I, Elder Bangerter and Elder Winfield had all eaten there on our first days in the area. Fun fact. And after dinner we went on a temporary split with the AP's. I went with Elder Garcia and Elder Winfield with Elder Bangerter to do a family home evening with Megan Goddard and 5 nonmembers. But later that night we had a spur of the moment lesson with K because he couldn't end up meeting with the ward missionaries. So we went over more about the Priesthood to prep him for his interview with the Bish on Sunday (yes, our singles ward bishop does go by THE Bish). After that lesson Elder Garcia and I met up and started talking to this potential investigator, Carly, who has come to church a few times and has been coming to activities for a while this summer. We haven't been able to meet with her during the week so we just got a big group of her member friends and had a short lesson with her that was bomb. She was not sure what to expect and asking if we were going to do any candle lighting or ritual dances... so she was blown away with amazement when we just had a discussion and talked about our purpose as missionaries. So she was excited to meet more often after that. Too bad she got sick the rest of the week... But it was a good night. I got some good insight from Elder Garcia about confidence. He is a wise Elder. Undoubtedly why President has him as an Assistant. Then we returned to our regular companions and I guess the family home evening with Megan and her friends was AWESOME and it was perfect that Elder Winfield went for some reason. Still not sure why but whatevs!
Tuesday was a rather busy day and very exciting. After a morning lesson with Anthony we headed to the office to pick our new trainee!! We went through a short meeting by the assistants to provide somewhat instruction how to train (kind of just don't do whatever your trainer did wrong + common sense). Then we were assigned. Our new companion is... drum roll... Elder Andrew De Spain from West Valley, Utah. Freshly graduated from High School. Was a wrestler and football player. Really humble and kind of quiet but a great kid. I am excited for him! After the afternoon of excitement we had to rush back to Glendale for our fist lesson together with the Sinor family which went splendid. The kids aren't as excited to hear from us as they used to be so it makes it hard to get them to focus. After that we had been invited to set up a booth at this 'Glendale's Nigh Out' neighborhood activity at the local community center right by our apartment. It was pretty successful but really great for Elder De Spain to get to talk to people and hand out some materials to them. It was funny because as it being Glendale and all, most of the people/families were Armenian so the other Elders kept having to call me over to talk to those who didn't speak english. So once the activity was over we had a lesson with Gina! She was able to get her temple recommend last Sunday so she is all ready to go down to Santa Monica now. It is awesome.
Wednesday was an eye opener to the miracles of having a new missionary with loads of faith. throughout the day we were not only able to talk to more people willing to listen, but people actually shared their contact information with us. Each time I just kept asking "what has happened to these Glendalians that they are so nice now?!" We had lunch with some of the G7 members who go to CalTech. Seriously my IQ went up a few points just from that very intellectual lunch. The rest of the afternoon wasn't as productive as I would have liked on the first day with Elder De Spain but we ended up meeting this guy, Eddie, who is seriously massive and we found out is a heavy weight lifter(he can bench 670lbs) with a fully loaded old mustang that he has put $30,000 into the hood. But we found out his Mom just past away and he agreed to have us over today so we'll see how that goes! Also we got to stop by Bishop Lee's to introduce Elders Winfield and De Spain to him. I wish I had that chance when I got here. After dinner we had a lesson with Trea. I went into the lesson with the intention of telling him that we wouldn't be able to come over anymore but he has been praying which is big for him and somewhat reading/listening to the Book of Mormon... so we gave him another chance to come to church on Sunday. Which was frustrating because I just don't like having to drop people even if their progress is slow. Ugh.
Thursday was our first district meeting with our new DL, Elder Stocks. It'll take some time for him to get used to a leadership/training meeting position. But the rest of the afternoon was supposed to be busy. After a lunch at MexiCali (which Elder DeSpain fell in love with), Christina cancelled after we had already arrived at her apartment and then had to drive ALL the way back up to the other side of our boundary for a lesson with Jeff. But I guess that is missionary life, being stood up by investigators and lessons. Our lesson with Jeff was great though. He still wanted us to address his slavery questions and scriptures that he gave us so we did and explained that he just didn't understand the context. Not to mention not one of the scriptures said the word 'slavery'. Another cool thing, as we were waiting before our lesson we ran into the Burbank Elders who were on bike and we talked to them from across the street because we were on the boundary. Anyways... nothing else too exciting. We got to play soccer with a bunch of people from G7 that we found out they do every thursday. which was AWESOME. I'm realizing Im getting out of shape... not cool man. Then at the end of the night we tried by this referral we got from the spanish elders. turned out to be some armenian family that elder dicus and I had already stopped by when I first got here and they were upset we tried by again. Funny thing is when I went there with Elder Dicus, I wanted to go back and we got in a tussel. Oh the things I didn't realize back then!
Friday we had our new missionary orientation meeting where the trainees/trainers where addressed further on the next few weeks of their training. Which was kind of long but being addressed by President is always exciting. He is just always saying the most profound things! funny quote from Friday. Elder De Spain (talking about his subway sandwich at lunch) "I get sad when it's the last bite". The rest of Friday was kind of stressful. I found out how hard it is to try and navigate a city that you don't know in california without a gps. But we did end up having a lesson with Christina once we got permission from President because we found out she is our of our area but becuase her daughters are in the boundary, we can teach them. SAWEEET. It was probably one of the more intense lessons we have had with her. It was just on a roll! We were building it all up and at the end Elder De Spain invited her to be baptized and her response was "that was a terrible invitation! I didn't feel it at all!" And I felt so bad. Seriously it was rude. She is just blunt that way. Kind of like how she told Elder Mendoza he didn't speak well and how he was forced to come on a mission. So Elder De Spain was pretty hurt but we all laughed it off and it was great :)
Saturday was planned to be an AWESOME day. But yet again, we were stood up by 2/3 people we had lessons with. But it was okay because we had a lesson with Albert aka our 'German' and set him with a date of August 31 and he said he'd quit smoking. It was awesome. So cool. Can't even describe it. He just understood it and he even said "well I need to be baptized again!" That made up for Elder De Spain's rejection the day previous. So the rest of the afternoon was weekly planning. but we got a call from Elder Twelves and jewel to have a lesson with the former G7 investigator that they just so happened to get in contact with. Elders Winfield and De Spain went with Twelves to do the lesson and I went with Elder Jewel to teach this member who is addicted to cough syrup. And I was legit afraid I'd get bed bugs from his apartment because it was gross. Bleh. But turns out the lesson with the other elders turned out to be a bash! Glad I didn't go! But after that I went with Elders Twelves and Jewel to go contact some potentials (which we picked up two new armenian investigators for them and taught the first lesson) and go to Joey's wedding! Which was extravagent and obviously $60,000. Ridiculous but it was awesome. Love Armenian weddings and their music and food! So delicous.
Sunday was a disappointment. No investigators at church. And dropped Trea and Natailie because they didn't come. It was funny because their response was "so you guys are breaking up with us". We are just letting you act on what we have taught you. Sad day.
Well I love you all! Thank you for all the support! Have a wonderful Week!
Elder DeBry
No comments:
Post a Comment