Well Howdy!
This week was so quick but felt like one of the longest ones that I have had yet! It just goes by so quick but there was a lot of things that happened.
Monday we didn't really do a whole lot. We went and ate subs at this place called firehouse subs. It really is pretty fantastic but kinda drained on the wallet a bit! haha. Elder Hughes and I just kinda sat around for the rest of the day. We don't really have a ton of stuff to do when you don't want to bike miles to do something fun! Today was better though because we went and played some B-ball at 7 with the Funk kids. It's crazy! We just assume that we are cousins, but no joke, everybody has asked if we are related. I figure it's kinda fun to see what different answers I can come up with so I started to tell people that I was the 10th kid of theirs and that they left me in Utah on a family vacation. Most people laugh, but I had one think I was serious... I had to fix that.. It was funny. Their 16 year old son looks alot like Ryan and acts like what I remember too so it's fun to hang around for a bit, or at church or whatever.
Tuesday was were the week just kinda went down hill... Elder Hughes and I were trying to bike to an appointment after he found out that he was getting transferred, the appointment was like a 40 minute bike ride away so naturally being on missionary time we had 30 minutes to get there and when went to get his bike it had a flat. So we filled it up with air and pedaled as fast as we could to the bike shop. Howard the bike guy was way cool and changed it faster than superman into his cape, and we got back out the door. Not even kidding we left the parking lot and as we were turning onto the busy rode Elder Hughes got hit by a car. I avoided it but It smacked the back of his bike, angels I believe had to have been there because he didn't even fall to the ground. He just took off. He probably would have given the roadrunner a run for his money! So I tried to get the car to stop during the 4:45 traffic and then the car just took off. I'm not sure if he assumed he was ok or what but he just drove off. I yelled at Elder Hughes to come back and then we were like.. Well.. That's a bummer so we walked back into the bike shop. We walked in and Howard was like "Are you kidding? It went flat again??" I was like.. "Well I suppose you could say that, but it was because he got hit by a car.." He was kinda freaking out so we just gave him the bike and called our appointment and they gave us a ride. We had to talk to the cops a bit later, luckily this one didn't give us a ticket or anything and was super nice.
Wednesday was a sit in day again... Elder Hughes back hurt so we couldn't do anything. Oh. Except go and pay the seatbelt tickets, we had to go do that. Man that makes for a long day when they only thing that you have to look forward to is talking to the lady behind a desk who is taking your money. Hahaha. But lesson learned. Now I know how important it is to be listening to the spirit and obedient regardless of circumstance and situation.
Thursday was transfers! I got to see a whole bunch of friends. It was awesome. Elder Low got transferred to a new area and they have a whole bunch of investigators ready for baptism! I was so excited that he gets to be apart of that. It is weird, now we are like best friends. I like the kid. It made me more happy to see him get to have a lot of success then when I do! It's nice to know that he is getting blessed with success in that way, while I get blessed in my own way. I got a new companion who is from Rexburg Idaho, his name is Elder Dayton. He has OCD. Like monk or something. He likes to clean everything and does some different things, but hey I just let him do his thing and if he has to do all the dishes to sleep at night, that's his thing! Haha but I help out. He wants to rearrange all the furniture today so we will have to see how I can avoid that... We have two Hide a bed couches.. I don't know why, but I do not want to move those things. It just sounds awful. He has a good testimony. It is kinda neat to see again, the spark and the believe that every person that we will see is the next golden investigator. It's good to have that faith. We ran into a couple of people that we got into arguements with because Elder Dayton did not want to wait til they were a little more prepared.. But overall He is good! He kinda has the attitude of I know it, I got it. He even told me he is pretty stubborn but he has a good heart and will learn alot!
Friday we had a training meeting with President. It was all about safety, and he talked about a couple of Elders who recently got seat belt tickets, I was feeling a bit rebuked, but then he clarified that one had their seat belt on, so right as I thought it was going to go well for my case he through it back down and said stuff about how we are responsible for safety of all in the car and especially our companions. Dang... So close, but I deserved it! It's like the gift that keeps on giving sort of.. We worked the rest of the day, we don't really have that many solid investigators... Or any.. But it'll change soon! It's alot of faith. I think we will do well. We teach really well, he talks alot when we are out talking to people, but when it is like time to be his real self, he is really quiet. He is going through alot of the adjusting that I had to, finding yourself and things like that. I hopefully can help to make it easier. He is a good kid, but you can tell the maturity difference that only a few months of mission work does! He just graduated from High School too. So this is like the first real world for him! It is going to be fun.
Saturday, was another good work day, we biked up to the top of our area which is like an hour away and didn't find the people home we wanted too, so we knocked, met some nice people but nothing overly exciting. We did get to go to the Pioneer day activity at the stake center and we had member drive us. He talked up his chili the entire time and it ended up winning.. It was funny because we were the judges, the Funk's Chili was a solid second. Everybody thought I was biased. But hey if you wanna win don't bring bad chili. However... Karma was bad, I told people about our chili cook off and how we put the hot sauce in it and a couple bites that I ate burned my mouth both temperature and spice so bad that I haven't been able to taste anything for a couple of days. So.. I guess I had that one coming! haha
Sunday was a good day we didn't have anybody come to church again, but that is alright.. We talked a lot about the importance of obedience to the gospel. Brother Sherril taught Elder's Quorum and shared the story of the burning of President Monson's field. It was a great lesson but there is really so much to that parable that he gave. Which reads.
One of my best friends during those carefree days in the canyon was Danny Larsen, whose family also owned a cabin at Vivian Park. Each day he and I roamed this boy’s paradise, fishing in the stream and the river, collecting rocks and other treasures, hiking, climbing, and simply enjoying each minute of each hour of each day.
One morning Danny and I decided we wanted to have a campfire that evening with all our canyon friends. We just needed to clear an area in a nearby field where we could all gather. The June grass which covered the field had become dry and prickly, making the field unsuitable for our purposes. We began to pull at the tall grass, planning to clear a large, circular area. We tugged and yanked with all our might, but all we could get were small handfuls of the stubborn weeds. We knew this task would take the entire day, and already our energy and enthusiasm were waning.
And then what I thought was the perfect solution came into my eight-year-old mind. I said to Danny, “All we need is to set these weeds on fire. We’ll just burn a circle in the weeds!” He readily agreed, and I ran to our cabin to get a few matches.
Lest any of you think that at the tender age of eight we were permitted to use matches, I want to make it clear that both Danny and I were forbidden to use them without adult supervision. Both of us had been warned repeatedly of the dangers of fire. However, I knew where my family kept the matches, and we needed to clear that field. Without so much as a second thought, I ran to our cabin and grabbed a few matchsticks, making certain no one was watching. I hid them quickly in one of my pockets.
