I Love Mission Life!

This week was very interesting. For example, last night we get a call from one of the district leaders in our zone that is supposed to report numbers on Sunday night. That means they need to call each companionship to get their numbers. This district leader could not get a hold of one of the companionships and it was about 9:35 at night. We are supposed to be home at 9:30 at the latest. so naturally we are a little worried and we tell the district leader that we will take care of it. We drive to the missionaries' house and look for them there. They are not home. We talk to the landlady and she said that they are always home by 9:30 -- by this time it is about 10:00 at night. We are supposed to report numbers to the APs at this time so we tell them that we have an issue with a companionship and we are trying to resolve it. We are sitting here in their house and waiting and waiting. This is not normal for this companionship. They are great missionaries. So we try calling them again and again. We talk and decide if it gets to be 10:30 we are going to call the mission president. At about 10:25 they come in. Now I want you to remember that missionaries normally really respect their leaders and the rules and when they saw our car outside they must have known how serious the issue was. (We are out of our apartment at the time that we are normally supposed to be in bed.) We sit down and talk to them and the first thing they say is "We are sorry, we know this is unacceptable to do this." (We are thinking yes we know that, but what were you doing?)  The senior companion is actually training so the trainee really does not understand yet what is happening. Very interesting how the senior companion took full responsibility and the junior companion did not fully understand why he was doing that. (This showed me that they really do love each other.) We get their numbers from them and they look so scared. 

I have never really been in a situation where I am the leader and am expected to correct behavior like this and also to have them so willing to do anything we ask of them. They told us the reason they were out so late (They got caught talking to lots of people and they left their phone in the suit jacket inside so they could not hear it. They also did not realize what time it was until they looked and noticed how dark it was.)

They were looking for a punishment and I did not really want to give them a punishment at all. I was just glad that everything was alright. We had no way of contacting them and no way of making sure they were ok. We asked them if they will do it again and they said no. We told them that we were not going to punish them. (Part of the reason is because they already realize how bad it was.) We then tell them good news that we have 2 of our investigators moving into their area and are getting baptized on Aug 23rd. We then leave with a prayer and a hug and tell them we are glad they are safe and that they know not to do this again.

The amazing part is the whole situation could have been completely different if they came in with a whole list of excuses and reasons why they were right, but they did not and it ended up being a good learning opportunity for them. They realized that us as their leaders don't want to punish them, especially when it was a mistake. They just learned that we love them and care for them.

I am glad that I get to be in this leadership responsibility because I get to show my love of missionaries so much more than in any other situations. 

Other good story.

We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigator families. This was Monday night and we were going to eat dinner at their house but before that we get a text from the Dad and he tells us of his favorite scripture from the reading assignment we gave him. It was Alma 7:14. Read that verse. It is a good one that is talking about baptism. Then we run into the mom and son at Walmart. We just talk a little bit about stuff.

So when we went over to their house they start dinner and we have a plan to watch Elder Holland's talk "Lord I Believe." Before we start dinner the Mom asks her son, "Would you tell the missionaries what you told me at the store after they left" (little background information the boy is a little autistic so he does not talk very much when we come over). The boy said, "Ever since you started coming over to my house I feel God and Jesus in my life more then I ever had." That was so cool! So we have dinner and after we watch the talk. We ask them what they feel. They say, "He really knows what he is talking about, a very firm conviction that he has about Christ and this church." We say yes he does and he is an apostle. One to bear testimony of the truth. We ask them what they feel. Answer: "Happy and peaceful." They then ask some questions about church and such. We then ask them to be baptized and they look at us and all of them said yes! They are so excited to join this church. The Spirit was so strong there you could touch it. I was crying a lot, and they were tearing up as well. Even Elder Hammond, who I have never seen cry was starting to. Such a spirit driven lesson. One of the best on my mission.

I love being a missionary. So many things happen each day. I love it. 

We have 10 people on date for baptism. The most I have ever had on my whole mission. They are not all solid, but all of them want to work towards being baptized. Yay! I love mission life. 

Mission Leadership Training, Zone Conference

[Elder J. Walker became an uncle over the weekend to a nephew Charles born on August 1, 2014 at 5:41 PM].

When Charles was born I was eating pizza at a member's house. Haha. I am glad he is so healthy. That is really good. The baby looks really cute. It will be strange to come back home and find a new member of our family.

This week has been full of miracles all over. We had 5 investigators come to church. and we have about 4 people on date to be baptized. Exciting! This area is on fire. Lots of work is happening and I love it all. We had MLC this week, That is mission leadership training. It was really neat to be able to be in a council with all of the other zone leaders and the sister training leaders. Something I learned is that the work of the Lord is hastening, but it is not because we are doing anything differently, but because God decided to make it go faster. He compared it to this analogy: 

When you are young your Dad takes you for a walk in the city and it is your first time. As a child you see things that are unfamiliar and it is loud with city life all around you. You walk really close to your dad and hold his hand as you see this unfamiliar world, but then after a few weeks of this the child gets used to the path and lets go of his father's hand and does not stay as close to his father, but then the father takes him on a different route and a different part of the city. He also has quickened his pace so the child has to walk a lot quicker. Now what we need to do is to hold onto the father's hand and not to let go. 

This is like today. God is changing how he does missionary work and some people don't like that. They tell him, "We have done missionary work like this for years and I am not wanting to change" (I get this a lot for members, "We think you are too pushy to ask in the first lesson for them to be baptized, we never did that on my mission"). They are not holding onto the father's hand and if we do not, we will be left behind. This is what our mission president told us. the work is going to speed up. and the Lord is preparing the way with PMG, Younger missionaries, more missionaries, Facebook, . . . the work is going faster and faster.

We had a baptism this week. Toni, she is 10 years old and I was able to confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was a special experience for us. I love this work. There are so many people that are just waiting for the gospel in their lives. God is preparing a lot of people out there. I have a lot of faith in that. There are people in all of the world that are craving the gospel and the peace that comes from it and all we have to do is to follow the Spirit and find them. The Spirit knows exactly where we should be and what we should be doing all the time and if we listen to the voice and our feelings that we get from God then we will be led to those people out there. 

My companion is great. One of the best! He is a hard worker and understands how to follow Christ. Good example to us all. 

We also had a zone conference. Those are always fun. They are from 9am to 4pm. We get so many revelations in those meetings from the spirit.

I am excited to see you at our upcoming zone conferences. In preparation for our learning together, will each of you please read and ponder the following scriptures? Specifically, pay attention to what these verses teach us about the worth of a human soul. Come prepared to discuss your insights.
Genesis 1:27
John 3:16-17
Hebrews 12:2
Mosiah 28:3-4
D&C 18:10-13
Moses 1:38

Read those verses. We read them and then talked about them at zone conference. They are really good. Just think about it. God created this world for us so we are worth more then the whole world. That includes everything on it. God's purpose is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life for man." His whole purpose is for us to become like him. Jesus Christ suffered just for us. He did not have to do that. He had agency just like the rest of us, but because He loved us all, He chose to. That is incredible and I need to see that worth in every person.  

We had a guy the other day and he was putting boxes into his car and we went over and asked if we could help. He said no. Then we told him what we do as missionaries and he said he was not interested and started to walk away from us. Than Elder Hammond said when can we come by. He looked at us and said without even thinking about it, "2nd week past never" and walked away. Elder Hammond then yells back, "OK we will come by at that time." 

Kinda Funny.

Also a lot of people ask me if my mom is on Missionary Moms on Facebook. I tell them I don't know, but apparently it is a group where people post pictures of missionaries when they see them so there mom can see their sons or daughters that are serving missions more. At least that is what they made me think. Check it out, maybe there will be pictures of me. 

New Area, New People, New Experiences

A cool tree that we found in my area. 

