Day 174- Apartment Inspections and Exchanges
Today the mission presidents wife came by for an apartment inspection. We received a passing grade. We were told that the fridge and the bathtub could have been better, but overall, not bad. Not bad at all.
After inspection, we went on exchanges. Elder KP went with Elder P and Elder W came with me. The nice thing about exchanges is that while you are tracting from door to door, you get to talk and learn about your companion. Elder W. is going home next month. He will have completed his two year mission. I also found out that Elder B, my first companion, my trainer, will be finished with his mission in two months. It's so hard to believe that my trainer is going home.
Back to Elder W. I told Elder W. about my blog. "Elder W.," I said. "Many people are going to read this journal. This is your time. You are on exchanges with me. Is there anything profound that you want to say?" Elder W. said, "Before we seek judgement, we should seek understanding." Not bad. Not bad at all. Good quote.
Elder W. told me about his girl back home. They dated before his mission. They had such a good time that they thought they would wait and see how they felt about each other when he got back.
Another interesting thing about Elder W is that he has a tuft of white hair behind his right ear. It's not very big, but it is unusual. I asked him about it. He said it's some kind of birthmark in his family.
After we finished tracting for the day, Elder W said, "Ya know, Elder P, the NW tip of your area borders on the SE tip of my first area; the area that I was trained in nearly two years ago." Elder W told me that when he was in his first area he had his picture taken by a fence that marked the end of the area where he was serving. So, upon his request, we went to the NW tip of our area, his last area, and I took a picture of him standing on the other side of the fence that bordered his first area. Funny missionary memories.
We saw S at a stop sign. There were no cars behind her, so we had time to stop and talk for a minute about things. S said it was good to see us, but that she had to take the kids to soccer practice. I told S that we'd come by later in the week. She said that would be fine. After S pulled away, Elder W asked me if she was a church member. "Nope", I said. "That was an investigator." "Excellent", said Elder W.
On the way home today we stopped and talked with JA. I've talked about J before. He's from Ghana and he talks very fast. We talked for a little while but J said that he did not have time for a lesson because he was taking a friend and her new baby out shopping. After we left J, I said, "J sure is a fast talker, isn't he?"
Elder W said, "Yeah. When he first started talking I thought, 'what language is this guy speaking?' But then I saw that you could understand what he was saying and were talking to him, so I trained my ears, and sure enough, he was speaking English. Very fast English.
Happy Thing for Day 174: Spending an evening with the M family. After we got home from J's, Brother M came by to pick us up and took us to his house for dinner. Brother M. is the kind member who gave Elder B and me a ride home after our unfortunate flat tire back on Day 60.
We ate dinner with Brother and Sister M and their children. Brother M's sister and her family were there, too, so it was a big group. RW, Brother M's brother in law is something else. He goes to church every week with his family, magnifies his calling as the 11 year old scout leader and has Family Home Evenings with his family.
But Elder W did not know something about Sister W's husband and neither do the people reading this journal entry, so you can all find out together.
"You're not a member?!" said Elder W in disbelief. That's right. RW has never been baptized. I guess he is just not ready. He does most of what an active member would do. He just has not been baptized.
We stayed for FHE with the Ms and the Ws. Brother M taught a very nice lesson about prayer. He asked Elder W and me to tell the story of Joseph Smith's first vision. We did and it was very good. A real spirit was felt. I'm not sure if that should count as a lesson taught to an investigator with a member present, because IS RW investigating the church at this point? He's married to a member...he goes to church every week...he has a calling! I don't know. It's all very confusing...
I loved going to the M's for dinner tonight, as well as being able to be a part of their FHE. I did get a little homesick at the end, though. For a closing song, RW's son picked "Five Little Ducks". Now that song has special meaning to my mom, because she has 5 kids. I'm the oldest of five. I got a little teary-eyed when we were singing "five little ducks went out one day; over the hill and far away. Mother Duck said, "quack, quack, quack, quack, but only four little ducks came back." (sigh)
After inspection, we went on exchanges. Elder KP went with Elder P and Elder W came with me. The nice thing about exchanges is that while you are tracting from door to door, you get to talk and learn about your companion. Elder W. is going home next month. He will have completed his two year mission. I also found out that Elder B, my first companion, my trainer, will be finished with his mission in two months. It's so hard to believe that my trainer is going home.
Back to Elder W. I told Elder W. about my blog. "Elder W.," I said. "Many people are going to read this journal. This is your time. You are on exchanges with me. Is there anything profound that you want to say?" Elder W. said, "Before we seek judgement, we should seek understanding." Not bad. Not bad at all. Good quote.
Elder W. told me about his girl back home. They dated before his mission. They had such a good time that they thought they would wait and see how they felt about each other when he got back.
Another interesting thing about Elder W is that he has a tuft of white hair behind his right ear. It's not very big, but it is unusual. I asked him about it. He said it's some kind of birthmark in his family.
After we finished tracting for the day, Elder W said, "Ya know, Elder P, the NW tip of your area borders on the SE tip of my first area; the area that I was trained in nearly two years ago." Elder W told me that when he was in his first area he had his picture taken by a fence that marked the end of the area where he was serving. So, upon his request, we went to the NW tip of our area, his last area, and I took a picture of him standing on the other side of the fence that bordered his first area. Funny missionary memories.
We saw S at a stop sign. There were no cars behind her, so we had time to stop and talk for a minute about things. S said it was good to see us, but that she had to take the kids to soccer practice. I told S that we'd come by later in the week. She said that would be fine. After S pulled away, Elder W asked me if she was a church member. "Nope", I said. "That was an investigator." "Excellent", said Elder W.
On the way home today we stopped and talked with JA. I've talked about J before. He's from Ghana and he talks very fast. We talked for a little while but J said that he did not have time for a lesson because he was taking a friend and her new baby out shopping. After we left J, I said, "J sure is a fast talker, isn't he?"
Elder W said, "Yeah. When he first started talking I thought, 'what language is this guy speaking?' But then I saw that you could understand what he was saying and were talking to him, so I trained my ears, and sure enough, he was speaking English. Very fast English.
Happy Thing for Day 174: Spending an evening with the M family. After we got home from J's, Brother M came by to pick us up and took us to his house for dinner. Brother M. is the kind member who gave Elder B and me a ride home after our unfortunate flat tire back on Day 60.
We ate dinner with Brother and Sister M and their children. Brother M's sister and her family were there, too, so it was a big group. RW, Brother M's brother in law is something else. He goes to church every week with his family, magnifies his calling as the 11 year old scout leader and has Family Home Evenings with his family.
But Elder W did not know something about Sister W's husband and neither do the people reading this journal entry, so you can all find out together.
"You're not a member?!" said Elder W in disbelief. That's right. RW has never been baptized. I guess he is just not ready. He does most of what an active member would do. He just has not been baptized.
We stayed for FHE with the Ms and the Ws. Brother M taught a very nice lesson about prayer. He asked Elder W and me to tell the story of Joseph Smith's first vision. We did and it was very good. A real spirit was felt. I'm not sure if that should count as a lesson taught to an investigator with a member present, because IS RW investigating the church at this point? He's married to a member...he goes to church every week...he has a calling! I don't know. It's all very confusing...
I loved going to the M's for dinner tonight, as well as being able to be a part of their FHE. I did get a little homesick at the end, though. For a closing song, RW's son picked "Five Little Ducks". Now that song has special meaning to my mom, because she has 5 kids. I'm the oldest of five. I got a little teary-eyed when we were singing "five little ducks went out one day; over the hill and far away. Mother Duck said, "quack, quack, quack, quack, but only four little ducks came back." (sigh)
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 5:31 AM
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