Back to Danny I ran, excited that in my pocket I had the solution to our problem. I recall thinking that the fire would burn only as far as we wanted and then would somehow magically extinguish itself.
I struck a match on a rock and set the parched June grass ablaze. It ignited as though it had been drenched in gasoline. At first Danny and I were thrilled as we watched the weeds disappear, but it soon became apparent that the fire was not about to go out on its own. We panicked as we realized there was nothing we could do to stop it. The menacing flames began to follow the wild grass up the mountainside, endangering the pine trees and everything else in their path.
Finally we had no option but to run for help. Soon all available men and women at Vivian Park were dashing back and forth with wet burlap bags, beating at the flames in an attempt to extinguish them. After several hours the last remaining embers were smothered. The ages-old pine trees had been saved, as were the homes the flames would eventually have reached.
Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day—not the least of which was the importance of obedience.
There is many important things that I have learned from the story and really do believe that every single word was placed exactly where it needed to complete the parable. The first point that really stuck out me this time was that he knew initially that what he was doing was wrong and that he was trying to hide it. Justify it. Many times we do the exact same thing. Try to make it alright. Maybe it won't hurt just this one time. At that point though he hadn't thought of the end consequences, hadn't considered how this might really effect the pine trees at the end of the field. I thought how interesting it was that he didn't mention the pine trees in the beginning of the parable but rather right at the very end. Very much like our salvation. When we see the moment often times we don't recognize the trees at the end. If those trees had burned down it would have done much more then devastate the young President Monson, it would have made the whole town sorrowful! That is why when the moment came that ALL available town people went to help. Not some, not one, but all. I think of how often I have gotten myself into a situation where it really was all my fault and that I was the one that had to fix it, or rather should have been the one to fix it. I remember Brother Durst in Fredericksburg telling me. "Well if my right hand can't do it, then both hands can do it. If both hands can't do it, well... then it is impossible!" It was a joke but oftentimes seems so true. But all available came to the rescue. In life we all have matches, all have choices to make, we probably will start a few fields on fire. But it will never reach the trees if we look to others to strengthen our fight against the fire! Well Someone has just started their field on fire. Everyone has an opportunity to help the fight it! I hope that we can find someone to help in their fight this week. I know I will be looking.
I testify that missionary work is more than just the most talked about topic in the church! It is the Work of Salvation. It's easy right now to say, I'm a missionary, because that's my life, my job, my everything right now, but quickly it is becoming more than that. It is becoming who I am. Who I want to become and who I need to be. I know that we are sons and daughters of a Father that loves us. I love y'all and hope that you may have a great week! In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Baptizing 50+ people
Sorry It's late. I just had a guy start talking to me about the gospel so I set up a lesson and time so that we could go by on Wednesday! haha setting up appointments everywhere we go. Perfect, gotta love the Lord!!
It has been another long hard week. We got to do exchanges this week so I went with the District Leader Elder Morrin, and I told him my goal on this exchange was to find a family to teach. When we sat down and planned we talked about it and we decided to pick out on street to knock. We both felt like picking a street called Hunting Path and so we planned it. We taught alot of lessons that day and did alot of things but I always had that street in the back of my mind. So when we had an opportunity we went there. As soon as we drove up on the street I felt exactly which house it was. I told him it was the one with the White Mustang. We started down the street aways but I kept telling him 4 houses.. 3 houses... haha and the countdown began. We finally got to the house and the door flung open and they said "It's the Mormons! We haven't seen you in ages! We just moved here from California!" So we had a wonderful conversation with them and found out that she was a member along time ago and that they let us set up an appointment to come back because we had another appointment to get to. It was a neat experience. It doesn't seem like very often the spirit guides you that directly.
When we got back from exchanges Elder Hughes and I had kinda a falling out... He started to argue just basically for no reason we were just talking about how the Father has the patariachal responsibilty to the family, which point I was backing up and for some reason he goes off about how I have this attitude about "I am always right." I said.. "Well why would I ever assume I was wrong?" Man that did not go over well. So we got in this giant argument about just everything and he goes off... Anyway.. Long story short I was like What they heck....? and he didn't talk to me for a couple of days, we still aren't talking very much but I don't know. I think the heat got to him.
I got to baptize 51 people on Saturday! It was great. I came out of the font after a couple of hours just completely wrinkled. That is the best wrinkly feeling in the world. To be fair I was in the temple. Alane Fry decided that she wanted to go so she called me and I went with her! It was even better then the baptism day! I loved it. I walked in and the temple and the temple President walked up to me and we chatted for a while. I asked him if he was the president and he laughed and said yes. But then he grabbed me and whispered and said, but if you watch the Preach My Gospel Dvd's I am the Ward Mission leader! I said "No way! That makes you a Mormon Celebrity!" He laughed and now we are really good friends. He came into the font and we talked for a couple of hours while he had me do the baptising for all the people that came in. It was so fun! He kept telling me that he was going to talk to President Slaughter and get me transferred to the temple permanately. The recorder fired back and told them that he wanted me in his ward because he was the Ward Mission Leader. It was probably the best 3 or 4 hours of my entire mission! I loved it. The spirit was so strong, Alane loved it. While I was standing in the font I had this thought that I was baptizing for the people that Jake was teaching. He had to go and prepare all these people so that we can go and get the work done. It has never been so real to me before. I can't even fathom what the joy and feelings the people on the other side must be feeling. I would invite everyone who reads this to go to the temple before the end of the month. Someone up there really is waiting. They teaching has been done. They have been found. If we had somebody out in the mission field like that. Taught, found, we wouldn't sit around and wait til it was convenient. We would be sizing them up for a suit! That is precisely the situation that these family members are in! It is so real now. They are waiting.
We also got transfer calls on Sunday night. I am staying in the Universal City Ward and will be training a new Elder! It will be fun. I think Elder Hughes will be missed here, but the work goes on. On a side note, I got to spend some time with the Fredericksberg Branch President, President Smith on Saturday too. He baptized me, for one of Alane's Grandfather. It was neat to see it come full circle.
The work is progressing! I have a burning testimony of the work and that we are here to help establish the Kingdom. Invite, Invite, invite! Then the Lord will provide the people that need to be taught. I know that is so true. "Work as though all of the work depended upon you, and pray like all of the work depended upon the Lord." I found the balance! It is all up to us, and it is all up to the Lord.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk!
It has been another long hard week. We got to do exchanges this week so I went with the District Leader Elder Morrin, and I told him my goal on this exchange was to find a family to teach. When we sat down and planned we talked about it and we decided to pick out on street to knock. We both felt like picking a street called Hunting Path and so we planned it. We taught alot of lessons that day and did alot of things but I always had that street in the back of my mind. So when we had an opportunity we went there. As soon as we drove up on the street I felt exactly which house it was. I told him it was the one with the White Mustang. We started down the street aways but I kept telling him 4 houses.. 3 houses... haha and the countdown began. We finally got to the house and the door flung open and they said "It's the Mormons! We haven't seen you in ages! We just moved here from California!" So we had a wonderful conversation with them and found out that she was a member along time ago and that they let us set up an appointment to come back because we had another appointment to get to. It was a neat experience. It doesn't seem like very often the spirit guides you that directly.
When we got back from exchanges Elder Hughes and I had kinda a falling out... He started to argue just basically for no reason we were just talking about how the Father has the patariachal responsibilty to the family, which point I was backing up and for some reason he goes off about how I have this attitude about "I am always right." I said.. "Well why would I ever assume I was wrong?" Man that did not go over well. So we got in this giant argument about just everything and he goes off... Anyway.. Long story short I was like What they heck....? and he didn't talk to me for a couple of days, we still aren't talking very much but I don't know. I think the heat got to him.
I got to baptize 51 people on Saturday! It was great. I came out of the font after a couple of hours just completely wrinkled. That is the best wrinkly feeling in the world. To be fair I was in the temple. Alane Fry decided that she wanted to go so she called me and I went with her! It was even better then the baptism day! I loved it. I walked in and the temple and the temple President walked up to me and we chatted for a while. I asked him if he was the president and he laughed and said yes. But then he grabbed me and whispered and said, but if you watch the Preach My Gospel Dvd's I am the Ward Mission leader! I said "No way! That makes you a Mormon Celebrity!" He laughed and now we are really good friends. He came into the font and we talked for a couple of hours while he had me do the baptising for all the people that came in. It was so fun! He kept telling me that he was going to talk to President Slaughter and get me transferred to the temple permanately. The recorder fired back and told them that he wanted me in his ward because he was the Ward Mission Leader. It was probably the best 3 or 4 hours of my entire mission! I loved it. The spirit was so strong, Alane loved it. While I was standing in the font I had this thought that I was baptizing for the people that Jake was teaching. He had to go and prepare all these people so that we can go and get the work done. It has never been so real to me before. I can't even fathom what the joy and feelings the people on the other side must be feeling. I would invite everyone who reads this to go to the temple before the end of the month. Someone up there really is waiting. They teaching has been done. They have been found. If we had somebody out in the mission field like that. Taught, found, we wouldn't sit around and wait til it was convenient. We would be sizing them up for a suit! That is precisely the situation that these family members are in! It is so real now. They are waiting.
We also got transfer calls on Sunday night. I am staying in the Universal City Ward and will be training a new Elder! It will be fun. I think Elder Hughes will be missed here, but the work goes on. On a side note, I got to spend some time with the Fredericksberg Branch President, President Smith on Saturday too. He baptized me, for one of Alane's Grandfather. It was neat to see it come full circle.
The work is progressing! I have a burning testimony of the work and that we are here to help establish the Kingdom. Invite, Invite, invite! Then the Lord will provide the people that need to be taught. I know that is so true. "Work as though all of the work depended upon you, and pray like all of the work depended upon the Lord." I found the balance! It is all up to us, and it is all up to the Lord.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Triple Header at the Golden Corral
Yeah it hasn't been the best week of my mission. I am still having fun but it was one of those weeks where if something could possible go wrong it would and did. haha. Well it started off on Monday just after Pday. We went to the mall but all of us just felt like apostate there. It was bizarre! Like it was so worldly there that it was no fun. So we were driving back and I felt like I should tell Elder Hughes to put on his seat belt, but ignored the prompting because I didn't want to be overbearing. So we went down the road and yep sure enough, we got pulled over! The cop walked up to my window and asked for my license, I wasn't even driving, and didn't even say anything except you are getting a ticket for not wearing a seat belt. I said.. Well officer, I really was. He said. No you weren't. Once again I said.. No... I really was. He wrote the ticket anyway. So now I get to go fight that eventually. It was more annoying then anything. So that made me mad. We knocked some doors taught a lesson and went to bed. Oh but I forgot I was feeling really down.. So I went and got a red bull. It does help out. Probably not the best way to deal with things.. but yeah. I told the District Leader I was drinking my problems away.. He didn't appreciate that as much as I did..
Tuesday Elder Hughes got sick so we just sat inside all day.. I don't like to be in the apartment. So that was sorta a long day. I got some reading and stuff done though so that was good. I also think I am just gonna be a window washer when I get back home. I don't know. Sounds fun. I think I might go down here for the summer and sell some pest control. Those people make bank.
Wednesday was pretty awful too... We went to help move some furniture back for the tile that we laid last week. and lone behold someone decided it would be a good idea to throw a motor into a couch. So boom. There went my back. I couldn't hardly lift anything for like 3 days. It was awful. We got to go to Zone Meeting that day and we got some good training from the zls. They are way cool guys I like them alot. They talked about talking to people and also about finding success. It was fun. We tried to apply alot of the stuff. People's agency is just the killer now. haha. Oh this was also the first night part of a three part series that we went to Good ol' Golden Corral. The baptist people that we were teaching kinda stopped talking to us too.. It was one of the those days you put on a smile and bear it. :)
Thursday was ok. We knocked and stuff and didn't really find anyone that was overly golden but a people were generally nice. One of the craziest things has been that everyone wants to know the deep answers to everything and it is so hard to say the things that are simply profound without being over the top. It's a trick. Oh side note. So Golden Corral opened up for the breakfast hours and I guess members enjoy taking missionaries to breakfast here. So yep back to back corralin'. K back on track. So we had a lesson with this Part Member family that the wife is not a member and man does she have questions. She knows alot about the church and agrees with alot of doctrines but when it comes to polygamy she has a hard time with it. She is an ex J-dubb and so that has been making the transition pretty hard on her too. We discussed all the way out to the curb on our way home with her. It's tricky.
