Hey fellas
I was kicking myself all week for sending a garbage email last week so I stayed up all night to write this one. Just kidding haha but I tried to give this one more attention so hopefully you enjoy it. This week was pretty decent honestly. Lots of ups and downs, but ending on a perty good note. Here we go boys!
Bathroom Prank
“Hi, is this Jerry?”
Compunity
Mini Golf
Jim and Stephanie!
Lady at the park
Scientology
Bible Bash
Sally
Shelina
Bathroom Prank
So as missionaries, we aren’t allowed to use our phone while in the bathroom. Which was a problem initially because throughout my childhood that was my only source of entertainment while in there. Anyways, the other day Elder Morgan was taking a shower while listening to music. But he can’t have his phone in the shower, so he connected his phone to the speaker, got his music playing, and left the phone outside the bathroom but the speaker inside. Then I, Elder Wride, in my infinite wisdom devised a plan. On my phone I recorded myself singing “Stayin’ Alive” by the bee gees in the worst way possible, which wasn’t very hard. But yea I went as high and obnoxious as I could. Then, I sent the voice recording to Elder Morgan’s phone. Since we’re comps I know his password, and I pulled up the file. Then at full volume I played it. It was pretty hilarious. One minute he’s listening to MoTab and the next he’s listening to Elder Wride screaming the bee gees and was powerless to stop it. But he takes super long showers, so eventually I felt bad and let him continue listening to MoTab. But yea for all you missionaries out there, that is a solid prank that brings a lot of joy.
“Hi, is this Jerry?”
So I’ve been asking for lots of referrals, and one member gave us a list of like 6 referrals which was amazing. So I was going down the list, calling each one. I called the first person and said “Hi! Is this Marie?”, and she was super nice, but said that she couldn’t talk right then. So I was like “okay no worries!” and hung up. Then, the next person on the list was “Jerry”. Well the member who sent these to us goofed or something because Jerry’s number is the same as Maries. But I am a goon so I didn’t even notice. So, literally 30 seconds after Marie said she couldn’t talk, I called her again and said “Hi! Is this Jerry?”. I was expecting the response of a voice that one might expect with a name like “Jerry”, and was horrified when I heard Maries voice again. She was like “uhhhh” and yea so that was a rip. Definitely an Elder Wride type mistake.
Compunity
This just barely happened but I have to share it because I’m still in shock. So every week we send a text to our mission president on our key indicators, and how our Obedience, Diligence, and Comp Unity is. Man I’m still so shook. Okay so I was sending the report to President and was typing “Obedience, Diligence…” and then had “Compunity” typed out. We also have to approve all our texts with our companion so I showed it to Elder Morgan and he was like “you forgot the space between the p and the u” which was weird. “Compunity” is one word. Huh. Elder Morgan is silly. Anyways I didn’t understand what he meant but eventually my mind was blown when I realized that the word “Compunity” meant “Comp Unity”. I literally rolled over on the floor and just had my hands in my hair because my brain was hurting. So crazy! I still can’t believe “compunity” isn’t a word. Actually, I still think it might be. So if anyone has further information on whether or not compunity is a word, let me know.
Mini Golf
So we did two exchanges this week which was good. One with the ZL’s and one with our district leader and his comp. I stayed here in Frontenac with my DL Elder Dugan and it was good. I think he was a little taken aback by how busy we were. After a lesson we came back over to the apt and he just sat on the couch ready to relax and I was ready to head out the door. He was like “Elder Wride keeps me movin” haha. Anyways we had a ward activity of mini golf that we went over to help out with. Basically throughout the church there were different mini gold activities set up, and me and Elder Dugan got put in charge of the “Hole in One” activity. Basically all the kids had 2 hits to get the ball as close to the whole which was 50-60 feet away. So they’d hit it, we’d measure how many inches away from the hole their ball is, and then the lowest number wins. For the first couple kids that came, I wasn’t lenient. I gave them two shots, and then they were done. But everyone was doing horrible so at the 6th or 7th kid I started giving them extra shots just so they could do better. Things kinda got outta hand. Mostly on my end. Even with extra shots people were doing horrible so for some kids I’d be like “pick a number between 20 and 30” and then use that as their score. Which, by the way, anything below 40 inches was impressive. So I was on the end where the kids hit the ball, and Elder Dugan was on the end where the whole was. At first Elder Dugan wasn’t thrilled that I was cheating the system. Eventually though, he just went along. Someone would totally biff a shot and if it was really bad I’d be like “Elder Dugan help them out” and then he’d stop the ball with his foot and move it close to the hole. There were a couple times where he’d move it way too close and I’d be like “too generous. Move it back” and stuff. Basically it was an hour of me not enforcing any rules and letting everybody win. I gave the bishops kid extra shots too and was like “Don’t tell Bishop. It’s my first day. I need this job.”. But anywho, it was a really fun activity and I loved playing with all the kids. Afterwards us Elders and some of the younger kids played football in the gym and I felt like a beast because I was the biggest one there and the best one at football. Have me play football with people my age? No sir. But, put me with the primary kids? Oh yeah baby. I was the alpha dog there.
Jim and Stephanie
Okay brothers and sisters, if you’re needing some spiritual edification, don’t worry it will come soon. I know you’re thinking I’m about to tell an amazing story about a couple we taught named Jim and Stephanie, but don’t be too sure. So since I’ve been here, we’ve been driving a 2020 Toyota Camry. Pretty good stuff, but he’s a rental, so this week we had to exchange him for the new cars the mission got. I was sad to see him go. I haven’t told anybody this, but in my head I have been calling the Camry “Jim”. I haven’t said it outloud because apparently the cars are supposed to be girl names and I didn’t want to get wrecked by the other elders. But I was sad to see Jim go. We’ve been through a lot together. I took a pic with him before we swapped him out. It was actually super funny, because right before we dropped Jim off we went through a car wash, and then 20 minutes later we showed up again in our new car. The lady running the car wash was super confused at first but then just started laughing when I put my hands in the air and shouted “WEEEE” as the car wash started.
Anyways, our new car is a 2021 Chevrolet Equinox. She is so fresh!!!! I’m literally obsessed with driving her. Funny story about this haha. Elder Bowles, one of my Zone Leaders, is awesome. He’s like the mom of the apartment but is also quite the softie. I mentioned this in one of my first emails, but he is engaged to a girl he met online playing D&D or something and they got engaged while he was a missionary. Her name is Stephanie, and Elder Bowles is always talking about her, calling her “Steph” for short. So I was on exchanges with the other ZL, Elder McConnel, and we were walking out and saw our new car for the first time. I was like, “Elder, we have to name her right now before it’s too late”. He then said “man it’s super messed up, but she looks like a Steph”. And bam, that was her name. I was a little scared to tell Elder Bowles at first. Idk if you guys have seen Twilight, but in it the werewolf Jacob “imprints” on Bella’s daughter (basically means that from now on Jacob is obsessed with her and they are soulmates) and then Bella get’s super triggered and rages at him. In my head that’s kind of how I thought this was gonna go down. Instead, I told him, and he looked at me and said “how bout no”. But it was too late. She looks SO MUCH like a Steph. He tried suggesting other names like “Carlie”, “Rainbow Trout” and ”Tiger Lily”, but it was too late. The name Steph had already imprinted on the Equinox.
But anyways, I am obsessed with this car. It even has lane adjustments, so basically it knows where the lines are and you can let go of the steering wheel. It’s so awesome. Tomorrow I’m just gonna put on cruise control and go to sleep. I don’t even need to drive anymore because the car will just turn for me. Haha just kidding I’m not that dumb, but Stephanie is my new love. Don’t tell Elder Bowles. It’s gonna take a while for him to adjust to this.
Lady at the park
Okay time for the spirit. So yesterday, I was mad at myself. I was a door to door salesman who literally sprinted door to door to talk to everyone, and now I’m scared to just go and ask people if they want to hear about Jesus. Coming into the mission field I wasn’t, but also my trainer is really quiet which has made it hard and kinda put out my fire. So we went to the park with the goal of just talking to everybody, but then chickened out and just tossed the frisbee. I wanted to just go up to people and bring up the Gospel, but Satan was working on me, and I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was praying in my heart, apologizing for not being a better missionary and saying “God, if there’s somebody here who needs to hear our message, you’re going to have to send them to me.”. So we tossed the frisbee for a while (there was a group of girls nearby that I’m pretty sure were really impressed with my air-bounces) at the top of the hill, and then this lady just started walking towards us from the bottom. She was looking at us (as everyone does) and I kinda waved but continued to focus on what was more important: frisbee. Anyways, she kept getting closer till she was in ear shot, so I was like “Hey!” and waved at her. I do this to everyone I can see, and normally nothing comes of it. Anyways, she responded and we just started talking. I don’t know how the Lord did it, but one thing led to another, and the next minute we were sitting down with her teaching her the restoration. She is amazing. She’s from South Africa and has the DOPEST accent I have ever heard in my life. All day I’ve sorta been trying to recreate it but can’t. She sounds like she’s got a Wakandan accent. Literally exactly like that. Mixed with a little british. Anyways, it was insane how receptive she was to our message. At the end we invited her to be baptized as she came to know these things were true and she laughed and said that she was gonna read it first haha. But she is super super elect and I am so grateful to God for making up for my bad missionary efforts and sending her towards me. We’re going to see her at church next week. But, like freaking everybody we find, she is in Elder Pugsley’s area so I have to send her to him eventually! I’m so issedperb! But, it was a really cool experience and I already love this lady so much. The Lord has prepared her.