I got a letter from one of my recent converts. Her name is Kelsie and she is really learning much more about the gospel. This is what she wrote:

So we met the new elders and one of them said he knows you and that you are a great guy. The other Elder has only been out for a week and a half and all he talked about was his girlfriend haha. So I have a talk in sacrament today on my conversion story, and it's kinda funny, because while I was waiting to talk during passing the sacrament I felt like I was going to pass out. And everybody told me that I didn't look nervous at all and was a natural up there. I decided to not write down a talk and just let the spirit tell me the things that I should say. Which made me nervous and I couldn't sleep or eat breakfast haha. But it was a really cool experience. I cried a lot during my talk, so did a lot of other people. The interesting thing I noticed is that during my talk there was this still peaceful silence. There was no kids being loud and all eyes were on me. And during everybody else's talk people were moving around a little and kids were screaming haha. Also during Sunday school there was only 3 of us and about five minutes into class this guy that I had never seen walks in and asks if he could join us. After we all introduced ourselves he told us that his name I think it was Elder Doxie, then I was told later by the stake presidency that he told them he was impressed with me. I don't know what I did or said but he said that. Sorry this is kinda long and you probably don't have a lot of time to read this or answer but I just wanted to let you know how much I'm improving and it's largely do to your help :)
So thank you Elder Walker. You are a great example to me.
Sincerely, Kelsie 

I thought this was so cool. I love hearing about the change that I was able to participate in God's children. Also turns out that her less active grandpa lives here in our stake - actually about 5 houses away from where we live. I don't think that is a coincidence. I believe the picture you got of me was of my current companion because we have not gone on splits this transfer yet. This area is so cool. We have 3 people on date for baptism and they are all progressing really well. 2 of them are 9 and the other is about 35ish. She is a really cool lady. 

My last district

We are finding like crazy over here on the west side of the valley. In Draper is is harder to find people but when you find them they are normally a little more solid. Here you are able to find a lot, but they are normally not as solid. Our mission can on average baptize about 1 person in 5 new investigators. That is one of the best averages in the world. That is manly due to the member support. So if you want the people that you find to be baptized you need to get the members involved.

Being a zone leader is a lot of work, but the work is by far worth it. You get to serve other missionaries and love them so much. We have had lots of interesting things happen already. We are also in a lot more contact with President Chambers because we report directly to him.

My last zone

We gave talks again this week. So in the past 2 months I have given 6 talks. That is a lot. people really like to hear from missionaries out here. I think it is because it is a little bit different than normal. So it adds an excitement. 

Question for Dad, being the first counselor in the bishopric how do you think missionaries can help strengthen the ward the most? Also how do you think that as a bishopric that you can help the missionaries the best? I have been wondering what a bishopric's perspective is, because I am on the other side of things right now.

Also I have been told to tell you that I will be coming home before Christmas. they moved the transfer so my last transfer will only be 4 weeks long. :( How sad, but I want you to know this so you can plan accordingly. So I will be released from the mission on 17th of December.

We had 3 investigators come to church. One of them will be baptized this Wednesday, and the other 2 will be baptized sometime this month. The work is going really well in this stake and I love being a part of it.

I just took of my companion while I was sitting here because I wanted you to know what he looked like. He is one of the best companions I have ever had. He loves everyone and we laugh all the time with each other. He is a great trainer (he is a trainer because he is training me how to be a zone leader)

We are eating a lot of breakfast food. Elder Hammond loves it and he has been here for 6 months so the whole stake knows that he loves it. Funny! I like it as well. It is a lot different than what we normally get. This week was Pioneer Day and we had burgers a lot this week as well so this week was a combination of burgers and pancakes for dinner every dinner appointment we had. 

Also happy birthday Dad and BJ! Have a good one. 

Saying good by at the river view stake

Zone Leader & New Area

This week has been crazy. They whitewashed my last stake and they told me that about 6pm and I had to leave around 10 AM in the morning. Also Elder Garver went home (he got his mission call to Alaska) so I had to stay with the zone leaders because I did not have a companion any more. So no time to pack or say good buy to anyone, ok I did get the opportunity to say good by but not to as many as I would have liked to.