Friday we got a call to go help out with a baptism of an 8 year old girl, it was so nice of them to invite us. So later we went and saw a member so that we could go see one of his friends. The member is like 90 and a war vet and so we were walking down the street with him and he started taking us all over telling us of the history of just about everyone that used to live here, has ever lived here, and possible any one with the chance of coming here. It was interesting. We knocked on some doors with him, that was interesting. No one was real interested, but they were super nice to us because we had him with us. When we went to dinner we had a member pick us up and I guess last time we went to a lesson we went like 10 minutes early, we didn't go in, but I wanted to go early to prep him so that he could have the right timing and stuff. Well he told me off that we should always be right on time or late. Yeah. Some people. I don't even know. All I know is that people all have an opinion, and that's great.. Just to bad it isn't the right one;)
Saturday was the baptism of the little girl. It was neat and I got to play some hymns on my viola, so that was a pleasant break from the routine. They are all super great people. It was the first time that I had really smiled that week. There was a little girl that stood up and sang if the savior stood beside me. She had some physical handicaps and reminded me of a little girl in the orchestra class back home. It is so funny how such a little thing can completely make your heart melt. It was so nice to know that no matter what you are going through, no matter what ailments, difficulties or trials that we may be enduring at the time, that there is always the savior standing beside me. I think he would be proud of me most days. Even if it is only a fake smile, an attempt to do my best. The effort that we put forth whenever we are sharing the gospel is magnified when we realize the One standing beside us. Just like a sheep alone could never fight off a ravening wolf The Shepard must protect it and us too. He wouldn't leave me alone. But sometimes I feel like a just fall face first in the mud. I'm pretty sure everyone in heaven flips on my life sometimes on the Heavenly TV and just laughs. Like oh shoot.. Did he really just say that?? Re-runs are gonna be great. haha.
Sunday was ok. We didn't have really anything crazy. No one came to church. I made really good friends with a kid though. He came home early from his mission, so I want him to feel comfortable and everything and it is working. We hit it off great. I think I will probably go see him this week sometime. Oh and I got a flat tire. Yep. Just to kinda finish off the week.
Well... I really do know that this is the work of a Heavenly Father that loves all of his children. I love that we are so blessed to be able to have that knowledge that he lives! I love the Testimony that Joesph Smith gives. When he says "This is the Testimony last of all that we give of him, That He Lives!" Teaching a lesson this week we were teaching this 17 year old girl and she was asking us a ton of questions about the church and what we do as missionaries. And so as we began to teach her she turned and said the hardest question I have heard on my mission. "Who is Jesus Christ?" I was so dumb struck. That was the most deeply profound question. It struck my heart so powerfully. All day it seems we battle these deep conversations trying to convince people that they are so close to the truth and that they really just need to go a little farther to find the truth. When all the point is, Is "Who is Jesus Christ?" I testify that He is the Son of God, the Holy one of Isreal, The Prince of Peace, and The author of My Salvation. So many different roles to fill but filled so perfectly. None more important then the other, as all are necessary to get through this life. I would invite you to find the answer. Who Is Jesus Christ. What does he need to be for you this week. I give my witness that he lives. In his holy name, Amen.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Tuesday Elder Hughes got sick so we just sat inside all day.. I don't like to be in the apartment. So that was sorta a long day. I got some reading and stuff done though so that was good. I also think I am just gonna be a window washer when I get back home. I don't know. Sounds fun. I think I might go down here for the summer and sell some pest control. Those people make bank.
Wednesday was pretty awful too... We went to help move some furniture back for the tile that we laid last week. and lone behold someone decided it would be a good idea to throw a motor into a couch. So boom. There went my back. I couldn't hardly lift anything for like 3 days. It was awful. We got to go to Zone Meeting that day and we got some good training from the zls. They are way cool guys I like them alot. They talked about talking to people and also about finding success. It was fun. We tried to apply alot of the stuff. People's agency is just the killer now. haha. Oh this was also the first night part of a three part series that we went to Good ol' Golden Corral. The baptist people that we were teaching kinda stopped talking to us too.. It was one of the those days you put on a smile and bear it. :)
Thursday was ok. We knocked and stuff and didn't really find anyone that was overly golden but a people were generally nice. One of the craziest things has been that everyone wants to know the deep answers to everything and it is so hard to say the things that are simply profound without being over the top. It's a trick. Oh side note. So Golden Corral opened up for the breakfast hours and I guess members enjoy taking missionaries to breakfast here. So yep back to back corralin'. K back on track. So we had a lesson with this Part Member family that the wife is not a member and man does she have questions. She knows alot about the church and agrees with alot of doctrines but when it comes to polygamy she has a hard time with it. She is an ex J-dubb and so that has been making the transition pretty hard on her too. We discussed all the way out to the curb on our way home with her. It's tricky.
Friday we got a call to go help out with a baptism of an 8 year old girl, it was so nice of them to invite us. So later we went and saw a member so that we could go see one of his friends. The member is like 90 and a war vet and so we were walking down the street with him and he started taking us all over telling us of the history of just about everyone that used to live here, has ever lived here, and possible any one with the chance of coming here. It was interesting. We knocked on some doors with him, that was interesting. No one was real interested, but they were super nice to us because we had him with us. When we went to dinner we had a member pick us up and I guess last time we went to a lesson we went like 10 minutes early, we didn't go in, but I wanted to go early to prep him so that he could have the right timing and stuff. Well he told me off that we should always be right on time or late. Yeah. Some people. I don't even know. All I know is that people all have an opinion, and that's great.. Just to bad it isn't the right one;)
Saturday was the baptism of the little girl. It was neat and I got to play some hymns on my viola, so that was a pleasant break from the routine. They are all super great people. It was the first time that I had really smiled that week. There was a little girl that stood up and sang if the savior stood beside me. She had some physical handicaps and reminded me of a little girl in the orchestra class back home. It is so funny how such a little thing can completely make your heart melt. It was so nice to know that no matter what you are going through, no matter what ailments, difficulties or trials that we may be enduring at the time, that there is always the savior standing beside me. I think he would be proud of me most days. Even if it is only a fake smile, an attempt to do my best. The effort that we put forth whenever we are sharing the gospel is magnified when we realize the One standing beside us. Just like a sheep alone could never fight off a ravening wolf The Shepard must protect it and us too. He wouldn't leave me alone. But sometimes I feel like a just fall face first in the mud. I'm pretty sure everyone in heaven flips on my life sometimes on the Heavenly TV and just laughs. Like oh shoot.. Did he really just say that?? Re-runs are gonna be great. haha.
Sunday was ok. We didn't have really anything crazy. No one came to church. I made really good friends with a kid though. He came home early from his mission, so I want him to feel comfortable and everything and it is working. We hit it off great. I think I will probably go see him this week sometime. Oh and I got a flat tire. Yep. Just to kinda finish off the week.
Well... I really do know that this is the work of a Heavenly Father that loves all of his children. I love that we are so blessed to be able to have that knowledge that he lives! I love the Testimony that Joesph Smith gives. When he says "This is the Testimony last of all that we give of him, That He Lives!" Teaching a lesson this week we were teaching this 17 year old girl and she was asking us a ton of questions about the church and what we do as missionaries. And so as we began to teach her she turned and said the hardest question I have heard on my mission. "Who is Jesus Christ?" I was so dumb struck. That was the most deeply profound question. It struck my heart so powerfully. All day it seems we battle these deep conversations trying to convince people that they are so close to the truth and that they really just need to go a little farther to find the truth. When all the point is, Is "Who is Jesus Christ?" I testify that He is the Son of God, the Holy one of Isreal, The Prince of Peace, and The author of My Salvation. So many different roles to fill but filled so perfectly. None more important then the other, as all are necessary to get through this life. I would invite you to find the answer. Who Is Jesus Christ. What does he need to be for you this week. I give my witness that he lives. In his holy name, Amen.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Monday, July 8, 2013
Chainsaws and Laying Tile
So here is basically the whole low down of my life. We had alot of neat things happen this week, it was really hot and I love being a missionary of the Savior.
Monday was pretty much an average we played some B-ball and stuff. Basically just another day in the mission. We went and talked to this less active member named Mary, she is really elderly and loved to get the chance to talk to us, she told us about her husband died and we were able to comfort her. It was a cool lesson.
Tuesday was were the week started to get more interesting. I got to meet President Slaughter. I was actually like on of the first besides the APs! So I was grateful to meet him because some of the missionaries still haven't. He is so neat. I'm pretty sure he knows every answer to the gospel that there ever was to know. It is neat to be able to talk to him and discuss doctrine. Sooo we had this interview and he asked me how my testimony was, I told him some of the stronger points and some of the other points that I was working on trying to get better. We talked about the four cornerstones of a testimony which are 1. Book of Mormon 2. Joesph Smith. 3. The Priesthood. 4. The Kingdom and Keys. I think those were the four, I will change it if need be later. I think that the one that I am struggling with the very most is the Kingdom and Keys. I just find so much good in other religions, I know that they don't have the keys and the necessary priesthood power and some of the other things which they do are so important. I know that they need to have the extra truths that we have, but in respect to them they are in all reality so close to the road. They are riding in the bike lane along the iron rod. They just don't even realize how close they are. So we discussed this and everything it was neat to hear his testimony. Then he asked me what I do and I told him he played the Viola and Violin, he told me his family loved those and his son (14 yrs old) plays the cello, then he paused for a minute, asked me when I last played, I told him a couple of weeks ago in Fredericksberg, "I played Oh my Father, because I had a teacher named Mr. Pack who was so special to me and it was the last song that we ever played together after he passed away of a heart attack so I feel so close to that song." He paused again and said.. "Well can you play it tomorrow?" I was like well.. I suppose that would be alright. So we stood up and I went in to give him a hug and suddeny I realized that both of our faces were on the same side and we like almost smacked heads. I guess he wanted to take Paul's invitation to the Corinthians very literal and "greet you brother with a holy kiss" So I was like "What in the world?" He laughed and told me he forgot to tell me that we are changing hugging in the mission to a "Mexican Embrasso" Basically a hug where you put your head to the right.. It was weird.
So Wednesday came and it was zone conference. We got there nice and early so that my District Leader who plays the piano and I could practice, we did and President was really pleased. It is so fun to be able to perform musically for people. I have now done the musical number for 2 out of the 3 zone conferences on my mission. I also joined the choir this week. (Story later) So that was neat. Then he talked about what he expects of us. There are 7 things.
1. Know who you are, your Inherent Purpose, and act accordingly.
2. Discern the spirit and submit to its promptings.
3. Unshaken andunwavering testimony of the Restoration.
4. Have a sound understanding of Doctirne and Teach by Power and Authority.
5. Understand the doctrine of gathering and the principles of effective finding.
6. Learn and apply principles of leadership.
7. Continuous effort to progress.
Today and Always!
And above all he said Fullfill Your Foreordination. That is my slogan now. I love it.
Thursday was the 4th! I spent all afternoon I swear fixing a chainsaw then chopping down a tree. It was awesome. That will probably be amongst my first major purchases when I get home. I don't really know if that is mission approved but.. yeah. I figure I can handle it so.. I dont know. Anyway, I figured out how to do a whole bunch of stuff to fix up a chainsaw. Then we went and had dinner with the Call family. The lady that sent you the picture was like there daughter or something? But we were eating and they had a dog and Elder Hughes said that he had like the same one back home, so they were like oh we will send your mom a picture! So I just sat there talking to their son about life and stuff then they were like oh yeah I bet Elder Funk's mom would like one too, because they realized they left me out, so I just said "Hey don't worry about it, I'm sure they probably won't remember me anyway." Apparently nobody gets my jokes here. Whatever I'm not gonna change, so they felt bad and I said I was kidding then they laughed, it was fun. Then we had a couple of lessons actually because I guess the government decided that fireworks to celebrate our independence weren't worth my tax dollars or something. So Randolph Air Force base didn't do them. Bummer. But the lessons went well and we got a return appointment with one and the other came to church!
Friday was another great day! I spent most of the morning on a tile saw laying a member's tile down for him. Man I love doing service so much. It was great, Elder Hughes didn't really know what he was doing so he kinda just stood there but we laid most of his floor down for him, He is such a great man, he has a speech impediment but it seems like I am way more drawn to the people that are not seemingly perfect. I love that guy though. So after doing that we went and worked that night. We taught a lesson to this family named the G's, Plan of Salvation. Elder Hughes didn't say anything the entire lesson so basically I taught all of it. Frustrating. But it went swell up until the time of the Spirit world. Then man did the bashing start. I pulled out some scriptures from Peter's writings. No go. Man and do Baptist's hate the idea of "Purgatory" which we don't believe.. But anyway. I realized the conversation wasn't going anywhere when I had to start to explain the Heavenly law and spiritual sin vs. The Earthly law and physical sin. It kinda crashed and burned. But I did my best. for the hour and half we were there. Time goes by to quickly when you are doing the Lord's work. We walked out and I was just laughing because it never gets heated. I am really good at keeping my head and so is the lady, so we just were able to push each other's doctrine. What she doesn't realize yet, is that our's is right. I'll keep ya posted we have another lesson of Wedensday.
Saturday was the neatest experience of the week by far. Our relief society president gave us a family to go visit so we plugged it into the GPS and off we went. Now.. I learned that you should check the distance of where it was because we biked like 8 miles out there and got there and realized that we were like way out of our area. So we stopped just down the road from the house and were sitting at this stop sign ready to go home because it was not in our area and then a van pulled up. A sorrowful looking lady rolled down the window and said "Hey Elders.." with a very sad voice. I asked if she was Sister S and she said that she was and I told her that we wanted to come and meet her. So we walked down the block to her house and went to talk to her and her husband. She told me that she had just had a miscarriage earlier and that she had just gotten sent home from her job because they had found someone else. I told her of the Savior's love and of the power of prayer while bearing solemn testimony that Christ knows her and what she feels. The spirit was so powerful. Then I offered a blessing. In the blessing I could see the child. A son. Waiting in heaven with our Father. Our Brother and many angels. I told her that because of his valient righteousness he had been picked as one of the elect of God, having to just recieve a body long enough to fulfill the plan. With tears rolling down my face I closed. Telling her of the vast amounts of the Love the savior has for her and made the long bike ride home.
