Week 21: Agency

Sorry guys, I don't have a lot to write about this week. I rear ended a car today though. Kind of embarrassing. Dad, correct me if I'm wrong, but I felt like I was a pretty decent driver before the mission, but man, I've been struggling on the mission. My first day driving, I scraped up the side of the car on a pole, and the door had to get replaced. Today, although I was distracted, I stopped in time that I did hit the car, but there was no damage done to our car. Thank goodness, because its brand spanking new. The guy I hit got a little scratch, but he was chill about it and said it was fine. The only issue is now I'm teased for bad driving.

Cool things that happened

So we don't have a ton of Spanish people that are progressing, except for Josué. He's the first person I've taught in Spanish that actually came to church after we invited him to come! Also, while we were doorstep teaching this one guy, this kid walked passed us with his lawn mower and was like "Hi how are y'all?!" And then when we went back the next day to visit someone who told us to come back, we saw the kid again. The guy we tried to talk to wasn't home, but the kid ran up to us like "I've seen guys like you everywhere, what do y'all do?" And we told him how we're missionaries for Jesus Christ, and he told us to come to his house and teach him, so we're going back today. I've never had someone run up to us and ask us to teach them though, and so that was cool.

Another thing, we talked to a group of Spanish men just drinking, cooking meat, and playing cards, because one of them was a referral. While talking to then, we found that another guy in the group had also put in a referral, and it was actually a wonderful lesson. They asked so many deep questions, and we found 5 people in that moment. We've been praying to reach our finding goal this week, which was 5, so that was cool.

Agency

This is just something I've been thinking about and trying to figure out. There are some things, many things, where I just know I'm not doing my best. There are many many things that are asked and expected of us as members and missionaries of the church, and some things I just haven't been doing and don't really want to do, but I know I should. I've been wondering, why can't I just do my best? And with some help, it led me to a question. Does Christ help you to do things that you can do for yourself, but you're just not feeling like it? A popular poem is footprints in the sand, and it talks about how Christ carries us through our hardest times. And honestly (hot take here) it doesn't quite ring true to me because I've never felt that. I feel like I've never been carried. I think I've been nudged, and probed and poked, but normally, I just feel nothing. I'd be interested to hear what y'alls thoughts are. But one of the things my Dad said, was

"So I feel like you’re sort of asking why the Lord doesn’t interfere or intervene a bit more to do this work you’re supposed to be doing – why not more guilt for mistakes and more joy when you’re doing what you should be doing? Well, it’s up to you – you know what to do – and now you have the freedom and time to decide what it is that you want. It is unlikely that you’ll be compelled."

And I feel like this rings true, but I also don't like it. Agency is sort of a pain sometimes, because I don't like having to make my own decision when I really want to choose the easier one, the wrong one. It'd be nice to feel more guilt when I mess up and feel more joy when I'm doing good, that way I'd feel more motivated to be obedient. But I think God is intentionally leaving me hanging. I've been asking God to help me change my heart so that I no longer long to do what's wrong, but sadly, I think this is part of the process. I'm being left to my own devices, and given the opportunity to choose for myself. You get to choose where you put your heart. God doesn't want people who only follow him for the blessings or only because he tells them to, he wants his children to follow him because they want to follow him. He wants us to choose to do what's right simply because it's right. Idk, let me know y'alls thoughts, I really learn a lot from your emails.

Week 20: in the Similitude of the Savior

I'm not really sure what happened this week. Everything is blending together.

Baptism

We did have a baptism this week. The sisters have been teaching this kid, and his mom was baptized in my first week. They asked me to do the baptism, and I did. Sad thing though, the next day, they didn't show up to church, when he was supposed to recieve the Holy Ghost. That was very sad. We're really going to try to get them to church next week. It would be very sad if he just went by with a half-way done baptism.

Roach update

We still have roaches. We have done as much as we have been able to to get rid of them. We bombed the apartment with roach bomb, but it didn't kill any of them. It just lured them all onto the walls and slowed them down, so we vacuumed them all up and left the vacuum thing away from our apartment for a few days. We also had the place sprayed which killed a lot, but they didn't tell us when they were coming, so we didn't have time to empty all the pantry and everything. We've called and they're coming again, but the lady wanted to inspect our apartment to make sure were not slobs, and we had to empty out all of our cupboards. They said they'd charge us 45 bucks for every cupboard and drawer that wasn't empty, and so that's all of our stuff on the table. 

Mutual

One of our friends who we've been teaching is really looking toward being married and starting a family soon. He's wishing he started sooner because he's 31 now. We recently taught him the law of chastity, which was actually a really really cool lesson, and we got him in contact with the Adult Singles Group leader, so that he can get to meet some people his age. He complained a bit how the church doesn't have a dating app, and then we brought up mutual. It isn't church owned, but it's widely used by only church members, and he was pretty happy about that, so we're going to get a photo with him and be on his mutual profile. So if any of y'all happen to be in Abilene Texas area on mutual, you might get to see it. He's a really cool dude, and I like him a lot.

Similitude of the Savior

I was reading in Moses 1 yesterday, and something stuck out to me that I really liked. 

6. And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior, for he is full of grace and truth...

13. And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who are thou? For behold I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten: and where is thy glory that I should worship thee?

16. Get thee hence, Satan; decieve me not, for God said unto me: Thou art after the similitude of mine Only Begotten.

The word Similitude was really sticking out to me, and so I'd decided to search up what the exact definition is, and it said "Similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things." It just really hit me, because it was a powerful reminder of the Divine Identity each Child of God has. We are all made in the similitude of the Savior. We all, deep down to our core, have the same nature as him. We often forget it because of how often/easily we fall into sin, but all of us are noble and treasured children of God. We all belong with him and all belong back in his presence, because that is who we are before anything else. As we walk the covenant path, we discover more of who we truly are, and who we can become. We all of Godly potential, and it's just nice to be reminded of that. I'd love to hear your thoughts and insights!

- Elder Wride

I feel like I need to explain some of these pictures. The sisters in our District sent that Anime Gif, and they said that it's me. I thought that was pretty funny. 

Abi I'm sorry, but I actually really like the look of this Cowboy hat, so I'm definitely getting one at some point. I'm going country. Country dancing after the mission is going to be hype. If any of yall wanna donate money for the cause of buying a genuine hat and pair of boots for my birthday, I won't complain. Lol, jk, but not really. 

Us cooking steak at a members house, and the picture of our table with all of our food and books and stuff.

Week 19: New Comp

I honestly don't feel like I have a lot to say this week. We had transfers, and so Elder Rochelle is no longer here. My new comp is Elder Ball, and it's his last transfer of the mission, so he's going home in a few weeks. Having a new comp is weird, and it'll take some adjusting. I felt like Elder Rochelle and I had finally figured each other out, and now I gotta start over.

Spiritual Thought

So we have a friend who has recently found the church. He said he has looked at tons of churches, and there are always things he doesn't agree with, but he agrees with everything our church teaches. He said there's one thing though that he thinks is a little dumb and funny, which is that we can't drink coffee or tea. He said it's weird that we don't allow that, but do allow ice cream and soda and stuff like that. We talked about it for a long while, and had like an hour long discussion. He still thinks it's a little silly, but he said he wants to be baptized. We asked him "are you willing to completely live the word of wisdom for this week?" We were meaning like, you'll have to commit forever, but just focus on this week, but he said "why not forever?" And I thought that was very profound. We taught another friend about repentance, and he brought up deathbed repentance. He was like "why do I need to repent now if I can just do it later?" And one things Elder Ball asked him was "Why would you want to wait?" I just felt that I should share those two conversations with y'all. The gospel brings so many blessings. Why would you want to wait? Why would you want to prevent those blessings from pouring right now? Why not just start now? And why not forever?

- Elder Wride