What up my people?
I knew that going on a mission would bring blessings, but I wasn't
expecting as much of the temporal, especially not as instantly. Being
in the States is such a blessing for starters, but then there are lots
of members who love the crap out of you. Sure a lot of the Godless
people that live in California hate us, but missionaries are pretty
much celebrities for the members out here, there is definitely never a
lacking of food, we eat at a members house every night, it's
incredible. One of the coolest things is being assigned to only one
ward, I have developed some really awesome relationships with some
really cool members, many of whom drop anything to help us. Many of
the members thank us profusely for coming to dinner and sharing a
message, which is quite an odd phenomena, they make it seem like they
owe us for coming in their house and eating their food? Anyways
members are just plain awesome, I really wish that I had close
involvement with the missionaries growing up, the little kids think
that you are just about the coolest person in the world, there isn't
anything better than being a missionary.
You know how I said that white people are the worst? Well they still
are, but the fortunate thing is that in California white people are
pretty much the minority, well at least the area that I am currently
in. We saw a Chinese guy named Jason walking down the street a couple
weeks ago, taught him and invited him to go to church, he accepted and
we went on our way, he ended up not coming and we thought that, that
was the end of things considering that we couldn't get in contact with
him. On Saturday we finally caught him when he was home, and we taught
him about God, because his family is Buddhist, it's super weird trying
to teach people when they don't have a very good understanding of who
God even is. He was so humble and willing to listen to us, we asked
him if he was willing to follow the example of Jesus and be baptized,
without much hesitation he said that he would be baptized, but he
wanted to learn more. We don't have him set for a specific date, but
we have to teach super simply, mainly because he speaks very poor
English. The next day we saw him at church and he said that he wanted
to stay the whole 3 hours, which is incredible, because sometimes I
don't even want to stay the whole 3 hours, you know? Well it was
testimony meeting, and because of some crazy members we had to do a
lot of explaining but we recovered well, then in Sunday school they
just dropped the for strength of youth on him, and that lead to us
resolving a lot more concerns, but all and all I am blown away at the
faith and humility that some of these people have that just arrived in
the United States.
The beginning of this week I was feeling super discouraged and felt
like we weren't accomplishing much. I began to pray fervently and was
soon reminded of the love that God has for every single one of us. My
bike got pretty messed up this week (Like it always does.) and so my
bike got left at the shop for some repairs. The next day we couldn't
get a ride, and it was horrible outside, 100 degrees with 98 percent
humidity is not a good time. We walked 2 streets and remembered we
forgot the phone, turning around, I felt even more frustrated, I
couldn't understand why the week had been so hard, and why it seemed
like we weren't accomplishing anything. As soon as we got home and
grabbed the phone the member who lives with us pulled in, and gave us
a ride, which saved us a 3 mile walk to the shop. I was filled with a
deep sense of gratitude and was reminded that God is very mindful of
us, and is rooting for our success, especially when we are in his
service. In the late afternoon we took a little break from the heat
and went to get some Italian ice, a member saw us and paid for us,
several things like that happened that day, and I was just blown away
at how much God blesses us every day, especially if we keep our eyes
open. I was also reminded of this fact when riding my bike home today
from a members barbecue. We've all had those moments when you have to
use the bathroom right now, and well this was one of these moments.
This was an especially treacherous experience riding a bike, there
aren't any shocks on rode bikes, so you in turn are the shocks, and
you feel every bump and pebble underneath you. I quickly prayed
knowing that there was no way I could make this journey back to the
pad without some kind of divine intervention . I peddled even faster,
quickly being reminded of one of my favorites by Carey underwood
"Jesus take the wheel" the lyrics quickly began to replay in my head
as I passed through alley ways and different winding streets. focusing
on the line "I can't do this on my own.... I can't do this on my
own... Jesus take the wheel" and let's just say that Jesus did take
the wheel, a matter of fact he took those handle bars right from my
hands and I was by some miracle able to make it home after that
terrifying bike ride, avoiding becoming another missionary statistic.
That's about the most sincere testimony that I got right now. Being a
missionary is a delight, and I love serving the Lord. Offer the Lord
your whole self, not just a twig here, or a branch there, he wants the
whole tree, and I know that you will be blessed for it.
Also, this p day me and E. Low went golfing at a driving range today
and it was awesome , here are some of the action pics for your viewing
pleasure.
