Hey everybody! So I'm serving in the Orizaba/Downey 2 ward, but we cover about half of Compton. It's pretty cool! My companions are both super cool (I'm in a trio right now) Elder Hiatt reminds me a lot of Isaac, which is good. He tends to get frustrated at the situation if things aren't going perfectly. But he's very hard working and is good at relating to investigators. He's from Alabama. Elder Patrick is super laid back. He's from Houston. This week was a little hard because we had one problem right after the other. Turns out, they got rear-ended on the way to pick me up, so it took us several days to get the car fixed, fill out paperwork and get back on track, but this week will be better. We taught two lessons yesterday after dinner that were fairly interesting. One guy has had lots of spiritual experiences and believes that he was already baptized by the holy ghost as he was walking down the street. The other lady took forever to get to the door, turns out she was hiding her beer and weed. Everybody here sees us as holy men (kind of) Even though most of them won't listen to us, they acknowledge that we are set apart from the world. Anyway, she's super drunk and starts crying and telling us about her uncle that's dying. We try to share the plan of salvation, but as soon as we try to share a scripture from the BoM, she cuts us off and tells us she doesn't believe in anything but the bible. It's so frustrating because it was like trying to reason with a 4 year old. The drugs/alcohol had dulled her mental capacity, so it was impossible for her to feel the spirit. What killed me is that I felt it so strongly, and we were all trying so here to help her, but she refused to be helped. I guess she'll just have to wait till the spirit world where she can be taught by someone better than me.
Funny/weird LA moments:
Elder Patrick jokes around that the sister missionaries are always trying to hit on him. It's funny because the sisters are all pretty consecrated.
Saw a trans wearing a belly shirt. Definitely did not wax his stomach.
Lots of drug usage. People just walk aimlessly in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic. Or just stare off into the distance for hours on end.
We brought an investigator to church for his 2nd time this week. He missed sacrament meeting, and arrived just in time for the combined relief society/priesthood meeting. It was taught by 3 ex-military guys and the topic was the importance of emergency preparedness. It just made me laugh. They had 7 different examples of 72 hour kits and were prophesying the end of the world. We ran through all the possible scenarios for natural disasters/nuclear war. Pretty funny unless you have an investigator there. Oh well...
Elder Patrick jokes around that the sister missionaries are always trying to hit on him. It's funny because the sisters are all pretty consecrated.
Saw a trans wearing a belly shirt. Definitely did not wax his stomach.
Lots of drug usage. People just walk aimlessly in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic. Or just stare off into the distance for hours on end.
We brought an investigator to church for his 2nd time this week. He missed sacrament meeting, and arrived just in time for the combined relief society/priesthood meeting. It was taught by 3 ex-military guys and the topic was the importance of emergency preparedness. It just made me laugh. They had 7 different examples of 72 hour kits and were prophesying the end of the world. We ran through all the possible scenarios for natural disasters/nuclear war. Pretty funny unless you have an investigator there. Oh well...
Spiritual moments:
I really was the power of fasting this week. God blessed us proportionate to what we put in.
The experience yesterday teaching the drunk lady made me realize how powerful the effects of drugs and alcohol can be. They really can create a shell that keeps the spirit out.
I really was the power of fasting this week. God blessed us proportionate to what we put in.
The experience yesterday teaching the drunk lady made me realize how powerful the effects of drugs and alcohol can be. They really can create a shell that keeps the spirit out.
Challenge:
Share one of our beliefs this week without talking about the church.
Share one of our beliefs this week without talking about the church.
That's about it for this week,
Elder Nelson II
No comments:
Post a Comment