So the big news for this week, is that on Saturday, President Mullen called all of the visa waiters and all three will be leaving at the end of the transfer for their assigned missions. They are all pretty excited and it seems to have improved Elder Riding's mood and tolerance. I think he is willing to put up with anything for the next two weeks.
This week I had one of the most interesting experiences of my mission. We went to visit a less active sister. We had heard that she lived at her workplace, but we weren't sure exactly what that meant. So we pull up at her address and it is a mortuary. So we just awkwardly walk inside and wander around a bit until she comes out of a door and says "hi". At first we weren't even sure if she recognized who we were, but then she did. She was in the middle of a couple of phone calls, so she let us wander around the mortuary. We stopped in the chapel and looked at all the different caskets on display and keepsakes and things. It was kind of eerie, but when she talked with us she was super bubbly and happy (which I think you kind of have to be to work in a place like that). She got baptized almost 2 years ago, but it's hard for her to come to church because people always need mortuaries, and she is the only manager/employee for this location. But she said she can come to sacrament meeting every other week because she has it off, so that's a good start.
We got to meet with the Rivera family this week, and their kids participated this time. We taught a little bit of the plan of salvation, but their son kept asking interesting questions that got us off track. But they have all accepted baptism for May 7th, so that's pretty cool. And they were going to come to church until we got a text from Angel on Sunday morning. It said "Won't make it today, still at work. Two massive house fires last night, I had to work extra long hours and pulled a body out of one of the houses. Just cleaning up the fire engine and heading home now. Sorry guys." So we were kind of bummed about that because we thought we were going to have an entire family at church. But he has surgery today and can't work for the next 4 weeks, so that should be plenty of time to teach him and kids and get them out to church.
Speaking of church, Johnny came for the third time. Again, we weren't able to meet with him all week, we don't know where he's been, but he came without being reminded. This time he only stayed for the first two hours again because he had to go into work. But a member of the ward recognized him. Apparently Johnny's dad owns a restaurant called Family Basket, and he works there too. And because he works for his dad, his dad probably calls him in any time that someone calls in sick, and that's why it's been so hard to catch him around. So we're going to try to set something up with him during the week, maybe meet at the church if his dad is really so stubborn he won't let us teach Johnny at the house. We'll have to see about that too.
Exchanges with the Zone Leaders was pretty fun this week. I was with Elder Anderson this time, and it was pretty cool to get to teach with him again after 3 transfers. We taught Eric again, I seem to teach him every time that I'm on exchanges. He's still just as stubborn as before, but they're working with him slowly and I think he'll get baptized eventually, as long as he's willing to do what the missionaries ask. He comes to church every week, so that's good. We also taught a couple of kids of a less active and it was kind of awkward. Elder Anderson said that they were on target for a specific date, and so I tried to follow up on it. You know just mention baptism and ask the kids what day they were going to get baptized. When I did that, the mom butted in and said, "We haven't chosen a date yet.", and Elder Anderson's face was pretty priceless. But we talked about it a little bit and they pushed it back a whole month from the original date they set. But that's okay because it's so the dad can be there for it, and he's not a member either.
This upcoming week is multi-zones, so that should be pretty fun, and with General Conference too, the week will just fly by, and unfortunately not feel too productive probably. We need to try to conserve miles, because last April, I remember Elder Andrew and I used almost 200 miles the first 3 days of April because we had to drive back and forth to the Stake Center so many times and then to far away dinner appointments. So we're going to be smarter about it this year, especially because our stake center is 9 miles away, so we really need to plan better.
From the West Side . . . . .
Elder Cornaby
We got to meet with the Rivera family this week, and their kids participated this time. We taught a little bit of the plan of salvation, but their son kept asking interesting questions that got us off track. But they have all accepted baptism for May 7th, so that's pretty cool. And they were going to come to church until we got a text from Angel on Sunday morning. It said "Won't make it today, still at work. Two massive house fires last night, I had to work extra long hours and pulled a body out of one of the houses. Just cleaning up the fire engine and heading home now. Sorry guys." So we were kind of bummed about that because we thought we were going to have an entire family at church. But he has surgery today and can't work for the next 4 weeks, so that should be plenty of time to teach him and kids and get them out to church.
Speaking of church, Johnny came for the third time. Again, we weren't able to meet with him all week, we don't know where he's been, but he came without being reminded. This time he only stayed for the first two hours again because he had to go into work. But a member of the ward recognized him. Apparently Johnny's dad owns a restaurant called Family Basket, and he works there too. And because he works for his dad, his dad probably calls him in any time that someone calls in sick, and that's why it's been so hard to catch him around. So we're going to try to set something up with him during the week, maybe meet at the church if his dad is really so stubborn he won't let us teach Johnny at the house. We'll have to see about that too.
Exchanges with the Zone Leaders was pretty fun this week. I was with Elder Anderson this time, and it was pretty cool to get to teach with him again after 3 transfers. We taught Eric again, I seem to teach him every time that I'm on exchanges. He's still just as stubborn as before, but they're working with him slowly and I think he'll get baptized eventually, as long as he's willing to do what the missionaries ask. He comes to church every week, so that's good. We also taught a couple of kids of a less active and it was kind of awkward. Elder Anderson said that they were on target for a specific date, and so I tried to follow up on it. You know just mention baptism and ask the kids what day they were going to get baptized. When I did that, the mom butted in and said, "We haven't chosen a date yet.", and Elder Anderson's face was pretty priceless. But we talked about it a little bit and they pushed it back a whole month from the original date they set. But that's okay because it's so the dad can be there for it, and he's not a member either.
This upcoming week is multi-zones, so that should be pretty fun, and with General Conference too, the week will just fly by, and unfortunately not feel too productive probably. We need to try to conserve miles, because last April, I remember Elder Andrew and I used almost 200 miles the first 3 days of April because we had to drive back and forth to the Stake Center so many times and then to far away dinner appointments. So we're going to be smarter about it this year, especially because our stake center is 9 miles away, so we really need to plan better.
From the West Side . . . . .
Elder Cornaby