Week 95

(Read this in a slow, deep almost gravely voice)

April 26, 2012.  I awoke with a shiver, as the temperature had plummeted to below 60 degree's during the night.  We could almost see our breath, but not really.  I looked at the clock, and with dread realized that I had a mere 2 minutes left for sleep.  We would be arising at 6:00 to exercise longer.  We noted the dark clouds rolling in, and I didn't at that time realize that these clouds were a dismal prediction of the upcoming afternoon.  After our studies, and weekly planning, we had lunch.  More rice... good, I love rice. No, that's right, I don't, but I eat it every day for almost every meal anyway.  After Lunch we headed to Crestview to offer to bless peoples homes.  It started off pretty nice, a young boy named Hayden rode his bike to us and gave us each a juice pouch.  How I love my juice pouches! Went downhill from there. 

 

   "Hello sir! how are you today?" I ask

   "What's your first name!" came the quick and harsh response

   "Ryan" States my companion.

   "And you? Whats YOUR first name?" I had long ago decided that when people demand that information from me, that I would not give it to them.

   "I go by Elder Martin." I said as I pointed at my tag.

   "Oh, you have a tag that says it... sorry.  You Mormons?"

   "Yes Sir." He didn't much like that. 

   "Well I sincerely hope that you can come to know the lie that you are living, and embrace the truth! I will pray for you."

    "Actually, that's exactly why we are here, we wanted to know if we could pray with you and bless your home."

    "That would be as pointless as my wall praying." Wow, that was rude, and not even clever. "You don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God."

    "Well actually, that is all we preach! we know that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and the Son of God, it is the fundamental teaching of our church."

    "No, I once read some literature that said you don't beleive that he is the son of God."

    "Well, we are the official representatives of what we believe, and we are here to tell you that the literature was false, and that we do believe that Jesus Chris is the Son of God."

 

What I wish I would have said was "Yesterday I read an article that said every person in Arizona worships the Sun god, we are here to tell you to stop worshipping the sun god." and maybe he could see how ridiculous it is to believe literature.

   

 

Thus it began.  Every single home, every single person the rest of the day we talked to.  I love days like that! Honestly, I really do.  I prefer people to be interested, but if not, then I enjoy the angry ones.  I got a little frustrated at one home though, I don't like when people bad mouth Joseph Smith very much.  We were talking to this naked dude (he had a towel on) and he kept saying how horrible our church was, and the leaders.  Then he said

 

  "Now, its not you guys that are bad, you are just tricked.  It's Joseph Smith that's bad.  I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now." I got a little bit sarcastic

  "Yeah, living in the presence of God, that must be a tough gig!"

 

He didn't like that, and promply closed the door.  Ah, I have yet to require the appropriate mouth filters that are needed as a missionary.

 

I couldn't believe how many people on that road were the same way! most just slammed the door... we dont' often get slams, just slow closes.  So that was fun.  I love being a missionary! (No sarcasm, I seriously love this stuff!)

 

So Eddie asked me to baptize him, I'm pretty excited about that.  When I first met Eddie, I thought he had no interest or desire whatsoever.  He has completely changed, I'm excited for him.  He's 14, and not many 14 year olds care... in fact that is where he started.  "Have you ever wondered about God, or why you are here on earth? or about anything like that?"  "No, I just play video games".  Awesome... this is going to be good.  Turns out, it WAS good!

 

Well, that's all for this week...

 

Elder Martin

Week 94

Dear People,

 

Had a wonderful week!

 

Have I ever mentioned a guy named Jim? Maybe not... well he's kinda crazy, but he's quite intelligent.  We've only spoken with him on his doorstep.  Last time we went he said "Call me, and we'll go to a restaurant and meet and talk and have coffee." My response "Well, how about we meet at the church?" "No, I would rather meet at a restaurant... don't worry though, I'll buy the coffee." we informed him that wouldn't work out so well... but maybe he'll buy us a 7up he said... still, I don't like it, you can't really feel the Spirit in a restaurant... But we'll maybe start there and move to the Church or something like that.  Good guy though.  He understands a lot about the Gospel, but he's quite off base on a few things... but that is okay cause he hasn't had the Holy Ghost to teach him, so its expected. 

 

I went on exchanges with the oldest missionary in the mission... and its not ME! Hurray.  My whole mission there have been a total of 3 Elders who have been older than me, and I have interestingly enough  been on exchanges with each one of them.  It's real nice to be with someone over 19 sometimes, not gonna lie.