This new area that we are in is a great area. We are going to do well here. I like our zone as well. My companion is the first companion that has been younger then me in age. All the rest have been older then me. Crazy. He has been a zone leader a long time and is training me how to be a good zone leader. His name is Elder Hammond. Great guy. The past 6 weeks I have been training so it was a little bit harder in lessons, now it is much easier because he can teach on the spot with out having to go though each point multiple times during comp study so he knows what is happening.

Another big difference is that I am now junior companion. I am not used to that. It is good and bad. I can rely on him to make the final call on things to know if that is the best judgement. He has been out for about 16 months and is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I asked him if he knew Ryan Burnham and he did not, but it was worth a try.

We gave 2 talks this week in church. I have decided I can't do talks very well any more. Let me explain. I can give talks on things I know about like missionary work or any of the lessons we teach, but when it comes to topics that I don't know very many things about I struggle. This week I have to give talk talk on family history. I am not very good at talking on family history so I changed it a lot to missionary work and got though it, but there is still a good appointment of work I can do. My companion gave a great talk. I did not have to be the last speaker, which is a lot different because for the past 9 months I have always been the last speaker or at least after my companion. It was still a good talk, just not a great one. That was also probably due to the fact that I was sick, but that is a little thing. We are teaching several people and they are coming along. I  really like this calling, because I get to help lots more people then I did before, which is also a hard thing because we are not in our area as much as we normally would be, but the Lord will bless us. 

Something that our mission is trying to do is to give a lot more of the responsibility onto the district leaders. We have a big meeting about how to do that. Eventually it needs to get down to the senior companion and have him bear responsibility about the area. This is the same with bishops. They try to delegate things to the elders quorum president then from there to the home teachers and from there to the family to the fathers and mothers.

That is something interesting about our church it is all about the one. No other organization in the world has as good as set up as we do in this church. It would work great if only people did what we were supposed to.

We are a lot busier then we have been in the past. The first few days we did not even get to work in our area until 5 at night. Crazy. But things are slowing down now that transfers are a little bit behind us. 

Missionary Life

This week was a different week then normal. Elder Garver had to pack because he is going to go home tomorrow. So from 4:00 pm to 10:00 am I will be with out a companion. So I will probably stay with the zone leaders. I have had this happen to me once before with Elder Mansfield. He got his visa and left the day before transfers ended. We also had to work hard so Elder Garver did not get too trunky. haha he has only been out 3 months and he is already going home. (He will be home for about 1 week and then go to the MTC and get trained then he will head off to his mission).

I actually think it a high possibility for them to whitewash me out of this area. Right now there is only one missionary that has been in his area longer then I have and he is going home. There are only about 6 other missionaries that have been in their area for as long as I have. It is definitely not very common to stay in one area this long. I like it. I know who are the potential investigators and the members to help with lessons. I know the recent converts that need help and need continued guidance.

The Assistants to the President came to my district meeting last week. That was interesting. They helped a lot in the lessons. That is again a tell tale sign that I will probably get moved, but only the president and the lord will know where I need to be.

We gave talks this Sunday again. 3 talks this transfer. I am now to the point where I have to be careful not to go over my time limit. I did that yesterday. There were 4 speakers and I was originally assigned a 15 min talk and I was the 2nd to last speaker there was still the high councilor to speak. We had about 20 min left of the meeting. So I probably should have done a 5 min talk. I ended up doing about a 13 min talk and I felt bad because I did not notice that all that time had passed. I said sorry to the next speaker. I think he has glad on the inside. haha. Well he gave about a 5 min talk and we ended going over about 5 min. I now need to be able to shorten my talks as well as make them longer. I have always been so focused on making my talks longer that I never really realized that I might have to make it shorter.

Something that I have been studying that I find really interesting is light. The first day Christ separated the Light for the dark. At that point there was no sun or stars or Moon so the light came from Christ. He gave the power to the sun and all light comes from Christ. That is why when he died there was no light according to the Book of Mormon for 3 days, because there was no way for it to even be here. The darkness was thick that you could not even light a fire. I find that really interesting. There was a lot more behind this discovery but this basic version of it. I thought you might be interested. 

You can look at darkness in a similar way.

Lessons Learned

All of the girls in our stake went up to girls came this week. They loved it. We also got one of our investigators to go up there as well. That was really good for them. 