I know the Savior's hand is in this work. I don't know everything that I need too and some things that I ought to. I do however know that we will be placed in time and circumstance where the savior can make us become beautiful instruments in his simple symphony. I love this work I love my Savior. Don't ever forget what He does. I know he knows me and you. Keep the faith. Only Believe.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Monday was pretty much an average we played some B-ball and stuff. Basically just another day in the mission. We went and talked to this less active member named Mary, she is really elderly and loved to get the chance to talk to us, she told us about her husband died and we were able to comfort her. It was a cool lesson.
Tuesday was were the week started to get more interesting. I got to meet President Slaughter. I was actually like on of the first besides the APs! So I was grateful to meet him because some of the missionaries still haven't. He is so neat. I'm pretty sure he knows every answer to the gospel that there ever was to know. It is neat to be able to talk to him and discuss doctrine. Sooo we had this interview and he asked me how my testimony was, I told him some of the stronger points and some of the other points that I was working on trying to get better. We talked about the four cornerstones of a testimony which are 1. Book of Mormon 2. Joesph Smith. 3. The Priesthood. 4. The Kingdom and Keys. I think those were the four, I will change it if need be later. I think that the one that I am struggling with the very most is the Kingdom and Keys. I just find so much good in other religions, I know that they don't have the keys and the necessary priesthood power and some of the other things which they do are so important. I know that they need to have the extra truths that we have, but in respect to them they are in all reality so close to the road. They are riding in the bike lane along the iron rod. They just don't even realize how close they are. So we discussed this and everything it was neat to hear his testimony. Then he asked me what I do and I told him he played the Viola and Violin, he told me his family loved those and his son (14 yrs old) plays the cello, then he paused for a minute, asked me when I last played, I told him a couple of weeks ago in Fredericksberg, "I played Oh my Father, because I had a teacher named Mr. Pack who was so special to me and it was the last song that we ever played together after he passed away of a heart attack so I feel so close to that song." He paused again and said.. "Well can you play it tomorrow?" I was like well.. I suppose that would be alright. So we stood up and I went in to give him a hug and suddeny I realized that both of our faces were on the same side and we like almost smacked heads. I guess he wanted to take Paul's invitation to the Corinthians very literal and "greet you brother with a holy kiss" So I was like "What in the world?" He laughed and told me he forgot to tell me that we are changing hugging in the mission to a "Mexican Embrasso" Basically a hug where you put your head to the right.. It was weird.
So Wednesday came and it was zone conference. We got there nice and early so that my District Leader who plays the piano and I could practice, we did and President was really pleased. It is so fun to be able to perform musically for people. I have now done the musical number for 2 out of the 3 zone conferences on my mission. I also joined the choir this week. (Story later) So that was neat. Then he talked about what he expects of us. There are 7 things.
1. Know who you are, your Inherent Purpose, and act accordingly.
2. Discern the spirit and submit to its promptings.
3. Unshaken andunwavering testimony of the Restoration.
4. Have a sound understanding of Doctirne and Teach by Power and Authority.
5. Understand the doctrine of gathering and the principles of effective finding.
6. Learn and apply principles of leadership.
7. Continuous effort to progress.
Today and Always!
And above all he said Fullfill Your Foreordination. That is my slogan now. I love it.
Thursday was the 4th! I spent all afternoon I swear fixing a chainsaw then chopping down a tree. It was awesome. That will probably be amongst my first major purchases when I get home. I don't really know if that is mission approved but.. yeah. I figure I can handle it so.. I dont know. Anyway, I figured out how to do a whole bunch of stuff to fix up a chainsaw. Then we went and had dinner with the Call family. The lady that sent you the picture was like there daughter or something? But we were eating and they had a dog and Elder Hughes said that he had like the same one back home, so they were like oh we will send your mom a picture! So I just sat there talking to their son about life and stuff then they were like oh yeah I bet Elder Funk's mom would like one too, because they realized they left me out, so I just said "Hey don't worry about it, I'm sure they probably won't remember me anyway." Apparently nobody gets my jokes here. Whatever I'm not gonna change, so they felt bad and I said I was kidding then they laughed, it was fun. Then we had a couple of lessons actually because I guess the government decided that fireworks to celebrate our independence weren't worth my tax dollars or something. So Randolph Air Force base didn't do them. Bummer. But the lessons went well and we got a return appointment with one and the other came to church!
Friday was another great day! I spent most of the morning on a tile saw laying a member's tile down for him. Man I love doing service so much. It was great, Elder Hughes didn't really know what he was doing so he kinda just stood there but we laid most of his floor down for him, He is such a great man, he has a speech impediment but it seems like I am way more drawn to the people that are not seemingly perfect. I love that guy though. So after doing that we went and worked that night. We taught a lesson to this family named the G's, Plan of Salvation. Elder Hughes didn't say anything the entire lesson so basically I taught all of it. Frustrating. But it went swell up until the time of the Spirit world. Then man did the bashing start. I pulled out some scriptures from Peter's writings. No go. Man and do Baptist's hate the idea of "Purgatory" which we don't believe.. But anyway. I realized the conversation wasn't going anywhere when I had to start to explain the Heavenly law and spiritual sin vs. The Earthly law and physical sin. It kinda crashed and burned. But I did my best. for the hour and half we were there. Time goes by to quickly when you are doing the Lord's work. We walked out and I was just laughing because it never gets heated. I am really good at keeping my head and so is the lady, so we just were able to push each other's doctrine. What she doesn't realize yet, is that our's is right. I'll keep ya posted we have another lesson of Wedensday.
Saturday was the neatest experience of the week by far. Our relief society president gave us a family to go visit so we plugged it into the GPS and off we went. Now.. I learned that you should check the distance of where it was because we biked like 8 miles out there and got there and realized that we were like way out of our area. So we stopped just down the road from the house and were sitting at this stop sign ready to go home because it was not in our area and then a van pulled up. A sorrowful looking lady rolled down the window and said "Hey Elders.." with a very sad voice. I asked if she was Sister S and she said that she was and I told her that we wanted to come and meet her. So we walked down the block to her house and went to talk to her and her husband. She told me that she had just had a miscarriage earlier and that she had just gotten sent home from her job because they had found someone else. I told her of the Savior's love and of the power of prayer while bearing solemn testimony that Christ knows her and what she feels. The spirit was so powerful. Then I offered a blessing. In the blessing I could see the child. A son. Waiting in heaven with our Father. Our Brother and many angels. I told her that because of his valient righteousness he had been picked as one of the elect of God, having to just recieve a body long enough to fulfill the plan. With tears rolling down my face I closed. Telling her of the vast amounts of the Love the savior has for her and made the long bike ride home.
