"Real Mission" Hike

Hey Family!
Another great week in the San Anto Mission. We got to see alot of neat things. Joke around a whole lot and yep. Basically that sums it up.

Monday was awesome. We played basketball at our church but someone decided it was a good idea to leave this machine that raises you up to the ceiling. For the life of me I can't think of the name, but it's like a bucket thing.. In the gym. So the Zl jumps in and flys up to the top. I took the great chance to unplug it and he sat in the bucket for a good 20 to 30 minutes while we all played some bball. It was awesome. Joy in the simple things right? hahaha.

Tuesday was even better. We just got out of a teaching appointment and they have a beserk dog that if we go in it will bite us and just tear us to shreds. It's decently sized. Like maybe about a bit smaller than a yellow lab. I don't know, anyway we walk out the door and I am still sipping on my dr pepper and we walk out into the road and all the sudden we realize that the dog is outside the gate. (Side note: Elder Dayton hates, no loathes, dogs. Just does not like the creatures)(Side note off of that: We have been told that if the dog runs at you and is barking you are ok but if not then well.. Take off Eh!) So we both look at each other and basically I am like, well... I am wearing my new pants, whatever happens I am not spilling this Dr. P on me. I think that was the exact split second thought and before I knew it Elder Dayton was half way up the street being chased by this dog! It was hilarious! He was cutting through yards, with the dog nipping at him and I was sitting back sipping my dp. Lesson and a Show. That's about as much dating as you get as a missionary. Anyway after running around a minute I called the dog back and it came up to me so I tossed it in the back yard and off to work we went.

 So then we realized that our dinner appointment was only accesible off of the freeway... Great. well, because of my Indiana Jones knowledge we decided we could tromp through the creek and somehow find it. It was great! We really felt for a few minutes we were on a "real" mission, we saw a ton of lizards, we imagined some hippos.. It was great. So we walked a good mile through this foresty area and popped in on some fishermen. I'm sure that shocked them. White shirts and ties in the middle of no where. Hilarious. So we got back on the made up path and the we saw a break in the trees, so we climbed up a hill, and there we were. Right on the green of hole number 14. Yep. A rich people golf course. I got to walk nine holes that day... Found like 6 balls. Best day at a golf course ever. Then we cut through a drainage ditch and boom. Dinner appointment. That was fun. Oh this guy in a cart passed us and said "Hey Elders." Once again PMG [Preach My Gospel] says there are many honorable ways to find people to teach.. Golf? Well... Why not? Tell Uncle Phil to suggest that one for the next edition;)

Wednesday was ok. We gave a blessing to a sister who has diabetes in her eyes. It was a neat experience and I got to do it. She is going through alot right now. So it was great to be a part of it. District Meeting was ok. One of the ZL's got Emergency Transferred... So yeah that has been weird. Nothing really happened. Just alot of knocking and talking to people! We did teach a lesson that day though which was good.

Thursday was a teaching day! we got to teach a PM [Part Member] family where the son just back from his mission. His Dad is really worried about when he gets married because he won't be able to go. He kept saying over and over again "I want to go to the temple, I know that is where Christ is." It was such a testimony builder because someone who isn't even a member, hasn't ever even been inside knows what it is about. I loved it. It was a really powerful lesson and before I knew it nearly 2 hours had passed. It is crazy how much time will go if you aren't paying attention to it.

Friday I got to do splits for the first time! it was awesome! I went with Jordan, a 19 year old kid going to BYU I. We get along real well. I think I will for sure be friends with him forever. He is getting ready to go on a mission in a bout a year or so, so this is helping him to prepare. We went and taught this family that I had knocked in to a week before. The 10 year old is really looking for God in his life and his dad really wants him to find it. I really love how the spirit works to help us in our lives. Especially when we need it the very most. We were able to identify a need and teach right to it. It is amazing that the spirit will tell us what we need in the very moment that we need it.

Not going to lie. Saturday was TERRIBLE. Worst day ever. We got out the door and something just was off, we didn't have a fight didn't do anything disobedient, something just seemed off.. Anyway we prayed and went on to work. So we had the first 5 people in a row fall through on us. But as we were walking out of the apartment complex we were trying to see someone in, a man calls out "Hey Elders!" So we stopped and found out the guy was a member and his family is not. So we set up a time to come back in one hour. Thus taking away our chance to go to the farthest part of our area to see a few Less Actives because of time. But it was going to be worth it. So we knocked, and knocked, and knocked. Getting our hopes up the entire way because we had found gold! Finally after the longest hour ever we bike back to the apartment complex knock on the door and a lady answers, I asked for Jeremy and she said something mean about me, I stood strong said "Well we are coming to share the restored gospel of Christ with you because Jeremy said we could." She laughed called me a bad name, Said "He was just f'***ing with you" and actually slammed the door. Ugh. So I'm ticked, I walk back to my bike jump on, start peddling out of the place hear something weird and realize my tire is completely flat. Slam on the breaks almost go head over heals and jumped off and slammed my helmet down. Not a good missionary moment. Whatever. So we walk all the way back to the apartment. Then walk the 3 miles to our next appointment. They fell through. So we finally are going to get a break and go to the Elder's Quorum activity. We get there and I am helping unload everything when all the sudden boom... Dropped the entire case of plastic cutlery all over the parking lot. Nice work Funk. Not going to lie. Said a bad word that rhymes with yam and proceeded to do the 300 spoon/knife/fork pick up. yep. The Elder's Quorum President went to USU so we are naturally soul bff's but he won't ever let me live that one down. Oh not to mention it was like at least 170 degrees. (According to the barometer of Paul). All in all. I was ready for the pillow.

Sunday was ok. Kinda another one of those days. Ward Council they had a giant hour arguement about Seminary because they want to change it and combine the wards with less than one week to go before it starts.. It was bad. The seminary teacher's husband was in there and it just did not end well because she had spent all summer preparing for the year. Basically kept my head down and we got out of there quick. I got separated from Elder Dayton in church and he ended up sitting if the pews and I was in the far back corner in the chairs but It was awesome because as church started, a Recent Convert was sitting by me, then her kid screamed and she left, a Part member family walked in the door just then and they came and sat in front of me, and then another new family came in late and sat next to me and then another less active came in late and sat next to me. It was awesome! Really a blessing. By the end of sacrament I had a ton of people around me. It was great. Really blessed. Then I kinda screwed up again. We went to dinner and there was a girl there I had never met before because she was on her mission before I got to the area. We talked a bit and during dinner I kept asking about her mission naturally right? She kept getting emotional and I was just thinking that she was missing it real bad... Nope... She had to come home early... Dang. So it was sorta awkward after that. Then we got in the car, their son was an RM from about 2 years ago and I asked him about getting married. I guess he has been trying but it hasn't worked out, so another sore spot. Dang. I love being an awkward missionary sometimes.

Overall it was a great week! I studied the gospel of John. I love it so much! My favorite is the New Testament out of all the standard works. I really just love something about it alot. Being able to think about these people that actually worked with and lived with the Chirist is amazing. I have truly come to understand that perception is reality. If you want life to suck... It will. We are all in terrible situations if you think about it. God has to give you the most you could handle so that you can grow to the most potential that you can. He wants us to learn. If I look at it like it's going to be horrible or it's going to be hard.. Well then I gave up the fight before it began. That is tough. So believe in the moment, that it is there for a reason, that whatever will come, has came or is here now is there for a reason often unapparent to us. I really have seen it so much more clearly looking back on my week and my mission that in the moment we perceive something that is untrue. He have to see the field as it really is. Not realistically or that it is going to be some crazy event but that we are there to learn and grow. To mess up and to learn. That's life. Successes and working toward success. Yep. That is what I think.. Anyway.. Learned alot about life, about how not to do things and saw alot of neat things in between. A typical day in the life of a missionary, a person, and a Child of God. Love the work, Love the people, Hate the Heat.. Dang it is hot. Wake me up when September Ends... Those words ring so true right now;)
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk