So on Tuesday I went up to the mission office with Elder Moss and Elder Young for the trainer meeting. The trainer meetings seem to get more fun each time I go, maybe that is because I am less nervous each time I train. We ate dinner and then received our companion assignments. So I am training a missionary who is waiting for a visa to go to the Adelaide Australia Mission. His name is Elder Riding and he is from Heber, Utah. He is pretty pumped to be going there, but he doesn't mind being here. Elder Riding is just barely 18, he enjoys playing soccer and working on his truck. He participated in VEX robotics in high school.
The next few days were actually really good. On Wednesday we had our normal district meetings and then after that, we were able to meet with Anna Arnold for a teaching appointment. We just called her up and she said we could come by. She had a lot of questions, so we barely got to introduce the Book of Mormon but we were able to work in an opportunity for Elder Riding to invite her to baptism. That day he also got his first weird missionary experience. As we were leaving Walmart with his groceries, someone yelled "Elders!" and that's always a really good thing, or a really bad thing, so I was kind of wary. But it was a lady who said she was a member, but she said people don't believe her when she says that, and she wanted us to pray with her. So we did. Pretty good introduction to missionary life for Elder Riding.
Thursday was another day full of service. Between the Romero's and the food pantry in Menifee, and a quick hour of emergency help for a member, we were in normal clothes quite a bit. Later that day we had MCM with Brother Sperry. That night we did splits, Elder Goodrich went out with a member, and we went to go visit some potentials. Friday I had the DL meeting, so I was gone until about 2. It was a really good meeting. it was a little different than the usual and there were a couple of issues he touched on with us and wants us to share with our districts - one about music and one about mission slang. That day we had our weekly planning so most of the rest of the day was pretty basic until we went to go visit the Langston's. We hadn't seen them for a bit, so it was good to be able to see them, though the dad was still at work. I think we have a lot of families that will give Elder Riding some opportunities to teach people while he is waiting for his visa.
The highlight of Saturday was dinner with the Valenzuelas. He had made his famous citrus chicken tacos (missionaries have termed them "crack tacos" because they're so addictive). Well they keep a record for most tacos downed in a single evening, and it was held by a large Tongan missionary named Elder Folau. His record was 22 tacos. So Elder Goodrich was determined that he was going to beat it, and he did pretty easily. It wasn't until the last 2 that he really started to slow down, and he packed them full of lettuce and tomato and hot sauce so I was pretty impressed. Don't know if too many people will be able to beat that any time soon.
Overall this week was really good for working with the ward. It started with that team-up we set up on Thursday, they went and visited a part member family with Elder Goodrich, and he was able to distract the member (who talks a lot), while Elder Goodrich had a low key gospel discussion about church history/Restoration with him. They didn't come to church this week, but this guy seems to really like Elder Goodrich and they get along great so it could go somewhere. Then our dinner on Sunday night was the Hardman's, and they did two things for us. First, they own 11 horses, which creates a lot of manure and the Romero's can use that for their composting and gardening. So we asked if she would give him a call and offer some of her manure for their gardening. Second, they called their neighbor and took us over to meet her. Flo is in a wheel chair and is almost 84 years old, but she loves to talk. Her husband is paralyzed from the neck down, so he's bedridden. I don't think she gets too many visitors and she can't go out much. She's Catholic, but she brought up a bunch of things she didn't like about the Catholic church so I think it's more out of tradition than anything. She is super willing to have us come over anytime.
We're still figuring out the dynamic of this trio. Elder Riding is very homesick, and he's also pretty oblivious to what all the rules are of missionary life, and most of the time when he finds out about a new one, he's not too happy. This week I'm going to go on an 'exchange' with Elder Goodrich so he and I can get on the same page, because he needs to take as much responsibility for this "greenie's" training as I do. So we need to talk about that a little bit, and it will be a fun experience for Elder Riding to go see another area and some other missionaries. I think it will be a good transfer, as long as we do our best to keep him involved in everything, and make sure he doesn't think this 6 weeks is just a break because he hasn't gone to his assigned mission yet. But that's more on Elder Goodrich and I than on him so we're going to do our best.
From the West Side . . . . .
Elder Cornaby
Thursday was another day full of service. Between the Romero's and the food pantry in Menifee, and a quick hour of emergency help for a member, we were in normal clothes quite a bit. Later that day we had MCM with Brother Sperry. That night we did splits, Elder Goodrich went out with a member, and we went to go visit some potentials. Friday I had the DL meeting, so I was gone until about 2. It was a really good meeting. it was a little different than the usual and there were a couple of issues he touched on with us and wants us to share with our districts - one about music and one about mission slang. That day we had our weekly planning so most of the rest of the day was pretty basic until we went to go visit the Langston's. We hadn't seen them for a bit, so it was good to be able to see them, though the dad was still at work. I think we have a lot of families that will give Elder Riding some opportunities to teach people while he is waiting for his visa.
The highlight of Saturday was dinner with the Valenzuelas. He had made his famous citrus chicken tacos (missionaries have termed them "crack tacos" because they're so addictive). Well they keep a record for most tacos downed in a single evening, and it was held by a large Tongan missionary named Elder Folau. His record was 22 tacos. So Elder Goodrich was determined that he was going to beat it, and he did pretty easily. It wasn't until the last 2 that he really started to slow down, and he packed them full of lettuce and tomato and hot sauce so I was pretty impressed. Don't know if too many people will be able to beat that any time soon.
Overall this week was really good for working with the ward. It started with that team-up we set up on Thursday, they went and visited a part member family with Elder Goodrich, and he was able to distract the member (who talks a lot), while Elder Goodrich had a low key gospel discussion about church history/Restoration with him. They didn't come to church this week, but this guy seems to really like Elder Goodrich and they get along great so it could go somewhere. Then our dinner on Sunday night was the Hardman's, and they did two things for us. First, they own 11 horses, which creates a lot of manure and the Romero's can use that for their composting and gardening. So we asked if she would give him a call and offer some of her manure for their gardening. Second, they called their neighbor and took us over to meet her. Flo is in a wheel chair and is almost 84 years old, but she loves to talk. Her husband is paralyzed from the neck down, so he's bedridden. I don't think she gets too many visitors and she can't go out much. She's Catholic, but she brought up a bunch of things she didn't like about the Catholic church so I think it's more out of tradition than anything. She is super willing to have us come over anytime.
We're still figuring out the dynamic of this trio. Elder Riding is very homesick, and he's also pretty oblivious to what all the rules are of missionary life, and most of the time when he finds out about a new one, he's not too happy. This week I'm going to go on an 'exchange' with Elder Goodrich so he and I can get on the same page, because he needs to take as much responsibility for this "greenie's" training as I do. So we need to talk about that a little bit, and it will be a fun experience for Elder Riding to go see another area and some other missionaries. I think it will be a good transfer, as long as we do our best to keep him involved in everything, and make sure he doesn't think this 6 weeks is just a break because he hasn't gone to his assigned mission yet. But that's more on Elder Goodrich and I than on him so we're going to do our best.
From the West Side . . . . .
Elder Cornaby