I know the Savior's hand is in this work. I don't know everything that I need too and some things that I ought to. I do however know that we will be placed in time and circumstance where the savior can make us become beautiful instruments in his simple symphony. I love this work I love my Savior. Don't ever forget what He does. I know he knows me and you. Keep the faith. Only Believe.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Monday, July 1, 2013
You know you might be in Texas.....
Well hey Everybody!
So I guess I should start out with You know you might be in Texas when the Gospel Doctrine lesson is about how much meat we can eat in the Word of Wisdom. Let me tell ya. People love their beef down here! Sunday is a little different being on a mission but you always still have the interesting people! I love it! We didn't have any investigators come to church even though the one lady we are teaching right now we stopped by like an hour before and she told us that she was going to come and then didn't even show up! It was depressing. Then we got asked to pass the sacrament and we passed it about as well as the Cowboys play. We totally messed everything up. It was rough. So that was a good start we just kinda laughed it off and then went on with the day. The talks were good, except one lady I think took debate in high school and it showed. It was a good talk, but I was waiting for the pulpit pound. We went on to Gospel Doctrine because we didn't have many people at church and we, as previously stated, talked about beef. What made it better was that the teacher provided a 25 slide presentation for the lesson. Talk about preparation! He is a great teacher! However 5 of the slides were dedicated to how the word of wisdom tells us to not be vegetarians.. Which one guy in the audience took notice of and started arguing. It was funny. Elder Hughes just slept through the whole thing, but I enjoyed it, I just kept laughing with the Ward Mission Leader. He is like on of my best friends. Anyway we went on to combined and talked about missionary work which rebuked alot of the ward, but I think most of them were pretty checked out anyway. Haha it was all good though! We left church and hurried back to the apartment, to grab our bikes, Elder Hughes has had two flats most of the week and so we pump them up before we leave and then by the time we get to where we need we just pump them up again. However as he was pumping it up this time it decided to explode. It was SO LOUD. Both of our ears were ringing for like 30 minutes. It was crazy. Needless to say.. We had to walk the rest of the day. We went to dinner and at dinner the member invited his non member neighbor and the entire time called her tinkerbell because she fell of the roof. It was hilarious! Her name is Miss Jenny. She is a bit older but hilarious. He just kept telling her that one of these days he was going to get her to convert. It was a fun dinner. We had to walk back home which was like 5 miles away, we got a ride to dinner though so that wasn't to bad, but we went to finish and taught a less active which was way cool. He loves the church and we are going to baptize his neice on the 20th i think.
So back to Monday! We had our fun we went and played basketball and I owned this one Elder when he was going up for a shot. Just totally stuffed him. He is pretty tall and strong so everyone was like OH! So long story short, he didn't like that and he has kinda anger issues, so I think I have one less friend in the mission. But I'll change that. We also had a sweet lesson with a Recent Convert and his Non member wife. I taught basically all of it, Her name is Lita and she really likes me. We talked about Joesph Smith and I basically told her his life story, I was telling her about the times when angel Moroni appeared and a cord like struck within her and she thought that it was so cool. She couldn't get over that no one had told her that before. I love her. Haha, One of these days we will get her into the font.
Tuesday was a long day, it felt like we got nothing done. we went and got a patch repair kit (which didn't help as you can see from above) and then we went and saw an older member who has a handicapped daughter who loves music. I used my poor piano skills to play a couple of hymns and they loved it. He had an accordion and pulled it out and before I knew it he strapped it on me and I played We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet. They both loved it so much. Haha it was neat because I had never played the accordion before. But it was fun. We had dinner with a member and knocked around. Elder Hughes has been sorta down this week, he got really homesick and just is missing his family because they always go to lake powell on the 4th of July. So that has been kinda tough.
Wednesday we found a super neat family named the Garcia's, I walked up the street to go knock on some doors and Elder Hughes said that he didn't want to knock the street but he just got mad and followed, so we went and knocked on like three doors and then a man opened the door and I introduced myself and He asked what I wanted and I said "Well to come in and share a message about Christ with ya sir." He was super cool and we taught the whole First lesson to him and his wife. They had never met mormons before, which was really bizarre but cool. We got a return appointment for next week and it should be so great to go back. I'm glad I listened to a prompting and had the desire for the work so that we could find some new investigators. I know they are out there, it is just a matter of where! The Holy Ghost will direct you on which way you need to go to find people and he will in every aspect of your life if you let him. I know that's true. We also had District meeting. We have a bunch of people in our district and so that is nice! we have 6 Elders and 3 sisters. It's better then the 4 elders we had, because I had to train like every week, but now I can learn from different view points.
Thursday was weekly planning. It was long. But we got to some service after for a widow and I know that she really appreciated it so it made everything worth it. I liked it. We clipped some trees and hedges and stuff. I am becoming quite the gardener out here!! We also had dinner with a lady from England so that was fun. She is hilarious. She told us about a missionary that died It was like her husbands nephews friend or something. Anyway sad. We will be praying for his family. After we went and got a blessing from Brother Viens for Elder Hughes. It helped him quite a bit, It was neat to see the priesthood in action like that because before hand he had no idea what the blessing was for but he nailed it right on the head. Priesthood is real.
Friday was another long day. Elder Hughes got mad because I told him that I thought we were going to do service in our pros clothes because we had to bike like 6 miles to get there. So he was mad, but we helped someone move out for like 4 hours. It was fun, but boy was he mad about being in his expensive clothes. hahahaha.
Saturday was so. hot. It was 108 with 100% humidity I think I have said that like 100 times but it was awful. We just kinda sucked it up and went for it. I have never drank so much water in my life. We were chugging water bottles but I think it was just passing right through into sweat. Staying hydrated is so hard. We did get to see alot of people. I talk to everyone I see, no matter how awkward, because well, I am just awkward sometimes but this old lady I walked up to talk to here as she was opening her garage I said "Hi Ma'am! How are you?" She turned saw who I was and quickly tried to get away. So much so that she didn't wait for the garage door to open all the way, and smacked her head right on it. It was sad, but at least she probably learned to say Hi next time. That experience summed up the day. I think we had a span of 17 or so people in a row that wouldn't give us the time of day. It is all good though! haha It is days like that where you lean to appreciate the good ones!
Well President Jones is gone. I love that man so much. It was so neat to have been able to have him as my mission president. I love him. He was a perfect example of giving a 100% and not expecting anything in return for it. I love his wife and all of his family. I pray for them everyday that they can be blessed for what they did here in the greatest mission on earth.
