Day 48-Exchange of Doom II-5/15/06

Exchange of Doom II-Just when you thought it was safe to enter the mission field

I am exhausted. I take it back. No word can truly describe how tired I am.

This exchange was Elder Oram and me. I like Elder Oram. He has a lot on his plate now with his companion bed-ridden and recovering from the hit and run bicycle accident. He keeps trying to do missionary work by going on exchanges with members. One member takes him to appointments while another stays with Elder Bailey. Elder Oram is a missionary that I would not mind being paired with as a companion.

Today Elder Oram and I spent the afternoon in Reston. Not a lot happened there. With Elder Bailey being out of it, Elder Oram has not had much of a chance to find new people to teach. We went around trying to contact old potential investigators. We did not find many.

Around 4:50pm we went back to the Reston apartment so Elder Oram could pick up his stuff. We had a dinner appointment at 6:00 at a members home, a teaching appointment at 7:00 and then another one at 8:00pm.

Here is what happened: We left at 5:10 and biked along a bike trail. After a while, Elder Oram, who I now lovingly refer to as Magellan, stopped his bike and pulled out the map. The time is now 5:50pm. We have been able to stop and talk to several people and hand out pass along cards. We have 10 minutes to get to dinner and Elder Oram says, " Elder Pierce, I think we have gone the wrong way."

Thinking that we have gone too far, we head back to where we started. When we get there, the exit that we are looking for is not there. Elder Oram's not phased, though. He says that it is probably just a little bit further. So we press on, going back a ways until we come to an exit. Problem: it's not on the right side of the road. We take it anyway just to see where we are. When we get to the road, we realize that now we are going the wrong way. Our dinner was further away than it was when we started. The time is now 6:10pm.

We know that we can not conceivably make it to dinner and still make it to our appointments on time. We decide to stop and eat somewhere and call our dinner appointment to let them know. We ended up eating at Subway.

That wasn't the end of the "fun". We also got lost on the way to our first lesson. "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line." We didn't do that. We followed the Herndon Pkwy. instead of going on Eldon Street. As a result, we made it to our 7:00 appointment at 7:15pm. It really helped me to build my testimony, that I was going as fast on my bike so I could share this message with this family. We apologized for being late. The mother asked, "Why do you do this? Why are you out here as a missionary? What is your purpose?" I couldn't have asked for a better set-up. I told her: "My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

So today wasn't all bad. I can't wait until tomorrow, though. Elder Buttars will be back. When I am with Elder Oram, on the other hand, I get more of a workout. My legs are still throbbing.

Oh, yeah, we made it to our second appointment on time. They weren't in. Just my luck. All this biking, I'm gonna have legs like Champion. (Tripletts of Bellville)