So Elder Garver sent a letter to the mission president last week about me and the mission president then shared it with basically the whole mission. So they have a first transfer training and they also have a second transfer training and in both of them he shared this with all of them. Then he went to a companionship study for the sisters in my district and shared this story as well. They did not know who it was until today when it came up in a conversion. 

I asked Elder Garver for a copy and he gave it to me:

Elder Walker and I were walking to an appointment when we crossed paths with a man walking his dog. He stopped us and asked us if we could answer him a simple question. He pulled out a wallet and gave us each a paper that he had typed up that was anti-material. He asked us a question that was set up in the fashion that no matter what the answer was, we would be wrong. I felt very uncomfortable, and I wanted to get out of there. Elder Walker said, "We cant answer that with just a yes or no question--" 

The other guy cut him off and with a raised voice said, "Oh my gosh, its just a simple question!" 

Without all the details, he tried to bash with us, and was just freaking out. I tried to testify and leave, but he didn't want to hear my testimony. I did everything I could to get out of the situation, but Elder Walker was just standing there listening to all the criticism from the guy. I didn't want to bash, and I wasn't feeling the spirit. Eventually he left, and I said to Elder Walker, "We need to talk about this, I didn't know what to do." Before he answered me, he walked over to a lady that was watching us, and sitting on her porch. I remember her getting up during the argument and going inside for a minute and then coming back out. When we walked up to the lady, I saw that she went in to get her Bible. Elder Walker really lovingly crouched down, and sat on the heel of his feet, (she was sitting on the ground) and asked her about her Bible. She said it was her mothers. He asked her if read it often, and she confirmed. He said, "Can I show you one of my favorite scriptures?" and then he flipped to James 1:5 and read it to her. He told her that if she had any questions about anything, to do what the scripture said. He apologized for what she saw, and she said "Don't worry, I see people like that all the time trying to mess with you guys. Why can't they just leave you alone?" He set up an appointment for us to come back. 

After her, we walked over to the other people who were watching, and Elder Walker did a similar thing.  

As we walked away, he told me that both those people were not members, and he had been trying to set up appointments with them for months.  

I told him how uncomfortable I was in the argument, and told him I didn't feel the spirit. He told me, "You always have the Spirit unless you do something that will drive it away. Just because he didn't have the Spirit, doesn't mean that you don't. If you stay calm and composed, and don't get worked up, you will have the spirit." 

That really made sense to me.  

Then he told me, "I usually don't like to stand there, but I noticed that people were watching. When someone is yelling, people usually watch. I like to stand there and show the people who are watching that we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and we don't egg on contention. If we stay composed, we get a lot of respect from those watching us."
That was an awesome lesson that I learned from him.

So this is the story he shared. President Chambers really like it. I thought that was so cool. 

Something you learn as a trainer. Your companion watches everything you do and will copy it. That is the same for almost all things when you find someone in a position of leadership or where you have been doing it for longer than others watch you. 

Also I remember when Elder Holland talked to us about a year and 3 months ago he told us something that has stuck with me.  I summarized, but it went something like this.

What is the most recognized thing in the church. Our temples? No. Our church buildings? No (then he listed some other things that the church is famous for), but he said that people associate the church the most with two young people on bikes riding down a street. (Then really forcefully like Elder Holland does) AND YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO RUIN THE IMAGE OF THIS CHURCH! THIS IS NOT YOUR RIGHT! He said especially in Utah where there are lots of kids that look up to missionaries that you must always maintain the image of a missionary!

I have taken that to heart. I must always remember that we really did take Jesus Christ's name upon us and that we need to remember that everyone knows that. This is not just for missionaries as well. People look up to us. 

I remember when I was in school when we would get some one that would swear. A common thing in high school. But if it was a Mormon then all of a sudden it becomes this great big deal and I would probably hear about it. They would say ''Did you know so and so said this? Aren't they Mormon?" 

I also remember when we were watching a TV show together one night and it was called Greed or something. They were talking about this guy who was able to con a lot of people out of their money. Then they mentioned that he was a Mormon Bishop. People know. People watch. So always show others that we really are a disciple of Jesus Christ by our example and our deeds. 

Well I hope that the video that you make does not get deleted if the power gets shut down. and if it does things will work out. 

That is another thing I am learning. Sometimes things go way wrong. For example we had a nonmember that had removed his records in the church because he did not believe there was a God. We were teaching him and he was progressing. Then we got to the Law of Chastity and we committed him to follow it. The next lesson was so sad. He said that he had tried and he felt horrible and did not ever want to try it again. He said that he still does not believe there was a God or anything we were teaching. I know that he does know there is a God. Why would he let us back time and time again? Why read the book of Mormon and go to church? The only explanation is that he was repenting, but then got to something he loved more then he loved God and denied all of it. Then the spirit prompted us to read Helaman 16:14-25 this was the exact thing that we needed to read to him. This is what happened:

We could feel the spirit so strong, but he just kept on denying it. Then he refused to let us pray. It was one of the saddest moments of my mission. We could see him progressing so well. He had been reading the scriptures going to Church, and he said he had started to pray. He had completely reversed back to his old self. (Side story, the first time we met him his Mom had us over for dinner and she was there. We taught kinda more of an argument about if there was a God. Then we kept going over and he started to say Amen to prayers and to take notes when we would teach. It was a fantastic miracle.) Now he has rejected us and cast us out and refuses to do anything we ask of him.  I felt so bad. I was reminded of a scripture Mosiah 28:3. I will remember that feeling.

I have learned that it is an easy what of getting our of feeling guilty. To not believe there is a God. An escape from the guilt that God gives us so we can repent. 

On a happier note. we had an investigator come to church yesterday. We also had a member of the 70 Elder Ulysses Soares give his testimony. That was cool to see. He is a good speaker and also a member of the presidency of seventy.

We had a lesson with her afterwards and she told us that she was happy she made it to church.  

Well I ran out of time but have a good week family!

Similar Conversations

This week has been interesting. I taught district meeting and it went well I like doing these now. I talked about patriarchal blessings and how they can bless your life. I had them bring it and read it and while they were reading it they were to look for who God wanted them to be.

Also one of my recent converts got her patriarchal blessing as well. She loves it. 

So I don't know if you know this, but my companion has not gone through the temple yet, he will go though it when this transfer is over. He is so excited to be able to go though and have these blessings. Unfortunately he feels a little self conscience about the whole thing because he feels like he is a little bit less, due to not going through the temple. I think he is great and a really hard worker, but it is hard for him being so close to home and every time he tells someone where he is from they say, "Wow and they sent you here on a mission? Why would they do that? When you opened your mission call did you just stomp on it in frustration?"  It just gets tiring after 100 people say just about that same thing. 

He is excited to be able to receive a call to go somewhere else and not have those comments.

That is one thing about a mission- everyone asks the same questions. 

Here they are:

Where are you from?

I am from Modesto, California.

Where is that? in Northern California or Southern?

It is a little below Sacramento and above Fresno in the Central Valley. (Normally they then name someone they know in southern California to see if I know them. I never do.)

So elders, how long have you been out?

About 18 months.

Wow that is a long time. Are you trunky yet? (I don't like that question)

No, I like my mission. 

How many people are in your family?

5 kids including myself. 

I have one older sister who is going to have a baby soon, one older brother who went on a mission in the South, one little sister who is going to go to BYU and one little brother who is now bigger than me. 

I give all this information at once because if I don't they will ask me and if I do it all at once then we can maybe have a little bit of a different conversation than the ones I have had a lot.

It is funny because I have had this exact conversation with so many people I can't even count how many it is.

Now when I go home I am sure that I will ask the missionaries the same questions so I am not doing this to complain, just tell you a little what I say about my life. 

The 4th of July is coming up. 

That means we get to go to 9 ward parties. That is something really cool about being a missionary over 9 wards is that they have lots of activities that we go to. More people to meet and more people to help. Normally they do breakfast on the 4th of July. I like breakfast. It is something we rarely have time for.