Scientology
We also got a guy that we’re teaching at church! Buttttt, I may or may not have offered to go to his church as well just to be nice. And he is a Christian Scientologist. So basically I went to a scientology church. It was suuuuppper interesting. Me and Elder Morgan had no idea what the heck was going on. We would stand up, recite stuff, sit down, stand up, sing, sit down, etc.. It was interesting. Cool experience! It was in this really big chapel the echo was super loud. There were a couple of times where it was dead silent, and I was terrified that my stomach was gonna start growling. Anyways, it was good. Elder Morgan was a lot more uncomfortable than I was haha. I don’t know why I’m always just vibing in these weird situations, but I enjoyed it. I kinda wanna go back too! There are some people in there that I think would love to hear our message. Going to other churches is also a huge testament that ours has Jesus Christ at it’s center, and that it is true. And I’ll be honest, I can’t say I didn’t feel the spirit there. God loves ALL of his children! I literally just felt so much love for these people and their desire to do whats right.
Bible Bash
Oh boy. This one was interesting. So a guy I found forever ago we taught again this week. He is such a cool guy and I love em to death, but his heart it kinda hard. Since he’s in Elder Pugsleys area (as is everyone we find) we did a lesson with the four of us. We taught him the restoration, and then afterwards, he just kinda bible bashed at us for two hours. Elder Pugsleys brain checked out at that point the same way it did when we sat next to each other in AP stats. Side note, but I was in AP stats for two weeks and sat next to him back in the day when we went by the names “Truman” and “Ethan”. We spent every class making dumb jokes, putting pieces of paper on the hair of the girl in front of us, and not paying attention. Eventually, we both knew this wasn’t going to work out and we were going to fail, so I transferred out. Anyways, point being, this lesson was rough. Almost as rough as AP stats. He kept throwing out Bible bash verses on faith over works, and we would throw some back like James 2 and stuff. We would testify to him as well, but he wouldn’t really listen. At one point he looked at me and said “What do you say to someone who is a part of another religion, who comes up to you with their religious book and says ‘I know this is true, and I promise you that if you read it, you will know it’s true’.”.
This is a great question, and something that I have learned on my mission so far. It’s funny, because this exact thing happened the other day. We gave a guy we’re teaching a Book of Mormon, testified to him it’s true, and promised him that if he read it, he would know it too. He then gave us one of his religious books. I looked at it and said “would you like us to read this and pray to God if it’s true?”. Instantly, he was like “no no no no” and was almost apologetic. I was kinda shocked! Like dude, this is important. Is this book true or not? For myself, I don’t want to believe anything that isn’t true. That’s the way I live. But, the Book of Mormon is, in fact, true.
So, when our friend asked me what I’d say to those people, I basically told him that it is incredibly rare, like it does not happen, that someone outside of the church come with a book and testify about it the same way we do about the Book of Mormon, and leave a promise in the way that we do. It just doesn’t happen. For all you members of the church, don’t think that this is the norm. Our church is extremely different from the world. You can spend your entire life looking for something outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you will not find anything that is as clear and simple as this church is. And that is because this is, in reality, Jesus Christ’s church. I promise you guys, you will not run into anybody that will testify that their scripture is true in the same way that we do about the Book of Mormon. There’s a reason they made a play about us, because it is so apparent how strongly we know of these things to be true.
So this lesson made me sad. I wish he would just read the Book of Mormon and come to know it like we do. But, maybe one day he will!
Sally
I’m gonna wrap this email up but we had a lesson with Sally again and I asked if she had read the Book of Mormon and she said yes, but that she didn’t pray about it. We’ve been taught to be devastated when people don’t keep their commitments, so I literally started crying haha it was dope. The spirit was strong and I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. We just testified and testified and she felt bad for not doing it and now she’s gonna pray about it! So that was awesome. This lady is dope.
Shelina
And this lady Shelina is the best. She’s a referral, from guess who? My dad! Long story short, he was messaging someone but they had got a new phone so he just started talking to this lady from mexico and then told me and now I have her facebook and we’ve been chatting. She speaks spanish, so the other day I had my boy @Elder McKay Kimball who is learning spanish too join me for a zoom call. It was awesome! She is so elect! And her kids were intently listening too, which is not normal. We’ve taught her two lessons and they are so prepared by the Lord. She’s been messaging me too saying how good she feels and how grateful she is. And my spanish has been popping off! It’s great! I taught a couple more lessons in spanish this week which was dope. I’m loving it.
I’m probably gonna call it there folks. I think from now on I’m actually not going to send everything that’s happening just so you don’t have to read so much. But don’t worry, because I am documenting them in my journal entries every night. So the memories are there, but I’m gonna start just giving you guys the highlights and doing shorter emails. But, thanks for reading this if you did. Hope you have a great week and remember who you are. Reminds me of what Mufassa said to Simba.
“You are more than what you have become.”.
I’d invite you guys to look at who you are now, and then think about who God can help you become. If you completely surrender your will to his, it will happen. Give him your all.
Have a good week hermanas. As always, love hearing from any of you. Except Elder Pugsley. Elder please stop sending me emails. I see you every week. We can talk then.
See you guys! Also sorry if you're offended by anything in here. Don't remember what I said.
No comments:
Post a Comment