I knew that going on a mission would bring blessings, but I wasn't
expecting as much of the temporal, especially not as instantly. Being
in the States is such a blessing for starters, but then there are lots
of members who love the crap out of you. Sure a lot of the Godless
people that live in California hate us, but missionaries are pretty
much celebrities for the members out here, there is definitely never a
lacking of food, we eat at a members house every night, it's
incredible. One of the coolest things is being assigned to only one
ward, I have developed some really awesome relationships with some
really cool members, many of whom drop anything to help us. Many of
the members thank us profusely for coming to dinner and sharing a
message, which is quite an odd phenomena, they make it seem like they
owe us for coming in their house and eating their food? Anyways
members are just plain awesome, I really wish that I had close
involvement with the missionaries growing up, the little kids think
that you are just about the coolest person in the world, there isn't
anything better than being a missionary.
You know how I said that white people are the worst? Well they still
are, but the fortunate thing is that in California white people are
pretty much the minority, well at least the area that I am currently
in. We saw a Chinese guy named Jason walking down the street a couple
weeks ago, taught him and invited him to go to church, he accepted and
we went on our way, he ended up not coming and we thought that, that
was the end of things considering that we couldn't get in contact with
him. On Saturday we finally caught him when he was home, and we taught
him about God, because his family is Buddhist, it's super weird trying
to teach people when they don't have a very good understanding of who
God even is. He was so humble and willing to listen to us, we asked
him if he was willing to follow the example of Jesus and be baptized,
without much hesitation he said that he would be baptized, but he
wanted to learn more. We don't have him set for a specific date, but
we have to teach super simply, mainly because he speaks very poor
English. The next day we saw him at church and he said that he wanted
to stay the whole 3 hours, which is incredible, because sometimes I
don't even want to stay the whole 3 hours, you know? Well it was
testimony meeting, and because of some crazy members we had to do a
lot of explaining but we recovered well, then in Sunday school they
just dropped the for strength of youth on him, and that lead to us
resolving a lot more concerns, but all and all I am blown away at the
faith and humility that some of these people have that just arrived in
the United States.
The beginning of this week I was feeling super discouraged and felt
like we weren't accomplishing much. I began to pray fervently and was
soon reminded of the love that God has for every single one of us. My
bike got pretty messed up this week (Like it always does.) and so my
bike got left at the shop for some repairs. The next day we couldn't
get a ride, and it was horrible outside, 100 degrees with 98 percent
humidity is not a good time. We walked 2 streets and remembered we
forgot the phone, turning around, I felt even more frustrated, I
couldn't understand why the week had been so hard, and why it seemed
like we weren't accomplishing anything. As soon as we got home and
grabbed the phone the member who lives with us pulled in, and gave us
a ride, which saved us a 3 mile walk to the shop. I was filled with a
deep sense of gratitude and was reminded that God is very mindful of
us, and is rooting for our success, especially when we are in his
service. In the late afternoon we took a little break from the heat
and went to get some Italian ice, a member saw us and paid for us,
several things like that happened that day, and I was just blown away
at how much God blesses us every day, especially if we keep our eyes
open. I was also reminded of this fact when riding my bike home today
from a members barbecue. We've all had those moments when you have to
use the bathroom right now, and well this was one of these moments.
This was an especially treacherous experience riding a bike, there
aren't any shocks on rode bikes, so you in turn are the shocks, and
you feel every bump and pebble underneath you. I quickly prayed
knowing that there was no way I could make this journey back to the
pad without some kind of divine intervention . I peddled even faster,
quickly being reminded of one of my favorites by Carey underwood
"Jesus take the wheel" the lyrics quickly began to replay in my head
as I passed through alley ways and different winding streets. focusing
on the line "I can't do this on my own.... I can't do this on my
own... Jesus take the wheel" and let's just say that Jesus did take
the wheel, a matter of fact he took those handle bars right from my
hands and I was by some miracle able to make it home after that
terrifying bike ride, avoiding becoming another missionary statistic.
That's about the most sincere testimony that I got right now. Being a
missionary is a delight, and I love serving the Lord. Offer the Lord
your whole self, not just a twig here, or a branch there, he wants the
whole tree, and I know that you will be blessed for it.
Also, this p day me and E. Low went golfing at a driving range today
and it was awesome , here are some of the action pics for your viewing
pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment