April 1
Well, I'm training this next transfer. I am so stressed out
and worried. I actually said no the first time pres called but then he told me
to think about it for a few hours. Then I did and he called and we had a good
30 min talk where he talked me into doing it. Ugh. So now I'm training.
Haha, I can definitely tell that I am one of president's
biggest psych cases in the mission, along with my friend Sis __. We both have
bad anxiety which is not good haha. During the meeting for trainers, she and I
sat next to each other and one of the people giving the workshop asked,
"what were some of your thoughts when you got the call?" Of course we
had to give regular cookie cutter answers, but then [the sister] leaned over
and wrote this on a paper: "Elder Goates sh*t a brick." I couldn't
stop laughing. I got a few glares, but it definitely made me calm down a little
bit. The meeting was interesting and fairly good. I'm still super stressed, but
whatever. I'm going to try at least.
So I'm afraid I have Plantar fasciitis. I got some excercises that I am doing
for it so it should be good. At most I think I'd have to get a shoe implant.
Funny thing was that in an article that the mission nurse gave me it said,
"try to stay off hard surfaces or hard concrete." Yup, I can totally
do that as a missionary.
I don't really have a good April fools’ joke this year. I'm
so lame I know.... oh well.
I gave a blessing to an investigator's daughter yesterday. She is deaf and had
a surgery this morning so she could hear. It was a very cool experience. It was
my first time meeting these people too. All I wanted was for them to know how
much I loved them, even though I'd never met them and how much God loved them
and how everything was going to turn out alright. So I think it was a very good
experience.
How is everything there? I missed going to Easter Mass.
April 8
To explain training, it is me, with a brand new missionary.
We have an assigned thing to study for 12 weeks to "train" him. I
just don't like being in charge. I liked being junior comp. It's really not
that bad, and I like it a little, but it's stressful not having someone who can
easily just jump in and we can team teach with ease.
I love my greenie (kid) but shoot dang he got greenie fire. It's bad. I'm
getting a tan just being around him, he's so bright. Like the greeniest greenie
that ever greeniely walked the greenie green path. Haha he's good though. He's
very sheltered... and he's from CA. To put it in perspective, he never listened
to any regular music, only Christian songs. Aside from King, all my comps have
been very sheltered... Hm... I wonder why that is. His name is Waidmann and
he's only 18. He is very interesting.
Conference was good. I saw a lot of my friends from choir
singing. I was jealous I'll be honest because if I was there I would have been
there singing with them. Oh well. I loved Uchtdorf's talks and the fact that he
said that and about the darkness. I also loved that someone finally said
something about bullying. It was really needed.
Something cool happened this week. A woman read one of our pamphlets and called
us and said she wanted to learn more. She came to part of conference and really
loved it. We had an amazing first lesson and she agreed to be baptized once she
learns more. She believes it's true, but she wants to be able to get work off
to get more time to learn more about the gospel and come to church more often.
it was a really cool and amazing lesson. So we'll see what happens with that.
April 15
It's been a pretty mixed week. Overall very good. There were
a lot of notable moments. First, I sang in a funeral for the Chinese ward. They
really like me/my voice and always ask me to sing. So they had me do a solo
"be still my soul" and then a verse solo of a song the choir was
singing. It was really cool. What was most notable for me wasn't the singing,
but the funeral. The son of the man who died started off talking about his
father saying how as a child they weren't very close. I first thought this was
going to be a very depressing funeral because I was afraid it would be one full
of regret. But it wasn't. The son then went on to talk about how he realized
the love his father had and how as he got older they bonded through their
little "personal projects." It was a very touching funeral. They
talked about how this man had had Pancreatic cancer but how his faith had kept
him strong and happy to the end. Because it was a funeral a lot of people were
very sad and because I could feel it I nearly started bawling. It also made me
think of Gram and Pap and then what the future would be like. Nothing bad, just
remembering them with fondness and happy memories.
The next day stress really got to me and I really did not feel like doing
anything. It was a very me shutting down kind of day. Because of it we were
sitting at the church and the other elders were trying to figure out a way to
go and see this woman seeing as she was single and we need more than 2 guys to
go and see single women. So Waidmann and I went with them thanks to Waidmann
saying, "why don't we go with them." I was fine with that. I just
didn't feel like making decisions and trying to find people so this was good.
We went and it was really good; then the other elders had a dinner appointment
and would have had to take the food home instead of eating there because there
wasn't another guy, so I was like do you want us to come. And they were like
sure. So we went up. Now this member is one of my favorites. She's always been
so nice to me and really likes me. She is older and her kids have moved out and
have their own kids. She is very lonely sometimes. We show up and she had all
the food ready and packed up. She then saw there were 4 of us and was like,
"now you can come in and eat, right?!" So we did and she started
crying. She went on to tell us how she had been thinking and kind of praying
that Sonrisas (Smiles in Spanish, what she calls me) would come and then I
showed up with the other elders. She was so happy to have the company. She was
in tears because she knew that this was the Lord answering her prayers and
knowing just what she needed. Then because of other circumstances, we ended
being in the perfect spot at the perfect time to find the sisters and the English
elders and went into a store. Because of that a woman in the store asked us if
we were Mormons and we explained a lot and now she is coming to church. It's
really amazing how the Lord works and how the Spirit guides without us even
realizing it. Everything really does happen for a reason.
Unfortunately something else happened this week, one of the members I'm really
close with got arrested and is facing deportation. It's really sad and is really
hard for the family. There's was a lot of racism in the arrest and
discrimination. It's really awful.
Sadly, we had to drop an investigator this week because he really didn't care
anymore and just didn't want to do it anymore. Those are always hard. He was
the 16 yr old whose bro was a recent convert whose parents don't know he's a
member. Looks like gossip is a big problem here too and that really drove him
away. It's really sad and very frustrating for me.
April 29
So
here's a little view into what's happened.
I
dislike when people are naive when they could not be. For example, people will
look at the people of other religions and say, I just don't understand how they
can follow that, it's ridiculous. I just hate the refusal to accept that people
might actually feel the same way and as strongly about their religion and
beliefs that we feel about our own.
An
interesting thing. There are lots of polygamists here.... haha I'm not even
joking. There is a Mormon break off group in the part of Mexico where everyone
in this area is from so a lot just come to our church because it's the next
best thing since their church isn't here. Hahahahaha, oh goodness. So yes,
there are polygamists in my ward hahaha.
May 20
I've had a pretty normal week thought. I've had some amazing
lessons and had some irritating moments where I only hear people say really,
really dumb things. But something came from it. I was able to realize the real
book I want to write when I get back. It is partially inspired from your article
and also from the conversations I've had. I'm going to call it The Possibility
of Being Wrong. While talking with people, I thought about why it is
impossible, or seemingly impossible, for people to understand each other when I
came to a realization that it comes down to the inability to accept the
possibility that your belief or stance might actually be wrong. Why and really
how we do accept [this possibility] and from there truly become able to
understand each other. Not just what we believe, but where we all come from,
why, and how we believe or "know" these things. Unfortunately I've
had to suck up my pride and apply it to myself and it really changes my
perspective. So that's the general idea.
Funny story. With the transfer a kid named elder Wayas (super
awesome guy) came into our zone. We kinda knew each other but not too much.
Anyway, he randomly was like, "so how does it feel to have the entire
mission call you David Archuletta?" I was like, "WHAT?" Haha
that was the first I'd heard of that. He's like, “yeah, whenever you get up to
sing everyone always turns and says, 'there's David Archuletta.” so I thought
that was kinda funny and cool.
May 28
This week has been really good. We have been teaching this
family from Guatemala and it has been amazing. They are so incredibly nice and
awesome. I just love them. I've also had some funny instances. Yesterday we ran
into a member from a different ward and she was talking with us. She warned
Waidmann about how in the summer that people tend to wear things they
shouldn't. I was thinking she meant something like immodest but no. Quote,
"Sometimes people wearing things they shouldn't. I look at them and I'm
like, 'Oh no, someone call GreenPeace, we got a beached whale here.' I mean,
it'd be different if they actually were good to look at." I died of
laughter. It was so brilliant. Mainly because I've said to Waidmann, I love and
hate summer. I love it because people wear tank tops; I hate it because of that
same reason. Some people just should not wear them. I want a good show, not a
freak show haha.
Last night we were on a train and this guy goes, "Are you soldiers of
Christ!?! Will you pray with me?" He was very gay and very wasted. It was
awesome. We prayed with him and talked with him. it was good just very funny.
Top line from it, "So are you soldiers like... soldierin' right now?"
Haha it was a wonderful night.