President Slaughter is here now and I get to meet him tomorrow! We also have Zone Conference on Wednesday and so that should be great! I can't wait.
Well the church really is so true. I found a neat scripture this week that has been my theme it says : "'For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:19 How true that rings to me and for all in the world. Be the light on the shore.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
So I guess I should start out with You know you might be in Texas when the Gospel Doctrine lesson is about how much meat we can eat in the Word of Wisdom. Let me tell ya. People love their beef down here! Sunday is a little different being on a mission but you always still have the interesting people! I love it! We didn't have any investigators come to church even though the one lady we are teaching right now we stopped by like an hour before and she told us that she was going to come and then didn't even show up! It was depressing. Then we got asked to pass the sacrament and we passed it about as well as the Cowboys play. We totally messed everything up. It was rough. So that was a good start we just kinda laughed it off and then went on with the day. The talks were good, except one lady I think took debate in high school and it showed. It was a good talk, but I was waiting for the pulpit pound. We went on to Gospel Doctrine because we didn't have many people at church and we, as previously stated, talked about beef. What made it better was that the teacher provided a 25 slide presentation for the lesson. Talk about preparation! He is a great teacher! However 5 of the slides were dedicated to how the word of wisdom tells us to not be vegetarians.. Which one guy in the audience took notice of and started arguing. It was funny. Elder Hughes just slept through the whole thing, but I enjoyed it, I just kept laughing with the Ward Mission Leader. He is like on of my best friends. Anyway we went on to combined and talked about missionary work which rebuked alot of the ward, but I think most of them were pretty checked out anyway. Haha it was all good though! We left church and hurried back to the apartment, to grab our bikes, Elder Hughes has had two flats most of the week and so we pump them up before we leave and then by the time we get to where we need we just pump them up again. However as he was pumping it up this time it decided to explode. It was SO LOUD. Both of our ears were ringing for like 30 minutes. It was crazy. Needless to say.. We had to walk the rest of the day. We went to dinner and at dinner the member invited his non member neighbor and the entire time called her tinkerbell because she fell of the roof. It was hilarious! Her name is Miss Jenny. She is a bit older but hilarious. He just kept telling her that one of these days he was going to get her to convert. It was a fun dinner. We had to walk back home which was like 5 miles away, we got a ride to dinner though so that wasn't to bad, but we went to finish and taught a less active which was way cool. He loves the church and we are going to baptize his neice on the 20th i think.
So back to Monday! We had our fun we went and played basketball and I owned this one Elder when he was going up for a shot. Just totally stuffed him. He is pretty tall and strong so everyone was like OH! So long story short, he didn't like that and he has kinda anger issues, so I think I have one less friend in the mission. But I'll change that. We also had a sweet lesson with a Recent Convert and his Non member wife. I taught basically all of it, Her name is Lita and she really likes me. We talked about Joesph Smith and I basically told her his life story, I was telling her about the times when angel Moroni appeared and a cord like struck within her and she thought that it was so cool. She couldn't get over that no one had told her that before. I love her. Haha, One of these days we will get her into the font.
Tuesday was a long day, it felt like we got nothing done. we went and got a patch repair kit (which didn't help as you can see from above) and then we went and saw an older member who has a handicapped daughter who loves music. I used my poor piano skills to play a couple of hymns and they loved it. He had an accordion and pulled it out and before I knew it he strapped it on me and I played We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet. They both loved it so much. Haha it was neat because I had never played the accordion before. But it was fun. We had dinner with a member and knocked around. Elder Hughes has been sorta down this week, he got really homesick and just is missing his family because they always go to lake powell on the 4th of July. So that has been kinda tough.
Wednesday we found a super neat family named the Garcia's, I walked up the street to go knock on some doors and Elder Hughes said that he didn't want to knock the street but he just got mad and followed, so we went and knocked on like three doors and then a man opened the door and I introduced myself and He asked what I wanted and I said "Well to come in and share a message about Christ with ya sir." He was super cool and we taught the whole First lesson to him and his wife. They had never met mormons before, which was really bizarre but cool. We got a return appointment for next week and it should be so great to go back. I'm glad I listened to a prompting and had the desire for the work so that we could find some new investigators. I know they are out there, it is just a matter of where! The Holy Ghost will direct you on which way you need to go to find people and he will in every aspect of your life if you let him. I know that's true. We also had District meeting. We have a bunch of people in our district and so that is nice! we have 6 Elders and 3 sisters. It's better then the 4 elders we had, because I had to train like every week, but now I can learn from different view points.
Thursday was weekly planning. It was long. But we got to some service after for a widow and I know that she really appreciated it so it made everything worth it. I liked it. We clipped some trees and hedges and stuff. I am becoming quite the gardener out here!! We also had dinner with a lady from England so that was fun. She is hilarious. She told us about a missionary that died It was like her husbands nephews friend or something. Anyway sad. We will be praying for his family. After we went and got a blessing from Brother Viens for Elder Hughes. It helped him quite a bit, It was neat to see the priesthood in action like that because before hand he had no idea what the blessing was for but he nailed it right on the head. Priesthood is real.
Friday was another long day. Elder Hughes got mad because I told him that I thought we were going to do service in our pros clothes because we had to bike like 6 miles to get there. So he was mad, but we helped someone move out for like 4 hours. It was fun, but boy was he mad about being in his expensive clothes. hahahaha.
Saturday was so. hot. It was 108 with 100% humidity I think I have said that like 100 times but it was awful. We just kinda sucked it up and went for it. I have never drank so much water in my life. We were chugging water bottles but I think it was just passing right through into sweat. Staying hydrated is so hard. We did get to see alot of people. I talk to everyone I see, no matter how awkward, because well, I am just awkward sometimes but this old lady I walked up to talk to here as she was opening her garage I said "Hi Ma'am! How are you?" She turned saw who I was and quickly tried to get away. So much so that she didn't wait for the garage door to open all the way, and smacked her head right on it. It was sad, but at least she probably learned to say Hi next time. That experience summed up the day. I think we had a span of 17 or so people in a row that wouldn't give us the time of day. It is all good though! haha It is days like that where you lean to appreciate the good ones!
Well President Jones is gone. I love that man so much. It was so neat to have been able to have him as my mission president. I love him. He was a perfect example of giving a 100% and not expecting anything in return for it. I love his wife and all of his family. I pray for them everyday that they can be blessed for what they did here in the greatest mission on earth.
President Slaughter is here now and I get to meet him tomorrow! We also have Zone Conference on Wednesday and so that should be great! I can't wait.
Well the church really is so true. I found a neat scripture this week that has been my theme it says : "'For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Romans 5:19 How true that rings to me and for all in the world. Be the light on the shore.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)