 

We had a very... bold lesson with one of our investigators the other day.  It's an investigator who has been very dodgy, who is mostly likely trying to join for money type of thing.  But the gospel can change everyone.  He was finally upfront and honest with us, and it was awesome, he basically said "If I don't feel like going to church, I'm not going to go to church! and you can't make me." and then said "I know I'm getting money from the church, and when I dont' do my part, I look like a real bad guy, it makes me look like an idiot." my response "Correct." I shared a scriptures in 2 nephi, the principle of acting or being acted upon, and told him that his whole life he had been acted upon by outside forces, such as drugs, alchohol, and tobacco.  Told him that we can suggest he go to church, and do all the right things, but if he does it for us, or for anyone else, its not doing him any good, but that he needs to do it for himself and his family and for God.  Then Elder Fluckiger shared 2 Nephi 2:27 and told him he's choosing captivity, and that Satan wants him to be miserable.  He indicated that he feels miserable quite a bit, and we told him its his own dang fault.  He said to us "Everyone feels miserable! we all do." We explained the only time you feel miserable is when you are disobedient to God's commandments... we can feel other things, such as pain and sorrow while being obedient, but misery comes from our own mistakes.  It was a very bold lesson, it was fun, and he committed to come to church every week whether he felt like it or not.  He came to church on Sunday.

 

Well.. That is all I think for this week.

 

Peace Out.

 

Elder Martin

Week 93

Okay, lets see what we've got in the planner. Ooooh, we met a crazy guy this week... real smart and kinda neat, but crazy. I love crazy people, they are so fun to talk to... you can actually learn a lot from them too! This crazy guy helped me understand some scriptures that I hadn't understood before, it was pretty sweet.
We re-established contact with Isay... thought he hated us, he wouldn't answer his phone calls, so we just stopped by, he was nice.
 We had a great lesson with Eddie, I thought that he wasn't very interested, but he is showing a lot of interest now, and he is opening up to us, so that's pretty sweet. He came to church on Sunday, and I went with him to class, and their was no teacher, so I ended up teaching class. It was on Jacob somewhere is what the kids said, so I didn't want to teach that, so I taught the Doctrine of Christ, kinda. It was fun.
 Not much happened this week until sunday, we found a few new people to teach, and taught a few people we were already teaching, and also we went to church, so that was good. Oh we got a new ward mission leader. Our previous one has been in for a very long time I believe, sad to see him go, but we are excited about the new one, who looks apparently exactly like Groo? Grew? Gru? from Despicable me... I haven't seen the movie so I dn't exactly know, but apparently its true.
 We play tennis sometimes in the mornings. It's fun. I am not good at it!!! Much worse than when I left even... I have a lot of work to do... that better not be the case with Volleyball.
 One of the Elders that I trained, is now training! That's really exciting, so I am going to include a picture with the three of us. I trained the one in the middle. Hmmm... what else? I'm not sure. That is all for now I suppose.
 Elder Martin

Week 92

My apologies for last week, my entry was quite short, I know. This week has been quite busy! Monday I lost my companion... he went home, so all of monday and tuesday I was with another set of missionaries. I don't remember those days... which kinda worries me, but oh well. Wednesday was Transfer day! Transfer Meeting is my favorite of all meetings. This was another good one! It was one where many changes took place. 8 new Zone Leaders were announced! and 11 new District Leaders. Should be interesting to see what comes of it. We lost a lot of good missionaries as they went home this past week. 2 of my companions left. I received a new companion... I was kinda hoping I wouldn't, but I guess in the end its best this way. I am actually very happy with my new companion, his name is Elder Fluckiger, he hails from Star Valley Wyoming. I really like him! He's very clean and organized, so he will be able to do the things that I am incapable of doing! Specifically; being organized. You'll be surprised to know that I am not the biggest contributor to mess! in fact, I don't make messes anymore without cleaning them up. I'm a little worried about that, but I am pretty sure its because I lived with the Phelps for so long. It was good for me... don't worry, it should wear off someday. But anyway, he's very organized, and I am not... I forget the details, all the little things, but he remembers them. Thursday we didn't get a whole lot done, we had a meeting, and a lot of planning that day, but it was still a good day. Friday we went back down to the valley for a LONG meeting. One of my least favorite meetings, but it was actually very very good! there was some wonderful doctrine taught, specifically about Faith. The Spirit was very strong at this meeting. Saturday was awesome! We had planned to go visit a family in the ward and share a message with them... we don't do that often, but are going to start doing it more. We went in and asked if we could share an easter message with them, they said of course and we sat down. Then the wife said "Oh, I bet our neighbors would like to hear as well! I'm going to go invite them." Wow, how awesome, we are not opposed to such a thing... I didn't have high hopes for it "Hey, we got the Mormon Missionaries over at our house and they want to share a message, wanna come?" That usually ends up with a polite no thank you. To our surprise, they came!! So we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an Easter twist. I don't know if anything will come of it, but I suspect that something will come. So we thought we would try it again... we go to another home, and this time there is a less active member who is also at the home, and we share a message and she ends up in tears knowing she needs to make some changes. So we try again!! We teach another lesson at a home, and there was probably a 10 year old girl that was there as well, and she got a copy of the Book of Mormon... and not from us, and not from the parents, but from the children. It was sweet. Well, I love Easter! It's the best. Have a great week, the church is true, and so is the Gospel. Elder Martin

Week 91

Hmmm... The church is true. Conference was great. I get a new companion tomorrow. Cats are gross. But Dogs are Worse. I love Klondike Bars, and that is all. Love, Elder Martin (sorry next week will be more)

Week 90

Dear World, (Or more appropriately, Dear the 2 people who read this),

So there we were, Elder Davenport and I, sitting in our truck in a very remote area making phone calls.  We chose this location due to the fact that no one would drive by wondering what the heck we were doing.  A grey sedan randomly pulls in and drops off two hispanic girls, probably around 15 or 16 years old.  The car then leaves and the girls sit down on the curb.  We were quite confused, we paused for a moment and watched through our mirrors.  They just sat there for 5-7 minutes, and the grey car comes back, the exact same one and picks the girls up, it starts pulling away and then stops, and doesn't move for 5 minutes! I was starting to get worried that we were about to get shot.  The girls again get out and the car leaves! What the? so the girls sit down again for about 2 minutes, and then they get up and walk up the street and go down another road, and as they are walking they both start walking and spinning in unison with their arms outstretched.  They walk to a small field and stay there for 5-10 minutes at which point the grey car picks them up again and they leave.  It was very odd.  We left shortly thereafter, not going to lie, we had finished our phone calls and just waited for a while to see what would happen.  As we left, we passed a "Guidance Clinic" which had some apartment attachments, I looked up at the windows of the apartments as I was turning and was quite frightened as their was a tall lady standing in the window staring at us! It gave me the chills.  Scary movies never scared me... but things like that freak me out.  It was an interesting experience.

It was a really good week! I went on exchanges a couple of times with some missionaries, and had a good time.  Oh, also I got new glasses, they're pretty awesome I think, and most importantly scratch free! My other ones were so scratched I had to tilt them to look at people sometimes.  It was frustrating.  We started teaching a new family... by family I mean a father and son, the father is a less active member returning to activity, and the son is a non-member who is going to be baptized.  We set a date for baptism that first meeting for April 14th. 

We were asked by a part member family this week to dig a trench for them.  I always love doing service because its something different, and its always good to work with your hands.  This I was unprepared for.  Arizona dirt is more like Cement.  At first we were given a hoe and a shovel, quite disappointing.  Later the husband came home and knew where some pick-axes were, so that helped considerably.  It went mostly okay, except when I would find a giant rock with the pick axe, which was quite often.  My hands still hurt.  We didn't finish the first day, so I went back with another Elder on exchanges and finished.  The second day was worse than the first! but it was kinda enjoyable.

Well, I think that's all for this week.  Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Elder Martin

Week 89

What a week...

 

It started off slow.  I started preparing for a talent show that took place on Saturday.  Monday I went to try and get some background music for a song I was going to sing (I'll explain more later) but was unable to.  Ah, being a missionary sometimes is a handicap, if I could just have had the computer control, I would have been able to get it done that day.  No luck.    Tuesday I went to a different member to try and get it, he got the music for me, so we listened to it in the car on our way home, and it SKIPPED A VERSE! I felt like an idiot, we've tried 3 times to this point, so we call him and tell him its the wrong one, we go back and get the right one.  So, time to practice.  Hard to do as a missionary, cause we have so many other things to do.  I enlisted the help of one 'Elder Morton' from Meridian Idaho, who would be singing some parts of it, we practiced once on Wednesday, again on thursday during our Dinner hour, and then on Friday we had a sound check.  We did the sound check and it went awful! we didn't know what we were doing, so we went and practiced it 3 times and nearly perfected it.  Tried again with the microphones, and it was good! we were excited.  Satruday comes around and we get all of our investigators invited, and all the less active members, hoping that they would care enough to come and support me, secretly also wanting them to just come to a church event! no one showed up!!! It was a stake talent show, so quite a few other people showed up.  I will be sending Melanie some video soon so she can post what occurred.  It was well received, everyone seemed to really enjoy it.  It was a parody of Bohemian Rhapsody, a missionary parody.  It was a lot of fun! had a few mistakes... Elder Morton had 2 lines, both of which he messed up, but he still did really awesome.  I at one point accidentally turned off the Mic.  But it was fun.  Sunday in Sacrament meeting, a high councilor spoke, and for 5 minutes he talked about my song! it was a little bit awkward. 

 

So the weather has been crazy up here lately! Thursday, it was 70+ degrees! it was awesome! Saturday got really windy, Sunday we woke up to snow! and Today even MORE snow! Sedona was hit with a full foot of snow.  Worst part about it is that we live in a terrible apartment! its really not that bad, but the roof does leak, and its right over my BED! thankfully I was able to move it so it just misses me by about a half an inch. 

 

Hmmm, what else happened this week? It was Elder Davenport's Birthday.  On Sunday I stood up in Priesthood Meeting and said "Tomorrow is Elder Davenports Birthday, and he will be accepting Gifts Cards, as well as Cake, or anything that his companion can benefit from".  He got nothing.  I hope I didn't jinx it for him.

 

So we were tracting on Friday, and we walked by this house with a bunch of kids outside, and one just walked out, and we saw the family inside, the mom yells to her kid "And Don't talk to those weirdo's in ties!" ha... thanks lady.  Is it strange that I quite enjoy those situations and stories? they always make me laugh.  We were the weirdo's???? It was 4 in the afternoon and she was still in her PJ's, but whatever.

 

Welll.... I think that is about all for this week.

 

Love,

 

Elder Martin