As for my best missionary experience for the week, it was just a really rough week overall. We had meetings or exchanges most of the week and had to take our car into the shop to get the engine checked out. So it reminded me that missionary work is not all sunshine and rainbows and baptisms. I was pretty bummed about it, but Elder Cook told me that there has to be opposition in all things, even this. So that helped me to feel better about it. Also, I thought about the stripling warriors. The scriptures tell us that none of them died, but that many of them were wounded, or at the least, exhausted from the battle. So no one can expect to come out from their trials unscathed, even missionaries, and that thought gave me a little hope.
Exchanges with the AP's were interesting. I was with Elder Sy in the AP's area. Actually we both stayed in their area, so we just switched after DDM and didn't get to do an overnight exchange with them. But we went out to lunch, and then we split up to do missionary work. For Elder Sy and I, we had a baptismal interview for one of their investigators. Unfortunately she hadn't been living the Word of Wisdom, so we had to delay the baptism by at least another week until she was more prepared. We had a dinner appointment with the Spanish Ward and we got lost on the way there, so we were about 30 minutes late. Then they gave us a lot of food - way too much food! When we first showed up, most of the conversation consisted of them poking fun at the only English speaking missionary in the room, saying things like "no esta hamburguesas", or other things about how "Spanish Land" is different. It was all in good fun though, and it's always fun when you understand more than the people realize. That night we went out with a member and dropped by a bunch of potentials. Unfortunately none of them panned out, so we didn't get to teach too much that day, but it was good because it let me see that everybody has bad days. When we went seeking with faith, all the people outside were super nice and it gave me a little confidence boost in that area, because we hadn't been having much success doing that recently.
We don't have any other baptisms in the immediate future. Vanessa is still sort of wishy-washy for next month some time. And we have a few other people with a baptismal date, but they are too early in the process to know if they are solid or have any real concerns.
Today was CrossFit, which was pretty fun. I didn't prepare for it as much as I should have, so I kind of pooped out early and then came back strong towards the end. But more importantly it was just fun to see everyone I hadn't seen for a while, like Elders Andrew, Simpson, and Pennington. After CrossFit and a short break, we played some ultimate frisbee and that was really fun, though very hot and exhausting. So it's been a good start to the week, and hopefully it will keep going in a positive direction.
Classes start at RCC today, and institute starts next week. They have free lunch every Wednesday at the institute and as missionaries we are invited to attend. It should be a lot of fun and a good way to meet the students.
We also should be getting a mini mission candidate some time this week, so we have that to look forward to. President Mullen told us that this young man has Asperger's so part of this mini mission is to evaluate how he can handle full-time missionary work. This assignment seems like a really big responsibility, but I'm sure things will go well and we'll know what to do to ensure this mission experience is best for him.
There was one really cool experience from the week. Andrew had asked someone in the YSA Ward to confirm him, and we had made the arrangements so that he could do the confirmation. Then on Saturday, he told us that he might have to work that day, since his boss had told him nearly 3 weeks ago that he couldn't have that Sunday off. But then, at 11:30 on Sunday morning, he received a call from his boss saying that he could wait to come in until 1:30 in the afternoon. That was just enough time for him to come to sacrament meeting and confirm Andrew. So the Lord looks out for us in lots of little ways, and if we remember to acknowledge those moments, we can get through the rough times.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
We don't have any other baptisms in the immediate future. Vanessa is still sort of wishy-washy for next month some time. And we have a few other people with a baptismal date, but they are too early in the process to know if they are solid or have any real concerns.
Today was CrossFit, which was pretty fun. I didn't prepare for it as much as I should have, so I kind of pooped out early and then came back strong towards the end. But more importantly it was just fun to see everyone I hadn't seen for a while, like Elders Andrew, Simpson, and Pennington. After CrossFit and a short break, we played some ultimate frisbee and that was really fun, though very hot and exhausting. So it's been a good start to the week, and hopefully it will keep going in a positive direction.
Classes start at RCC today, and institute starts next week. They have free lunch every Wednesday at the institute and as missionaries we are invited to attend. It should be a lot of fun and a good way to meet the students.
We also should be getting a mini mission candidate some time this week, so we have that to look forward to. President Mullen told us that this young man has Asperger's so part of this mini mission is to evaluate how he can handle full-time missionary work. This assignment seems like a really big responsibility, but I'm sure things will go well and we'll know what to do to ensure this mission experience is best for him.
There was one really cool experience from the week. Andrew had asked someone in the YSA Ward to confirm him, and we had made the arrangements so that he could do the confirmation. Then on Saturday, he told us that he might have to work that day, since his boss had told him nearly 3 weeks ago that he couldn't have that Sunday off. But then, at 11:30 on Sunday morning, he received a call from his boss saying that he could wait to come in until 1:30 in the afternoon. That was just enough time for him to come to sacrament meeting and confirm Andrew. So the Lord looks out for us in lots of little ways, and if we remember to acknowledge those moments, we can get through the rough times.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby